Clara and Camp Courage 2016

We've been preparing for today for a long time...we started a year ago, the day we picked Clara up from her first time at Camp Courage. I told her that day that she'd be going back to camp every year from then on, I think she either didn't believe me or hoped that she could change my mind in a year's time. She went back to camp today.


I know to the outsider looking in, that sounds a bit heartless and even selfish, but nothing could be further from the truth. I am forcing her to go to camp because if I didn't, she would 1) never meet anyone else with a cleft, therefore never have anyone else to talk to that knows her struggle firsthand, and 2) she'd spend the entire summer in the house, out of the sun, in the dark livingroom, under her laptop playing Minecraft and losing herself in Youtube videos about Minecraft. I'm really not ok with that, especially since she's starting homeschool next year and will have very limited social interaction.


Her camp is amazing y'all! I'd love to go stay a week there myself. Heck, I'd have loved to go to camp when I was a kid too. I used to dream about camp, for the whole summer. She gets to swim, practice her archery, do arts and crafts, learn about Farming, kayak in the lake, play on the playground and have campfires, this year they even have horseback riding. Once she gets in there, she has a good time. She loves the activities. It's just hard for her to let go on the first day. This year they introduced something called Dimensions. She picked Farming, Mad Science, and Harry Potter. She's going to have a blast.


The cabins are really cool too. They're round, each kid gets a bed, a closet with a shelf and a drawer, and they each have access to a bathroom right across from their bunk. It's a lot better than the cabins in the movies, lol. They're even air conditioned. :)

Mary goes to the same camp in July when it will switch to Camp Acheaway for kids with JIA. She went with us today to get a peek and check things out before she goes. She's been nervous up until today, because she's never been away for a whole week, and definitely never been away in an unfamiliar place, with unfamiliar people. But after seeing the camp today, and seeing Clara's cabin, she's a little less nervous and a bit more excited. I know she'll love it. They're her kind of people. Clara doesn't like how bubbly and friendly they are, she says they're too hyper. They're just like Mary, lol.


Clara made some friends last year that she really enjoyed being around. Hope, Rebecca, and Katie. There was another one, but I can't remember her name right now. Rebecca and Katie aren't in her cabin this year, but Hope is! :) I hope that they are still able to be friends and that Clara can make more new friends as well.