Camp Kav's

Hello Mother, Hello Father, Here I am at Camp Kavanaugh's (come on...add the extra syllables). Things here are entertaining. I think we'd have some fun if it'd stop raining. And it did! Thursday through Sunday were beautiful days in Brainerd, MN, and John, Charlie and I relished in every minute of the sunshine and beachy weather. Actually, the entire week was a wonderful break from the Texas heat and an amazing time spent with family.

Every year John's mom's side of the family gets together at Kavanaugh's Resort in northern Minnesota, and about six years ago, I was lucky enough to get to join the Wahlers for my first trek up north. I had no idea what I was in for. John had described Kav's as a group of cabins on a beautiful crystal-clear lake with a beach, kayaks, pools, boats, and tennis, volleyball and basketball courts, but I had no idea I was heading to grown-up camp! I didn't go to camp as a child (not sure why, but I'll blame it on my parents and the fact that I was the youngest of four), and when I got to Kav's, I realized that I was about to get to make up for all those years lost. Kavanaugh's is an experience unlike anything else.

For an entire week five families get together for laughs, games, story-telling, food and fun, and while it should be intimidating to spend a week with 25+ of your husband's extended family in close quarters, intimidating couldn't be farther from reality. John's ridiculously lucky in the sense that he has this unbelievable group of aunts, uncles and cousins that couldn't be more loving, interested, supportive and down-right fun. A group rises early and fishes in the morning, one group golfs, another group walks, still another group rises late and then the afternoon is spent at the beach kayaking, swimming, playing Scrabble, tubing or on the tennis court. Then there's dinner, each family hosts a night, and then kickball, softball, volleyball, fishing, Trivial Pursuit and/or smores. The biggest dilemma in the day is whether or not there will be enough delicious leftovers from the night before to devour at lunch. And this year, we even had little woodland creatures, chipmunks, that would wander into the cabins during the day snagging pieces of bread, cheeseballs or cereal. They were always promptly chased right back out, but there was something Cinderella-esque in having these little guys walk right in through the open screen door.

John and I start looking forward to the next year of Kavanaugh's the minute we leave, but when we left last year, we had no idea that this year we would have a different mindset, a different challenge and a completely different agenda. While it was still a week to relax and spend with family, this was our first big trip with our little family. Our first plane ride together, our first night in an unfamiliar place, our first time since the hospital to sleep in the same room as Charlie at night, and the first time we'd be somewhere where we couldn't rush home if we needed to. I wasn't sure how we'd all fair, but John and I were eager to try because we firmly believe that family comes first and wanted to share with Charlie all the love and friendship awaiting him in MN. And well it couldn't have gone better. Charlie was a total champ on the plane, even with a three hour delay as we laid-over in Dallas, and did really well with the two and a half hour drive from Minneapolis to Brainerd. It was a 14+ hour day of travel on the way there, and we couldn't have asked for a better traveling companion. Sure there were bouts of tears, but we didn't have any major meltdowns. It's official - Charlie is a road warrior.

And while we had a fantastic week experiencing lots of firsts with Chuck and basking in the week-long unlimited family time for the three of us, my biggest take-away from Kav's this year wasn't that I came home ridiculously relaxed or with a bit of a tan, it's that we witnessed some really healthy and happy family dynamics. Parents, their children, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins laughing, playing and reminiscing with one another, and I couldn't help but think what an amazing experience it is to block out some time each year to get everyone back together in a place where there is little distraction and lots of activity to fill the day. A reminder that quality family time isn't always about doing what you love or want to do most; part of the magic of Kav's is that it's just as fun to get to enjoy someone else's favorite activity with them. This week reinforced the importance of putting family first (I can't imagine missing out on all that love!), but it also reminded us the importance of making time to get away from the distractions (we may be drinking the koolaid Kacie Case) and staying active with our little family. Luckily, I inherited an exceptional extended family with deep family roots and lots of love to go around. Thanks for another great year Freaks/Gahlons/Hussey/Wahlers/Wolters clan. Can't wait to do it again!