We interrupt the Hawaii reports for a camp report
So, Two has attended Camp Aranut'iq for three summers now. He has been begging us to attend family camp since the first year, so this year, we signed up to go. Truth be told, we weren't really super-keen on going since it would be sorta roughing it (cabins, not tents, but very basic cabins), and mosquitoes, and it was going to be unseasonably cold at night while we were there and pretty much guaranteed to rain on Sunday. But we knew it was important to go, so off we went on Friday for yet one more drive back to New Hampshire.
Camp was ... mixed. The community is, of course, awesome to be part of. The counselors/volunteers were super nice, other parents are all dedicated and friendly (or they wouldn't be there), the kids are adorable. We were surprised, though, that the overall population age dropped significantly - there are tons of families who come to camp because their kids are still too young for regular camp, either officially (younger than 8) or emotionally (not ready to be shipped off for a week or three/not ready to fly by themselves) etc. There weren't many kids who were in the upper population, 12-15, and even then, most of them were on the younger end of that, and none of them were kids Two knew from regular camp. Apparently there were some 16-year-olds who chose at the last minute not to come along with their families, or something, so MiniPlu was only one of two 15-year-olds, and the other was a trans girl with mild intellectual disabilities whom MiniPlu found annoying. (We didn't know about the intellectual stuff until near the end of the weekend - it really is pretty mild - but she just found her annoying.) So, neither of them really connected with anyone, which was too bad. Will and I had a lot of nice conversations with other parents, though.
The general structure was: after breakfast, kids would go off in age-appropriate groups with counselors to scheduled activities, and parents would do parent-oriented discussion groups. After lunch, it was open-activity time for families to do stuff together. On Saturday, when it was nice, this included the rock-climbing wall and archery (both of which required sign-ups: we did archery), the lake (swimming and canoeing/kayaking/paddle-boarding), gaga (a gentler form of dodge ball that was universally loved - even by our kids), and open playing fields for kickball, volleyball, basketball, tetherball (hadn't played that since 2nd grade) and badminton. Also the arts & crafts cabin and board games in the rec hall. Will wasn't really into most of the activities except a hilariously bad round of badminton doubles we played, and ended up going off for a walk by himself for a good chunk of time, which annoyed me. On Sunday, it was obviously more limited by the fact that it rained from middle of breakfast to just before bed. Mostly, there were movies kids could watch, board games, arts & crafts, and that was it. We actually went back to our cabin a couple of times to nap/read/snuggle back into our sleeping bags and warm up. So, that was quieter and not as interesting, but we did still do some arts & crafts and, honestly, the quiet time was kind of nice, too.
After dinner every night there was a group activity. The first night it was getting-to-know-you games, the second night it was karaoke and a campfire with s'mores, the third night was the talent show. (I did my Maori poiball routine. I was also the only adult performing without a kid attached.) Those were always fun, even if you were just watching the singers/performers. Some people were genuinely talented, and some - especially the little kids - really were not, but they were doing their best, and everyone was genuinely enthusiastic for them.
Sleeping wasn't great. We were warm enough in our sleeping bags with our warmest sweats for PJs, but the mattresses were thin and everything felt damp, especially Sunday. Everyone was thrilled to be back in their own bed again when we got back. Cabins were split in half by a curtain, with one family on each side, but the people on the other side of our cabin left during the day on Sunday because two of them came down with head colds, so the last night we had it to ourselves, didn't have to hear anyone snore. ;-)
The food WAS great. It's served family style, with a loaded tray of food for each table, although individual campers with dietary needs [vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, no nightshade (tomatoes)] were ALL provided for, with delicious alternatives, for every single meal. There was fruit, yogurt and cereal as a side option for breakfast, and a salad bar for lunch and dinner. Coffee, hot tea and water were available all day, as were a basket of snacks - fruit, baked chips, popcorn, that sort of thing. Dessert was offered once a day, at dinner. We loved pretty much everything they put in front of us, and I can vouch that the GF alternatives were perfectly tasty, too.
One of the things about having both campers and siblings around is that, especially with the younger kids, you really couldn't tell. They could truly just be kids, with absolutely no way to know which of them was the "trans etc" one (Nick the director's tongue-in-cheek abbreviation for trans/gender nonconforming/gender fluid/non-binary). Apparently on the first day, counselors kept asking if both MiniPlu AND Two were sibs (rather than MiniPlu being the sib and Two the camper), because they couldn't tell. I was constantly asking parents which of their kids was the camper they were there to support, because I had no idea, just by looking, in most cases. Of course, it took me ages just to remember which kids went with which parents, and I was only just getting the hang of it for most families before it was time to go.
