ils sont partis

They're on their way!

The last few days have been taken up with details related to getting two boys off to Boy Scout camp.  Though I must say that the older they get, the more they take care of themselves and the more they do for themselves.  They did most of their packing yesterday, so today wasn't too crazy.  I went through their stuff, once they were packed, wrote their names on it, and tried to notice if anything vital was missing.

So here's what we ended up with:  2 18-gallon totes filled to the brim, 2 stuffed day packs, 2 sleeping bags, 2 sleeping pads, 1 box to hold snacks, 12 bags of beef jerky, and 2 cases of water.

We met at 8:30 this evening to load the trailer.  I think the thinking was that it would be "cooler".  LOL!  It was still 85 degrees and about 1000% humidity.

So 14 boys, 7 adults, 1 van, 1 truck pulling a trailer, and 1 personal vehicle departed before 10 pm for the trip to Georgia.  They went to the same camp last year, and had a great time, so I think most were looking forward to it.  I know my guys were.  They will be taking Lifesaving, Personal Fitness, and Water Sports (water skiing).  My older teen will also take Rowing, and the younger teen will take Leatherwork. One afternoon, they will go on a whitewater rafting trip.  I would have gone with them in a heartbeat!

If you look in the dictionary under "organized chaos", this is the picture that would be there.  Here they are loading the trailer.  One of mine is in the trailer and the other is near the center of the picture holding a camo duffle bag.  He informed me tonight that his shorts are too short.

My part in this fun, is to put together a schedule with all of their classes, so that they know which classes they have when, and who is where.  I print in on cardstock and laminate.  Last year, because it was an unfamiliar camp, I also found a map on-line and printed it on the back of the schedules.  I was told that it was helpful, so I did the same this year.  I googled the camp and found a couple of different maps.  One from 2002, and another revised in 2006.  I pulled them both up.  Compared.  Printed a test copy of the 2006 one.  Then I loaded up the printer with 21 sheets of cardstock and proceeded to print 21 copies of the 2002 map.  In color.   Oh well.  I had a few pieces of cardstock left, so I printed a few more of the new map.  Life goes on!

I hope they have great time.  Hubby and I have the house all to ourselves this week.  It will be good, I think, to have some time to connect!

A somewhat related side note.  I schedule the altar servers for our parish. Our parish is mostly elderly, and as the years pass, we have fewer and fewer kids willing to serve.  This summer got to the point where I just didn't have people to put on the schedule some weeks.  The good monsignor is fond of saying that "God will provide," but I didn't think I should put that on the schedule.  There is an older man who serves at daily Mass.  He is a simple soul, and has some physical disabilities which make him a little unsteady on his feet and unable to manage the steps, but he does fine serving.  I asked if he could fill in some this summer and got an affirmative answer.

Before we leave for camp, our troop usually attends Mass together at another parish and the priest there gives the boys a blessing.  My guys said they preferred our own parish tonight, and I didn't argue.  (They said as long as all the other kids were blessed, they would be alright.).  ;-)  I had scheduled my fill-in altar server for Mass tonight, so my kids weren't serving.  It was great to see one of the boys from our parish, who "retired" from serving about 3 years ago at the end of 8th grade, put on an alb and take a seat next to the older gentleman to help out.  God does provide!