this is our 8th week in DC and it is the slowest week during this trip. Why? Because I have a half empty nest house. Sofia left for sleep away summer camp on Saturday. The departure was sad with Lizzy crying very hard as if Sofia is leaving for good. Even Sofia who has been super excited about this camp for weeks, was quite sad to see Lizzy being so sad. The connection between these two little girls who fight in a daily basis is so strong, which really melted my heart.
The camp was 2.5 hrs away from DC area and a friend’s husband was kindly offer to drive us there. We took metro to meet him. I was sad that Sofia was very into her reading instead of chatting with me before she had to go away for a week. Maybe because we had a huge fight that morning… maybe it’s just she growing, either way it made me sad
when we arrive, the place looks so serene and beautiful but very quiet. When I got a boy to ask where’s the check-in, he said it’s the next day. WHAT??? we came 24 hrs earlier? how did I make such a mistake? Obviously I couldn’t ask our friend to drive us again next day (although he would), so I begged the director to just take Sofia and hang out with the kids that was doing back to back camps. After some consultation, they kindly agreed! what a relief. They did a swab test and check for lice, and Sofia was good to go.
She went with the counselor to join the other kids for some pool time, then crafting before dinner and movie night. Sounded like a fun plan.
The next 48 hrs was hard for me as I had no way to communicate with her. Normally we can send her emails, they’ll print it, she’ll respond and scan it back to us. but since we basically started 24 hrs earlier, we wouldn’t receive anything until Monday afternoon. Monday morning I was too anxious and worried and called the camp to check on her. They took note and said someone will get back to me. 3pm still no news of Sofia, so I called again. The lady who answered the call said they’re scanning camp mails now and she’ll check if Sofia has something for us, and put me on hold for few minutes. Those were the hardest minutes… every scenario came to mind and I was so worried that she’ll say “oh, we don’t have a Sofia xx here”. Fortunately that dramatic scene only happened in my mind and she said that everything seems to be fine and I’d get Sofia’s mail in few minutes.
What a relief!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 10 min later we got 3 mails from Sofia, telling us she’s having fun. The we saw the camp daily post and saw her really having fun
Meanwhile Lizzy has been my little company, we go everywhere together and sleep together. We did some shopping, met with a friends’ family who used to live in Manila on Sunday.
we took morning walk on Monday to visit the Lincoln memorial
Lizzy loved the place and happy to see all the duckies and their family
A family of 3 is so much quieter. Lizzy is very good playing alone but she misses Sofia terribly. I miss Sofia but more than anything worried about her, if she’s dressing properly, if she’s found friend to play with, if she misses us to the point to want to come home already, etc., I’m worried about her emotional and physical wellbeing 24/7. When I wake up in the middle of the night, my mind spine and I googled “how to handle sleep camp anxiety”. Yeah… I’ve gone that far.
It’s Wednesday here (only Wed?), 3 more nights until we see Sofia. We didn’t get her mail yesterday which added fuel to my worry, let’s hope she does send today.
On preparing to go back, we are packing, checking arrival requirements, and booking quarantine hotel for daddy. He’ll have to do that for 10 days unfortunately.
Our New Journey 
awwww momma!! Hehehe I have to say I giggled a little at this, because I’ve been there! I’m a few years ahead of you in the “parenting game” though, so I no longer freak out at all really when my kids are away. 🙂 (don’t talk to me about college though- that’s a different story I don’t even want to think about yet.) I know it’s hard those first times though when they are away. Just relax… she is having a blast!! Camp is so fun, and she seems SO mature and ready for it. The camp counselors at those places are always fantastic!! They love kids and are always great with them. And omg Lizzy’s reaction!!! Poor thing!! So funny though, too- she’s only away for a few days! 😂 Trust me, Sofia will look back on this as one of her best childhood memories I’m sure. So happy you got her into one while you guys are here.
Why does your husband have to quarantine if you guys don’t? You both got the vaccine, right? Bummer! He will probably enjoy the mini vacation though with lots of alone time to just relax, lol!
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hi Kae, thanks for your message. it’s still hard to let her go alone and know nothing about how she’s doing. rationally i know she’s fine and having a lot of fun and this being away from the family might make her appreciate more (i hope!) time with the family. anyway… i’m counting the days until I see her. my husband needs to be quarantined in a hotel because he has a regular working visa while me and the girls have the diplomatic visa, so we are exempt from the quarantine in a facility and do home quarantine instead. I think he’ll be fine and it will give me space to relax a bit too. hehehe….
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I am so glad that Sofia has had these incredible opportunities and I hope that Lizzy will have the chance to do the same in a few years. You are so lucky to have the emails when I went to camp about 20 years ago (wow … where have the years gone) the camp would let us send letters, which of course wouldn’t make it to our parents until after we’d finished camp but parents were asked to leave letters and such so that the camp could deliver letters to us each day. I unfortunately really struggled with sleep away camp and actually called my mom a few times because I would get so worked up at night that I’d get physically sick. It was a nightmare. lol!
I am so glad that you do not have to quarantine in the hotel but I’m sure your husband is probably a bit annoyed that he has to. Which leads me to a strange question … how does he not qualify for a diplomatic visa but you and the girls do? (sorry if that is too nosy … but we have our own visa issues in our family – my brother’s wife is still working to get her visa to move to England with my brother – he got a job there in February (my brother has a british passport as my parents are both from England ) so he’s moved there but his wife has not been able to get her visa because of covid … so annoyting!!
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