Camp Palms::2

...We spent hours rockin on the screened in porch, we played board games every night, there is only one tv and watching is limited. Boys went fishing and girls played on the beach. We did whatever we wanted. We read books and talked a lot. We played with sparklers and built sandcastles. We ate ice cream and oysters. We solved the problems of the world...

Every night after dinner we played Pop Cranium, cards, Dicecapades or charades. We had a birthday party for Sarah Grace and a sparkler display that lit up the night. I taught Collin how to play spite & mallice and Coley learned how to play Gin. Word on the street is my mama whooped up on Collin real good during a rainy day front porch Gin Tourney.  After stuffing ourselves with Bernards fresh feast each night, everyone would be flat out, dog tired but no one would take the first step up the stairs to bed...because we didn't want to miss a thing. We didn't want to miss a funny quote, or hear the echos of hysterical laughter from our beds upstairs.

The boys went fishing a couple different days.  Catchin bait and seein where the mackrel were biting then venturing 30 miles out at five am on another morning.  They came back sunburned and waterlogged with ham sandwich hangovers.  They had a great time, if even for a only a few fish to show for it.  A day on the water well spent.

My dad taught Corita how to play ping pong and played with her for at least an hour every single afternoon.
it. was. adorable.
He had to head out early one morning to go back to GA to work and sweet Corita's face just fell when we told her he had gone. She said "we didn't even get to play one more game".

 

At dinner we would discuss what we did during the day and the plan for tomorrow. One night, Bob challenged me to a sandcastle building contest and it turned into one of our favorite parts of the trip. Sarah Grace joined the competition, Coley was my awesome sidekick and Collin and his judging crew set the rules, time limit and helped a little too.

Everyone presented their castles with detailed explanations. We were instructed to build a creative castle with functions of a real castle {moats, bridges, sleeping quarters, etc..} Collin's awards presentation was one for the books...it was a riot!! Prizes were given for creativity, functionality, relativity to an actual castle, originality and romanticism. Classic, I'm telling ya.  They went with playground rules where everybody won and dried palm leaf bouquets were presented, of course. {but mine and coley's WAS the best! :) }

 

We played beach kickball and soccer and realized we aren't 15 anymore.  The teams were pretty even, but the amount of times those of us who were over 25 had to switch from playing in the field to goalie was pretty much every 5 minutes.  Kickball resulted in sandy skinned knees from sliding into the 2nd base frisbee and aches in my legs and rear from muscles I never knew existed.  It was so much fun, but indeed, I am not 15 anymore.

We had a Memorial Day celebration around the dinner table one night. We honored two veterans, my dad and Bernard, who had little to say but thanks and tears in their eyes. We shared our appreciation with prayer and a touching story.

 

Our eyes fell misty and we all began to stand a little closer and squeeze the hand closest to reach. The observance was simple, unexpected and completely stripped down. Then my mama suggested we all sing "God Bless America". We did. Not on pitch, nor really in tune. But proudly so, we did.