YMCA Camp (Otherwise known as "Letting Go")

Jia spent the week at a YMCA day camp. She was excited to go, particularly because she would get to skip "quiet time" for an entire week. I must admit that the moment I signed her up I began regretting that decision. In fact, I was more anxious about camp than about kindergarten due to the swimming, boating, climbing, campfire-making and daily two hour-long bus rides all supervised by (gasp!) teenagers! It was enough to make an overprotective mom feel faint!

I'd made a promise, so Jia went. What a result! She did fall asleep on the bus rides back, but thankfully, did not fall off her seat and thump into the aisle as I feared. She didn't drown or get lost in the woods. She didn't fall into the fire pit and she didn't get a head injury while climbing. Instead, she had fun every single moment. And returned every day filthy, exhausted and thrilled.

Here is her group:

Here she is teary at just the thought of having to wash off her paint from that day.

Jia, looking a little taller after the last day of camp.

As a side note, I had a good laugh at the opportunistic ice cream truck driver that arrived at the bus stop every day when the kids returned. He had the entire bus screaming for ice cream!

Jia learned a lot at camp that will be applicable to kindergarten. She learned that she can handle the bus by herself, she can make friends easily and she can manage the long day! And I learned that sometimes it's better, for everyone, to just let go!