Campmeetings

We wrapped up our stint at the cabins in Nova Scotia on Friday, July 31 and headed off to another part of Nova Scotia - - Pugwash.  It's "famous" for being the hometown of singer Anne Murray and the Maritimes (New Brunswick, PEI, and Nova Scotia) Conference campmeeting.  Chances are you've heard of neither.  I hadn't been to Pugwash in decades and Duncan and the kids had obviously never been so we decided it was a good year to stop in and see where my dad goes every year to be with his "other family." By that I mean, he and his siblings built a small cottage on the campmeeting grounds.  It's sort of a thing as many other folks have done the same. After you see the place, you can't blame them. The campground is set right on the shores of the Northumberland Straight which is the body of water separating Nova Scotia from Prince Edward Island which you can just make off in the distance. Wouldn't you know that it was a gorgeous day and we could almost, ALMOST, forget all the lousy weather we had been subjected to over the last two weeks.

The view from the cottage

We arrived mid-afternoon which gave us enough time to enjoy some beach time which is literally, RIGHT THERE.  How nice is it to have a campmeeting that includes a beach?!  We could only dream that ours in Maine was so well equipped.  That evening we stayed at an incredibly charming bed & breakfast not far away.  The lady and her two daughters running it were so lovely, the rooms were big, we had WIFI (a big deal after not having Internet at our cabins), and the breakfast in the morning was excellent. We promised ourselves we would be back!

The cottage

Since it was the end of the summer for the campgrounds, they pulled in the raft using this bulldozer.  It was quite an interesting way to go about it.  It ended up knocking down a sign and tearing up some lawn when they got it on dry land.

Bed & Breakfast

Our bed in our room.

If you go down some stairs, this was part of the same room.  A nice pullout for the girls.  Calleigh slept on this one and Aubree slept in the one in Papa & Gigi's room.

Colby found this in the living room at the B&B.  Love those lips!

They had a bunch of stuff outside that the kids were posing on.

Breakfast

Trying to take a picture with Papa.  The sun was so bright though!

This was us Friday night eating at a restaurant nearby.  It took like 50 minutes to get our food but they did warn us ahead of time and they were really nice.

We made it to campmeeting in time for part of Sabbath School and then church which we enjoyed sitting outside under a tree in the bright sunshine.  There was a sandbox right nearby so the boys were busy playing there (the girls had a longer class for part of church) while we sat and listened to the service and it was all pretty much perfect.

The main auditorium

Trying to get bubbles with Papa during Sabbath School

This is the life!

If only the kids could be doing this every Sabbath during the sermon!

Hanging out with Aunt Mary and Aunt Shirley after lunch.

Sabbath afternoon walk along the beach.

I got a jolt while reading the program.  "Decorations - Treva Sharpe." That is the exact full name of my friend who passed away last year from the carotid artery busting.  I've never even heard of another person with the name Treva and then to finally see another one and it be with the EXACT SAME LAST NAME.  Disconcerting.

After lunch and a quick car nap for Colby, we were off for the journey back to the US. It was not an altogether pleasant trip as it was still Sabbath for part of it which disallowed a number of viewing options for the kids.  But, we were anxious to get back to my parents with a good chunk of the night left to sleep - - it stinks when you get there at like 6:00 am and the kids are all ready to start the day and Duncan and I are dead tired from driving all night.  Also, leaving at that time allowed us to pass through Bangor at a reasonable time so we could stop in and see Shawn and Camille (the kids were in bed) and have one of Camille's delicious meals.  One thing that was a little humorous was when we stopped at the border and the agent, who clearly had some type of New England accent asked us if Brady was named after "Tom Brady." I gave my typical answer which is "No" (it really truly was not after him - - I've always liked the name) and we were joking about a few other things and I said something like "You don't like the Yankees do you?" And he says "Ah HELL no!" He suddenly realizes there are four little faces all looking at him so he starts apologizing profusely and got us out of there as fast as he could!  It was good to be back in the USA.  What's the very first thing you do once you cross over that border?  Turn your "Cellular Data" back on. I missed you, phone!!

