And so it begins...

Back to homework at the dining table. *sigh*

Prep work

Callum starts another round of steroids tomorrow. So I'm stocking up the kitchen in preparation. First up? Pancakes of course!

A brief respite

We have two "break" days between phases (today and tomorrow) where we aren't giving Callum any meds. It's weird and amazing all at once.

I could list off a hundred reasons why I love not having to give any meds, on a specific timer, each day and night, but this may fall first on the list.

Poor little guy passed out watching his big brother play a game. Instead of having to wake him up to give him his nightly meds, I get to let him sleep, like all kids get to do. :)

Making new friends

After breakfast at camp each morning, we'd drop the boys off at the "kid camp" and then Jon and I would join a bunch of other parents for a parent discussion group. It was heavy and emotional, hearing everyone's stories and being reminded of all the pain we had in the beginning that we had worked through.

However, it was also amazing and helpful, hearing lessons learned from parents who are further along in their treatments (or done!) and tucking those tips and advice away in my memory to use later on. Many of the families don't live near us - either in the Sacramento or East Bay Area, but there are a few parents that I may reach out to later, to see if we can connect on some level. At the very least, it might be nice to try and coordinate getting together on the same weekend of family camp next year. :)

On Saturday, Logan really wanted to stay with Callum - so we checked them both into the 0-5 year old group. We told him (and the counselors), that if he got bored and wanted to play with older kids to just move upstairs to be with the 6-8 year olds. He didn't move and ended up having a really nice time. He told us he made a friend, but couldn't remember his name, and was excited to play with him again later.

Yesterday, we suggested Logan try out the older group, since he had been begging us to play a number of board games - and we thought being with the older group would expose him to kids who would want to play and do things with him, at his level. He wasn't crazy about the idea but he did go to the older camp, and had a great time. He did miss his new friend from Saturday, however. So I told him to point the kid out to me the next time he saw him around camp so we could meet.

Last night, we decided to pack up a bit early and get home to beat some of the traffic. As we packed, I told the boys to play out on the deck - which we shared with another cabin next to us. All of a sudden I heard Logan yelling to me - Mom!! Mom!! This is the friend I told you about!! HE LIVES NEXT DOOR.

And so he did. :) Pretty funny that we didn't discover it until the night we were leaving... I told the mom that we'll definitely need to keep in touch since the boys were such fast friends.

One of the conversations I overheard between the three boys was quite touching - and I really wanted to share.

Callum said to the new friend: Do you know why I can't go to school?

The kid said, Huh?

Callum: Because I'm sick.

Logan chimed in: Yeah. He has cancer.

So the new friend says: Well I have cancer.

And Logan, looked surprised, back at him: You do? Whoa.

That 30 second exchange completely validated, for me, why we went to the camp at all. The camp is really meant to help kids with cancer feel "normal" and understand they aren't alone. And help siblings also connect with, not only their sibling, but other kids in similar situations.

I knew after our (really amazing) stay, that we'd have to return next year. But if there was any doubt, that conversation sealed the deal for me. :)

Good morning!

Callum making a funny face (but still loving his bed!) and inside of the lodge, where we're having breakfast with all the other families! :)

We made it!

I've got sparse coverage so we'll see if this goes thru....

Our 3.5 hour drive really ended up being a 6 hour drive. We left later than I had hoped (partly because Callum was napping and we didn't want to wake him), traffic was a nightmare getting out of the South Bay (3 day weekend), and then we decided to stop and grab a bite for dinner since we weren't sure if we'd make it to camp in time for dinner. I'm glad we did, given how long it took!

We've finally settled into our cabin - Jon took Callum to the bathroom before we tuck him in (he has told us over and over he loves his cabin and his bed). ;-) Logan passed out about 10 minutes before we arrived so we just laid him down in one of the bottom bunks where he stayed, conked out.

We are all beat, but excited to check everything out tomorrow! :)

All packed up and on the road!

Had to take a quick snapshot of my new nails while packing up. ;-)

We're finally on the road! (Only an hour or so later than planned - ugh) As I was packing a few lanterns, I mentioned to Jon that our cabin doesn't have any electricity. He stopped dead in his tracks, "What type of place are we going to?!?" :)

(As it turns out, I misread the packet - our cabin will have electricity, just no heat - whoops! Haha)