We wanted to do a post so that you know what a week of camp looks like at Camp Highland.  Summer camp started the second week of June, and has run for 8 weeks with a week break for the 4th.  The lowest number of kids at camp for a week has been in the high 30s, and the highest number was close to 70 (totalling about 90 people at camp when the 22 summer staff are included in the number).  I was able to grab pictures of most all the activities, with the exception of lake day/water sports, and rock climbing.  So here’s a little weekly schedule for you:

Monday: campers arrive starting at 10, do registration, and get split into their cabins/groups for the week (split by sex and age.  There are 8 cabins that can each sleep 10 campers and 2 staff).  Between Monday and Tuesday, each group gets to do the high ropes course,

Low ropes course,

and a handful of initiatives and field games.

Wednesday: This is rafting day, where the whole group piles into the camp bus (or buses depending on the size of the group)

and goes to the Nantahala River for a day of rafting.

And of course there is always the potential for added adventure if/when one of the buses breaks down (only happened once, thank goodness!).

Thursday is campers choice day, where they get to select between water sports (wakeboarding, waterskiing, or kneeboarding), horseback riding (contracted out at a nearby farm), or rock climbing (also done offsite for the day).  I only have pictures right now of

Friday is lake day, with tubing and the same water sports listed above.  Also, each cabin group will do the Pamper Pole and the Drop Zone, high-ropes activities that make your stomach drop!  The oldest cabins get to do them, and/or the ropes course, at night in the pitch dark!  It’s one of the things campers really look forward to as they come back to camp each year - to finally be in the oldest cabin and get to do these things at night.  Here’s the Pamper Pole:

Each night everyone gets together in the Pavillion for some worship and teaching, before going back to the cabins for bed.  Heather, one of our summer staff, led worship this summer, and is unbelievably talented.

We had our share of storms, although they were almost always at night.

Campers had the option to sign up for a 2-week session in July, and so they did some fun stuff over the weekend - rapelling and caving.

Then on Saturday morning the parents came starting at 11 to get their campers and hear all about the week.  Then Monday morning it started all over again!

Here is the amazing staff that has served this summer, and we hope many will want to come back next year (lots are already talking about it)

And Erik and Liz came on staff full-time this past spring, and have been huge in making this summer happen.

Overall it has been a very fulfilling and rewarding summer, although a bit hard on our family life.  But we know that this is where we are supposed to be, and feel like the Lord is doing great things through Camp Highland.  We had record attendance this year, even having to close down weeks because they were too full.  A few campers came to the Lord, and many more went farther in their Christian walk during their week here.  It was also pretty amazing to talk to campers and see just how many are returning for their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, or even 6th year.  One camper who was one of Gavin’s campers back in 2002 when he was 9 years old was at camp this summer for 4 or 5 weeks as part of the servant staff - he is 16 years old and has been here for 7 summers straight now, and hoping to be camp staff next year.  It’s stories like these that make it so worthwhile, as we really see camp as being a place where students can grow year after year.

This post turned out super long, but hopefully it was enjoyable and you got a good sense of camp life, and what we (well, Gavin mostly) have been doing all summer, and to see in more detail what some of you have been praying for and investing in!

I have to admit that I have developed quite the hobby in clipping coupons and striving to get the best deals on food, household products, and pretty much anything I can!  We’ve always been bargain shoppers, and I’ve grown up watching my mom clip coupons, and have done so myself for many years, but I have never quite gotten into it like I do now.  I started leaning more about how to really save using coupons and store sales on a couple of websites/blogs - www.couponmom.com, and www.moneysavingmom.com.  They made it so convenient for me to know what coupons match with what store deals for the week, to maximize my savings.

