Camp Sunnyside

The camp out at Sunnyside Gardens Park was a bit of a miss this year for our family. We normally shove Nacho and the girls off to enjoy the whole evening of activities and a somewhat restless night in the park. I get to leave early and party with the rest of the child-free moms and I look forward to coming home to an empty apartment--such a rare occasion for me. But since the girls' dance recital moved up a weekend (finally avoiding Father's Day itself), it came the day after the big camp out. Staying up too late and barely resting was just not a realistic option for girls who need to be at an all-day dress rehearsal before two performances. So we registered as non-campers instead, and I tried to find excitement in the fact that we would be bringing our tent for Jose and German to borrow just like in years past when they shared with Nacho. At least we'd have the equipment if nothing else. This year I'd also volunteered to do the Hobo Camp photos since Joe Orecchio was going to be absent. I figured I'd give the props that Quinn O'Sullivan brings over a nice remaking and we managed to make quite a little seating area for the kids and families to stop by and get snapped. Meanwhile, my girls were practicing their makeup application techniques thanks to Poppy's makeup initiative which promised to cover all their faces in some pretty outrageous colors. Luckily, they were sweating it off in no time...

I didn't run around the event snapping away as much as I might have wanted since the photo booth kept me somewhat tethered to the picnic grove entry. I even missed the entire s'mores making, though I was smart enough to foresee this possibility and brought my own stash! Ha. Take that for not missing dessert. Since the girls still don't really like the campfire confection, I managed to share my goodies with a few other happy adults. Later after the girls got situated watching the movie--Sing!--with their friends, I found my way over to the chair circle set up between Monica and Julie's tents. The crew was relaxing and I managed to kick back and enjoy a lazy rest of the evening. So I guess it turned out to be a pretty good camp out after all...just not what we've done in years past. But sometimes that's a good thing. The girls were a little sad that they couldn't sleep over and Elisa was begging at one point as we were packing it up. But in the end, they came home and got a much better night's sleep. Which was much needed the next day as they danced their little hearts out.