The picture says it all folks.  Summer camp.  A joy so genuine that it is worth the fortune of money paid, the hours in the cars, the dislocated workplaces of the parents, and the jumbling of task management at home to accommodate All Of The Joy.

What kind of summer camps provide the faces you see above, you ask?

For Girly, it is Latin America culture camp for adopted children.  She spends a full week learning about Latin American culture with other adopted children that share her heritage.  She is especially excited to be in camp with another little girl who looks like her and has a mommy who (although she is also a Latina) looks like Girly’s mommy.  She is eating Latin American food, singing songs, doing crafts, and learning lots.  I wish they had this year-round for her.  I’m also hoping that we can make some family connections through the experience.  We drive roughly 45 minutes one-way, but it’s worth it.

For BigGuy, it’s the beginning of a 3-week camp about astronomy and astrophysics.  He was so excited the first day that he called his grandparents and spoke to his uncle where his opening line was “Imagine chaos unabated…”  He was also able to explain coronal mass ejections to his uncle, who was so gentle and didn’t make him feel like a complete freak.  The textbook they are using is the newest version of a book I bought for him to use to study astronomy based on what my local school district uses.  I couldn’t afford the version they gave him.  And I’m kind of stunned at how much of the book they’re going to be covering during the 3-week session.

Of course, this means that Husbeau and BigGuy are driving anywhere from an 1-1/2 hours to (this morning, thanks to a highway accident) 2 hours one way and having Husbeau work from the campus.  Thankfully, the accommodations at the campus were better than the available options for day-space rentals… for the cost of a $46 campus parking pass.  #winning.  BigGuy COULD have stayed on campus for the duration of the camp (there are at least two kids in his class from out of state that are doing this) but OMGTHEFOODPROBLEMS.  As it is, he is taking his lunch so that we can help the teacher see what he looks like without the worst of blood sugar problems.  He’ll be battling blood sugar imbalance just from excitement and sleep disruption (from the excitement).  Plus sweat from the walk to his classroom–which is pretty far from the drop-off point on the campus.

Girly, on the other hand, only required Mama to be on-site the first day.  She allowed me to leave the rest of the week and I’m using the time to blow out the end of my summer semester work.  It’s going swimmingly.  [/sarcasm]  All of this glorious time to do the things and none of the things being done with any kind of speed or efficiency.  Soooo, so many things to distract me from doing the Things That Need To Be Done.

The camps are at least an hour from one another, too.  So thankfully, we are a two-parent household to accommodate All Of The Joy.

But the kids are happy even if we are profoundly broke.  It doesn’t help that I’m starting to stress about the mounting costs of accommodating BigGuy’s education.  Would it be wrong to start a GoFundMe page for it?  Because I’m dead seriously considering it.  I think you can offer “rewards” for contributions–so really, it would just be a good way for me to effectively find stuff and services to sell to raise money for the boy’s expensive needs that are not federally protected to ensure his learning because he’s above average, not below.

Stuff for me to chew on.