Camp Freedom Returns

Camp Freedom began Sunday evening with a digital scavenger hunt. We dispersed as families around the base looking for all kinds of things--like a family on a slide...

and a stack of tires...

We weren't sure why the pizza guy was pulling up next to us, but then he rolled down his window and asked if we needed a picture of a pizza. ?? We did a quick scan of the list--sure enough, pizza was there!! I guess someone else had stopped him earlier. Thanks pizza dude.

There were lots of other crazy things to look for a take pictures of--an SP (security police) with a doughnut, a detour sign, a bumblebee... Of course we want to win, but it's just fun doing stuff like this with our kids--where we can all run out of the van to take a picture at some random place (and sometimes not so random-one of the items on the list was the POW/MIA Memorial, fitting for the weekend) and then high tail it back to the van, giggling and laughing the whole time.

The scavenger hunt created one moment of panic--when we got back I couldn't find my phone--my precious iphone. Ted and I jumped back in the van and retraced our steps. I found it in the grass leading up to the 'outdoor steps' we had photographed.

After the hunt we all settled in for s'mores and campfire fun. There were over 8 tents spread out in the yard between our house and our neighbor's (where Ga-Ga and Freedom Rink are). I think camping in your own yard is just the grandest. Having a clean bathroom is probably the best perk.

No kidding the birds woke us up before 5:00 on Monday morning. UGH!! Around 7:00 everyone started emerging from their tents (or homes, as some of us, myself included, retreated there for an hour or so in the early morning) and began making pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Wow--the best was the European chocolate one of our friends brought out and chopped up to put into the batter. Oh. My. That was GOOD!

Of course, it's Memorial Day, and even though we were planning to spend the day having all kinds of fun, we didn't want to neglect taking a moment to remember exactly why we were able to have the day with our families. Ted gathered all the kids at the Camp Freedom sign and spoke a few words about the meaning of the holiday, and then the oldest boy on the Circle shared a prayer and we laid a wreath on our sign.

So after breakfast and the moment to remember what the day was about, we began a day filled with games and competitions...

The Hula Hoop Race--getting the hula hoop from one end of your team to the other the fastest...

The Frozen Toes game--using your toes to extract marbles from a baby pool filled with ice water...

The Tallest Tower--building the tallest structure you could with marshmallows, toothpics and playing cards...

The Egg Drop--building a container to protect an egg from a drop off our second story roofs (the best part of this game was watching one of the dads stand on top of the roof to do the dropping)...

The How-Can-We-Make-Our-Parents-Do-What-We-Say Game--with all the parents blindfolded, your kids had to yell directions to you. The point was to find two bean bags and drop them in the container by your kids. This part where we're all holding hands is the beginning where we all rotated in a circle in an attempt to lose our bearings.

There were many other games, too, most of which Lucy missed out on, because she had gone inside and crashed on the living room chair.

After an afternoon of games, the parents were then competing in one last competition...The Grill a Better Pizza contest. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the end results, but suffice it to say that the eight pizzas were all very unique and all very GOOD!!! A Breakfast Pizza, a Hot Wings Pizza, a Pesto and Prosciutto Pizza, a BBQ Pizza, a Classic Pizza, A Toffee/Coffee Pizza, and two Taco Pizzas, to include ours. They were all so fantastic!! Our pizza, inspired by one we had at a pizza joint in Dayton called Deweys, had Fritos on it, which I think makes the pizza fantastic (and honestly I very much dislike Fritos), and it won 2nd place. Way to go TED!!!

The day wasn't quite done though. After pizza we had banana splits with Ted's homemade ice cream, brownies, bananas, strawberries, candies, fudge, whipped cream and cherries, and then we capped off the day with a neighborhood game of Capture the Flag--which I doubt you've every played Capture the Flag quite like the Circle.

It was a fantastic day--we won absolutely nothing tangible--not a single game or event, let alone any of the grand prizes (a $40 gift card to an ice cream place for the top winner of the games and a $40 gift card to a pizza place for the top winner of the pizzas), but we had an absolutely great day with our kids, which is the real prize. We joked all day that we were always scoring 100 points in fun, and that everyone could win that.