Some of my favorite memories from childhood took place during swim camp at Green Canyon. We went up for a week during the summer, camped, took swimming lessons, and hung out with my best friend and her family. We ran around so carefree. The only rule was that we had to have a buddy and we had to go to two swimming lessons a day. My buddy was my best friend, and we'd spend the week swimming, playing mermaids, tromping through the creek, eating goodies, and playing barbies. It was glorious. We practically lived in the water for the week, so we all were great swimmers by the end of the week.
Taryn proposed doing this very thing with our own kids, and she arranged for Swim Camp lessons from July 19-23. On Sunday, July 18, we went to another ward's sacrament meeting, loaded up in the van, said goodbye to Brian, and headed North. Chelsea and I met up in Farr West by the freeway exit and caravanned the rest of the way together. Funny enough, after making it all the way to Idaho Falls, getting onto Highway 20, getting onto Highway 33 in Sugar City, and making it halfway to the Canyon Creek Road that Green Canyon Hot Springs is on, we found my mom, Emily, grandparents, and Taryn a few cars ahead of us in some road construction traffic. Without too much planning, we all arrived at the same time to the campground. It was pretty sweet.
We spent the rest of the day setting up camp: getting the trailers hooked up, setting up tents and cots, setting up our outdoor kitchen, and cooking dinner. With all the excitement in the air, Gabe didn't go to bed very easily, and he kept waking up.
The next morning, it was time! We all headed up to the pool to get everyone checked in for lessons.
It took a while to get everything sorted properly, including getting everyone in the right class. I had to explain to everyone that even though my kids looked small, they already knew some swimming basics. Rachel really should have been in a more advanced class, but she wanted to be with Amber, and we figured Amber would do better with Rachel there. I kept having to remind myself that for me, it was really about cousin time. It helped me not be too frustrated that Rachel didn't try harder. Michael and Gabe were awesome though! Michael and Matthew were first placed in the very top class, but the instructor didn't explain things very well, so after the first hour lesson, Michael and Matthew went down to be in a class with Sarah, Heather, and Wyatt.
The kids had an hour of lessons, then an hour break, and then another hour of lessons each day.
I had these sunglasses that I didn't think looked that good on me, so I had my mom try them on. I thought they looked better on her.
So, I gave them to her.
Monday night, my mom's cousin, Amy, and her two youngest girls met us in camp so I could take their family pictures and a few senior pictures for her daughter. They live in Rexburg.
I had made arrangements for my mom to watch my kiddos that night so I could do this session. She told me that Gabe was having a really hard time, throwing fits and being unkind to his cousins, so she put him on a time-out some time after dinner. After that, he went up to Mom and said, "Grandma, will you put me in bed?" He didn't need to ask twice.
Meanwhile, back at home, Gracie took full advantage of my absence by sleeping on my side of the bed.
And a house nearby started making serious progress.
On Tuesday, my grandparents needed to head home for some doctor appointments, so I made sure to get some pictures with them.
I had made these shirts for this occasion. I came up with the idea to do Poseidon Swim Academy State Champions for the older kids, and I was going to make shirts that were either Mermaid academy or Shark Academy or something for the younger kids, but after consulting with my sisters, we decided it would be cool if they all said Poseidon Swim Academy State Champions on them. The trick was coming up with what the adults' shirts would say. After much back and forth (and some really funny ideas), we landed on Cheer Squad. So, ours said Poseidon Swim Academy Cheer Squad on them, and we all lived up to our self proclaimed shirt title. We cheered all those kids on while they tried to figure out how to swim. For most of them, this was their first lessons, and they felt a little silly about being so old and not knowing how to swim. Here's the cheer squad, minus Cassidy who didn't make it up there until after Grandma and Grandpa left.
Chelsea, Gabe, and I slept in my tent.
And Rachel, Amber, Heather, Sarah, Michael, and Matthew slept in Chelsea's two room tent. Taryn and her kids slept in Taryn's trailer, Emily slept in Grandma's trailer, and Cassidy slept in Mom's trailer when she arrived. Emily had a tent for Wyatt and Henry. Taryn had invited me to stay in her trailer with her, but I didn't want to be in there with her little kids, so I opted to bring my own tent. I also wanted to not feel like I was intruding on her space all week. Chelsea and I got in a bit of trouble for putting our kids in a tent together and not including other cousins in there. We really weren't trying to be exclusive or leave anyone out; we were just trying to make the arrangement work.
The next morning, we were back to lessons.
I loved that the five oldest cousins (well, the five oldest that were there) were in a class together. They were so sweet to support each other, especially when it came to the harder things, like treading water. They cheered each other on and had so much fun together.
When we weren't swimming, we were eating, exploring, playing games, or just hanging out. We brought all kinds of games for kids to play.
And, we made sure to get a group picture. In typical Chadwick tradition, we did the shortest to tallest picture, although I think this may be the first time we did this with this younger generation.
Mom with her grandkids, minus Jack.
The whole group, except Grandma & Grandpa.
