I feel like it’s barely been long enough to need another sleep away camp time post, but here we are, a year later. It’s absolutely that time again. See, camp last year was a sensation. Camp was such a hit that we pre-paid for camp (I only underestimated by 6$!) waaaaaay back in February.
My husband spent last week packing the boy up for sleep away camp. I spent the previous two months making sure he had everything and we still went to the store almost every single one of the days leading up to his departure. Socks? Check. Underpants? Check. Fishing pole? Check. The list was exhausting. On the down side, I’m pretty sure he forgot his mess kit. Only because I didn’t see it. I didn’t see a lot of what was sent though. So maybe it made it into the send pile. On the up side, he got to use one of last years Chanukah presents for the first time – a camping backpack that actually held *everything* he had to take.
Last year we sent him in a school back pack. No lie. See, I didn’t want to spend over a hundred dollars on a camping backpack if he was never going to use it again. Then I wound up purchasing two (one for the boy, one for the girl) because they were on amazing sale.
I digress.
Camp time! The boys were allowed two electronic devices, no phones. Why two? The gentleman in charge of electronic devices was willing to charge two devices no more, at the end of the trip in preparation for the bus ride home. Why no phones? This is a week away from mom and dad. Forget constant contact. Except M’s phone has replaced his [broken] iPod. We took said iPod to be repaired, but apparently the battery was oscillating and it was irreparable. So we put his phone on airplane mode and sent it anyway.
What do I get Friday night? A text that started with “They allowed me” and launched into a “we are having the best meal of all the scouts for the week right now. We are at Chinese place instead of c cs pizza.” We have a few scouts on diet restriction, and a couple of leaders as well. So along with that missive, I was treated to a photo of an empty sushi plate (with un-dyed pickled ginger and wasabi), a selfie, a photo of the wall (maybe he liked the art?), and another photo of the plate.
Then, Saturday night, I get another text. “This ship is so much fun!” followed by a short video from the USS Yorktown, followed by “This is the skyline from like 5 minutes ago” to which I replied if you look up at the moon, you can see Mercury and Venus, to which he replied “Good night”. Collective Awwwww.
Is is wrong to say I hope I don’t hear back again until I see him when he gets back? I hadn’t felt too bad about sending the phone between airplane (useless) mode and the fact that there is no cell service where they are camping. It essentially turns it into an iPod anyway.
I can’t wait to hear all about touring the Yorktown and sleeping on it. I can’t wait to hear all about camp and everything he gets to do. This year he is taking rifling, fishing, woodcarving, archery, electronics, and theatre. Plus, you know, camping in the mountains! I’m sure we’ll have lots to discuss and he’ll have lots of wisdom to impart for our summer camping trips.
I sent another care package from Eating Edible this year. I sent a different one than last year, so I hope he likes it. It had to be sent the day before he even left to make sure it got there on time. The things we need to keep track of! I sent two dozen gluten free banana muffins (that I made two nights before he left), a loaf of gf bread, and some tuna. Just in case. I know he won’t starve. Last year he barely used the bread, but I couldn’t justify not sending it.
The boy was dx with autism when he was just shy of 5. He is just shy of 13 now, and every year just gets better. He’s still in speech. He could still use PT and OT, but we make do. We still work around a lot of things. But looking back over this post, he is any other kid. I have any other kid worries. I can send him off, and other than making sure his scout master knows some of his quirks, we’re golden. We’ve come so far, and we have so far to go, but right now, this week, I don’t have to worry about placating, about therapy, about reminding the naked ninja to get dressed, about anything other than “is my kid having the best week ever and is he going to tell me all about it when he gets back?”
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