Warner Tully YMCA Camp has been around for over 55 years now. They provide five week-long sessions for kids aged 7-13 and one long-weekend session (3 nights) for kids aged 6-10. We held out on doing these camps until both kids were old enough (mostly because we knew Cora would throw a fit if James got to go to camp without her). When we asked them months ago if they wanted to go to Mini Camp and camp-away-from-mama-and-daddy for 3 nights, rather than look nervous or undecided, or ask who else would be there, they both just screamed YES! Well then, haven't we raised some adventurous and confident children?! Children who don't think they'll miss their parents for 3 days... As it turns out, their best buds Coltin and Emma decided to register as well (after hearing that James and Cora were going). This was good news for us because we knew that it would make drop-off on day one that much easier (not that we expected any issues, but you never know). We looked forward to this "break-in" experience for the kids as a way to see whether week-long camps might be in our future, as well as being a way for them to grow their independence even further (learning to remember on their own to shower and brush their teeth, change their clothes, keep track of their things, etc.) Cora requested a "Daily Reminders" list anyway though (she is her mother's daughter for sure). I printed one out for each of them and stuck into the bottom of their camp bins so they could refer to it as needed (along with the packing list, so they'd know what needed to come back home with them). Both kids helped me pack their individual bins and backpacks so they'd know what they were taking and where it was stored.
Who's excited to go to camp tomorrow?!
In order to ensure the kids had a least ONE good shower this weekend, we picked them up from Daycamp early enough to get them showered and shampooed before heading down to Port Gibson. We greatly underestimated the time it would take us to drive down to camp, but at least we were there waiting to check-in during the huge thunderstorm that rolled through (did we mention that Tropical Storm Cindy started coming through our area today and the kids were expected to have torrential downpours all weekend long?) rather than driving in it...
Check-in was quick and easy (and would have been even faster if we'd had the medical forms filled out ahead of time, but they hadn't been included in our packet). Cora was placed in cabin Blackfeet and James into cabin Alibamu. The Hancocks arrived before we drove over to unload the kids' belongings, and before we knew it everyone had their bunks set up and the kids were shooing us out the doors!
Jay got a glimpse of the counselor's schedules for the weekend and he said they were jam-packed. Night one included a luau after dinner, weather-pending, and thankfully the tropical storm bands took a break for a couple hours! (All further camp photos are from the Warner Tully Facebook page, where they upload photos daily for all the anxious parents at home!)
Among other activities, Friday was filled with canoeing, kayaking, zipline riding, and water trampoline bouncing, despite the intermittent storms.
Saturday was field day, and while I know photos were taken (they had a slideshow for the kids Saturday night according to James), they were never posted. By Saturday evening I was starting to really miss the kids (Jay was out of sorts Friday - it was surprising how weird we felt to not have any kid related chores, but was more relaxed by Saturday) and Sunday morning couldn't arrive fast enough. I set the alarm for 5:50am even though we weren't supposed to pick them up until 8:00am and camp is only 35 minutes from our house... We arrived early (as they were finishing breakfast) and I didn't feel the least bit guilty. We received warm welcomes (though James then promptly hiked off with his cabin mates), but nobody wanted to leave, so we hung out a bit while they packed up the last of their things (I was so impressed with how organized both James and Cora were, especially compared to most of the other kids who still had their things strewn about their bunks and cabins) and said their goodbyes to their counselors and friends.
(Emma and Cora apparently spent a lot of time catching tiny toads and making homes for them)
We had sent the kids to camp with disposable cameras so that we could get a glimpse into camp life from their perspective. Apparently they really like selfies... There were a LOT of selfies (including mostly blurred selfies or failed selfies with just the tops of their heads). And lots of rain/cloud/sunset pictures. And lots of blurry friend photos in general. But there were a few winners:
A HUGE thank you to Grambot and PawPaw for giving the kids this gift of Mini Camp. While we would have sent them regardless, they really wanted to do something special for the kids this summer (rather than bring toys when they came to visit), and it certainly helped us out as we continue our journey toward becoming debt-free. The kids had such a blast (hopefully memories that will last a lifetime) and can't wait to go back to Warner Tully next summer for a full week session! They wrote thank you cards on the way to drop-off, so we mailed them from the camp mailbox on our way home:
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