Friday was the last day of the school year in Massachusetts. That makes my kids 2nd and K graduates, ready to enter Kita gimel and Kita alef (3rd and 1st grade in Hebrew) that's a big deal! Huge!
At dinner the kids have all agreed they had a great first day at camp and are looking forward for tomorrow. And the staff? We had a pretty great first day too :)
Stay tuned. We'll tell you how it's going.
First of all it made us realize how long we've been on the go; over 6 months have passed since we've raised anchor and started this adventure. The end of the school year was no where near site when we left. It was cold and it was winter, and everyone was thinking of the winter break or the spring break but the end of the year?! Who would have thought we'd still be afloat by then (and of course after the accident, who thought we'd float again...)
But that's not the only reason why it's a big deal.
In Israel elementary school doesn't start with kindergarten. Kindergarten is still all about being kids and having fun (or so I'm told...) the real milestone is first grade and the fact that Gur just graduated from his pre-school phase even in Israel is mind blowing!
On the weekend Gur got a letter from a friend back home who told him school was over and he was starting camp on Monday.
When he told Oren about the letter we both congratulated them on their graduation and Oren suggested that starting Monday they will also start camp: camp Del-Max!
What is that? The kids all asked. "The best camp in the world!" Replied Oren "first of all, it's on a boat! You get to do all kinda of fun activities, like hiking, snorkling, sailing and more. You get to visit new places, learn new things and meet new friends" the kids thought for a second and then Gur said:"you need to make a schedule!"
"I will" said Oren "get me a piece of paper and a pen" Gur quickly got him a pen and paper and Oren started adding activities to the schedule while the kids are throwing in more and more suggestions :) everyone was excited! I explained to the kids that it's an overnight camp, which made it even more exciting. By the time the schedule was on paper we asked them if they think they'd want to sign up for such a camp. Without hesitation Gur took the pen and wrote down his name on the back of the schedule. Mika and Arbel quickly followed and the list was closed. We have 3 campers and camp is officially on!!!
We introduced ourselves as their staff and said we might need name tags for the first few days. Gur quickly grabbed Woden laundry pins and wrote each name on a pin. He then handed them out and he and Arbel proudly wore them. In fact the first thing Arbel did this morning when he woke up was clip on his name tag. Sweet!!
We told Mika who didn't like the clips that we'll try and remember her name without it. We did!
Today wa. The first day of camp. It started with a dinghy ride to the boulangerie for croissant au chocolate to go around and a stop at what is probably the best playground in the Caribbean.
The day continued with a hike up the mountain to Fort Nappleon. With it's amazing views of the Iles des saintes. Islands of the saints, where we have been for the past few days.
On the way back to the boat we have continued our on going Mango hunt. Almost every house on the island has mango trees and we are trying to get as many as we can without trespassing. Not an easy mission but we're getting there.
The afternoon snack today at camp Del-Max was a fresh mango-carabola smoothie. YUM!!
Oh! And by the way! Are you reading these posts or just hitting like when you see the link on Facebook? You might have noticed I haven't posted for a while. Lack of Internet connection was part of the reason of course, but also a mild case of writers phobia. That there's actually no one out there but my parents who actually reads this. I think if it hadn't been for my friend Adi who complained it might have taken even longer (toda neshama!)
So, in the spirit of camp, if you did read this far, and you are on Facebook go ahead and comment with you favorite animal. Mine by the way will be on the first comment ;)
Remember to use sunscreen!
Love you all
Darya