Cub Scout camping...

Saturday, Curtis went to pick Corey up bright & early...he came to spend the day with us, & that he did - from 8am until about 10pm that night! i think he must miss his brother & get a little bored on the weekends now...fine by us - that just means we get to see him more! :0)

that afternoon, we headed to camp Brethren Woods to spend the day with the Scouts...first, there was swimming for a few hours...

the kiddos really loved having Corey along...he's so great with them too - loves playing with em & teaching em new things...he's also super helpful to Curtis & i! we had a great time checking out his awesome diving board skills!

he encouraged the girls (who are normally nervous about the diving board & take lots of coaxing to work up the nerve to jump off) to just go for it...& pretty soon, they were trying out some tricks too! ~lol~

but my favorite part was watching him throw the kiddos around in the water...i remember begging my dad to do this to me when i was little...i bet it's fun having a strong big bro ;0)

we also got to do some fishing at the "lake"

& there were a few canoes & a paddle boat to play in too!

the rain showed up right around dinner time...but luckily, it was mostly just sprinkles

& we didn't let it stop us from taking a family hike...actually, we learned the forest makes a pretty good umbrella! ;0)

because Curtis had to work that evening, & i had a cake order to fill (plus 2 girls to watch), Jaden didn't get to stay over at the camp with the rest of his den...he was fine with that tho - happy to go home & set up his tent for some backyard camping instead

the girls had fun playing in the tent while there was still daylight...& of course, making some wild mushroom "soup" to eat at their "camp site"...but they had absolutely no interest in sleeping in the tent after dark!

i wondered if Jaden would mind going at it alone...i blew up an air mattress & got him all cozy inside...then Curtis went out for a bit when he got home from work - but Jaden almost insisted Curt go inside after about a half hour or so! i think he was interested in seeing if he could do it alone too ;0)

he woke up around 7am on Sunday & came inside...he woke me, to let me know he was up, then proceeded to fix himself some cereal...i asked him how it went, & he replied "well." ~lol~ so when he asked to do it again on Sunday night, i was like why not?! i snapped the above pic of him reading in his tent around 9pm...i went back out at 9:30 to check on him again & he was fast asleep with his light turned out!!!

if u know Jaden, u know that he sleeps very little (classic autistic trait)...he takes forever to go to sleep, & is up before the sun most days! something about that tent must soothe him (or confuse his body about what time it really is)...i was tempted to let him continue to sleep out there if he was that comfortable, but for now, we're only allowing it on the weekends (no school nights)

since Curtis felt a little guilty about the whole Jaden not being able to camp out with the Scouts thing, he did some sucking up on Sunday & took us all to the pool (a place the kiddos NEVER get tired of!)...we picked the perfect time to go too - we got there just as they opened & we were the ONLY ones for the first hour or so!

it was fun, having the whole pool to ourselves...& it also gave the girls a chance to practice their tricks off the diving board some more...it's too bad the summer is coming to an end - just as they're getting really comfortable with swimming in the deep end...oh well, i guess we've got something to look forward to for next summer!