Only Child, One Week Only

All three older kids spent last week at camp. That meant Luke got to experience 6 full days and nights of life as an only child. It also meant Thomas and I got to experience one week of what it would be like to have just one kid. It was quiet and peaceful and easy. 

I am attending an online course for two weeks that requires me to be on camera from essentially 8am-430pm. Luke went to camp at the YMCA and the house was so quiet. Luke enjoyed the camp and we enjoyed working without interruption. We picked up Luke around 4:30 and made some of his dinner favorites. There was no complaining about what we ate. A couple of nights, we went out to eat. The cost/benefit analysis is much easier when you are feeding 2 adults and 1 child versus 5 adults (for dining out purposes) and 1 child. We only had to run the dishwasher 2 or 3 times all week. The trash was taken out far less frequently. We answered 75% less questions of "what's for dinner," "can we go to...." "can I do...". Well, you get the idea. It was easy!

Of course, it was also a little lonely and maybe a bit too quiet at times. We definitely missed the older kids. I refreshed my e-mail about 60x daily between 7:45 and 8:15, waiting for the post office's e-mail digest to tell me if we would be getting mail from any of the three older kids that day. And, even when it showed negative, I would still anxiously check the mail--just in case. The days where I knew a letter was coming meant waiting impatiently for the mail carrier to arrive. It was very strange and unpleasant to be out of communication with them. Anna was the best correspondent. We had about 6 letters from her over the course of two weeks. Jack came in second with three, and considering he was only gone for one week, that was impressive. Although, they all came in one envelope. The first day, he missed the mail call. The second he forgot a stamp, but the third time was the charm. Kara was a distant third. She sent the required (by us) letter letting us know she she was okay after the first day of camp. *Update, today, 19 July, we received another letter postmarked 12 July from Kara that contained 3 separate letters. 

They all enjoyed the camp. Apparently, Jack was pretty social. We didn't see that coming! His favorite activity was the karaoke and ice cream social. He didn't sing--but only because they ran out of time. He actually signed up to do karaoke in front of approximately 100 of his peers and he sang backup for some of his friends. What the heck?!?!?!? They also did archery and water activities and lots of swimming. Well, Anna didn't get to do the archery. Her time slot kept getting rained out. But, she did do a scary looking ropes course. Anna's favorite activity was swimming or the bonfires. Kara's favorite was archery. They also learned lots of new games. Kara definitely wants to go back next summer. Anna would if she wasn't aging out (it is 9-13) and Jack would be on the fence.

Pick-up time was 830 on Saturday morning. We both wanted to go, but didn't necessarily want to wake Luke and drag him along, particularly since we weren't sure what check-out would be like. So, we flipped a coin and Thomas won. While he was gone, I cleaned the house (we had changed their sheets and vacuumed their rooms the night before). I also made fudge as a special treat. Thomas could remember coming home to a clean house and homemade fudge after being away as a child. It was a happy memory that he wanted to replicate. Since he was on pick-up duty, I made the fudge. When Luke got up, we made each of them a welcome home sign.

They got home around 1030 and gave me a quick hug before running in search of Luke. I think they missed him the most. They were all very chatty and happy to answer my millions of questions. It was great to have them back!

Saturday afternoon, we invited Mike and his sister, Lily, over to swim. Like Jack and Anna, Lily is going into 8th grade. She and Anna swam and then hung out inside. Anna was happy to learn that they have a lot in common and is hoping maybe they will have some classes together. We also watched the last two Lokis. It had been hard to avoid spoilers, but we did it!

Sunday, we did a bunch of errands. We got Luke baseball cleats and Thomas and the girls all got new sneakers. Thomas and I also got new baseball mitts, which is what we wanted for our birthdays. We went to the mall and had lunch in the food court and did a bit more shopping. Then, we stopped for yogurt on the way home. Jack stayed home. I think he is only social at camp. It is nice to have everyone home and things back to normal!!!

The camp will eventually post some pictures from the week on their Facebook page, if there are any good ones, I will add them here. And, if not, here are two random Luke pictures from the week:

Thursday night, we tried out a new ice cream parlor with Bevin and Beya. It was super good!

 

Luke looked forward to the Friday night campers vs. counselors kickball game all week. It was really nice sitting outside in the shade and watching the game. They didn't keep score, but I think the counselors won.