“Are we there yet? Move over!! Ahhh the Dog tooted we were not allowed to say farted Mom, crack a window. Don’t make me pull this car over.”
These are all things overheard on the countless number of car rides back and forth to our summer rides to the cottage. Was it worth the trip? Fighting both my dog and my sister for backseat space? Nearly hurling at the ungodly smells and occasional dog vomit? Oh YES! Those summers growing up on the lake are my best memories of my childhood. Tipping canoes, fishing, climbing rocks and building forts. Eating chicken every Friday night, and Steak every Saturday. No, seriously, we had company every weekend, these were the “company” meals. My hostess with the mostess Mama served Chicken and Steak EVERY weekend. There were boat rides, swatting black flies, learning about raccoons and wild bears at the dump, and of course no TV. Sigh. These are some of my favourite memories of summer days past. Summers were sweet, we didn’t want for much.
Now grown up and married, with two kids of my own, I did the unthinkable. I married a “camp boy”. You know the kind, the one that reflects so fondly on his days of summer camp, his nights of high jinx, the friends he made, the campfires, the adventures he had. All this “Summer Camp was the BEST” talk, it gets a couple to talking. Which way is the right way to spend our summers? Sending the kids off for a Camp experience, or cottaging it. Our decision, do both!
At ages 10 and almost 13 I can confidently say my sweet girls have tried a ridiculous number of summer camps. Gym camp, swim camp, horseback riding camp, volleyball camp, art camp, theatre camp, sports camp! The list goes on and on. No sleep away camp….yet! Is there a perfect camp out there for my babes? I think the ideal camp is the one where they come home at the end of the day with their sides sore from laughing, where they are exhausted from learning, and yet eager to go back the next day. The perfect summer camp is whatever helps brings smiles to their faces and joy to their hearts.
At the end of the summer if we have made some warm fuzzy memories they can carry in their hearts for a lifetime, I know I have done my job.
I’m looking forward to a summer spent watching my girls make all kinds of memories. Our decision for this summer, both camps and cottage time! Is it too soon to start a countdown?
I’m participating in the Our Kids Camp Expo Blog Hop. Yesterday’s Camp Memory can be found at Common Cents Mom. Tomorrow, the fun is happening at FabFrugalMama.
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Looking for a March Break or Summer Camp for your child?
Don’t miss Canada’s Largest Camp Expo!
February 26, 2012, 12:00 to 4:00pm, Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe Street, Toronto
• Find top March Break, Summer and Holiday Camps for kids and teens
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• Learn about charities, discounts, bursaries and tax credits for camp.
Loving the summer so far
LOL your post made me crack up. I absolutely love camping and heading north. Yes and your coundown to summer wooohoo its getting there.
Anyhow I am a new follower on a giveaway for GFC.
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Have a Great day
I never went to a traditional summer camp- I did go to band camp- definitely not the same thing.
And I did go to something my church sponsors called EFY (Especially For Youth) starting when I was 14-which was a week long event which really was awesome. So yea, I guess I did do some camp things
I love your cottage summer memories! I never had that or ‘camps’…but lord knows that would have been such a good thing for me growing up!
If you come to Florida, it is already summer. TODAY. no countdowns needed!
xo
Your cottage summers sound heavenly.
I have very fond camping memories, but it was family camp!
My families summers consisted almost exclusively of camping vacations, and I want my kids to have those same fantastic memories!
Bring on summer!
This makes me yearn for summer weather so we can go camping again this year!
I can’t wait for the summer!!! We’re not going “to the shore” this year, but we still will for day trips. I do need to look at Summer Camps for Phoebe. Thanks for the reminder.
“I think the ideal camp is the one where they come home at the end of the day with their sides sore from laughing, where they are exhausted from learning, and yet eager to go back the next day.”
I love this quote! It is so true, and the specifics of how to get there are so varied.
And, I’m already counting down to the warm days of summer, so feel free to join me 🙂
I love the stories about your cottage days. I can see how you had trouble making the decision. My kids have been going to sleep away camp since forever. They love it. But, those day camps sound like so much fun! Thanks for sharing.
smiles…you are as bad as the kids…counting down days until they are out of school…ha…i went as a kid to camp but that bug has yet to bite my boys….
We don’t really have Summer camps over here, for us its all about the beach holiday, we book a house or an apartment and spend the day at the beach swimming and building sandcastles. We did it as kids and now we do it with our own children. Lots of fun memories.