The sad thing about being back was that it was time to say goodbye to Duncan when he flew back home on Sunday afternoon.  Alas, he had to get back to work.  Someone has to do that to make this all possible I told the kids.  Things just aren't quite as good when he's not around but we picked ourselves up and continued on.  I rented a car for my mom to use so that we could use her van and have a mode of transportation. We didn't want to sit home while she was at work all day.  Monday afternoon/evening we met her at a nearby lake for a late day swim and then went out to Noodles for supper. As I have extolled on here before, we love that place and were excited to introduce her to it.  Tuesday morning my dad and Bruno joined us on an excursion to what we thought was going to be the Boston's Children Museum. Note to self: take the train during the summer.  We couldn't find a single place to park after driving around for a good 20 - 30 minutes to about 10 different parking spots. We finally gave up and headed to the Science Museum. Fortunately, I had a reciprocal agreement to get in free for both places using my Orlando Science Center pass.  The Science Museum isn't that far away but with traffic and a wrong turn (quite unlike him) by my dad, it took us longer than usual to get there and then its parking garage was full and we had to park some distance away. After all that, we finally got in.  My pass only covered four of us so my dad had to pay for his, which was $20. A few days later, I realized that I could have used my Central Florida Zoo membership and gotten his half off. Shoot!  I know it's only $10 but it makes me so mad when I don't think of these things until afterwards! We ended up only staying at the museum for a few hours due to my dad's schedule but we had a good time.

Papa teaching them to shuck corn.

My parents also have a VitaMix and make a lot of smoothies.

So nice to not worry about alligators when you swim in a lake.

Watch out for the snakes though :)

Noodles.  Brady is finally chowing down after a long wait.  Freddie went to hand him his garlic bread and it all flew off the plate and onto the floor and it was awhile before the new order arrived.

The boys and I hung out while my dad took the bigger kids to Ben Franklin's "Lightning" show.

The gift shop.  Although Bruno is 11, Calleigh is almost as tall as he is!

Freddie and Kathy recently got a bunch of chickens which we all think is hilarious because they're vegans.  "So you don't eat meat or eggs but still got chickens?" we asked.  I guess they just like them as pets.

Wednesday I took the kids to a place called Southwick's Zoo which is in Mendon (about a 35 minute drive from my folks).  We had been there when Calleigh and Aubree were three and one, respectively, which they didn't remember.  It's actually quite a nice place with most of it in shade (thankfully) and they also have a few rides which makes the place extra fun.  Sure, there were a few frustrations with the day (you could only use cash since the Internet was down so we had to stand in line for 20 minutes upon arrival to use the ATM, Brady had to pee right when we sat down for lunch so we had to put everything into the stroller and carry it and all walk over to the bathroom which was in this tiny little trailer) but looking back, it was just a really, really nice day with just me and my kids.  I don't know why I keep thinking about that day and how special it was, but I do.

Hard to see but Colby's face is pure joy!

He's trying to explain to Colby not to put his hands on the fence. There is another fence though.

Train ride.  I can see Colby's mouth is saying "cheese" but he isn't actually looking at me as usual.

They have a whole big section where you can walk around and feed the free roaming deer.

It was such a great experience for the kids!

The ride to the themselves.

This is the goat petting section.  The goats were pretty aggressive and Brady was freaked out so he retreated way back next to that big tree - - he blends in but you can see him if you squint.

He finally warmed up to them.

This was the other best part - - the bird aviary.  They gave you these popsicle sticks with food on them and the birds will hop on the sticks to get the food.  We spent about 30 minutes in here.  So much fun!

Yikes!!  I will stand way back here behind the camera, thank you very much.

Just my sweet boy hanging out at Papa and Gigi's.

Thursday was spent running some errands to get ready for Friday which was the day we left for Freeport, Maine and campmeeting!  I had thought that I would spend those evenings at my folks writing in the blog but alas, I completely underestimated how much work it would be to do all those loads of laundry that we brought back from NS and then organizing and repacking everything back into the duffle bags.  There were a few late nights doing just that.  It may have been all one trip up there but I did, in fact, have to pack twice.

