Where: Prince William Forest Park Virginia
Dates: June 22 - 26th
Who: Patuxent Ward Young Women
Theme: Warriors of Worth
Putting on the whole armor of God
I have a love/hate relationship with girls camp. There are parts of my soul that love camp and what it means to the girls and then...the heat & sweat and dying of bug bites gets to the other part of my soul.
This was Lydia's fourth year. I have been one of the camp leaders for the past two years also. My main job when I get to camp is to help Lydia so she can participate. This is a lot of work. She needs help to simply even get places anymore. She is not as mobile as she once was and it breaks my heart.
The second day is always the hardest both physically and emotionally. She is such a trooper. She pushes her little body to go farther and work hard. Lydia is amazing. This year on day two I accidentally gave her some granola bites that had milk in them. Then it was allergic reaction time and meds. She is very patient with me, and still loves me even when I poison her. I had to basically knock her out with Benedryl for the rest of the afternoon. Yep, I'm not winning any mother of the year awards.
The best thing about this girl is her sense of humor and how happy she always is. She won Warrior of the Day for participating in the warrior dash obstacle course. Seriously, she is rather cool. Her leaders had to help her walk and climb but she did it! She made it through the whole obstacle course.
I am always humbled by the perfect design of mother earth. How complete each aspect of the plants and animals complement each other. I wish my brain could have the enlarging capacity to fully comprehend the sacred geometry of it all.
This frog was huge and right under my feet during my walk. I barely noticed him until he leaped away from my foot. He blended into the forest floor completely. His coloring was totally matching the forest floor.
Lydia's favorite part of camp is always the crafts cabin. This year they made jewelry, painted signs for their rooms and made Waldorf style window stars.
Lydia's favorite color is still purple. I love her concentration as she was painting. She surprised me by actually accenting it with some blue. Their boards had their name and then the phrase "daughter of a king" on them.
Here are the other leaders. Sis. Carolee Battaglia and Sis. Dixie Ely. We all had worked for about 9 months together to make sure camp was the best experience for the girls.
The 4th year level girls rocked the party!!! Emily, Lydia and Bethany were the coolest kids there. Lydia said her favorite part of camp this year was the pranks. Since it was just our ward , we allowed nice pranks. Well these girls dumped some really cold water on some other girls. Lydia thought that was hilarious.
There were some nights where fierce storms raged through the camp ground and we all sheltered inside the dining hall. Never fear, these girls know how to play some games. Lydia's favorite....Killer Frog.
Lydia and I won the Golden Broom award for the most creative and clean cabin. I think our rug between the beds helped us win. It is a necessity though for keeping dirt and sand out of the sleeping bags.
The problem with pranks is that things get a little out of control really fast. The leaders except yours truly all got into the pranking mode. They got caught and had to go to Kangaroo court and receive their punishment. Camp is so much fun!
The best part is the love that surrounds all of these girls as they grow to know who they are as daughters of God. Camp this year was epic.
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