Cub Scout Camp with Isaac
We were asked to have one family member volunteer during camp for at least one full day (9:00 AM-4:00 PM). At first I told them that there was no way that I could do it since I have a nursing baby and Zach couldn’t take a day off for camp. I felt a little guilty each time an email was sent out that said they were still short volunteers. 
I didn’t want Isaac to be the only one who didn’t have a family member come to camp for a day. I also felt bad that I usually can’t be as involved as I’d like in some of the things that he does because I have too many small children to take care of. I decided that one day away from Thomas and the girls wouldn’t be too terrible so I asked Zach’s aunt if she’d watch the kids. His aunt is fantastic with kids and has experience with watching large numbers of them since she had 8 of her own and ran a daycare.
I got everyone up and dressed and in the car with all their things a few minutes after 7AM. We arrived at Zach’s aunt’s house at about 7:30 and I spent a half an hour settling everyone, feeding Thomas one more time, and giving instructions on eating, potty issues, and other such things. I left her house at about 8 AM and picked up Isaac’s friend before meeting at the library. 
The morning went well. They made rainsticks at their first station and then moved on to shooting BB guns. I took all the rain sticks to my truck and when I came back from the truck, Isaac was leaving the shooting range because he was too afraid to shoot the guns. He said that he wouldn’t be too afraid with me there. I felt a great sense of gratitude that I could be there to help him through his fears. 
It wasn’t long after that when I received a call from Zach’s aunt. She said that Thomas had refused the bottle and that a friend had come over and nursed him. She said that the formula that I had sent with her wasn’t good anymore (I have used formula so infrequently, that I didn’t know the powder stuff expired so quickly after it was opened). At that point I felt bad and once again questioned whether I should have come to camp. She assured me that everything was fine and somehow I managed to stop fretting about it and enjoy my time with Isaac. 
The rest of the day went fine. Isaac had gone home early the day before (Tuesday) with a stomache ache and missed some of the instruction (like how to shoot the bow and arrow). I advocated for him a few times and got him some help with the things he had missed. 
I called and checked in with the kids while I expressed milk in the bathroom during lunch. She said she had purchased some formula and a new nipple for my bottle to try. A few days later I found out that she was able to feed him the bottle, but only if she was standing up and holding him with his body facing out (what a little stinker!) 
The day was filled with activities: Opening (flag, skits), arts and crafts (made rainsticks), shooting BBs, scout skills (planted seeds, learned the outdoor code), woodwork (made a bug house), lunch, PE (designed an obstacle course), archery, den time (passed off things with headquarters), cooking (filled bananas with marshmallows and chocolate chips and cooked them), science (learned about endangered animals and played a game), and closing (awards, flag). They yelled their chant between every class as they walked: “WE’RE DEN 7, GOOD CUBS GO TO HEAVEN!†They earned plastic gold coins whenever they did good things. At the end of the day our den had earned the most coins and was awarded a bag of frosted animal cookies.
At the end of camp we all gathered in the field for closing ceremony. Our pack was assigned to share flag duty with another pack. We were running a little behind and all of my anxiety about leaving my kids all day flooded back. I kept checking my watch and mentally begging them to hurry up. As our group marched up to lower the flag, my phone rang and it was Zach’s aunt checking in to see if we were on our way. I told her that we were running behind, but I hoped that we would be done soon. The minute we were free, I hurried everyone to the car and was one of the first ones out of the lot. When I finally arrived to pick up the kids, Thomas was asleep. 
It actually took me a few days to feel ok about leaving the kids for the day, but it was nice for the rest of the week of camp to be able to ask Isaac specifics about what they did in each class of camp and how he did shooting arrows and BBs.