Camp Sonshine

So for years I had been hearing about Camp Sonshine. It's a summer camp that every single parent I talked to raved about. This was our year! Declan was finally old enough to go and it did not disappoint. Each day was full of fun activities like go cart racing, archery, bouncy house, water play, hikes, you name it.....they did it. I had some anxieties about it since it was ALL day (Decs usually does half day camps) and it seemed like they were so grown up with their own little bags and water bottles and sweet shop money. In true Declan fashion he did amazing. I would pick him up and his counselor Matt would jog him to the car and his tired little face had a smile ear to ear. 

Decs and Matt. Geesh he adored him.

Every day at pick up I would hear about the (optional) sleep over Friday night. At first it was a hard NO for me. Decs is only 5 after all. But my rational side- and by that I mean Mark- let him stay. Here he is with his little sleeping bag and puppy. He was so excited!

Guess what? He survived and loved it! Storms moved them from the tee pees to the barn but all the kids passed out and slept great. Exhaustion is their key to success there I believe.

The next morning we picked him up and stayed for the pancake feed. We ran in to our good buddy Lucy. She loved it too!

Lucy's little bro is a special guy in Declan's life. Why you ask? They have the exact same personality and are both "handful" spirited kids. Mark and Gage's dad take the boys fishing. I can only imagine the shenanigans on those trips. Here they got "friendship fishing necklaces". Oh, boys!

No questions remain. My son is growing up. He is friendly, likable, responsible-ish (we lost a couple nice water bottles that week) and can very much go with the flow of things. He is brave and excited to do new things. ((Hello kindergarten! This kid can't wait to meet you))

The last week of summer we enrolled Declan again at Camp Sonshine. It's spendy so we had planned just one week but it's such a magical place. The countdown has already begun ("how many weeks before I get to see Matt?!")