I started using a pretty organized coupon system earlier this year, where I save the coupon inserts from all my Sunday papers, then go back and clip the ones that I need, when I need them.  It took me a bit to get my system down, but I have to say, saving money at the grocery store has become somewhat of an obsession for me - it’s like this game to see how much I can save.  I shop mostly at Publix (I LOVE this store - they have amazing deals, give out tons of store coupons that can be combined with manufacturers, and they accept competitors coupons and double coupons .50 or less), and I have to say, today was my proudest coupon-clipping moment yet.  I am looking at my receipt right now, and I paid $22.19 for groceries that originally rang up at $74.87!  I did not buy a single store-brand item, and my grocery listed consisted of a lot of organic dairy products (expensive items at full price).  I had a total of 24 coupons, a lot of which they doubled.  And on top of that one item is a rebate item and I will get $5.19 back in the mail, making my total only $17!

Last week I was also able to take advantage of Walgreens amazing diaper deal they had going on.  I picked up 18 packs of diapers for the cost (after coupons) of tax -  $1.86.  Now Jackson is out of diapers, and we mostly use cloth, but Morgan still uses a decent amount of disposables, and I actually purchased quite a few newborn and size 1 packs (more on why later!).  I figured even if I don’t use them, I can donate them.

So I guess I’m writing this post for those of you who are reading and have never quite been convinced that coupons really do work.  I am a testimony to say that they really do - granted, you have to develop your own little system to keep things organized, and pay attention to the deals (I shop almost exclusively at Publix, Walgreens, and CVS - at CVS I get an average of $20/month of free items because of their Extra Bucks programs), and I really only pay money out of pocket at Publix (the drug stores have rebate programs where I pretty much get everything free).  It has been months and months since I paid a cent for shampoo, conditioner, soap, body wash, razors, makeup, chocolate, or toothpaste.  I spend probably 30 minutes or so a week matching the deals to my coupons and printing the online coupons, but it has helped us save about $200/month, if not more.

If you are at all interested in my system or learning to use coupons, I would love to share more, but I won’t bore the rest of you with the details here.  The websites I listed above are great resources to get started with as well!

Last week at camp we took some family time and went over to a nearby state park where we launch the boat for lake day.  The kids had fun just throwing rocks into the water.  And Morgan had to do everything that Jackson did, of course!

when your friends are girls!

He would walk around and proclaim himself the ‘prince’ (we at least taught him that he’s not a princess)

Should we show this at his wedding one day?

Ok, as promised I finally have pictures of our ’summer home’.  No, it’s not a cabin on a lake or anywhere quite as peaceful/nice as that… it’s a school trailer set up for us at camp!  This is where we have lived this summer (the truck just happens to be parked there, it’s not attached to the trailer or anything):

I tried to make the inside as livable as possible, since we only had 1 huge room.  I had old curtains that I brought in and hung up to make a divider so that the kids had their half of the room and we had ours.  The pictures are taken from the dividing point, so you can see the 2 halfs of the room.  It’s a bit messy - I should have picked up before taking these pictures!  It also looks a bit bigger than it really is because of the wide angle lens (you can see that my computer screen looks like a bit wider than it should!).  But it was a good size, I won’t complain about that. This half is our side - we brought our futon from home to put on the floor, as well as an old desk so that I could work remotely.  The 2 doors go to a toilet and sink, and then a shower on the other side.

Here is the kids side - I put up more curtains around Morgan’s pack and play, because if she can see anyone, she won’t go to sleep (our little socialite).  Gavin called it her ‘cage’, but I thought it was just a cozy little room. :)  Jackson had a mattress on the floor, then lots of room to play with toys, as this was the only air-conditioned place we could come at camp.  He also enjoyed the huge whiteboard that came in the trailer (like I said, it’s really a school classroom).

While it has worked just fine for us this summer, I’ll be glad to return permanently to our real home.  Camp really wants to build some staff cabins in the very near future, so I’m hoping that they will be done before next summer!

July 4th, for Jackson, truly was Independence Day.  That morning, instead of protesting like he did for every day before that, he readily put on underwear.  That was day 1 of independence, and he has not turned back!  As I write this, he has gone 3 weeks in underwear, and is basically potty trained, with no effort on our part.  He tells us when he has to go, does his business himself, awards himself the right number of stars, washes his hands, and goes back to whatever he was doing. All my friends kept telling me to wait until he was ready and not force anything, but in my mind I kept thinking ‘but he’s almost 3 1/2!’ But now, I see that it really does pay to wait until they are ready!

