Lake Junaluska

We spent most of the week at Lake Junaluska with our best friends.  I’ll start at the beginning of the week though.

Monday morning the kids started KinderCamp.  Their elementary school hosts a 3 day KinderCamp to introduce kindergarteners to the school.  They are put in classes and they will probably keep those teachers.  Lindy definitely will and Will most likely will have the teacher they had during camp.  At 9am Monday morning we found their teachers.  Lindy’s new vision teacher was there and she watched Lindy while we got Will squared away with his teacher.  The kids finally lined up to go to their classes and the parents had an informational meeting in the music class.  We got all kinds of information on dropping off and picking up and lots of other school rules.  The theme of the camp was Teddy Bears so each day they had to bring a teddy bear. 

They had KinderCamp on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Tuesday I was supposed to just drop them off in the front of the school but we had a little mishap with Lindy’s FM system so I had to park and walk in and find out where the thing was.  Wednesday morning Drew really did just drop them off like big kindergarteners.  At 11am they had a teddy bear tea for all the parents.  The principals talked to all the parents for way too long(!) and then all the kids came out and sang three songs for the parents.  After that they had refreshments for everyone.  The kids really enjoyed KinderCamp and they are very excited about kindergarten.  The only thing Will didn’t like was the magic potties – the automatic ones.  He hates automatic potties.  He also hates loud potties.  The one in his classroom isn’t automatic but the ones in the hall are.  I basically told him he has to get over it.  We’ll be talking a lot about that this summer!  Lindy’s vision teacher wrote me a note Monday evening that said she had done great at school!  She said she loved Lindy’s spirit and independence!  I wrote her back and said she definitely had spirit, too much sometimes!  I really appreciated her writing the note.  I’m nervous about her and kindergarten! 

Drew picked them up a few minutes early on Tuesday because Lindy had an ENT appointment to get the ear wax out of her ear that the pediatrician’s office couldn’t get out.  Drew said it ended up being a waste of time and money.  He said he got out just one more little piece.  Not worth the trip.  What can you do?

I took from Wednesday to Friday off this week.  I had a dentist appointment at 8am Wednesday morning.  Drew left for Lake Junaluska around 9:30am Wednesday morning.  I finished packing and loaded up the car and headed to the Teddy Bear Tea at KinderCamp.  We left school and got gas and headed out of town around 12:45pm. 

We go to Lake Junaluska because Drew is a member of the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church and he has a big meeting there every June.  We have been going 12 years but for the past 8 years we have stayed with our best friends Katie and Kris at Katie’s parents’ house at Lake Junaluska.  Micah was just a babe the first year we stayed there and our kids and Claire didn’t exist!  The second year we stayed there I was pregnant and spent the whole week on the porch swing and then the kids have been going every June since they were born.  They’ve been 6 years in a row!   The kids and I love going to Miss Katie’s mountain house.  It’s a work trip for Drew but it’s a vacation for us!  The area is so gorgeous and we get to play with our friends. 

We got up there Wednesday and I got the kids and car unloaded before dinner.  We met Mike and Janice for dinner – they are lay delegates from our old church.  We enjoyed our annual dinner at Butts on the Creek – a yummy BBQ restaurant.  Thursday we messed around the house in the morning and then met one of Drew’s friends for lunch.  Kris was able to come up on Thursday afternoon this year which was fun.  He and Drew took the kids to play putt putt in the late afternoon while Katie and I did a little shopping and getting groceries.  We got back and we made the most scrumptious meal.  We all enjoyed it.  Friday Kris, Katie, and I took the kids to ride paddle boats on the lake.  A first for us!  Kris took the boys with him and Katie and I had the girls with us.  It was an adventure!  Katie did the bulk of the pedaling because I could barely reach the pedals and I was holding on to Lindy for dear life!  We turned in circles a few times and finally got it figured out before heading back to dry land!  We played some putt putt after the paddle boats and headed back to the house.  Friday evening we did the coolest thing.  All 8 of us piled into our car and we picked up Bojangles on our way out to Cataloochee.  It’s a state park in the Great Smokey Mountain National Forest.  We drove up the side of a mountain into the Cataloochee valley because you are supposed to see a ton of elk up there.  We got there and we set up our picnic area and then we started seeing elk immediately!  It was wild!  We saw a ton of them and literally got about 10 feet from some.  They have these signs saying do not go any further so you don’t disturb the elk.  One elk went over to the sign, starting nibbling on it and then ripped it out of the ground!  It was so funny. He dropped it and walked off!  We told a ranger that drove by and he fixed it.  We went on a couple different trails and saw elk off in the woods.  There was a little stream the boys were skipping rocks in and Lindy was just running around with wild abandon.  It really was a cool outing.  The kids didn’t get quite how cool it was but oh well.  It was fun to do something new that we’d never done. 

We loaded up Saturday morning and headed back down the mountain for home.  Will got up saying his tummy was empty and he needed water so we headed downstairs for breakfast.  He had taken one little bite of a donut and had drunk some milk and I heard a spitting noise.  I look over and he had thrown up all over himself.  I got over to him and he continued to throw up the milk on his plate.  We got him cleaned up and changed his clothes and he laid on the bed for awhile and never got sick again.  We got away from the house around 11:45am and he was back to playing and running around before we left.  He ate some applesauce and some peanut butter crackers for lunch and we made it home with no problems.  While we were upstairs unpacking he yelled up and said he felt sick.  I got him a throw up bucket but he didn’t do anything.  I walked through the den awhile later and he was sitting up with the bucket and finally he did throw up.  He has been throwing up ever since.  Not a ton, maybe once an hour.  He has a low fever and he doesn’t feel well.  He fell asleep on the recliner and spent the night there while I slept on the couch.  I sure hope we don’t get it and I really hope the Bryants don’t get it.  They won’t invite us back to stay with them if we get them all sick this year! 

Our weeks are just packed full of fun this summer and this was a good one (except for Will bringing home a stomach bug).  Assuming everyone stays healthy this week we have more fun in store!!

Ready for Day 1 of KinderCamp!Will drew his own UNO game this week.  He made cards and instructions.  The instructions are the big piece of paper.  It might look like gibberish but he knew what every one of those letters stood for!  His wild card. We played a few times and I actually won a game!KinderCamp singing!The almost kindergarteners. Sniff. Sniff.The yearly picture with the Butts on the Creek sign. Been coming here since they were in infant car seats!We had an ice cream sundae bar on Thursday evening.Paddle boating Friday afternoon!Playing putt putt after boating.The first elk we saw as we were driving into the park.A bunch of people riding horses came off a trail and one of the ladies brought hers over to see the kids.Some of the elk we saw.The elk picking up the sign in his mouth!The Bryants!Sweet boy!Using his telescope to spot elk!Well hello, Elk!I love this picture Katie took!  A sweet picture of Will and me with an elk over our shoulder.  ha ha!!Best Buddies!  These guys had a ton of fun this week.  Will and Micah played great, as did Lindy and Claire!The beautiful valley we were in!On the way out we saw this group in the valley.We also saw this bad boy!At this point the kids were over the elk.  Is this a glimpse into our future?!The annual porch swing pictures!