Oh, and one of the dads was trans, himself. I thought that was awesome to have another role model for the kids, just by existing: look, he has a successful, professional job (he and his wife were both therapists), he's married, he has kids. It was amusing - the wife was explaining how both their kids were conceived by donors, different donors, and how the kids would often compare their donors in a sort of competition. Well, MY donor had such-and-so achievements. Oh, yeah? Well MY donor did such-and-so, top that! :))
A family we spent a lot of time with was a lesbian couple (one of two lesbian families there, although I never did find out who the other one was - that other family only had the one mom present, as the other mom stayed home with other kids, according to the couple we *did* talk to) from Georgia, and, man, I felt for them. Georgia. With family roots in Louisiana. Neither of which are LGB friendly, and even less so for T, so we heard about some of the difficulties they'd had. And, surprisingly, they said that some of the least acceptance they'd had came from other lesbian/gay people, which just baffles me.
So, anyway, overall, we mostly enjoyed the activities, hated the rain, didn't sleep super-well, but enjoyed the companionship of the community. I'm not sure if we'll do family camp again or not, but at least we did it once.
And now ... a solicitation. So, Camp Aranut'iq is an amazing place. Sure, it's rustic, but that's what summer camps are supposed to be like, right? And meanwhile, they do an amazing job of just letting "trans etc" kids be themselves, and giving them strength and acceptance they need to make it through the rest of the year. And, you know, hopefully NOT commit suicide. (There is also a week-long camp on the property for people with skeletal dysplasia aka dwarfism, and an upcoming camp for people with craniofacial deformities.) Anyway, Two adores it there, as does just about every camper. The only real deterrent is ... the toilets. When the director bought this camp in 2014 (they'd been renting other camps since their inception in 2009), he inherited the camp's composting toilet system, which is fantastic in theory (good for the environment!) and horrible in practice (more like perpetual porta-potties >_< ). We actually were somewhat lucky that it was unseasonably chilly this past weekend, because it cut down on smell. But the director has said that some kids refuse to come back, or refuse to come at all because of what they've heard or experienced with the stinky composting toilets with the bottomless black pits under the seats; even Two has said he doesn't want to attend for longer than a week because he isn't sure he could put up with composting toilets for TWO weeks.
So, Nick's plan is to rip out every one of them and build proper indoor flush toilets, with indoor showers as part of the same buildings (there will be several such buildings throughout the property) in time for next summer. The cost? About US$200K. Please consider a donation to make this possible? Even a few dollars would help. And every camper will praise your name forevermore. Probably the parents, too. ;-) Donate here, and specify that the money should go to the capital campaign fund, or the toilet fund, or whatever you want to call it.
I know nobody has much money to just throw around, and there are the legitimate needs of Harvey victims (and, alas, probably Irma soon, too) and a hundred other worthy causes to plead for your donations, but if you DO have a little bit extra, or know someone else who might, please consider it?
Camp was ... mixed. The community is, of course, awesome to be part of. The counselors/volunteers were super nice, other parents are all dedicated and friendly (or they wouldn't be there), the kids are adorable. We were surprised, though, that the overall population age dropped significantly - there are tons of families who come to camp because their kids are still too young for regular camp, either officially (younger than 8) or emotionally (not ready to be shipped off for a week or three/not ready to fly by themselves) etc. There weren't many kids who were in the upper population, 12-15, and even then, most of them were on the younger end of that, and none of them were kids Two knew from regular camp. Apparently there were some 16-year-olds who chose at the last minute not to come along with their families, or something, so MiniPlu was only one of two 15-year-olds, and the other was a trans girl with mild intellectual disabilities whom MiniPlu found annoying. (We didn't know about the intellectual stuff until near the end of the weekend - it really is pretty mild - but she just found her annoying.) So, neither of them really connected with anyone, which was too bad. Will and I had a lot of nice conversations with other parents, though.
The general structure was: after breakfast, kids would go off in age-appropriate groups with counselors to scheduled activities, and parents would do parent-oriented discussion groups. After lunch, it was open-activity time for families to do stuff together. On Saturday, when it was nice, this included the rock-climbing wall and archery (both of which required sign-ups: we did archery), the lake (swimming and canoeing/kayaking/paddle-boarding), gaga (a gentler form of dodge ball that was universally loved - even by our kids), and open playing fields for kickball, volleyball, basketball, tetherball (hadn't played that since 2nd grade) and badminton. Also the arts & crafts cabin and board games in the rec hall. Will wasn't really into most of the activities except a hilariously bad round of badminton doubles we played, and ended up going off for a walk by himself for a good chunk of time, which annoyed me. On Sunday, it was obviously more limited by the fact that it rained from middle of breakfast to just before bed. Mostly, there were movies kids could watch, board games, arts & crafts, and that was it. We actually went back to our cabin a couple of times to nap/read/snuggle back into our sleeping bags and warm up. So, that was quieter and not as interesting, but we did still do some arts & crafts and, honestly, the quiet time was kind of nice, too.