We left late morning and met my mom part of the way up.  She went to work in the morning and then met us in the rental car.  As we were driving up, I was thinking of what I would need to do when we got there.  They provide you with four beds in each tent but they are pretty subpar to sleep on.  The springs are old and they sink way down when you lie on the bed and they are as noisy as all get out.  The first two years, we brought an air mattress but I got sick of that and decided to follow Shawn and Camille's lead in getting two pieces of plywood to put under the mattresses (I put two beds together to make it a double for Duncan and me).  Voila!  Suddenly the bed is pretty decent.  We had gotten the boards last year but couldn't fit them in the car to take home so I knew I would have to get them once again this year.  Of course, last year Duncan was around to do all that but now I was on my own.  Thinking to take care of this problem ahead of time, while we were at Freddie and Kathy's house on Tuesday, I had asked if I could leave the kids there while I ran quickly to Home Depot to get the boards and then they could take it up in the back of their truck with some other stuff we were sending with them.  But then Freddie says, "Oh, I probably have some pieces of plywood in my garage so just hold off." Great, I'm thinking.  That saves me a trip.  I don't give it any more thought until Friday morning, just before I'm leaving, when my dad gets a text from Freddie saying "Tell Corey I couldn't find any plywood in the garage." Arghhhh!!  Seriously?!  I love ya, Freddie, but really, this information would have been a lot more helpful like two or three days ago.  Now I would have to make a special trip to get it myself which meant a 15 - 20 minute trip one way to Home Depot while trying to unpack and corral four kids without a husband.  Anyway, guess it wasn't that big of a deal but it was very annoying at the time.

We have six tents amongst all the family.  I have two tents - - one for sleeping (the girls slept with my mom for the first few nights and then moved in with me and the boys when my mom left to work a bit) and the other for clothes/food/toys and sitting in at night when we want to chit chat but it's too buggy out.  My mom has hers, Shawn and Camille, Toni and Terry, and then Sean and Shannon.  Alison is there with her boys but they stay in their camper now.  Kelly is usually there for the whole week but due to having a newborn and the change of dates (Steve's side of the family all go but some couldn't because the dates didn't work), she was only there for a a couple of days. Anyway, the point being is that we have quite a bit of family there which makes it especially fun.

The adult meeting tent.  Part of the impetus for changing the date to August this year was that they haven't put this tent up in like seven years because one year it rained so badly that the tent had some problems.  Apparently history shows that it rains less in August than late June so they will only put the tent up if campmeeting is in August from here on out.  Otherwise, they hold the meeting in the school gym.

Our row.  We have the first three tents on the right and the second - fourth on the left.

The Grodack sleeping tent.

The play tent

I had looked for this air mattress with sides on Amazon before campmeeting but it was like $70 or more and I didn't want to spend the money.  Instead, I put two mattresses on the floor for Brady to sleep on but they kept separating and he'd fall in between.  He was not sleeping well.  Shannon had the same mattress and said she had gotten it for $35 from Walmart.  So on about the third day, I made a trip to good old Walmart and got one.  So much better!

One big difference this year was the food situation.  With Shawn being a pastor, the conference has kindly given them the option of either cash or to eat at the cafeteria for free for the week.  They've always taken the money, because it seems more economical, and then we would all share the cooking duties (at least for supper).  This year, they got a bit frugal and said the cash was no longer an option - - only eating at the cafe.  Shawn was not pleased with this option but it was what it was.  And I jumped on it!  With Duncan being gone, it sounded especially tedious having to prepare meals and watch the kids at the same time so I decided to splurge and buy the pass for the whole week which was $139 for adults and $92 for kids.  So yes, kind of a lot (although I didn't buy one for Colby).  BUT, that's 25 meals and if you do the math, it comes out to $3.68 per kid and $5.56 per adult.  I knew I would spend a bunch of money on groceries anyway and really, can you put a price on NOT having to cook?  Well, you can but I think in this case it was well worth it.  Let me just say it was WONDERFUL.  I actually felt like I was on vacation.  Let's face it...when you have to figure out what to eat, go to the grocery store to buy it, bring it home, put it away, cook it, and clean it up, does that really seem like a vacation?  No!!  As for the food, there are times when it could have been better but I'm sure people say that about any cafeteria. Sorry Shawn, but I hope they never give the option for cash again.

