Traditions

We just got back from year seven at family camp. Year seven. I can hardly believe it. Each year that we have made the annual trip to a little 'cabin tent' in the woods it becomes a little more fun, but also more complicated. You see, my kids love tradition. So if we did something the first year and they liked it, we have to do it the second year. And then new things get tried and make the 'can't miss it' list. I thought that this year might be different, because I was sure we had maxed out the options the year before. The kids love to partake in the official camp offerings like nature notes, polar bear swim, counselor hunt, but I think they love even more the little things that we think up as a group- like the overly dramatic bus where we make that shuttle ride into a roller coaster complete with hands in the air and full on screaming. And the time trials that occur after bridging each other off the bus- we wait at the top of a steep descent and chant out each group member's name as they sprint full on down. This year that briefly became the time trails circle of death when Jon took his turn while waving an axe over his head. Don't try that at home.

One great tradition is age groups where the kids go off with counselors for two hours and the adults get free time. And of course, we have our own traditions during that time. A few days during the week we head to the woods for trail runs. And as tradition demands, each run is punctuated by a few stops to graze, butts up, in the blueberry patches. Another adult tradition is to drop the kids, run to the canoes and paddle as quickly as possible to a cliff jump locale. This one has to be fast because it is a 45 minute paddle each way, and I, for one, need some time on the top of the said cliff to talk myself up to the plunge. Well, this year, that tradition was altered a bit. (For the record, Cousin Shannon tried to alter this one two years ago when she opted to RUN down the cliff face instead of take off in a leap. No one has followed her down this path however). This year, we dropped the kids, made a beeline for the canoes, jumped into 3 of them and headed out across the bay. But the further we paddled out, the stronger the wind became. It was blowing us into the channel but we all knew that we would be fighting mighty headwinds on the way home, so we had a quick conference and decided to break with tradition and turn back without jumping. And then the new tradition was born. Or atleast I hope it becomes one, because it caused me to laugh quite hard. As we were sitting there chatting, all three canoes nestled next to each other, someone decided to do the old jettison the other canoe backwards to get a head start trick. This started the bumber car/rally/derby that was our trip back to the beach. All canoes went pellmell forward, racing, and if someone caught someone else they were grabbed and jettisoned, or t-boned, to the delight of everyone. Yes, we were all adults, but certainly not acting like them. And it was hilarious. I can't wait until next year's canoe derby.

On the last night we happened upon another new tradition and this might be the one that puts us over the top next year. After the last campfire we were standing around waiting for the shuttle. The adults were chatting peacefully while the kids were playing a new game they had learned called Ninja. It was getting unruly so I called out a huddle and instantly the 16 of us who were there were huddled up, arms around each other, looking expactantly for the next order. I had nothing to offer....and then Kira stepped into the middle of the circle and someone told her to get back to the huddle, this was not an Irish jigging circle (whatever that might be...). Spontaneously someone broke into highspirited doodle-dooing of an irish jig like song and instantly it was taken up by every other member of the group, with high stepping dancing popping out left and right. It ended with a huge "HEY!" and then broke up, kids back to Ninja, adults to chatting. After a few moments, someone couldn't resist and called out HUDDLE! Everyone instantly dropped what they were doing (some kids mid-ninja chop) circled up, and after a brief attempt at a serious conversation, the jig escaped out of us once again. Here's what I love- this was a group with kids aged 4 to 14 and every last one of them was enthusiastically doodling and jigging with abandon. And the adults- we were fully participatory as well. The shuttle pulled up, we giggled our way on, and as we were waiting for the last two members of our group to join us a huddle was called and we rocked that bus with a quick tempoed jig that had the bus driver hooting and clapping along. Just then Wally and Kara, the last members of our group, climbed on, looked around bewildered, and then joined right in. When it finished Wally asked, "When did this happen?" Seconds ago. But it will last forever, I hope. But of course also fear. How will we be able to do anything next year if anytime someone remembers to call out HUDDLE! we all drop everything and jig? But then again, why do anything besides jig?