After dinner every night there was a group activity. The first night it was getting-to-know-you games, the second night it was karaoke and a campfire with s'mores, the third night was the talent show. (I did my Maori poiball routine. I was also the only adult performing without a kid attached.) Those were always fun, even if you were just watching the singers/performers. Some people were genuinely talented, and some - especially the little kids - really were not, but they were doing their best, and everyone was genuinely enthusiastic for them.
Sleeping wasn't great. We were warm enough in our sleeping bags with our warmest sweats for PJs, but the mattresses were thin and everything felt damp, especially Sunday. Everyone was thrilled to be back in their own bed again when we got back. Cabins were split in half by a curtain, with one family on each side, but the people on the other side of our cabin left during the day on Sunday because two of them came down with head colds, so the last night we had it to ourselves, didn't have to hear anyone snore. ;-)
The food WAS great. It's served family style, with a loaded tray of food for each table, although individual campers with dietary needs [vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, no nightshade (tomatoes)] were ALL provided for, with delicious alternatives, for every single meal. There was fruit, yogurt and cereal as a side option for breakfast, and a salad bar for lunch and dinner. Coffee, hot tea and water were available all day, as were a basket of snacks - fruit, baked chips, popcorn, that sort of thing. Dessert was offered once a day, at dinner. We loved pretty much everything they put in front of us, and I can vouch that the GF alternatives were perfectly tasty, too.
One of the things about having both campers and siblings around is that, especially with the younger kids, you really couldn't tell. They could truly just be kids, with absolutely no way to know which of them was the "trans etc" one (Nick the director's tongue-in-cheek abbreviation for trans/gender nonconforming/gender fluid/non-binary). Apparently on the first day, counselors kept asking if both MiniPlu AND Two were sibs (rather than MiniPlu being the sib and Two the camper), because they couldn't tell. I was constantly asking parents which of their kids was the camper they were there to support, because I had no idea, just by looking, in most cases. Of course, it took me ages just to remember which kids went with which parents, and I was only just getting the hang of it for most families before it was time to go.
Oh, and one of the dads was trans, himself. I thought that was awesome to have another role model for the kids, just by existing: look, he has a successful, professional job (he and his wife were both therapists), he's married, he has kids. It was amusing - the wife was explaining how both their kids were conceived by donors, different donors, and how the kids would often compare their donors in a sort of competition. Well, MY donor had such-and-so achievements. Oh, yeah? Well MY donor did such-and-so, top that! :))
A family we spent a lot of time with was a lesbian couple (one of two lesbian families there, although I never did find out who the other one was - that other family only had the one mom present, as the other mom stayed home with other kids, according to the couple we *did* talk to) from Georgia, and, man, I felt for them. Georgia. With family roots in Louisiana. Neither of which are LGB friendly, and even less so for T, so we heard about some of the difficulties they'd had. And, surprisingly, they said that some of the least acceptance they'd had came from other lesbian/gay people, which just baffles me.
So, anyway, overall, we mostly enjoyed the activities, hated the rain, didn't sleep super-well, but enjoyed the companionship of the community. I'm not sure if we'll do family camp again or not, but at least we did it once.
And now ... a solicitation. So, Camp Aranut'iq is an amazing place. Sure, it's rustic, but that's what summer camps are supposed to be like, right? And meanwhile, they do an amazing job of just letting "trans etc" kids be themselves, and giving them strength and acceptance they need to make it through the rest of the year. And, you know, hopefully NOT commit suicide. (There is also a week-long camp on the property for people with skeletal dysplasia aka dwarfism, and an upcoming camp for people with craniofacial deformities.) Anyway, Two adores it there, as does just about every camper. The only real deterrent is ... the toilets. When the director bought this camp in 2014 (they'd been renting other camps since their inception in 2009), he inherited the camp's composting toilet system, which is fantastic in theory (good for the environment!) and horrible in practice (more like perpetual porta-potties >_< ). We actually were somewhat lucky that it was unseasonably chilly this past weekend, because it cut down on smell. But the director has said that some kids refuse to come back, or refuse to come at all because of what they've heard or experienced with the stinky composting toilets with the bottomless black pits under the seats; even Two has said he doesn't want to attend for longer than a week because he isn't sure he could put up with composting toilets for TWO weeks.
So, Nick's plan is to rip out every one of them and build proper indoor flush toilets, with indoor showers as part of the same buildings (there will be several such buildings throughout the property) in time for next summer. The cost? About US$200K. Please consider a donation to make this possible? Even a few dollars would help. And every camper will praise your name forevermore. Probably the parents, too. ;-) Donate here, and specify that the money should go to the capital campaign fund, or the toilet fund, or whatever you want to call it.
I know nobody has much money to just throw around, and there are the legitimate needs of Harvey victims (and, alas, probably Irma soon, too) and a hundred other worthy causes to plead for your donations, but if you DO have a little bit extra, or know someone else who might, please consider it?