Camp Hand in Hand

For the last several months, Leah has participated in a respite program through a local agency called Hand in Hand. Volunteers come to pick her up for movie nights, dinners, or even playing at the park. It is intended to give respite to primary care providers, but honestly, I think it's more respite for Leah! Sometimes a break from boring old mom and hanging out with a cute college girl instead is just the ticket. 

Hand in Hand offers a week long day camp each summer (held at YMCA Camp Abe Lincoln) and, after a bit of thought and discussing it with Leah, we decided we'd give it a try. 

So, we lathered on the sunscreen and packed her back pack with swimsuits, towels, horse riding pants, snacks and more and sent her on her way!

In four words, Leah was a fan. 

In a few more than four words, Leah was a really, really, really BIG fan. 

She had two volunteers that switched off days with her and she really loved them both.

The camp ran all day long for five consecutive days and included swimming, horseback riding, crafts, music therapy, archery, water fights and typical camp activities like cooking s'mores around a campfire. Each year the camp has a different theme. This year it was a fiesta and Leah was on team Chihuahua. 

There is probably nothing in this world that could make a child feel more typical than going to summer camp and I'm so glad such an amazing camp exists to give Leah that opportunity. 

I thought she would come home exhausted each night, but after a brief nap on the bus, she was excited and ready to go again! They couldn't have asked for better weather the entire week. Mr. Polar Vortex that decided to make our winter nearly unbearable, actually came in handy providing a pleasant summer. 

Thursday night they held a family cook-out where they gave awards and tshirts to all the campers and presented a slide show of all the fun things they had done all week. Kate and I were excited to see what Leah had been up to! 

Any hesitations I had about sending Leah off to this camp were thrown right out the window and I think it's number one on our list of things to do next summer!