We were so happy to have Cassidy join us for a few days. Erika was going to come too, but she didn't get it off. Cassidy is not much of a "play in the pool" kind of girl, but she delighted us by hopping in and swimming with us when we were up there. We went up to swim once a day in the afternoon to help the kids practice what they'd learn and to get a little exercise.
The next morning, you guessed it, the exodus to the pool began.
And we made breakfast for them for after they got back.
After breakfast, it was back up to the pool for more lessons.
Chelsea and I made a trip into Rexburg to pick up a few more supplies, and we decided to buy Twister. It was a good idea. The kids had never really played it before.
We also picked up some sidewalk chalk since we had this paved pavilion area.
There was marshmallow toasting, and s'mores, of course.
And whatever this is here (I think he was trying to look really tough and scary).
Grandma & Grandpa came back, and we always love having them around.
I love these two girls. Would you ever guess that they're only six and a half months apart? Amber got the tall genes and Rachel got the short genes.
The weather was really good for us the entire week...except for a crazy freak storm that blew in one night. We were making ice cream in a bag when it hit. Out of nowhere, the wind picked up and the clouds burst. Most everything under our pavilion ended up getting wet because it was raining sideways. We rushed all the kids into Mom's trailer while trying to get everything protected. The wind grabbed the awning on my mom's trailer and ripped it completely off! It was crazy! Gabe apparently was quite concerned about me staying outside during the storm. Within 15 minutes, the storm was gone. There was a little trepidation among the kids about what had happened. I reminded my kids that we'd been praying for rain for months and months, and that Heavenly Father answered our prayers, and that it was okay that it rained on us. We were safe, and everything was just fine. We were grateful to hear that it rained back home as well. We can't complain about rain during a drought, even if it comes while we're camping.
Thursday night was our last night. Gabe gave hugs to all three grandparents
and anyone else who wanted one, and I tucked him into bed.
I also tucked in these sweet fish.
And we had our last round of games in Mom's trailer. We'd played games together every night. This is one of our favorites, "Oh He&&". Here's the one card round. We made sure to cover up the mirrors so nobody could cheat.
We had a gloriously beautiful moon that night.
The next morning, the kids had their final lessons and we broke camp. I was so grateful for Matthew and Wyatt helping me to load my van since I still wasn't supposed to be lifting heavy things.
Chelsea caught this snake near our camp. Good thing we were leaving that day!
We took a couple final pictures with Grandma.
A few other things about camp.
Gabe completely overcame any fear about the water. He's a diving, swimming torpedo machine! He finally mastered his little front crawl. His other strokes could probably use some work, but he was so fun watch in the water. He loved jumping into the deep end and swimming back to the side. We would stand in a circle where it was too deep for him to touch and have him swim between us. My favorite thing was his alligator dive where he would dive into the pool by sliding on his belly and dropping himself face first into the water. It was adorable! He wins the most improved award for swim camp, at least out of my kids.
Each day, I would also force Rachel to practice swimming across the deeper waters. She definitely got more proficient, and I no longer dread taking them to the pool. It was fun watching her play with her cousins, especially Amber. I was really grateful for the week where she got to have some sister-cousins. Because Rachel doesn't have a sister, she needs these experiences! She doesn't have those after bedtime pillow talks with a sister like I had with Chelsea. She doesn't learn how to share the girlie things or learn how to let someone else's idea take the day. I know it's not the same, but sharing a tent room with three other girls was very much needed and appreciated! She is really sad that she doesn't have a sister.
Michael continued to be an awesome swimmer, and I loved watching him cheer on his other cousins. He worked on new strokes, and that was fun to see. My favorite was when they all needed to pass off their treading water for the swim level certification. Sarah was especially nervous about it. She'd never learned to swim before this week. When it came time for her to test, Matthew and Michael got in the water next to her and treaded water with her, telling her she could do it. They'd already done their tests, and I'm sure they were tired, but they were not about to abandon Sarah during her hour (er, one minute) of need. It was so sweet.
As for me, I slept horribly all week, and I developed a head cold as a result. I really hate how poorly I function if I don't get good sleep! One night, halfway through the week, I kind of had my tired, spiraling breakdown. I was just so exhausted! I just wanted to go to bed and sleep forever! Chelsea found me up at the pool (the only place with a sort of decent cell signal), brought me back to camp, gave me a pep talk, told me I needed to play games with the adults, and promised to get me kids to swimming lessons the next morning so I could sleep. She also made sure I was taking extra vitamins and drinking lots of fluids. Sometimes, it's nice having a nurse for a sister! I did go home from camp completely exhausted and sick. Michael was my champion co-pilot for the drive, and Chelsea and I caravanned halfway home again (I left her at McCammon when the people in her car needed to make a rest stop, but nobody in our car did). Brian was amazing to take on the kids while I recovered. I spent the next two days in bed with the cold. (this was overkill, but we had a trip to South Carolina coming up the Tuesday after we got back). The amazing thing is that when I think about Swim Camp, I had forgotten all about my struggling, sleep deprived self. I forgot how sick I got, and how miserable I was. I just remembered the fun games, the family time, the cousin time, and the kids' progress. I almost regret telling Taryn there was no way we could do it again next summer. Almost.
Thank you, Taryn, for making this happen!
