Over The River And Through The Woods To Get Joel At Camp We Go!

It was a rainy, rainy day when we went to retrieve Joel from Camp Allendale on Friday, but that didn't dampen Seth's spirits any! I thought by the time we got to Joel that Seth might explode into a million tiny pieces. The quality of the photos isn't spectacular, as I had to take them with my Blackberry. I left my camera at my sister's house in Cincinnati and still need to get it back.

So, together again:

Seth was beside-himself-happy to have his brother back, and Joel was full of great stories about how much fun he had all week long. He already can't wait to go back next year.

A couple of Alexx's friends were counselors and Joel got to know them well this week. So he's flying high that he's now friends with his 17-year-old brother's pals. I'm not sure the 17-year-old brother will like that, though!

So he told us about two really, really good friends he made.

Sean: "So where are they from?"

Joel: "I dunno."

Sean: What are their last names?"

Joel: "I dunno."

Sean: "You really connected with them, huh?"

Boys.

This is Corey (our church's junior high pastor) and Joel after Corey had just been in the lake baptising a couple of girls from our church.

So camp was a great success! I knew he would be glad he went once he was there.

The rest of the 4th was good. The weather cleared up in the afternoon; it was beautiful, and we had great family time just playing in the yard. We went to the parade and walked around the town square a bit before returning home to cook out. We had several invitations to get-togethers, but after driving to get Joel at camp and spending time there and driving home (it's over an hour away), we were exhausted!

Are we old?

Alexx (17) was too cool to spend the holiday with us - he was with his friends. I guess I remember wanting to be with my friends at that age instead of my parents . . . barely.