Dregs of Summer, Dregs of Camp

I don't mean to imply that this week's camps weren't as good as other weeks...only that it was the last week of camps for the summer. Having spent much of the weekend doing laundry from the Florida trip and with the cold I contracted from Smunch coming on strong, I was more than happy to truck the kids off to camp for another week, even though I've vowed not to sign them up for so much next year.

This week, Mam was a Princess Camp. Yes. Princess Camp. What she needed that for after a trip to Disney World, I really don't know. And you might rightly wonder, just what does one do in Princess Camp anyway? Well, I wasn't there, but this much I know. You get your fingernails painted. You get to have someone paint a butterfly on your face.You get to make crowns and hats and color pictures. You meet Jasmine ("But she was just a person dressed up.") You get to listen to princessy music and learn a sashaying, curtsying kind of dance.
You get to do that for just two hours a day. Oh, and I forgot the part about making a castle out of marshmallows. Making it in such a way that you really, really want to eat it, but it's covered in glitter glue and your mom keeps telling you not to.

You might glean that I wasn't a big fan of princess camp. Since it was billed as camp for 3-5-year-olds, it was awfully, awfully cute, but I wasn't particularly impressed with anything they did and not at all impressed with how little time Mam got to spend away from me. Fortunately, she knew four other girls in the class. She had a grand time and it was just on the other side of a Starbucks from where I was dropping Smunch off, so that made it a little more worthwhile.

Smunch, in keeping with his sports camp theme, went to soccer camp this week.Much like baseball camp, it was really hard to tell how much he liked it. He looked good out there and I thought he coach was a nice, really personable guy. And I know that Smunch improved because, check this out:He's going after the ball. He's actually fighting for it instead of letting the other players do that while he runs back to defend the goal. Don't me wrong, he's still a very defensive little Smunch and his aim could use some improvement,but I liked what I saw him doing at the end of the day each day.

Like baseball camp, this one also had a sort of "camper of the day" award, but they called it the MVP award. Smunch was awarded the MVP for his work on Wednesday. I'm way more proud of those little awards than I am of his athletic performance. He's engaged, he's listening and people like him. I love that.

Unlike baseball camp, this camp had a bunch of little extracurricular things the kids could do to earn their team points. There were four teams and on the last day, I learned that Smunch was a member of the Astros. He didn't manage to communicate much about the activities he was supposed to do to earn points...at least not until it came to crazy hair day. And as luck would have it, Daddy and I were out the night before crazy hair day, so I picked up a few things to make it more fun.It was a lot of fun and the Astros won the competition of points...earning them a gold bracelet (really nothing more special than the other kids got, but they made it sound like it was, so it was).

And here was another great success: This is Smunch, having raised his hand and been called on. And he's not hesitating in the least to give an answer. Too bad he seemed to hesitate so much about asking to go to the bathroom. Nothing quite like loading your kid in the car, just to be overpowered by the smell of pee!

Mam took our extra time at the soccer field in stride. She proved to be a power monkey bar maneuverer and was thrilled with any opportunity to play on the playground at the school where the camp was held. Kindergarten can't come too soon.Lastly, I think Smunch has a real future in the film industry. I know I'm his mom and all, but wouldn't this kid be perfect for some Twilight sequel down the road?