Kids Camp 2009

Well, Ti and I went to Beaverton Foursquare's Kids Camp Again this summer. So, a few stories:

First, the camp had a new feature this year, a 30 or 40 foot long water slide! The first afternoon, Ti and I went to the candy cabin and then went and watched the other kids going down the slide, followed by a short visit to the creek for some shallow water wading. But the next afternoon, Ti told me he wanted to go to the Snack Shack and then the waterslide. I asked him if he wanted to watch the kids again or ride the slide? He told me he wanted to ride the slide. So we sat and watched the other kids while he ate his candy and got him ready for the event. (This is the first ride that he has ever gone down on a water slide) I figured the little guy would make a run down the slide, realize the shock and surprise of the cold water and the wet pool at the bottom and then decide to go somewhere else. Boy was I wrong. He spent the rest of the afternoon running up the hill to get in line so he could go for another ride down the blue monster. Very cool milestone. He did really well standing in line and waiting his turn, only now and then he had to get out of line to come and tell me what he was going to do next, "Dad! Next time I'm going to go dwon on my knees!" (Which really didn't work well but, it was a grand thing for him to actually come over and tell me this.)

Bad event, I asked another counselor to watch Titus at dinner time while I ran into the kitchen to make him some "safe" rice spaghetti to go along with the spaghetti everyone else was eating. The counselor seemed to get it and said he would keep an eye on him. When I got back to the table with a plate of spaghetti, the counselor smiled and said he made sure Titus didn't get any spaghetti but, he did give him a peice of garlic bread to tide him over. CRAP! (For those of you who don't know, Titus is on a gluten/cassien free diet. No wheat, no dairy, and any of their derivatives) Yep, Garlic Bread is chock full of butter (dairy) and wheat flour. CRAP! This meant that the evening would be "loopy" and the morning would really suck for him. And...they did. Plus, the next morning I told another counselor, no pancakes but he can eat the sausage. So the counselor made sure he didn't get any sausage. DOUBLE CRAP! (yep, I mouthed the words at church camp, I am in big trouble now) Sometimes the dairy takes a little while to work its magic, Wendsday night during worship...the room was dry and hot, the motions were full of jumping and screaming...and Titus was bent over the chair in front of him working that butter right back out the way it came in. By the time I got him out of the auditorium and into a bathroom, breakfast, lunch, dinner, breakfast, lunch and dinner again, all made their way back up-out- and onto the floor. Poor guy. He looked back at me a little later and said, "I shouldn't have eaten the garlic bread and pancake huh? They made me sick..." Yep little buddy, thems made you sick. But he recovered well and the staff was incredible, all 5 puddles were cleaned up before I had Titus cleaned up and into a new shirt. Good job folks.

One of the worship songs had the lines: I am free to run...(kids echo I am free to run) I am free to dance...(echo) I am free to live for you...(echo) I AM FREE! (ECHO) My son had me crying tears of laughter as he exclaimed as loud as he could, I don't want to run, I WANT TO GO HOME! I don't want to dance, I WANT TO GO HOME!....As the final lines crescendo in repetative "I AM Free!" repeated 4 times...Titus crescendoed with I WANT TO GO HOME! The cool part was, he knew he was making a joke and smiled the whole time he was doing it.

All in all, it was a really good week. The weather was warm and sunny. The food was quite filling. And the activities, worship time, and all else was a joy to be a part of.