My daughters are finishing their second full weeks of camp today. The girls have two more weeks of camp left, the lucky ducks! All three are attending camps my younger brother and I attended as well. It’s a bit odd to be seeing your children doing things you did as a child. And while some things have changed a lot in the intervening years, a lot has not.

LG is attending Small Fry Camp, which is for the little kiddos in the K-1 grades. She’s been so excited to go, and even insisted on staying for the extended day program so she could have more fun with her friends! She’s ended up with a wonderful counselor for this first session, and we’re hoping her counselor for next session is just as wonderful!

Small Fry camp is at our new YMCA, when I was a kid it was at the old facility, and we would sit on the front steps and sing to “wake up the bank”. Funnily, my mom and I both remember the song, and I’m disappointed they don’t sing it any more. We taught it to LG anyhow, though.

We are from Small Fry.
Small Fry are we.
We never lose our pep-ability!
rah rah rah
We are the best kids
We are the best camp
We are the kids from Small Fry Camp!

Meanwhile, BG and MG have gone out to Children’s Island, which is an island off the coast of our town that has a camp on it, and that’s all it has. It’s a lovely small island with a few buildings (Sailing lodge, Arts & Crafts, Main Lodge, a small building near the Pool, and a couple other small shed-type-things. They get on a boat early in the morning, and come home in the evening, spending all day (practically) rain or shine on the Island.

Right now, one of BG’s favorite things is to swim in the ocean in the rain. MG loves swimming and kayaking, and they both love Rangers, which is a nature focused type program. They aren’t as big on sailing as I was when I was a kid, but I’m sure we’ll get them hooked. At least they are learning the knots they’ll need as sailors in Rangers! MG’s big joy yesterday was that she found a buoy that had washed up in Pirate’s Cove, and then brought it home to decorate her room!

I spent 10 years on Children’s Island – from 6 to 16. I was a camper, a sailor (we had a separate sailing camp then, now sailing is integrated into the main camp), and a CIT. My brother was out there for years as well, and he ended up being a counselor for a while, too. I loved my time at camp, and looked forward to going to camp every summer. I remember one year being disappointed my father was taking us to England because it meant I would miss camp. It’s so wonderful to see the girls following in my footsteps and loving camp so much!

I spent part of last Thursday taking scenic pictures before we went out to the Island, and I’m finding it amazing that the picture I took from the Island to the Lighthouse (at right) is so incredibly foggy, but the picture I took (above) is clear and beautiful. And these pictures were taken just a few hours apart. It was a wonderful late morning for looking at scenery, and then the day got progressively foggier and rainier. But, there are still quite a few beautiful pictures from the day, so go check them out!

MG and BG spent last Thursday night on the Island for the Parents’ Night, and BG spent last night on the Island as part of the Rangers Overnight – you have to be over 10 and have your “blue patch”. This year MG is working on her blue patch so she can stay on the Ranger Overnight next year when she’s ten!

It’s obvious to me that the girls’ counselors know them well – BG was given the award for “future counselor”, and given how she’s been acting with LG and other small children, I can see why! She’s even talking about wanting to be a CIT at Small Fry, not just on the Island. I know not all YMCA camps are great, but this camp is amazing, and I’m so grateful that we are able to send the girls – it’s a wonderful way to spend the summer! I wish I could go with them, relive some time as a camper… It’s just so gorgeous out there, well, if you can ignore all the seagull poop!