Mother Daughter Camp AHG 2016

One Word. Amazing. Seriously. When I thought Mother Daughter Camp, I thought, "It'll be a neat chance to bond before the baby comes, but there is nothing that they can do to build our relationship. I was wrong. I had been nerves all week about driving out to the Ocoee/Hiwasee campgrounds. I kept thinking I wouldn't have signal and and get lost and never find my way back. But I pushed myself. And we went. Left early in the afternoon after I packed everything and checked the house a million times. And I didn't really get lost. I was just unsure of myself at one point. (Actually the way back took me longer because I went the completely opposite way around a mountain. Don't laugh. I don't have GPS. I feel like I live in the stone age here.) Anyway, the camp grounds was gorgeous! (and I had cell signal for emergencies!) When we pulled up, I immediately knew why they chose that camp ground. It was far enough away from other people that our large group of almost 100 would not bother anybody. Even during our dance party. It was clean. Easy access for the girls to go swimming. Trails. Just. Perfect. The scene was set. Sam helped me unpack and then ran off to ride bikes worth her friends. It didn't bother me until that night at dinner when she still wanted to run off with them. I was hoping this wouldn't be a pattern for the entire weekend. But I helped the older girls prepare dinner. And I visited with my friends as well as women I didn't know. (It was a multi troop event, so there were people I'd only met at other multi troop functions. By multi troop I mean one other troop. The troop we are doing Summer Camp with. So some faces were familiar from our playing meeting.) We had dinner, made s'mores, did the same party, and then Sam came crashing down. We laid together in our hammocks, but the trees were so weak they kept bending and we would touch the ground. Despite the many offers we received to sleep in other people's tents, Sam wanted to lay under the stars. She said it wasn't camping unless you can see the sky. So we set up camp right on the ground. We bundled up. (It was COLD.) I held her hand and she was asleep in less than 3 minutes. We woke up at 6:30 in the morning, had breakfast and visited with the other early risers. Lots of coffee drinkers. After a few hours they started devotion and connection activities. The devotion was about being joyful in hard times. Joyful that you have a chance to rely on the Lord and show him your Faith. The activity was unrelated, but my favorite part. We took a sheet of paper and some M&Ms. The paper had a different color M&M by each question and you picked out an M&M to decide what question to ask each other next. One of them was an "any question." The other was "If you could go anywhere with me, where would you go and why?" That was a tough one. Because I don't know where, travelwise, we would connect the most. So I told her I'd just like to go out on the ocean on a big boat and swim and listen to music and talk and read in the sun. A big boat. Like a party boat, but just us. She chose something we always do, but she was adamant that she would rather go there than anywhere in the world, and that was hike together, slowly down a trail, talking about every different plant she saw and stopping to paint whatever we wanted. (The only different part she chose about what we do and what she wanted, was that she wanted to do it in the Smokies.) During the free be question I asked her what is one thing we do that she believes help us keep our relationship the strongest. She said, "Can I pick two? Cuddling. Because I need cuddling to feel loved. And being together all day every day." Her response shocked me. I mean the cuddling makes sense, but I was surprised she said being together so much. But she explained that she loves that I know everything going on with her. And that I'm there to help with all of her stuff. That she gets time with friends. But not too much time. And if she needs advice, she doesn't have to wait to ask me. It was nice to hear that....unprompted. Because I have tried to make sure with her before that she doesn't feel we are together too much or that she wakes me involved in her stuff. (Although, I should have known when she begged me to be a part if her Tenderheart Classroom that it wasn't an issue.) I told her that her openess and willingness to discuss literally anything, even questions that make her face go red, is the reason I feel we can stay so close. We can talk all day long, but I might never know that she us bothered by something a friend of hers is hers through. (She was upset for one of her friends whose Mom is having a girl because she won't be the youngest girl in the family anymore. Her friend told her she was excited for the baby, but it made her sad. And Sam carried that around with her at camp all weekend. She told me during our time by the creek.) Or I may not know all the embarrassing questions she has about how pregnancy works unless she had the nerve to ask me. Heck, she has alone time in her room, and unless she was willing to share the thoughts and prayers she had during that time, I wouldn't know those either. And I try to give her a double sided relationship to some degree. She obviously does not need to know alot mine and Jessie's sex life. I don't even discuss that with friends. She doesn't need me to throw my stresses on her. BUT, I'd certainly go to get for advice, especially about friendship. She keeps my feet on the ground. I might be feeling angry or used or lied to and she basically gives me advice I give her about forgiveness and calling down. I try to tell her about my childhood. Because I see her grow up, but she didn't watch me grow up. She lives to hear stories about me as a kid. She says it makes her think of me as "more human." Just stuff like that. There were some other questions. We answered them. And she had sweet answers. We sat by the water. We talked about what she wanted to paint when she got home because she was so inspired. By time we walked back, everyone was done and preparing for photos and games. Hungry Hippo "Human Edition" was super fun. But the grass had burs do it was a little painful and Sam had to stop about half way through. Lunch and free time came. We ate and played some card games together. They all played in the water for hours instead of the bike ride. The leader said she just couldn't pull the field away and force them to follow the agenda. So 3 hours later, Sam had a WONDERFUL time, we got ready for safety training and a hike. Everyone had a buddy and Moms didn't have to come, but if they wanted to, they could be their daughter's buddy. Sam begged me to. Of course I knew I already would. They challenged us to find something in nature every color of the rainbow. And we did! We talked for a long time. The hike was about a mile loop around the camp grounds. Then we got back and made dinner before I died. We had hotdogs over the fire. (AHG usually provides the first camp meal. And after that each family is on their own.) Then we visited while waiting on the obstacle course to get set up, but the pool was broken, so they couldn't. And then we left. (Not much to pack when all you have is hammocks and bikes out, so that was nice. The only thing we missed was the night hike to the water fall, but we forgot our head lamps and it was mostly gear toward the older girls, so we sat out. I had planned to talk to S all the way home, but she went on for shot 10 minutes about how much fun camp was and then she passed out with her face between the cooler and the seat. Camp was such and joy for her and for me. She says we must go back every single year. And that, I promised her. I really enjoyed that time with her and also with the other Moms. AHG has been so great for both of us and I hope we can continue to do it for years.