Cafeteria

Waiting in line.  We always tried to get there early so that we didn't have to wait too long.  Makes perfect sense, right?  Get there ten minutes early so you don't have to wait ten extra minutes once it opens.

The menu one evening.

The week went great for the most part.  We had just a few small bumps in the road. One was that Brady seemed to come down with a little something just before we arrived.  He started coughing and having a bit of a runny nose.  Just great.  You hate to bring that into the camp but what can you do?  He really didn't cough much during the day but at night, I'm sure because he was lying down, he sounded pretty bad.  I started getting worried that it was going to end up being the croup and Duncan told me I better figure out a plan in case I needed to do something in the middle of the night. Fortunately it never came to fruition.  But, he did pass on some sick germs to Colby who got a runny nose and worse, gunk in his eyes.  He wasn't rubbing them and they weren't particularly red but Leigh, who happened to stop by for the day and is a nurse (along with other relatives, of course), said she did think it was pink eye.  Of all things to have!  I knew that would pass quickly through the crowd.  As luck would have it, there was a walk-in clinic literally two minutes from the campgrounds and I took him in Tuesday morning.  The doctor wasn't positive it was pink eye but said it probably was and gave me a prescription for the drops.  It cleared up in about two days and I thought all was well.  We all thought maybe it really was just an allergic reaction or something because the eyes were never pink nor itchy.  But then my mom got the gunk the next Monday and Finley and Griffin both got it around then too. So I guess it was pink eye? It seems so odd that it would take THAT long (five days) for them to get it and then none of the rest of the immediate family got it.  Weird.

Waiting room at the clinic.

The girls very much enjoyed their classes and their friends.  Calleigh was in Primary which was ages 7 - 9.  Aubree was in the last year of Kindergarten, ages 4 - 6. Unfortunately this year, whether because of the date change, change in leadership, or what have you, the sisters that we loved, were not back to teach Kindergarten and they ended up getting some other ladies to teach at the last minute.  I never actually sat in any of the classes so I didn't see it first hand but my understanding is that they weren't quite as good as the sisters.  But, it was all good.  I tried to get Brady to go to Kindergarten but he really had no interest.  Really, he has no interest in going to any class.  I can't even imagine what would happen if I tried to get him to go to Pre-K or something!  I ended up taking him to Cradle Roll with Colby because at least Janel is a wonderful, engaging teacher.  Nevertheless, it was like pulling teeth most of the time to get him to participate.  Seriously, I went from Calleigh who loves to do everything and has no fears (she tells me that she's the one who is always answering questions and doing prayer in Sabbath School at our church) to Aubree who would hate to be left alone in class but would mostly participate to Brady who doesn't want to be left nor wants to do anything in the class.  Really, just doesn't even want to go.  Have mercy. I'm dying to see what Colby is like.  Cradle Roll had only one meeting which was in the mornings.  In the afternoons, I mentioned going to Kindergarten to Brady.  It was a no go except for the one day when I said I was going to CVS.  Apparently CVS was worse.  I really hope he grows out of this.

Primary, the first night. There is no Kindergarten for the evening meeting (7:30 - 9:00) so Aubree and Camden would join Calleigh here.

Calleigh's class would play games out on the field in front of our tents every afternoon.

Kindergarten

I never get sick of seeing the "twins" showing affection.

Cradle Roll

Brady may not love going to class but he sure loved Teacher Janel.

He does love to do crafts though.

