Our whole kid crew returned to
Camp OTX again this year making it year 5 for Gretchen, 3 for Alex and the second year for Graham. Texas is gigantic, and the camp is pretty far away, so we take advantage of the coach bus option on the way to camp, and make the drive to pick them up at the end. There is now a little crew of kids that know each other and ride the bus together, making it a fun way to get the camp session started.
This camp has just about everything you can imagine for kids to do. Our boys gravitate toward water activities and sports. Gretchen prefers the indoor options like crafting, pottery, painting, and cooking.
We love that they can choose their own adventure, day after day for the first two weeks of summer break. Sleepaway camp has helped them learn to be responsible for things like: apply sunscreen or you'll be miserable, eat healthy food that gives you energy or you'll feel crummy, hang up your wet towels and swimsuits or they'll be damp and uncomfortable when you try to use them again. The counselors encourage them to do these things, but at the end of the day they are responsible for themselves. It's a small window into the future of having to handle those things on their own, and it's not a perfect science, but it gets things started.
Camp has been an overwhelmingly positive experience for all three kids. We love the closing ceremony where we get to see them for the first time in 2 weeks and meet the friends they have made and the counselors that they've spent all their time with while they were away from us. It's a day filled with emotions, happiness for us to see each other again, but also difficult for the kids to say farewell to the kids that they will likely not see again until next summer.