We have had only a few accidents, mostly when he’s involved playing at camp and doesn’t want to stop and take the time to go.  We are thankful for his crocs - when he fills them, they just wash right out!

He officially finished his star chart today (7-27), and the final reward is a trip to Monkey Joes, one of those bouncy places, which he is very excited about.  We’ll go as a family the first week of August when camps are finally over.  Here’s a picture of him with his progress.

So, we are finally down to just 1 in diapers - yeah!!!  He will be attending a little preschool this fall for 2-3 days/week, so it’s all happened just in time!

This is Majka (pronounced Maika) and Faith, 2 Slovak girls who have come over to work at Camp Highland for the summer.  We were put in contact with them through a mutual American friend in Slovakia, when we were looking for some Slovaks who might want to come work at camp.  They have been so much fun to have here with us this summer - Gavin has gotten some great Slovak practice in (and I have gotten good listening practice - my spoken Slovak is pretty rusty), although they both speak great English.  They have been such an asset to the camp staff this summer, and we hope that they will come back next year (they would like to).

We had a busy and fun weekend the 4th-5th of July.  On the 4th, we went over to some friends of ours from our small group for a cookout and fireworks in the street.  Jackson loved them, but Morgan didn’t appreciate the noise, and spent most of the time sucking her finger on my shoulder.The next day we met a bunch of Camp Highland staff at Stone Mountain.  We knew it would be a late night for the kids, but thought at least Jackson would enjoy the laser show.  First we took the train ride around the mountain, which we thought Jackson would enjoy.Then, thanks to our free park passes because of the Camp Highland outpost at Stone Mountain, we had a fun ride up the gondola to the top.  Once we got there Jackson kept dancing around and shouting “I’m on top of stone mountain!”.          Coming back down, we waited in line forever, and finally got settled for the show.  It started, and Jackson immediately began yelling that he wanted to go home, because it was too loud.  He was only content when Gavin covered his ears with his hands.  Morgan, on the other hand, LOVED the laser show - she was climbing from person to person, sitting on their laps, and squealing at the lasers.  Even the fireworks at the end didn’t bother her. We got home at 11:30 that night, but we all slept til 9:30 the next morning - a record for this family.   It was a fun weekend.

Jackson has come out with some pretty funny and cute things lately, so I thought I would post some of them here.

2 nights ago, around 2:00 am:
Jackson: Mommy?  (calling from his bed)
Me: What?  (calling back from my bed)
Jackson: What are you doing?
Me: sleeping!
… silence …

Last week at Nana and Papas:
Jackson:  Mommy, do you have time to go to the dog park with us?
Me: Yes sweetie, I have time
Jackson: Can you look at your watch and check?

repeatedly over the past few weeks:
Jackson:  Mommy, are you happy?

About 2 weeks ago, talking to Nana on the phone, talking about the houses almost done being built across the street:
Nana: Are they still building those houses across the street?
Jackson: Yes
Nana: Are they big?
Jackson: Yes, they go all the way up to the trees!
Nana: Are they bigger than Daddy?
Jackson:  … thinks for a few seconds… No, they not bigger than Daddy

And, almost daily:
Jackson: Mommy, don’t come in here!
Me: Why?
Jackson: I’m going poopy!
… sigh … maybe one day he’ll actually be on the toilet when he says that!

Singing his abc’s:
Jackson: A B C D D F G.  H I M M M M P. Q R S T U V W X Y and Z. Now I know my ABCs, next time won’t you sing with me.
(we can’t seem to get him to say ‘E’, or remember that there is a ‘J K L’ and ‘N O’.

And a few weeks ago… it just takes finding the right question:
Morgan walks into the living room smelling very much like this lotion we have in her room
Me: Jackson, what are you doing?
Jackson: Just playing
Me: Are you playing with lotion?
Jackson: No
Me: Are you putting lotion on?
Jackson: No
Me: Was Morgan playing with lotion?
Jackson: No
Me: Did you put lotion on Morgan?
Jackson: Yes

And to think that only a year ago he wasn’t saying much more than 4 or 5 words!