Camp Awesome!
This blog post is primarily dedicated to Owen's adventures over the past few weeks. Again, I started this a week ago and have not had time to finish it during the past week. Super busy first week of Mizzou classes for me, but that's another story. The last weekend in July, we spent the weekend in Iowa at the McNary family reunion. Steph and Danny hosted us, as they did back in 2014. There were far fewer families there this time, but it was fun to see everyone who did attend. At the end of the weekend, we left Gracie there so she could help out with their final camp of the summer and Owen had a week at home by himself. As soon as Deb brought Gracie home Owen left for Windy Gap, North Carolina - Camp Awesome!
We found Owen on the couch Saturday afternoon after trying to keep up with Lucas all night Friday. I think they were up until midnight and then he got up before 7am Saturday to go lift. The we had canoes, paddle boats, swimming and other fun activities. Needless to say, Owen needed a little more sleep. No one could wake him up.
Gracie and Ryleigh sure have fun together!
On their lake in the canoes and paddle boats
Owen tried out the bike boat. I really don't know what this thing is called.
Ryleigh and Gracie again
Owen had a fairly quiet week at home by himself. It was dead week for high school sports, so there was not weight lifting, football, or any other school related activities. He and his Bentlage buddies continued to work out at on their own, though. I also reserved a day to take Owen shopping and get his hair cut. We took him to Academy and he tried on cleats and looked for some other things needed for school and camp. He was resistant to go to Plato's closet, but was very happy that we did. He found two relatively new pairs of shoes for about 1/2 the cost. I told him I would buy one, and he purchased the other pair himself. So, he has a couple pairs of shoes that fit him for when school starts. He was very undecided about the cleats he tried on at Academy, so that took awhile. Of course, we had bought him a pair at the beginning of summer for football related things, and they are already too small. Go figure. I can't believe how fast Owen is growing right now. As you can see in the next picture, he has surpassed Gracie in height.
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What is happening?!
This pic is from the day Grma Deb brought Gracie back from Iowa and Owen left for Camp Awesome.
She is slouching a little, but he is taller than her and will probably pass me up in the next couple months. Unbelievable.
Kegan, Owen, and Zeke getting ready to head east.
These two...
Zeke, Owen, Elliot, and Kegan
The four Ashland boys that went on this trip to Windy Gap, NC.
Owen knew a few other kids who he played flag football with in Columbia, and met some new friends.
Camp Awesome is a church camp sponsored by Young Life. It is coordinated by the Crossing Church in Columbia, which we don't go to regularly, but they open it up to any kids who want to go. There were 7 buses that picked up kids ages grade 6-8 on Saturday, August 5. The high school camp is the week prior to that and they use the same buses for both. High school returned that morning and middle schoolers left at 5pm. It was pretty impressive how they coordinate that many kids and camp counselors. Owen had a great experience. They arrived the following morning around 10am ET. They were allowed to have their devices; phones, ipads, etc on the bus, but collected them as soon as they arrived at camp. We had zero communication with Owen for 4 days.
This is just the group of 8th grade kids
They won the first night challenge.
Owen's group upon arrival
I think this if from the first night of games.
They sent out reels and pictures every day and had tons of pics of all the kids a couple days after their return. It was great to see some of the fun things that they got to do.
Night #2, I believe.
I can't remember what the theme was; obviously black.
This was posted on either Sunday night or Monday. Owen participated in a belly flop contest and was very disappointed to have been beaten by a girl. We got to see the video of him doing it, though.
I'm pretty sure he swam every chance he had.
He said the most fun thing to do was go off the 30 foot high dive.
Pretty sure they did not allow the kids to dive off that though.
The pictures of the camp looked amazing. It seemed more like a resort. A couple weeks prior to the kids leaving they had a meeting for all the parents to inform of the plan and itinerary. We were well aware of the activities each day and there was an extensive list of things that each camper needed to bring with them. It was so organized and detailed from start to finish. Pretty Awesome! They had themes each day and passages that they studied in the bible each day to focus on. I think he will probably want to go back as a high schooler next year.
While you were gone Owen...
Mom converted your room to a teenage room. The football wall and green is gone. The day after Owen left, I started working on getting his room updated. It took the full four days that he was gone, mostly because I was still working full time, too, and only had the evenings to paint. The update was just as much for me as it was for him. I was so tired of the green in his room and I was pretty sure that he wanted something different, along with a bigger bed. He just didn't know what he wanted. Actually, he had told me that he wanted his walls black, but I didn't think that was a very good idea. I made an executive decision...
Before
Goodbye football field and twin bed.
Day 1: Getting all furniture out and priming with a base white again.
Day 2: Bought the new paint colors and did a first coat
Day 3: 2nd coat and painting his shelves.
