The rest of the afternoon goes surprisingly smoothly.
The decorations in Cabin 12 are a hit; Justine adores the sparkly lights, and Noah and Ariel take turns trying to jump high enough to bat the balloons. Most of the time is spent settling in and sorting out who's going to be in which bunks.
Maddie and Ava claim the top and bottom bunks of the same double-decker bunk bed, of course; they were the ones who were so excited to see each other when they arrived. Justine claims a top bunk and tries to chase everyone else away from the bottom bunk; it isn't until Pearl points out that there are only as many bunks as people, and so every bunk has to be taken, that she finally lets Sydney go into the bottom bunk. Dylan has taken the top bunk over the still-sniffling Cody and dangles over the edge to offer cheerful anti-homesickness advice like "don't cry!" and "think about soccer instead!"
But all of the kids are occupied with their own kid things: seeing who's brought which toys and clothes, renewing the friendships from last year, explaining everything to first-timers Ariel and Cody, and trying to figure out who's going to be Absolute Best Friends this year.
That leaves you and Pearl a little time to sit back and breathe. "How do you think it's going?" Pearl asks.