camp essentials and my boys are home

Last week we went to children’s camp with our church. We had a great time! This is our second year to go and this year Gabriel went with us as a youth leader. It was just our church and so there were probably only 40 or so campers. We went to a retreat center that is only 45 minutes away – probably only 30 from my house – that is also a ranch. There was a challenge course where we learned how to work as a team, a swimming pool where we had contests such as belly flop contests, hayride, smores, and of course a great Bible study.

As we were packing for camp, we packed some beach towels that I had turned into “totable towels” thanks to Anna Maria Horner . I made these before camp last year, we bought some super cheap towels on clearance at walgreens and then made them totable. These were great for taking to the swimming pool. Especially when your carrying a snowcone in one had and goggles and fun noodles in the other.

The last few years, we’ve had a really hard time finding an appropiate bathing suit for Phoebe. She doesn’t want a one piece since that are hard to deal with when you need to use the lady’s room. (And I agree.)  She really just wants something that she can play in and run around at the pool or beach and not have to worry about having any body parts hanging out that shouldn’t be hanging out. So, we’ve always hunted high and low for a 3 piece. That fixes the bottom part of the suit but most tops are just too revealing. So last year we added some fabric across the chest and we did the same this year. We just bought some swim suit fabric from a local fabric store and I cut a rectangle and folded it over. I put the fold up top and then stitched it along the “v”. Then I turned it over and trimmed the extra fabric off and tacked down the seam allowance. We think it looks pretty good!

While I was packing all the baby stuff we needed for Esther, I decided she needed a tote bag for us to carry her toys in. So I made this unlined tote out of some fabric that my sister had given me and some webbing for the handles that I got at a community fabric sale that the Senior Citizens Organization has a couple of times a year. This week we’ll be making lined totes in our Summer Sewing School. A friend asked, “When would you chose to make an unlined tote instead of a lined tote?” When you decide at 10:30 the night before you leave for camp. oh, yes…that is when you just need an unlined tote.

Christian and Josiah are back from Philmont Scout Ranch and had a great time. They hiked for 65 miles over 10 days. They have blistered feet and very stinky clothes to show for it! We are so glad that they are back. I have a hard time functioning when my family is scattered.

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Thanks for sharing with your friends!