June/July/August Retrospective

Summer is my busy time at work, like real busy...as a Program Director overseeing a few summer camps for kids with arthritis I am inundated with paperwork, logistics, follow-up, stress, and, most importantly, amazing experiences while at camp. The actual time spent at camp is worth all the craziness leading up to it. And like I mentioned before camp cannot be described here in this blog. Therefore, I highly recommend volunteering at a camp like Camp Esperanza. Any camp dedicated to kids with chronic diseases is a camp worth checking out; there are programs worldwide!

JUNE
This month we headed up north to Arcata, CA to witness our twin niece and nephew graduate high school and their younger sibling graduate from 8th grade. I am so glad we were able to make the trek. A little recap of June here.

Fun little hike in Northern CA with Grandma Jessie, Josh, Erik, and my hubby.

JULY
While summer is busy, July is uber busy.I took off for two summer arthritis camps: Joint Adventure Camp in San Diego and Camp Esperanza @ The Painted Turtle. The Painted Turtle is part of the Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camps, which are worldwide and all designed for kids with chronic diseases.

The cabins are the cutest camp cabins ever.

AUGUST
One of my favorite months. August is the month that holds our Teen Leadership Session of Camp Esperanza at Esperanza's original location near Big Bear, CA in the mountains. I do A LOT of prep work for this session, along with some very dedicated volunteers. This session is mainly staffed and planned by volunteers and we have so much fun planning everything, especially the leadership component. Photo overload below. Could not just pick one (lots of me, as I cannot put pics of the campers on the blog).

Opening Campfire

Snake love

My awesome co-directors, Natascha "Thunder" and Matt "Pine Nut"...I'm Sprinkles at camp by the way;).

Me, Doc Wendy "Ginger", and volunteer Athena "Granola", reffing the "Quidditch Match".

Closing Campfire

Shaving Cream, a camp must

One of our first "graduating" campers of the Teen Leadership Program

Camp Leader Stephanie "Frizztastic" showing off her Camp Hoodie

Amazing staff/volunteers waiting for the sun to rise (Thunder, T-Dizzle, and Seadog)

This year camp ended just in time for me to make it home to celebrate my 10th wedding anniversary on August 25th! Overall a great summer that lead into an amazing fall!