Camp time

Friday 13th was finally the day for church camp. Brendon had to speak in the afternoon at the field day that was happening on the farm - so could just not take the day off as he normally does.
So it was a VERY long day for me. I had everything packed and ready when Brendon got home, but could feel how much extra it was to do on my own. It made me so thankful for all the years where he managed to get the Friday off. :-) It was a very long day of waiting for Hezekiah. He was so VERY excited. He had his "new" little back pack ready with his blanket and cap. He had that bag on his back the whole day. One very excited little boy. :-)
We tried to be prepared for the windy roads going into Wainui and thankfully Ruth and Hannah didn't struggle too much. I didn't think to give the motion sickness remedy to anyone else though and we learnt on this trip that both Hezekiah and Asher struggle with motion sickness. We were also running a bit late - and so were not going as slowly as we should perhaps have gone. I just wanted to get there in the end and get everyone out the car.
At one point I looked back and noticed that Asher was not looking well. Thankfully I realized just in time that it was motion sickness and I got a bucket in front of her just as it was needed. Thankfully she only got sick the once (and at that point I gave her some of the remedy).
Hezekiah then started crying (he had fallen asleep before we hit the windy roads) and I was trying to find out if he had a sore stomach (without asking him directly).

He just could not tell me what was wrong and started crying that he didn't want to go to church camp - and just wanted to go home. Thankfully we spotted a liner (although this photo was taken on Sunday) and that was just what was needed to help calm him down (and distract him). Later he told Brendon that his tummy had been sore.

There was lots of free time on Saturday, so the kids got loads of time to play.
Mr. Scott is a favourite friend of Hannah's and this year Hezekiah was drawn into the friendship too. Thanks Jonathan for your effort. It's so special to see the children enjoying the attention you give them.

Left: The children found later that this "toy" worked better on the grass part of the bank. Hannah was apparently really good on it and went very far.

Saturday morning game time. Ruth can now hold her own with the bigger kids in Dutch Blitz.

Rachel was pleased to have a nice big game of Bang.

And the table tennis table is always very much enjoyed by the younger kids.
One of the other young boys had a motorised car that Hezekiah enjoyed playing with.

After lunch I ended up having to stay in the room with Asher and let her just have her nap next to me in my bed.
Brendon then took Hezekiah, Hannah and two other boys down to the water. When we arrived yesterday we told Hezekiah he would be able to go down to the water - so he was really looking forward to i.

They had fun on the slipway.

Although this was not the place - it reminds me of the story of what happened with Hezekiah. It was while Brendon was in the position of the above photo (so not as close) and Hezekiah had walked further down. It was around the place that Hannah is standing in the photo above - just behind her. He slipped off and went right under. Brendon said he went up and down a couple of times before he could reach him. He was really impressed with how well Hezekiah handled it and he kept calm and kept taking a breath every time he popped up. When Brendon got to him he was totally under and he grabbed him and pulled him out. Then the crying started. I am sure it was quite a shock. I told him I was really proud of him though because he was really brave in the water and knew to close his mouth when he was under.

Brendon enjoyed a bit of Frisbee soccer.

Hannah enjoyed the fun of flying off the swing onto a big mat they had for that purpose.
Hezekiah enjoyed himself. There were a few times when he told people (most often Mr. Scott) that his Mum or Dad were lost. It wasn't long before we were found though. :-)

The girls enjoying a chat.

Once Asher was up from her nap she got to walk around and she enjoyed this bridge. Unfortunately we had to keep her away from the swing as we don't want to do anything that may trigger another seizure.
I will be honest and say that I kept waiting for the next seizure. I had gotten so used to her having a seizure every 3 days even, so the fact that her last seizure was on Tuesday was a real blessing. We went through the whole weekend with no seizures - and we are very thankful for this.

Everyone agreed that it was just too short not having the Monday included on camp. We headed off for home after lunch on Sunday. I took the photo below of the area that Brendon had taken the kids to on Saturday.
It was great having the bit of cloud cover for our trip home. It made it cooler and we took it really slowly so we didn't have anyone feeling sick.