Mighty Men and other adventures at summer camp

I heard stories from work colleagues talking about spreadsheets and logistics of summer camps, and this was our first time experiencing the fun and frustrations of the school-age summer schedule.  We wanted Collin to have a magical summer, a relaxed summer, a fun summer.  We wanted him in activities with friends.  But we also didn't want to be fired from our jobs.  It was a delicate balance!

First up was KidVenture, the most convenient camp - different themes every week, a weekly field trip on a chartered, air conditioned bus, and best of all, full time care at the church where Maya goes to preschool!  Collin said it was "better than he expected" and he met plenty of kids there throughout his five off-and-on weeks over the summer.  His first week, he earned the camper of the week award!

Next up was the highly inconvenient, 8:30am-11:30am soccer camp.  It was a sweet camp FULL of kids from his elementary school, Biblically-based.  He won an award that we think was perseverance though he told us another word that made no sense.

One of our favorite weeks in the summer was T Bar M camp week.  While T Bar M has overnight camps in two different locations in Texas, they also have a week-long day camp that rotates around churches in the state.  Our church hosted and I had volunteered our family to host what I initially thought was one counselor, since we have one spare bedroom, thinking we could take the counselor to and from camp when we brought Collin.

We ended up with three college boys that our kids still talk about and pray for, and the whole family LOVED the experience.  It was a blast having the counselors stay with us, even if we did get called "ma'am" and "sir" all week, were told how 27-year-old Steph Curry was very old, and went through  a TON of food.  The kids loved hanging out with them at dinners (and early-bird Maya at breakfasts), Collin loved seeing them at camp, and most of all, we enjoyed seeing their strong faith and love of God that they were pouring into our children at camp.

As I was planning out the summer logistics, I sent a note to some kinder moms to see what they were doing to try to get Collin in activities with friends and in hopes of coordinating and carpooling to some of the camps.  So we ended up with four other kinder boys joining us for the camp, and thankfully, they all loved it, since I was the one that introduced the camp to our group.

Pirate day -

Our skinny, strong boy on the rock wall -

New friends were made in the small groups, bonding over water slides, games, or other activities.  Our roommate counselors asked Collin what his favorite part of the first day was at dinner and he responded, "catching a frog."  Not what they expected after setting up the inflatable water slides, putting on skits, teaching them Bible stories, etc!

The boys were assigned camps and then assigned to be an Alpha or Omega.  Every aspect had a chant - "s-n-a-c-k, snack time,  hooray hooray" and "OOOOOOOOO-mega, mighty, mighty, mighty Omega!"  Our favorite (including Maya's) was the Mighty Men of T Bar M song but the video was too long to upload.  Here are some of the mighty men on ninja/camo day - 

Oh T Bar M camp, I could go on and on!  We were thrilled that (with our counselors' encouragement), Collin bravely sang the superman prayer in front of the 140 kids and counselors.  We were thrilled that each child is given a certificate with an encouraging word for them - brave, leader, intelligent - and that Collin's descriptive word was "kind."  The counselors shared how they demonstrated this trait, and the parents video'ed the little speeches with tears in our eyes!  We were thrilled that God's victorious story was shared with kids from all over, and hope we can bring more friends to have an incredibly fun week while learning timeless truth next year!

While Maya learned the chants, songs and dances, she spent the summer in her pre-school with her sweet class and wonderful teachers.  The class put on a circus performance when Cas and I were in Alaska, and my mom went to cheer her on.

She told my mom she was going to be a mermaid singing "Let it Go" and my mom figured she was a little mixed up, but sure enough, our singing (clown) mermaid - 

Collin and his best friend were in a two week "art" camp that included science, games, drama and of course, art.  Collin loved the drama class, and brought home a robot, painting of our home, painted pottery and many other pieces!

Collin wrapped up the summer at KidVenture - with foam pits, beach field trips, and animal encounters.  We can't believe next week is our last week of summer, but we think our kids will say the three summer months have been a blast!