Camp "No Camp"

This summer we decided not to sign the kids up for camp. “Why in the world would I do that?” many had asked. Well, besides the fact that we had to tighten the purse strings, I was also looking forward to a slow summer. Waking up every morning not having stress greet me was extremely appealing. Over the past 10 months, I was feeling burnt out from being the family taxi and my biggest complaint was and still is, that time was just moving way to fast. Having to wake up every morning and rush the kids off to another activity had no place on my slow summer schedule. I had set out to actually go with the flow and not have so many things lined up. And to my surprise it has worked out very well. The kids have had to be creative and find things to do without the supervision of an adult that has it all planned out for them. With that, my husband and I are often the audience members of made up dance routines practiced all day long or the very loyal patrons of the kids “restaurant” in the basement. They love to just be kids running through the sprinkler, selling lemonade, making bird baths and a favorite of mine; catching fire flies. The rewards have been priceless, they have learned to play much more productively with each other, make each other laugh and build good old fashioned memories. To me, I’ve gotten so many laughs watching them that even if it’s made one minute seem endless then no summer camp was well worth it.