Campmeeting wasn't nearly as fun without Duncan there and honestly, was a lot harder without him.  When my mom was there, it wasn't too bad but when she had to go back to work for a few of the days, it presented some challenges.  When you want to take a shower, you hate to make Camille watch all the kids when she has her own to watch, particularly Winslow who is at the age to get into everything.  To combat that, I left her with the three older ones but then took Colby in the stroller while I showered in the handicap bathroom which can fit the stroller.  In prior years, there was always a handwritten note on the door saying "Handicap ONLY" in big letters.  Since it wasn't there this year, I figured I could sneak in!  Brady, meanwhile, showered Sunday when my mom was there and then not again until Sabbath (or did he?  Maybe not!).  What can I say, it's tough to make it happen. Anyway, back when I was booking the airfares for the vacation, I knew Duncan couldn't come the whole week because it's such a busy week at work but I went ahead and booked a flight for him to come up Wednesday evening, hoping he could get off the two days.  But, it turned out that he had a big meeting on Thursday and there was no way to miss it.  I checked the airfares for Thursday night, flying into Portland like the original flight, and they were like $416! The Wednesday flight, which of course I had booked weeks or months ago, had been way cheaper and I, in fact, had even used miles on it which we were now mostly out of. I was thinking there was no way we were going to spend that much on a one way flight (I had also already booked his flight with us to return Sunday.  The good thing about Southwest is you can cancel them so it's worth booking even if you think you may not use it).  As we pondered it, and Duncan talked forlornly about how awful it was being in the house alone, and as I though about flying home with all the kids alone, we decided to just shoot the moon and go for it.  At least we would get the miles back from not taking the Wednesday flight.  The next evening, Wednesday, I was talking on the phone with my mom (she had worked and gone home) about the plan for picking Duncan up in Portland at 11:30 pm the next night and she said "Oh, your father will do it.  He was going to come up Thursday morning but he has a funeral and can't go until the evening." After I hung up and relayed this info, Toni and I both had an epiphany. Why doesn't he fly into Boston instead?  I was thinking surely at this late of date, the prices would be ridiculous but just for kicks I went on and looked.  What do you know but there was a flight into Boston, leaving Orlando at almost the same time, and arriving at 9:05 pm, for only $160!  A push of a few buttons and the flight is changed from Portland to Boston and we've saved $256.  Man, I love Southwest! But
really, when Duncan burst through that tent flap on Thursday night, it would have easily been worth the $416.

Daddy!  The guy in the picture with him is Nathan who is a man with Down Syndrome.  He was very friendly with us (well, everybody) and he would eat with us at the cafe and play with the kids.  One evening he was at our tent and the bigger kids had left for class.  They left behind a giant mess and the next thing I knew, Nathan had cleaned it all up for me.  He was a sweet guy.

One of the interesting things from the week was that there was this gentleman I'll call D, whom we met on Sabbath afternoon.  Shawn actually knew him as one of his parishioners from his previous church although he rarely went.  D was about my age but seemed a little off.  He would just meander around the campground by himself and talk to anyone he came across including little kids.  We heard that he was staying with his dad who was a big, interesting looking man who walked with a cane.  The next day, Sunday, I heard that D had spent hours in the playground just talking to the kids.  He would hear someone say a kid's name and then he'd say the kid's name to get their attention and start talking to them.  I don't think he ever said anything inappropriate or anything and people that knew him, including Shawn, all said he was harmless.  But, as you can imagine, this behavior with the kids didn't sit well with a lot of folks.  Then later in the day, I discovered that D was in the tent RIGHT next to my mom's in which the girls were also sleeping.  Again, we have no reason to think this D was NOT a good guy but you just never know and I will admit it made me a bit nervous.  One morning my mom had to leave at 5:00 for work (which is just about light out) and we were discussing if it was okay for the girls to be in the tent alone for the next few hours (I was in the tent next to them).  I decided immediately that it wasn't and the girls moved permanently into my tent.  The good news is that I resolved the problem for next year.  Cory and Amanda have been talking about coming to campmeeting next year so I told them I would try to get a tent for them near us.  During the week of campmeeting, you have through Wednesday to pay a deposit to reserve your tent for next year.  Then, Thursday, any unreserved tents are up for grabs.  I was thinking to myself, "I don't think this D and his dad are going to be astute enough to reserve their tent by Wednesday.  Or, they probably don't even care where their tent is." I went first thing on Thursday morning and sure enough, their tent was available so I snatched it up.  The kicker was that as I was waiting in line, the dad ambled by the line of us waiting and for a moment I thought he was going to get in it and then would shout "That's MY tent!" when I asked if that tent was available. But he didn't stop.