Day 4: moving furniture back in and cleaning up
After
What a difference this makes! We settled on one dark wall (not quite black) and the rest of them a little lighter to compliment. (Peppercorn and Dorian Grey.)
So... We didn't have another queen comforter and we had to improvise. Two twin comforters of his favorite teams. He actually really liked it and asked if there is any way we can have them sewn together. Grammas??? any help here? You can also see the ISU memorabilia in the background to round out his sports favorites.
Owen arrived back home from camp at 6am on Thursday morning. He was allowed to text us and call us when they got back on the bus Wednesday night. The first thing he asked was to eat something, stop at the gas station to go to the bathroom and to shower. I cannot even imagine what they bus must have smelled like based on having Owen in the car with me for the 20 minute drive home. He admitted that he had not showered since Tuesday night. UGH. At least he knew it and wanted to take a shower.
When we got back home, he immediately noticed the old twin bed in the garage and asked what was going on. He was surprised and not disappointed at all to see that we had updated his room!
This was overdue!
Happy kid in his "new" room.
While Owen was at camp, Gracie and Nick completed their first week of high school softball practices...6am every day, then scrimmage on Saturday. On Saturday, 2 days after Owen returned from camp, he left for Iowa with me to see some family. A "Blyth" family reunion on a much smaller scale. We left mid morning and stopped at the outlet mall in Altoona. We found a couple things and then met the Wearmouths for an afternoon of swimming. Chad's aunt and uncle have a pool and Owen joined his cousins for a little bit in the water. We stayed there for dinner and then carried on to Annie's house to stay the night. The following day, Chad took the kids to the river in the morning for a little bit.
Owen and I went to the mall for lunch and to look around there for an hour or so before going to my aunt and uncle's to see more family. I took him to The Cheesecake Factory for the first time and he of course, got the "bacon, bacon burger." He said it was the best burger he's ever had...better than Texas Road House. That is saying something. I think there was about a quarter pound of bacon on top of the 1/2 pound burger, topped with 1/4 inch thick cheese. Gluttony.
We got to see some of my dad's cousins who were visiting from out east. It was a great afternoon and I'm so glad we made the trip. Not nearly as many people as the McNary reunion, but very nice to get together with family.
Owen an River took turns on the 4 wheeler. He is a little big for River's bike.
River on the 4 wheeler.
Another biking pass following the River. Owen is a good sport.
Owen with River and Kaia.
I got a new vest from work and Owen got his football helmet.
Owen is modeling both.
The day after we returned from Iowa, Owen started practice for his middle school football season. He was very excited about the fancy helmet he was assigned, as an 8th grader. He also took the #32 again this year. By now, he has had 2 full weeks of practices. The 2nd week ended up being 6am practices due to the extreme heat we had for a week. Heat indexes of over 110 in the afternoons. Thankfully it has cooled off during the past couple days.
Sunday, August 20 started a crazy busy week of work for me, as this week does every year. Thankfully the kids had things to do and Nick got some "me" time. Gracie had plans to go on a float trip with a few friends and their families and Owen was invited at the last minute to join Talleys for a lake day. Both had a lot of fun Here are pics from Owen's day; I will add Gracie's later.
Knox and Owen on the back of their boat.
Cruisin'
Owen got to wake surf
Not bad... He also skied.
What a fun day for him. The Talleys probably have no idea how happy this makes our water-loving kid.
Four days later, we had a little get together for a special teen boy.
It actually worked out for all of our neighbors to come over Thursday night to celebrate Owen's birthday. It was a great excuse for all of us to get together for an hour or two and have pizza and cake. It was a win for all!
Owen changed it up this year.
He wanted an ice cream cookie cake instead of the oreo cake he has requested for the past several years.
Side-eye from Owen
I'm sure he's thinking: "Stay away from my cake."
New outfit from Gma Deb
Owen was very confident that he was getting a phone this year for his birthday. He saved what he thought was his new iphone for last and opened up this...a ten-year old+ Samsung. The look on his face was priceless. He was definitely surprised, and tried to hide his obvious confusion and disappointment. I wish I had video recorded this instead of just taking pictures.
He was so confident that he knew what was in the wrapped box.
Then the real gift...I think he liked the iphone better.
I'm so glad he has a good sense of humor. Gracie was even shocked that we did that to him.
So, after a busy week, we ended it with letting the kids go to the rodeo. Nick and I decided to spend the evening at home, while they had a few hours in town watching the entertainment. Nick and I were both exhausted. I had worked all day again, and Nick spent the afternoon fixing the garage door following the cancellation of the softball tournament they were supposed to compete in. Ironically, after a week of non-stop heat and sun, it rained and stormed on the first scheduled competition of the year. Softball game #1 will have to wait.
Who is this teenager?
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