Little Fry

Judah had his first experience as a camper at Camp Quaker Heights. Before a child is forced to leave his mama and spend the night in a scary cabin all by his lonesome, he is offered the opportunity to stay two nights with a parent at CQH. I think it is a brilliant idea. My children will absolutely be shipped off to church camp in the summers as I am an avid camp lover, so it was fun to experience this with my boy. Little Fry is for any kid going into preschool through entering 2nd grade, so Judah was one of the youngsters. He had such a good time hanging out with the older kids and saving seats for his "camp girlfriend", Elizabeth Daleske.

Camp began at 4 pm, so after the welcome and supper, the kids had some time to explore the camp. Judah parked himself at the playground in the sand. He and Elizabeth built a city of sand and sticks. It was quite fantastic. Once it got a little darker, the staff started a campfire and provided the kids with poor man's s'mores. I am not sure I have ever had a real s'more at CQH and might actually prefer the poor man's version: a roasted marshmallow between two homemade chocolate chip cookies. Mmmm. The staff led the children in some classic campfire songs (The Great Conductor, I Love my Rooster, The Good Ole' Skunky River, My Baby Bumble Bee, Little Cabin in the Woods...) and won Judah's heart with their silliness.


Speaking of silliness, Judah was a complete goof the entire weekend. DJ Scribbles (the ragged bunny on the left) experienced camp along with Judah and got to dance on stage when Judah escaped my grip. Above is Judah's signature slide dance move. Take notes, people.

A family from Quakerdale's Wolf Ranch in Marshalltown brought horses up for the weekend for the kids to ride. Judah was pretty indifferent about the horses. He has ridden horses at Riverside and gets to feed horses on Stange occasionally, so he spent all of five minutes being excited about them. I was glad he decided to ride, though...he did agree to participate in ALL camp activities afterall. The next photo shows just how tiny my boy is with his enormous helmet. The kid leading his horse was cracking up when he got back to us because Judah was singing a made up song about his horse the entire time he rode. Always the entertainer.

Best story of the weekend: The staff had spent hours the night before the kids got to ride horses decorating cupcakes to look like horses. They were fantastic. They used circus peanuts for the heads, wafers for the necks, and lots of frosting. They even had a professional cake decorator come in and help. I didn't have my camera or I would share a photo. The last day, the staff was asking the kids what they had learned about horses. Each child had a chance to state his name and share. This is an example of the common responses:
"My name is Ian, and I learned that a horse has monocular vision."
"My name is Leah, and I learned that you should never approach a horse from the front or behind."
"My name is Tom, and I learned that you should talk to a horse as you are approaching it."
As you can see, the sharing time had a theme that everyone was following. Then it was Judah's turn:
"My name is Judah Roderick Owens. I learned that horses make great cupcakes."
Laughter ensued.


Judah and I were in a cabin with two other moms and their sons. He loved sharing a room with other boys. Each night before bed, the boys (7 and 8 years old) would climb into Judah's bed and listen to a bedtime story. Most of the stories Judah came up with were about Scribbles, but he was nice enough to add their stuffed animals into the mix, too. Judah began each night out in his bed but was snuggling with me within five minutes. This mama loved her still-vulnerable little boy.



Sarah Mull, Ames dweller and babysitter extraordinaire, is working at camp this summer. Sarah's first summer as an intern was also the first summer Will and I were married. Sarah lived in our basement along with three other young ladies. She is very special to us. Judah was jazzed to be going to "Sarah's camp!"
Finally, a photo of the campers with their mom or dad in front of the chapel. I will absolutely send Judah back to camp. I'm not sure if I will give Will a shot at attending Little Fry with him next year or not. This might be something I will fight for.