On the second Friday night, the girls and I had a chance to perform.  Kathy ended up being the teacher for Juniors (again, like with Kindergarten, because of the change in dates or whatever, they were having a tough finding teachers.  Kathy isn't even a member in the Northern New England Conference but obviously they didn't care!) and wanted to get folks to dress in character as someone from Adventist history and then tell a story in the first person.  She asked me to be Ellen White and who can refuse that?  I was happy to help and she found some clothes that sort of, kind of resembled Mrs. White.  After my presentation, which I heard went well, the girls sang the song "Faith" from VBS.  They had been singing it for weeks during worship and were very excited to get to sing it in front of a group of kids.  They did great!  I'm pleased that they have no stage fright whatsoever.

Someone did tell me I looked like a witch.

So what do we do for fun at campmeeting?

Walk around

Hang out with our cousins

Play with cars

And animals

A Play Doh table!

Play in the pool at Alison's camper

Go for an ice cream treat at McDonald's (while the big kids are at their meeting)

Plant some branches we found on the ground.  This is one of the things I love most - - the kids are outside ALL day (other than meetings) and they will just find random things to work on in the great outdoors.

Set up a "lemonade" stand.  One morning we brought back a few things from the cafe that we couldn't finish and they got the great idea to sell it to people, along with snacks and drinks of ours. They sold a bunch of my water bottles and when I told them I needed to have some of the money so I could go buy more water, Acadia says "You can just buy some from us!"

Ride and fight over this tractor.  We have no idea whose this was but it was always just sitting around.

Go to the beach.

Go to Winslow Park, after which Winslow was named.

Visit LL Bean.

Some more pictures....

Sorry - - can't get enough of these two!

The only time we cooked a meal was for lunch the first Sabbath because Shawn wanted to invite some friends.

Colby and Griffin.  Obviously Shannon had a lot more faith in Griffin's neat eating habits than I did with Colby.

It did rain off and on on Wednesday and then again the second Sabbath afternoon.

Calleigh's new friend, Megan.

Megan had a younger sister Allison.  Megan and Allison were just about to turn 6 and 8 like the girls.

Shawn had security duty one day and got to drive the golf cart around.  The kids took rides but all I could think of was the person who fell off it at another campmeeting a few years ago, banged their head, and died.  The driver either stopped or started quickly and the person wasn't hanging on tightly.

Colby took a nap faithfully every afternoon despite the heat.  At night, however, it was very chilly.  The kids could sleep with one blanket whereas I was in several layers of clothing and had four blankets on.  It got so bad one night that I was totally relieved when Colby woke up in the middle of the night and I brought him in to sleep with me to keep me warm!  This actually happened most nights, whether I wanted him to or not.  One night was really bad and I literally would rotate the boys in and out of my bed.  One came in, went to sleep, the other would wake up, I'd move the first one out and the second one in.  Happened two or three times during the night.

Campmeeting isn't complete without a trip to Popham Beach.  We saved it until Friday so my dad and Duncan could join us.  As you can see, it was a gorgeous day!

Camille's mom, Karon, is the new teacher at the Cape Cod school so she moved to MA from Texas allowing her to visit the grandkids more often.

Proof I was there.

Colby fell asleep on the way back from the beach and I figured he wouldn't go back to sleep when we got him out of the van and walked back to the tent.  But we threw him on Brady's air mattress and he went right back out.

Spending time with Mia at Winslow Park.

He was very intrigued with Nanny's booboo.

The boy cousins

Getting into some mischief

Busted!

Colby did cuddle with Aubree for a bit so that helped.

I don't mind the packing nearly as much as the unpacking. Ugh!