Camp Harlow and Baby Elsie

What started out as a quick visit to drop off a medical form for the upcoming counselor stint Brayden will have at Camp Harlow during spring break, turned into one of the best little adventures Whit and I had all week.  

First of all, I got to chat with Dave.  I'm telling you, I just love the entire Mertz family - if only one of their daughters was Brayden's age and we could "marry into" them...  Sigh.  But, any visit with Dave is never long enough and always inspiring in the most real of ways.  I heard about their recent trip to Thailand to "House of Hope" and some amazing experiences even in the airport on the way home.  

I tentatively asked if I could introduce Whitley to the playground.  I never want to "pull strings" in asking something that isn't offered to the general public, but I knew she'd love it.  To be honest, I'm not sure if it is something we could do on a regular basis...it might be worth investigating as it was such a hit. 

First of all, it's so safe.  Wide open spaces.  No danger lurking.  No strangers.  Sigh - a parent or caregiver's dream.

And, then, the slides...

She did not "dig" this tunnel, though - very scary...

And then, on to the best part of all of camp (for a toddler) - the mini golf course.  Balls, instruments to hit them with, obstacles to crawl around and mud puddles to jump in.  (After this adventure, I requested rubber boots be thrown into the Whitley bag dropped off every morning...)  

We could have stayed there all day.  But, alas, a naptime was due - and a visit with Kimmie later that afternoon.  Very nice, as she's been MIA from our TNL due to lacrosse coaching lately.

My final activity for Friday was showing up at Bello for family hair cuts with Christi.  As she was doing a favor for us by coming in at a "non-scheduled" time, I wanted to do a favor for her and hold Elsie so she wouldn't need to use her mom for our appointment.  What a treat!  Tyler ended up coming in for a hair cut himself, so her daddy and I traded off cooing and cuddling this little beauty as Christi did her magic.  Brayden ended up getting a lot cut off and was so giddy with the results...