Thank you, Camp Echoing Hills for another amazing week of camp for Casey and Rob. While I’m still only hearing bits and pieces, from the smiles and giggles that accompany those few words, I’m sure they had fun. Casey has already mentioned that camp is in July 2019 and wants to write it on a calendar. (Luckily, we don’t have next year’s calendar, yet!)
Casey sang in the talent show and one of the staff was sweet enough to record it for me so I could enjoy it, too. (The fact that Rob is asleep on the floor behind her just adds to my love of the video! 🙂 ) She chose to sing Baby Blue – the same song she sang at the other talent show a few months ago. I wish she would sing more – she truly has a beautiful voice.
Rob told me the pool was the best and he got wet. He said he saw a cross and he saw a fish. He said Donald is his friend (and another name, but he’s saying it so quietly, I can’t quite tell who he is talking about). Casey said Bert liked camp and that he snored (for those who don’t know, Bert is a stuffed toy from Sesame Street!) She went swimming and she went fishing. When asked what she caught, she said a hot dog. I’m a little lost about that because she’s insistent that she caught one. Maybe they use hot dog as bait?
Mandy was actually getting off work as I got there to pick them up, so they got to see her, too. They were both waiting on the porch. Casey’s eyes were twinkling and she came right to me for a hug and a sweet smile. Rob was a little farther away and he let out one of his loud yells before he came to me. (Maybe he didn’t want to leave, yet? 🙂 ) More likely, he was singing his storm song as the weather was crazy that day. Either way, I got my super sweet hug from him as soon as we got home.
They were both surprised when we got home. I had given both rooms good cleanings when I didn’t have them to help me decide what to keep and what to throw away. Casey laughed and laughed that her Sesame Street stuffed toys had gotten baths. She had to arrange them perfectly – apparently, they go in a special way that I never thought to look at before I took them off the shelves.
Rob was concerned because I threw away a bunch of his magazines. I really try to not throw anything of theirs away without talking to them first, but he had too many. There were two stacks and each stack was close to 5′ high. One fell the night before they went to camp and we talked then that he needed to get rid of some before they fell and hurt him. Once I gave him some card stock to rip up, he was fine. I still felt guilty, though – even knowing it needed to be done.
My week didn’t turn out quite like I had hoped. Every thing I tried to do seemed to take four times as long and nothing went right. The cans of paint for the living room didn’t match and the floor wouldn’t go back together. I was close to tears by Monday evening and ended up having to make another trip to the home improvement store to have them remix the paint and buy a new floor.
Believe it or not, even the third can of paint didn’t match. (Only someone as lucky as me would take the “mistake” can back to be matched!) Still, after bumps, bruises and a few tears, the living room was finished. I still don’t have everything put back or things on the walls, but at least we can sit and I didn’t bring the kids home to everything piled in the dining room! Rob would have really been flapping at that, while Casey would have giggled because I messed things up.
As much as they love camp, they are happy to be back home. Rob has asked for Hopewell 15-20 times today, just making sure he gets to go tomorrow. Casey has happily refolded her huge collection of socks for hours and both are happy to have their iPads back. Card stock has been ripped and they got to spend time yesterday with Mandy and Cory. Later today, they are going to Grandma Rose and Grandpa Mack’s house and they are both excited about that.
Life has returned to the normal we know. It may not look anything like your normal, but that’s okay. We do our own normal and it works for us. I didn’t get as much free time as I had planned while they were gone, but at least they weren’t here for the mini-disasters! 🙂 And they had so much fun with their old, both new and old ones. Thank you again, Camp Echoing Hills, for giving Casey and Rob a week of fun and for giving me a week to do what needed done without the added stress of autism!