Heat Exhaustion

Well we've progressed from a heat wave to heat exhaustion around here, as many of you are experiencing too. The Seattle record high was broken yesterday and I imagine Brinnon's was as well (if Brinnon even keeps records). Our high yesterday at the end of the pier was 103. Now I've spent a lot of time at camp and 1/3 of the summers in my lifetime I've been here for 9 weeks. But yesterday was honestly the hottest day I've ever experienced here. I spent most of the day driving back and forth to the Sequim Costco picking up more supplies for camp. We are using all paper/plastic products in the dining hall because our dishwasher is broken and even if it wasn't we don't have enough water in the wells to run it. When I got back from Costco with thousands of paper plates and got out of my air conditioned car, it was like I was back in Phoenix which I once visited in July (a very bad idea). I quickly changed and took the kids down to the beach. My mom had been up for two days helping with the kids (thanks Mom!) and had to get home despite the heat. While it was great to go for a swim, it's pretty much the first time I've ever complained about Hood Canal being too warm. The top layer of water was like a hottub, and the next layer under that wasn't much better. I finally did a pencil dive down as far as I could go and managed to get to the colder water, but of course the minute I got there I had to go back up. We were at central beach during the staff swim, which we've been having every night at 5:00. Nothing ever changes: staff still horsing around in the water and playing king-of-the-float. Monica amazed me once again, this time by swimming ALL the way to the swim float with no help. She is also finally mastering a backfloat. As soon as she gets her backstroke down, she can attempt the BSA swim test. Only supposed to be 90 today (only, geez...) but we'll probably still be in the water as much as possible.

Hot Sleepers

It was 78 degrees at midnight last night, but at least we're not in the city!

Sunday Flag Ceremony

"Camp attention! Kramer family: forward march.

Prepare to raise the colors.

Camp hand salute.

Colorguard dismissed!

Camp Carter-Kramer

Last weekend we had a short visit with the Carter family up here at camp. The kids had an AWESOME time on the beach, on a hike, and at campfire. And with them helping watch our kids during campfire, Anton and I were able to perform the much-anticipated take off of "Real Men of Genius" including a classic roast to McNellis.

Heat Wave

Well it's definitely mid-summer. The trails are dusty. The water is warm. The staff is singing Bon Jovi. ("Oh, we're halfway there...") And it is supposed to hit 90 every day this week. It will be a great week to be at camp, especially in the water.

But on the down side: the staff is still restructuring somewhat and hasn't exactly hit their stride, my husband has been chained to his office more often than not, camp is low on water, and this week's troops seem to be rowdy and prone to complaining. I'm already dreading visiting my designated sites.

To Monica and Jack though who are oblivious all of this, all of their thoughts amount to

hot = swimming

I guess I will have to oblige them by taking them to the beach every day. Twist my arm.

Best wishes to our good friends Scott and Kristine who are hiking the Skyline trail next week, a trek Anton and I did three years ago. It's a beautiful hike along a ridge with breathtakng views of Mt. Olympus. And speaking of Olympus, I successfully purchased a copy of the poster I saw at the Timber House Restaurant. I am still contemplating the perfect spot for it at home. Our house is beginning to look a bit like a shrine to the Olympic Mountains.

Week 4 Randoms

First class mail:

Dancing on the end of the pier:

Visiting "Grandma" Pam's house and helping her water her tomato plants:

Soccer with Scoutmaster Bob:

Monica and Billy:

Grandpa Mike and the Airplane

Today we had a special visit from Grandpa Mike who arrived to visit camp by seaplane with a group from the Council (promoting the capital campaign). It was literally a "three hour tour."

Mo and Jack, waiting patiently for Grandpa.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Grandpa Mike!

And no visit to camp is complete without ice cream at the Trading Post.

Lower Lena Lake: Monica's First Backpacking Trip

Last weekend we took Monica on her first backpacking trip to Lower Lena Lake along with our friends Scott and Kristine. Monica was SO excited for this adventure.

We started with lunch at the trailhead:

Monica carried her own clothes, water, toothbrush, toothpaste, and sunglasses.

Off we go!

It is 3 miles up to the lake, but well maintained and not steep. It was perfect for Monica. When she would start to get tired, Anton would just feed her berries and tell her she had "Huckleberry Power" and she zoomed ahead.

At the lake! We set up camp and then went for a swim before we made dinner. Monica was fearless. There was a huge rock that stood about 10 feet out of the water and she continuously climbed up, jumped off, and swam in.

Once nice thing about camping at a low altitude is that they allow campfires, which means smores, mmm!
Early the next morning, oatmeal before hiking down and heading back to camp.

"I did it!"
I have to say I have never been so proud of Monica. It was awesome to see the whole experience through her eyes. She did great on the hiking, loved sleeping and cooking in a campsite, and tackled the lake like a pro. She had a grin plastered on her face pretty much the whole time. Her final comment was that next year she wants to go for TWO nights.

Week 3 Randoms

Happy commissioners:

Beautiful Madrona trees on Telescope Point:

The Box Monster is BACK!

Get Max, Jack, get him!

Future scout, already dining hall expert.

Lots of time to swim this week:

Danner Peak Hikes

We hiked Danner Peak twice last week in preparation for our backpacking trip. We were luckily to have "Grandma" Pam with us once and Mark Fellin with us both times!

Anton and the kids bonded over berry-picking. Luckily they still saved enough room for ice cream.

Bookmobile!

The bookmobile comes to Brinnon twice a week...

and thankfully we now have a Jefferson county library card so that we can use it. Monica signed up for the summer reading program. Each week she writes down at least 5 books she has read

and meets with the librarian so that she can get a prize:

Jack likes to pick out books, but mostly enjoys the puzzles and wooden toy collection.

The librarians are already know Monica and Jack by name. Let's hear it for small town life!

A Visit from Mrs. Dirks

A few weeks ago we got an email from Monica's kindergarten teacher saying that she was planning to come to Parsons for a few days to help with her son's troop. Monica was SO excited and counted the days until she got here. We enjoyed visiting with her Wednesday and Thursday. We took her on a tour of camp (Monica did the commentating), bought snacks at the Trading Post, went swimming at Swim Beach, and threw rocks on Mystery Beach.

Hammock