City Boy In The Country

Belgian fields and Belgian skies

We're approaching the halfway point of summer this week which begs the question of where or where has summer gone? One minute the school year was winding down and now scouring supply lists and preparing for the next one. But because it is summer, we've also been doing all sorts of summer time activities. There have been trips to zoos and museums, hours upon hours spent upon the playground with friends, story time at the library and sleeping in and hanging out at home. And of course no summer would be complete without camp.

Last summer Sidney attended a wonderful day camp on the coast of Maine. He paddled in the tidal pools of Penobscot Bay, played games I remember playing as a child and made a whole new bunch of American friends. Hesitant at first, he quickly came to love everything about this all American camp and was sad when it ended. So this summer I wanted to find a similar experience for him here in Belgium.

Growing up in a rural area some of my fondest childhood memories were just going outside and playing. This was back in the days before helicopter parenting, overly programmed schedules and the incessant need to have every activity be aligned with the standards of learning. It was a time of free range parenting before the term became a stigmatized phrase. Summers were all about playing in the fresh air, letting out imaginations guide our activities and simply being children. Our backyard was spacious and emptied into a deep woods filled with trees, paths and unlimited opportunities for exploring. Despite our best efforts, I realize how foreign this whole concept in Sidney's world. A large part of that is the result of his immediate surroundings. In Albania out house sat behind a high, barb wire topped concrete wall and lacked any green space. In fact, safe green space was virtually non-existant in our neighborhood. Here in Belgium our front steps empty onto the street and while we have a small walled back garden (or yard), it is just that, small. There is a patio, a patch of grass and ivy and rose covered walls. It is lovely but not exciting to a five year old who has already lost too many balls over the wall. Neighborhood playgrounds provide some opportunities for running and playing as do after school sports, but all of these activities are so clean, orderly and structured.

Getting to camp is scenic

We are in fact raising a little city boy. He can navigate the narrow cobblestone streets of our neighborhood with ease, is cautious when it comes to crossing a street and is a pro at riding public transportation. But take him into the woods and he might as well be in a foreign land. The first time he saw a real expanse of green grass he gazed at it in astonishment and asked if he could walk on it. And this point was driven home earlier this spring when on a light hike through a nature preserve, Sidney took off running through the grasses and low lying branches spanning our paths. Repeatedly he stopped what he was doing to tell us that he was having so much fun exploring, playing solider and running through the woods. He then informed us that we needed to have trees in our own backyard for him to play in. What he was describing to us was what we had both taken for granted growing up yet was such dream for him.

By pure chance it was only a couple of weeks later that I heard about a day camp here in Belgium that sounded intriguing. Located in the Belgian countryside the small camp offered children the opportunity to be children. Campers would play in the woods and fields, learn about baby animals on the adjacent farm and generally spend their days playing. And as a bonus, while the camp leader and a few of the counselors spoke English, most of the day was spent speaking French. It sounded like just what we were looking for. Sidney and I visited one afternoon, both fell in love with what we saw and quickly signed up for a few one week sessions.

The happy camper set for another
rainy and mud filled day

So over the coarse of the past week Sidney has been going to what we have dubbed farm camp. In true Belgian form the weather this week has been cool and damp but armed with galoshes and raincoats, camp is going on. The kids are playing in the woods, watching baby chicks grown and playing in a magnificent tree house. They are "free ranging" in the best sense possible, exploring the world around them and simply being kids. Sidney is coming home covered in mud but declaring each day "the most amazing day ever." He's tired when I pick him up--falling asleep on the ride home each afternoon--but in the morning he bounces right out of bed and is ready to do it all over again.

I do wish the camp was located a bit closer to us as I am spending two hours a day driving him back and forth but I am discovering Belgian villages and countryside that I never knew existed. The rain only seems to be a damper for me since it isn't bothering Sidney one bit. I cringe a bit that we are spending money for him to experience the being a kid that we took for granted outside of our backdoors as children, but times have changed. What hasn't changed, however, is the need for kids to be kids, for them to use their imaginations in their play and to explore to their heart's content. It all makes for an amazing day. And that is simply priceless.

An All American Summer

Tending the fire

The first two weeks of our American sojourn involved a whirlwind of hotels, restaurant meals and visiting friends and family along the east coast from southern Virginia to Maine. But for our final two weeks we have been settled in one place and are staying with my parents in mid coast Maine. Here in Maine, however, we've slowed down our pace and been enjoying the best that summer has to offer: cookouts, lazy days in the sun and for Sidney, attending camp for the first time. Actually, so much of what we have been doing has been firsts for Sidney. He may be approaching five but he has never spent a summer in America. While his years overseas have afforded him with amazing opportunities, he has been missing out of so many of the "normal" activities that both Glenn and I took for granted when we were growing up. And these experiences have been so much fun for our entire family.

Sidney has been spending hours exploring my parent's large backyard. He's picked fresh raspberries and blueberries, stared in amazement at lightening bugs and confused the long garden hose for a snake (he has never seen either before). He's been kicking a soccer ball around real yard and has experienced both mosquito bites and poison ivy for the first time. Sidney and Glenn spent one night camped out in a tent in the backyard. Afterwards Sidney proclaimed it to be smelly (thanks to the passing skunk) and fun but "he didn't want to do it again". As a family we've built sand castles on the beach and sat around a fire pit roasting hot dogs on sticks and eating gooey s'mores. There have been ice cream cones, lots of pizza and games of miniature golf. And best of all, Sidney has been attending an amazing day camp. Here he's been playing capture the flag, duck, duck, goose and red light-green light; childhood games that I'm familiar with but ones that never make it to Belgian playgrounds. He came home on his first day talking excitedly about learning to shoot a bow (aka archery), trying Cheetos for the first time (he loved them) and talks about the new friends he's made. But perhaps the biggest excitement for him has been riding a real yellow school bus when they leave camp to head to the beach. Belgian school buses more closely resemble long haul motor coaches and Sidney has been wanting to ride a real school bus. Who knew this would be one of the highlights of his summer. And the beaches themselves? They visit a different one each day with Sidney spending time at beaches that I visited as a child as well as ones I had only heard about.Each evening at dinner Sidney recites all of the details of the yellow bus and then, despite his bath, still smelling faintly of sunscreen and bug spray falls into a heavy slumber.

This is what summer is supposed to be all about. In past summers we've toured our share of ancient castles, walled cities and battlefields in far off lands but there is something magical about being on the Maine coast this summer that makes past years fade in comparison. Sidney is finally experiencing all of those things that his parents have taken for granted. Its been wonderful and has reaffirmed that our making this long trek back to the States was the best was we could have spent our summer vacation.