July wrap up!

July has been a very busy month for us all, with a two week vacation and a week of summer camp for Joey. I'll post some vacation pics shortly, but for now click here for a slideshow of Joey's week at the Camp Boggy Creek heart defects summer camp. This was a kids-only camp (no parents) so he took all the pictures. They are mostly of his friends and the camp counselors, but they do give you an idea of his week there. He had so much fun, in woodshop he made a beautiful box to store his pocketknife collection in. It came out very, very nice. They also had something called "The Silly Olympics", where they had a HUGE food fight, drenched their counselors in pudding, and covered each other in paint. He cheered so loud during the Silly Olympics that he completely lost his voice and had to go to "The Patch", which is a fully equiped medical center at the camp. The doctor prescribed frozen popsicles and hard candy- Joey was fine with that! He was just starting to get his voice back when we picked him up, but it was REALLY deep and scratchy for a few days! That's a sure sign that he had a great time, I guess. He spent a lot of time in the pool, on paddleboats at the lake, fishing and doing archery. The picture at the top of this post is Joey with "Mista Bill", a longtime volunteer at the camp who has been a great friend to him since he was 7. I'll post again soon with some vacation pictures.

Vacation 09 starts tomorrow!

We are leaving for a two week vacation in just under 18 hours (to get to our favorite campground in Tennessee in time for a dip in the pool before dinner we leave at 4 AM, or as my friend Lisa calls it "O'dark thirty".) John has a jaunty 12 hour day at work today, so Joey and I are getting the last little things packed and the final housecleaning done before our house/dog sitter arrives tomorrow. I got a new phone (an enV Touch) so I'll have access to my email and Internet while I'm gone but I don't think I'll blog too much on that little screen so this may be my last blog entry for two weeks. When we return, we have one day to do mountains of laundry and get Joey packed for a week at Camp Boggy Creek. He's going to the summer camp there for kids with heart defects, it will be the first time that he has EVER spent even one night away without one of his parents and he's spending a WEEK! He's really looking forward to it, he's heard talk of a giant outdoor food fight, a paint war, and some sort of pudding attack on the camp counselors. They do all that in one day, and suggested that he pack a set of clothes that "can just be thrown away" for that day. He'll also have the regular camp activities- archery, fishing, swimming, crafts, woodworking, etc. They have a banquet, a dance and a "utensil free" spaghetti night- all the kids just plunge their faces into their dinner. Sounds like a perfect meal for a 12 year old boy! I'm a little freaked out about him being gone for a week, but we can call each day and talk to his camp counselor (but not him) so that's reassuring. Plus, John says he'll take me out to hear live music of my choice nearly every night that Joey is gone, so that will help take my mind off of things. I'd better get back to vacation prep, I'll see some of you reading this very soon!