Band Camps and Grandchildren

We’re now in band camp season. That and family reunions are the most frequent groups using the campground now. Only one of the band camps used the candy store, and it is now closed for the season, so I’m just doing housekeeping. Kev’s done with fishing and is just doing maintenance for the most part. He’s done a bit of housekeeping but is now working mostly on painting some of the buildings.

When the band camps are here, we get to hear a lot of marching music and drums. One thing that surprised me was how different the different groups are. Some are friendly and will acknowledge us as they go about their business, and others treat us as if we were invisible. Naturally, we prefer the friendly groups, but it doesn’t really affect our everyday lives much.

Sometimes, when we’ve got a band camp that is using both the Lodge and the Retreat Center, and then have family reunions or conferences coming in on the weekend, we have a long busy day getting those two facilities ready for the new groups. On those occasions, nearly everyone available is working at it. We even had to work one Sunday because a group left in the morning and another group was coming in early on Monday. Sometimes I’ve been surprised at people. Sometimes, that’s because of their thoughtfulness, such as the group that left tips for housekeeping. But more often it is because of their thoughtlessness and destructiveness. For example, in one group several people colored their hair using the campground’s towels. I guess, I tend to think that most people are like me and wouldn’t want to ruin what doesn’t belong to them, but apparently some people really don’t care.

This last week, we worked Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. On Tuesday we got done in good time, which was good as Della was taking all the staff out to eat at an Amish home. That was really interesting. The owners allowed us to tour their property and even their house. The man told us a little about them and answered questions. It was fascinating to find that there are several different groups of Amish and some are more conservative than others. Of course, they all seem pretty conservative to us. The food was great, too!

Then, on Thursday afternoon, our son and daughter-in-law, Preston and Melody, arrived along with our grandchildren! They brought a tent and set up on the grass below us behind the Retreat Center.  It was so wonderful to see them! Sawyer recently had his third birthday and Lincoln’s fifth birthday is next month. Since we weren’t with them on Sawyer’s birthday and can’t be with them on Lincoln’s birthday, we gave them their birthday presents while they were here. We got them each a fishing rod.  We gave them to them on Friday and then took them fishing down at the pond. I was amazed that both boys learned to cast. Of course they weren’t perfect at their age, but they really did pretty good.  Lincoln even caught a fish!  Reagan, who was born in November got her nap in while we played!  Kev took the boys for a canoe ride.  Then Preston took Melody for one.    All in all, it was a fun afternoon. They were leaving Saturday morning and Reagan got a bath in our kitchen sink.  We’ll see them again in October when we plan to be in North Carolina for a couple weeks.

The group that was in the Lodge this week left a little after 3:00 Saturday afternoon, and the next band camp was coming in early Sunday afternoon, so we got into the Lodge about 4:00 and got busy getting it ready. We had most things done by 7:00 and Fanny was coming in Sunday morning to finish up, so we didn’t have to work on Sunday.

It’s hard to believe the summer is almost over. We have less than two weeks to go here, unless we stay an extra week. We’re scheduled to be in Elkhart, Indiana, the first week in September, and may go the last week of August.