Camp Day One

I prayed last night before I went to bed. That in itself isn't anything unusual. Hopefully everyone is talking to or thinking about their Maker before they fall asleep at night. What I prayed for wasn't unusual or at least I didn't think so.....until I talked to Stefanie this morning. You see, I prayed for patience and the ability to hold my tongue.....Stef says I should have prayed for people to stop being stupid.....

Last week I got an email from Mad Science Camp.....it had all the information I needed to know about Ava's up-coming camp. Location, dates, times, allowable snacks, forms to bring, etc..... Pretty standard. I don't think there's much I've signed my kids up for that didn't follow that exact pattern and I've signed them up for A LOT of stuff.

I also didn't think it was too big a deal that I got no such email from ATA, after all, the day I signed the boy up for the $275 dollar camp(I got this one on the house for renewing his contract) plus $90 collar fee, I entered the dates and time into my phone calendar which reminds me of things I might otherwise forget.

So this morning Papa Bear, with maniacal gladness, woke us all at 7am. This, I figure, will give us time to wake and eat and pack and whatever else needs to be accomplished so we can make it to the ATA by 8:30am and then Mad Science by 9am. As you can see I had everything neatly planned....I drop Kung Fu at camp and then have enough time to drive and drop Stuffie off by 9.  Except yeah...not so much.

When we arrive at ATA....(with 10 minutes to spare- see that's more me planning ahead...getting those extra 10 minutes to observe things before I have to dash with Stuffie).....they are already hard at it. Lined up on the wall kicking away....and I'm all "Wow they're starting early" And the other parents lingering or dropping off are all "They start at 8." And I'm all..."No, the paper I signed up on said 8:30" and then one of the kid's grandma's chimes in with "It said 8 on the web-site." Oh my gosh REALLY?



So being late really annoys me. This also annoys me.....

rushing around to get into class and having to line up last for being late. Of course he wasn't the only one who was 'late' The parents who went by the sign up sheet all had kids that were 'late'.
....it never crossed my mind to look at the web site because- I WENT WITH THE INFORMATION ON THE SIGN UP SHEET!!!!

I dash over and drop Stuffie off at Mad Science. Where everything was exactly as they said it would be.

They had the tables set up and ready to go and there were activities for the kids to do while they waited for everyone to arrive. They even had 2 visible adults who introduced themselves and gave me the pick up information.

I went right back over to ATA to look in the window and make sure everything had calmed down and the appropriate student to teacher ratio was in place. Because that's how I roll......

Then I went to Starbucks and had a frap...because I earned it. I also had a scone, texted with my brother, talked to Leigh and finished the book I was reading....Shadowflame by Dianne Sylvan , she's a new urban fantasy writer and I like her. If you read Nalini Singh, Chole Neill and Richelle Mead then you will love Sylvan....but I digress.

After enjoying myself and the semi-quiet I picked up Ava who had a wonderful time at camp. She made friends, played outside, introduced everyone (teachers included) to the wonderful world of fig newtons and managed to conduct science experiments between telling stories about the cat. We went to lunch with Ray and then spent the rest of the day in the library reading books.

Finally it was time to go pick up my boy. YAY!

He reconnected with old friends, did 400 round kicks, listened to loud music, listened to the instructors yell everything(why they do that I'll never understand) and played a game at lunch called 'silent bean' where you aren't allowed to talk. I asked him if he had fun and he said no. The instructors asked "Who had fun?" He didn't raise his hand. Isn't that wonderful? I guess because he will have a different color ribbon to put on his collar he doesn't need to have fun. Gosh forbid they actually do something FUN. I mean besides the awesomely popular game of 'silent bean'. They wouldn't want to actually take the hard work and turn it into something FUN for the KIDS. So he's just going to tough it out because he really wants to level up his collar.

I feel like crying.

To sum up the day....
Stuffie had an awesome time at Mad Science camp. She even got to bring home a test tube, graduated cylinder, pipette, ph test strips and the instructions for some experiments.
Kung Fu had a crappy time at ATA camp. He brought home a headache.