Camps for the Boys

This week Mike had the opportunity to participate in a unique college freshmen orientation activity conducted by one of his doctoral advisees, a Wayne State University Freshmen Quests canoe trip. We took off bright and early Monday morning and spent Monday through Wednesday on the Au Sable River near Mio, Michigan.

Mike and Bill telling the freshmen how to make their professors happy

Chris, our fearless leader, speaking sage words of wisdom

Learning the Wayne State Fight Song

You never know when a random camera might snap your picture. Always be prepared with something worth taking. . . .

In the meantime, Hallie held the fort with the kids. Landon spent mornings from Monday through Friday at the Knapsackers Camp.

Landon with a knapsackers camp counselor

Mom was so eager to get Landon there on Monday that she forgot the house key. Good thing Dan was available to help get everyone back in.

Mark and Miles enjoyed the afternoon’s entertainment. “Better than cable!”

Said entertainment included jump-starting Dan's car.

Eliza is very active but not very vocal for 18 months. To make sure everything is OK, Hallie took her to the audiologist. No problem there! We’ll keep waiting for her to move into communicating with words. She successfully communicates what she wants via sign language and visual signals.

"A Utah fan am I!"

"Mid-afternoon nap? Yeah, right!"

The school district came the next day and did an evaluation that said everything is fine except for she is not speaking. So come fall she will do group speech one day a week and they will give us a home plan. Hallie also had the opportunity of meeting Nancy Kaufman of Kaufman Children’s Center recently. Nancy did a brief evaluation of Eliza and made the recommendation for Eliza to come for two half-hour sessions starting in September. We are glad the cars get relatively good gas mileage.

Landon started soccer this week up in St. Clair Shores with a program we heard about from Sean and Jen. He seems to be very excited, and his coach seems good. He asked on the way home from church when does real soccer start. Hallie tried to explain that practicing is part of real soccer. We will see how well he understood that come practice this week. Come September 5, Landon will be back doing cartwheels and flips all around the gym at Extreme Gymnastics.

While on the river trip, Mike had some delicious camp food (no, seriously), including couscous and an improvised version of gumbo for dinner. He enjoyed the soup and a later chat with Dan about soups so much that he got inspired on Friday to make gumbo. Using a rotisserie chicken and spicy sausage from Costco, Creole and Cajun spices from Bulk Foods, and a couple of recipes he found online, he concocted something that tasted yummy even if it might not have been totally authentic. 

He even made stock from the chicken carcass to be used in a later soup. He’s looking forward to trying out Grandma’s beef and barley stew in the fall among others.

For her part, Hallie found inspiration from the I Heart Organizing blog. We now have file folders all set for when the kids go to school. While neither kid is going to school quite yet, Landon will start preschool three days a week and a Kindergarten readiness program two days a week. Eliza will go to a “mom’s day out” program come September, so they will spend some time out and about.