Vernon Volumes text

Vernon Volumes text

Sunday, June 27, 2021

Camp Pinnacle pickup and Grove Park Inn

 


On Friday, Andrea picked the kids up from Camp Pinnacle while I was working. Pickup wasn't quite as fun as it is during a year when there's not a global pandemic. In the past, the entire camp would come together and sing and parents would get to meet everyone and it would be a big fun party. Last year, and this year, the parents were only allowed to briefly get out of their vehicles to retrieve their campers and then had to leave. 

Both kids were super excited and happy to see Andrea. Paige gave mom a big hug and cried a bit, she had all kinds of emotions and missed us. Connor may allegedly have gotten a little emotional to see his mother, he actually said it was because he'd had such a wonderful time and wasn't quite ready to leave. 



After picking up the kids, we went to lunch and explored the Grove Park Inn area together. The kids were excited to get their electronics back and they were texting with their camp buddies and also with their friends from home that they've been missing.




For dinner, we had a nice table with a view at the Edison restaurant. It was a lot of fun eating lunch and dinner with the kids and hearing all their stories and experiences from camp.



After our time at GPI, we drove to Big Canoe in Georgia to spend some family time with everyone. Ashville was beautiful, and it was a fun excuse to visit since we were nearby.

Camp Pinnacle 2021


Paige's cabin for 2021 was Jocassee and she made especially good friends with Alexandria and Chandler. Paige's group included some artsy girls, but she seemed to gravitate towards a few of the sporty girls that were just her size and speed. Paige enjoyed lots of the outdoor activities and was excited she got launched by some large counselors off of the blob. She'd been too scared to try it in 2019.


Paige and Connor were both on the Green team for the color wars and unfortunately they didn't win. Paige was disappointed that her main task for the race was singing, she is a fast runner and was hoping she'd be assigned to a race. She enjoyed the friends, food, and all the outdoor time. She didn't like the hills and the bugs or spiders, it sounds like there were quite a few daddy longlegs. We got two letters from Paige this year and we also wrote her a few times while she was away. Paige got letters from the Gobles, Grandpa Rick, Grandma Alice, and Grandma Genie. Paige got homesick a few times, and she was super happy to see Mommy after her time at camp. Overall she had an amazing experience and would be happy to go back again.









































Connor was in Rumbling Bald this summer, which was one of the cabins for the oldest kids at camp. Connor's main counselor was Seb and it sounds like all the boys got along great and they had a pretty fun and chill group overall. It's hard to get a lot of stories out of Connor, but we did hear that on one of the final nights at camp they had a candlelit dinner for the oldest boys and girls, with assigned seats so the kids couldn't avoid each other. It sounds like the girls got dressed up and cute with jeans and makeup, while the boys were surprised and had to dig out anything they could find that wasn't too smelly and dirty. The kids all had steak dinners and Connor said it was funny watching all the kids awkwardly trying to cut steak while they made conversation. He was proud of himself that he knew how to cut his steak and use good table manners, including chewing with his mouth shut (Paige confirmed, and said she enjoyed watching them).

Connor's best buds in his cabin were James and Ronnie. Rumbling Bald had an overnight campout and also did a day trip to a mountain snorkling spot where they hiked around and explored waterfalls, along with Toxaway (the oldest of the girl cabins). Connor liked his cabin and experience much better than 2019, and he got a little emotional when Mom came to pick him up because he wasn't ready to leave. He wants to go to session one in 2022 and asked to be added to the wait list for another session this summer too. We're so glad he had such an awesome time and so many fun experiences. Unfortunately, we did not receive any letters this year from Connor.






















Camp Pinnacle's video scrapbook from the 2021 Session 1: https://vimeo.com/567184201