Monster Camp Jewell YMCA Post!

Ok, sit back and relax because this is going to be a big post. It is overdue and I know a few people have been asking when it was going up! Last year we went to Camp Jewell with the Odell family. We had so much fun we decided to reserve BOTH sides of the cabin for this year. Upon returning home we immediately roped in the Cooks to join us and they readily agreed. A month or two before Memorial Day weekend we decided it would be more fun if one more family came too, so we invited the Deweys and they quickly got on board. Because we knew there was a good chance that Jessica and Addie were going to pair up and do everything together since they rarely see each other anymore, Becky wisely invited Emma's best friend Christina to join us.

One of our favorite things about Camp Jewell is that almost immediately upon arriving you just relax and "let things go" as Becky says. You know that you are looking at 8 meals ahead of you that you are not cooking or doing the dishes- you have 2.5 days that you get to just play with the kids and do what you want (well mostly).

Upon arriving it became clear that all 4 girls were going to get along great. Night one: Mad Libs in Emma's bunk. From the sounds of the peals of laughter I think it was pretty funny.

The next morning there was a 7am hike up Sunrise Mountain. Jessica woke me up at 6:45am to ask if she could go. I told her there was no way an adult was going and she said, "ok". I told her where to meet the staff member and she said, "I know, it is on the schedule". And when I told her she could go I don't know what she said because all I saw was the backside of her and Addie as they ran off down the path. We met up with them at breakfast and they had a great time. Emma and Christina had gone too. We ended up with all the boys/ men on one side of the cabin and all the girls/ women on the other. The Dads were heard to grumble a bit about how nice it must be on our side since we had no kids as we got ready for breakfast. Our youngest girl, Jessica, is still older than our oldest boy, Jack. We also got the cabin side that did not smell like wet dog- so yes it was nice being a girl.

After breakfast it was time for our family picture. As we arrived at breakfast we noticed that another family group all had matching shirts and had given themselves a name! Memo to self: next year our group will have matching shirts- watch out! Here is our crew:

Want some help?

Then our silly faces...




One of my favorite quotes from breakfast was when Addie came up to me and said, "My mom says I can do everything!!!" For a mom that is pretty fun too- so often we have to say, "nope sorry you can't do that it costs to much" But at Jewell once you pay you don't really have to reach for your wallet again- you get to be a Yes Mom and not a No mom- love that. So Marc and I decided to divide up and Saturday was my day to hang with Jessica. First stop- candles of course. [oh and just so you know I and went and got my hair cut and colored after returning home. Memo to self: spruce up a bit BEFORE CJ next year since there will be many picture of you taken.]

On to BBs... I rocked in case you want to know.

Then to explore a little- chapel island



Arts and Crafts at some point

Archery was very popular with most of us.
Check me out!
Oh yeah- that's right baby!

Justin in particular seemed to come into his own with Archery. He really enjoyed it and got steadily better and better.
It really helped that for a good solid hour on Saturday he was the only person there and he could just shoot and shoot. They let him do 30 arrows at a time instead of the 5 or 6 that is normal. It did cause some confusion the next day when he didn't understand why they wouldn't let him shoot 30 arrows again even though there were a bunch of people there with him. He even began to show a preference for certain arrows and politely decline other ones and go off to find the perfect ones.

Jessica and I headed on to Mount Wood.

I missed her ascent but arrived in time to see her return to ground...

While we were watching Addie tackle the harder side, Emily says to me, "I remember pictures of you last year doing it- is it hard?" Oh no I said you can totally do it. So Emily conquered Mt Wood. But the sound of her shrieks she might not agree with my assessment, but she rocked it!
After lunch Emily and I joined Jessica and Addie on a horse back riding lesson- no pics- we were too busy holding onto the horses! Then we dropped the kids off at Age Groups and we the parents went back to hang out and relax and play some cards.

After dinner it was time for the Campfire. The theme for the weekend was the Wild West! Throughout the day WANTED posters were put up throughout camp with pictures of the staff, their bandit names and the crimes for which they were wanted. The kids were pretty excited. Upon arriving at the Council Ring we got a good look at the bandits! Then they ran away. We were sent off to capture the bandits and bring them back.

We are so clever we were the first families to find bandits. They thought they were so clever to just hide behind the stage. You have to hold hands in a circle around the bandit and walk them back to the council ring. You also need to have one of their wanted posters with you. Since one of our bandits was on crutches we sent out a posse (Mike Jessica and Addie) to go retrieve the wanted posters. Here are our bandits- highly annoyed at being caught so quickly :)


The campfire was very fun- s'mores and songs. Many of our kids signed up to lead a song and had a great time.

There was a an ongoing Wiffle Ball tournament in the Thunderdome all weekend. The Deweys- the Dew Crew- signed up and were scheduled to play against the Killers on Sunday morning after breakfast. We all decided to go cheer them on! If you look carefully you can see the cheering section in the stands behind them.

The Dew Crews Big Slugger!
They didn't win, but they did have fun!
Then off to our Sunday morning plans. Miles and Justin hatched a plan at breakfast. They were going to spend the entire day together. They decided to alternate who got to choose what they were going to do. Jason, Emily and Miles already had a plan to climb up Sunrise Mountain so Justin and I tagged along with that plan. Upon arriving at the top we saw 3 chairs- I think Emily, Jason and I had big plans for those chairs- sadly our companions had different plans.

