Another Seafarer Done

This past weekend I took Evil Genius back to the Indian Princess camp, this year we got Camp Seafarer instead of Seagull like we got last year. It was a rousing good time! EG always has her challenges but we got through them all and had quite the successful weekend.

Friday I took off from work and packed up. We hit the road around lunchtime and made it down to Tony's house on the river (about a mile from camp) for a little pre-camp pizza. The girls really loved getting to play together down there, and the dads all had a blast hanging out too. After dinner we headed into camp.

We did eventually make our way into camp and get setup in the bunks. Then friday night was an ice cream social! After that we eventually got the kids down and settled in to the (slightly less than comfy) bunk beds.

Camp Seafarer entrance

With her magic card

Settled into the top bunk

With BFF K

Quite a large crowd!

Finally happy and ready for bed

Saturday we had to get down to business. She had some activities to go do. EG had already decided which ones she wanted to try out, and we should do as many of those activities as possible with K. Naturally, she didn't want to do any of the activities that I always enjoy like the water stuff (zipline, water slide) or archery or BB guns. We started out sifting for sharks teeth and she found a couple of small ones. Then it was on to the more physical activities. Canoeing is always a favorite of mine because I like to get a couple of specific pictures.

Shark tooth sifting with K

Ready to hit the canoes with K and her dad

Always have a blast in the boats

My one great hope for EG to actually eat something that they serve in the cafeteria was the scrambled eggs they serve for breakfast. After 2 bites, she declared that they were made from a powder and were inedible. GAAAAAHHH!! So on Saturday, breakfast was 2 bites of eggs, lunch was a slice of cheese and 2 sugar cookies, and dinner was 2 pieces of cake. That was all that she would eat from the entire buffet setup they put out there. I know you can't feed 800 people cracking one egg at a time. but I even had to force her to put the cheese on her plate. This was amazingly frustrating for me.

lunch

It rained some on Saturday afternoon, and by 2:30 she was done with her list of activities and ready to go home. Unfortunately we still had another 24 hours or so to hang out at camp.

With her punched out activity list

There is supposed to be a child next to this rabbit

There they are!

the fish

We ended up looking for some of these concrete statues they had hidden around camp and hanging out with some friends. The rabbit was the only statue we found, and we ended up doing some of the activities again.

The funniest thing (to her) was when we did the obstacle course. She had to go through this thing, then tag me and I ran it backwards. One of the obstacles was bunny hopping through some hula hoops, and of course I wanted to do it very fast. That means I ended up losing my balance and falling flat on my face! Total faceplant in the middle of the field. oops! it was really hilarious.

After dinner K's dad wanted to go fishing, and he had an extra pole so we got to throw some line. EG, of course, was terrified of the water and the turtles in the water. I had to bait the hook with a worm and cast it out for her, and eventually she got a bite! About halfway through reeling it in, she panic'd and handed the pole to me to finish the job. I got the fish off of the hook and this was as close as she would come to the fish. I thought the picture turned out hilarious though.

Saturday night at Camp Seafarer is capped off with a campfire and fireworks show. The ghost story they tell at the campfire is pretty scary, but I was able to convince her that the guy was only collecting heads at Camp Seagull, and wouldn't come over to Seafarer. (seriously). The fireworks were great. there's a reason stuff is called "campy", and they established the stereotype. it was so much fun!

At the fireworks show

Playing on a truck bed while we're packing up.

Such a beautiful location right on the Neuse River

Lady of the trees

Overall we did have a great weekend at camp. Sunday all we did was pack up and get out of there by about 10:30. Breakfast was good, she had 2 more bites of eggs, then we got on the road.

It's worth noting that I also brought an entire duffel bag of snacks for her, she didn't go hungry. I know this picky eating thing is the bane of my existence as a parent, and cannot wait for the day when she grows out of it. It makes it very difficult to go into places where we can't control our own food supply like this. I also don't like not having control over my own food. Mass produced like what it takes to feed 800 campers has to be produced well in advance, and is usually loaded with fat and salt. There is no vegetarian option, there is no healthy choice because there is no choice at all. Maybe I could have brought 20 lbs of bananas for me, but rather than stand out I just took what I was given. Deal with it and clean it out later.

By the time we got home I unpacked and took a nap. The next day I had a great swim practice over lunch, then took in a hot yoga class that evening. That successfully purged everything from my system. All of the sweat carried out the camp toxins and frustrations; it was perfect.

It's hard to believe that I only have to take EG to this camp one more time! Ella is done, and next year is it for this one. They really do grow up so fast!