We stopped for a quick pic- loving Justin's bed head and weird face.

He pulled off a nicer look for this shot- go figure
A view of camp from the top.

On the way down we went in search of the new treehouse. We had heard a lot about it and wanted to check it out. It is SO COOL. It is a two story treehouse out in the middle of the woods. I believe that campers are going to be doing overnights in the summer to this location. I could have hung out here for hours- but again our companions had other ideas.

Oh don't let his sweet smile fool you. This picture was taken mere moments before he threw that red plastic top in his hands into the woods- much to the shock and horror of the 3 adults.

While we were busy hiking up the mountain the rest of our gang decided to do Wild Camp Jewell! Basically outdoor living skills.
Here is Kim learning how to make fire. [I believe Becky forced Kim to learn this skill- Becky has big plans for Kim just in case we slip through the stones when we go to Scotland in the fall. Pretty sure Kim is now in charge of bringing Penicillin, making matches, oh later discovering penicillin and now making fire. Really hoping she hears the humming. Now is when Emily chimes in "I am going to be so pissed at you guys if you do go through the stones". If you have no idea what I am talking about, then you really should read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. If you do read it you are more than welcome to come join us in Scotland in September to see if you will slip through the stones too]

And what were Marc and Matt doing all morning? They were building out boat for the cardboard boat regatta. They were hoping to get the boat built in the morning so that the kids could decorate it in the afternoon.

Here are Justin and Miles playing one of Justin's favorite things about Camp Jewell- Carpet Ball!In the afternoon the kids headed to the beach. They were very excited to swim and play on the blob! There is a trampoline, a slide...

It was fun to jump off too!

Then the girls showed up...
Here they are demonstrating the coolest thing about the blob. Here's how it works. One person crawls out to the end. In this case Jessica. The other person jumps from the trampoline unto the inside part of the blob. In this case Christina. Then you will see what happens....




We left the beach and headed to A&C to decorate our boat. Emma remembered that last year Marc wanted to name the boat the Humorless Vegetables but he lost the coin toss- so she decided this was the year of the humorless vegetables. Here are all the kids decorating our boat.

Justin and Emily sharing a joke.

Then it was time to bring the boat to the beach, with their armed escort of course.

Here is our cheering section...

Oh sorry- this is better.


This is Steve. We met Steve in February when we went for Family Camp. Officially Steve was not working this weekend, but he had never seen the regatta before so he came down. I also saw him MANY times throughout the weekend and pretty sure he was cutting a mean rug at the Hoe Down that night. I think this falls into the category of "you know you love your job when..."
Here is our gang getting ready for the regatta. There did not seem to be as many boats as there were last year. We decided to get adults into our boat this year- both Kim and Marc were gung ho about getting in the boat. We had 6 kids in the boat as well- so 8 total.
Here is the video of our performance. Watch carefully and you will see Marc bop a girl on the head near the end because he couldn't see where they were going. He claims it was better in the long run, if he hadn't been paddling they would have run right over that child with Kim's power stroking in the back of the boat.



Many many more boats seemed to die in the water this year. Here is a shot of the field as our boat headed out.



And who won you ask? This boat. They admit it took them one whole Saturday at home to make it- they brought it to camp mostly made.
We were quite proud of our performance this year. At the Hoe Down we received the award for Most Spirit- when they called our team at the beginning they all yelled, "HUZZAH!" in unison and we won for most crew members- the kids were over the moon psyched! Memo to self: next year we are thinking of going theme based on our boat and costumes.

Sunday night was a hoe down square dance and hayrides- very fun. Justin was exhausted by Sunday night. I didn't have my camera at dinner but if I did you would see a picture of him with his head on the table slowly putting pieces of pasta in his mouth. At the hoe down when the staff came by with the cart carrying all of the ice cream sundae fixings he perked right up. He went over to the table and asked if he could help set up the table thus guaranteeing his first place spot in line.

On Monday morning the kids joined their age groups and we the parents packed up the cars. Then it was our last chance to do some of our favorite activities. Next year I think Marc and I might use some of our age group free time to go out on a canoe since neither of us could convince a child to go out in a boat with us. If you ask Marc what he did I think he would say, "Archery, BBs, Archery, BBs" You get the idea. We headed up to Dining Hall for our cookout.

Here are all our kids (minus Justin who was COVERED in popsicle yuck and had to get a new shirt) and the staff!
Another WONDERFUL FABULOUS weekend!!! We left having clearly converted two more families and brought them into the Camp Jewell family. We stopped by the office on our way out and signed up again for next year. How could we not go? We have big plans! When I asked Jessica what her favorite part is about Camp Jewell she thought and then said, "It is easier to tell you what I don't like. I don't like that we have to go to sleep and that the program areas close." Not too bad Camp Jewell.

Ray, if you are reading this blog, which I know happens sometimes, you need to know that you and staff do a wonderful job. We had a great time and can't wait to come back again and again- THANK YOU!