10th year at Camp Inspiration

OUR TEAM:  (minus Daureen and Lauren) Gene, me, John, Spencer, Julie, Mav, Paige, Leslie, Colin and Casey

We had a great time at Camp Inspiration this year!  Can't believe we've gone every year since Camp Inspiration's inception in June of 2003.  Colin was just an itty-bit and Casey was only 5!  I remember getting the paperwork from Dr. DiMichele and thinking, "NO way" but then decided to apply and see what happened.  I think there were four or five campers and their families that first year.  Now the camp has room for 12 campers and families --this year I think there were 8.  I'm going to keep on trying to recruit more!

So happy that Daniel (Connie and Justin Sacripante) qualified this year to be a camper!  It was thrilling to see him experience so many fun things and get spoiled and loved on by the awesome counselors.  Justin blew me away by letting the counselors do so much of his care and was very calm on the outside although I'm sure he was nervous on the inside.  We never did get to 'babysit' Daniel so that Connie and Justin could have a picnic and some alone time, but I think they came out of camp recharged.  They even let the counselors and nurses hang with Daniel while we had our parent 'fancy dinner.'  And we were totally in a different building way up the hill!

Miss Mary and family were also able to come to camp, albeit only for 2 nights.  Mary has had a long winter of sicknesses and had just come out of the hospital.   Anyway, it was great to finally meet Mary and her family; her parents Kate and Ryan, Kate's mom, and little brother Jackson.  Mary was at camp for an hour before she went to the ropes course and conquered the giant swing!  What a trooper!

Colin's preferred activity was fishing.  Yup, fishing.  He caught lots of fish!  The first afternoon he caught so many we stopped counting at 10.  He had a couple flop off the hook onto his lap and he chuckled at that--me, I was a little horrified when I heard! .
Casey's preferred activity was holding the guinea pigs and rabbits at the barn.  Every year he loves doing this and the animals love him!  They may be a little skittish at first, but when they are placed on Casey's lap they calm right down and make themselves at home.  I'm sure he could have stayed at the barn the whole time if we had let him.

What else did we do???

We:

• swam two different days.   Both boys enjoyed swimming.  Sometimes Casey fusses about our pool, but he likes swimming at camp because it's a heated indoor pool.  I have to get after Gene to get a solar cover for ours.  One little mishap.  I didn't see if but I have it on video since someone had my flip camera.  Maverick was holding Casey.  Nurse Daureen came up to them and went to play with Casey's legs.  Since Casey has contractures, his legs didn't move like 'normal' legs so she ended up pulling his whole body!  Maverick held on tight and Casey only hit his head on the side of the pool but didn't go under :)    Casey and I enjoyed playing basketball with Mary.  We did pretty good!  Even though Casey is pretty big and has no control of his head or body, I am very comfortable holding him in the water.  I can hold him so that he sits on my knee (while I'm crouched) and then I hold this head and neck with my hand and arm.  I can bounce him this way and also use my other hand/arm to whack the ball.  Fun!  Colin showed off by swimming on his belly.  I can hold him by his chin and his body floats so it looks like he's doing the crawl.  He's not crazy about it but I'll bete it feels kind of good to be in such a different position even if it's a little scary. 

• went on a horse and carriage ride. We've missed our carriage lady and horse these last couple of years.  I was happy to hear the rides were back but then it was a different carriage outfit.  It ended up being really fun and worked out well for everyone.  There were two Clydesdale horses and a carriage with benches that ran down the sides.  (the other carriage was more like seats in a car).  The strongest men from camp were summoned to lift the kids chairs right onto the carriage!  It was great!  We all got to go together along with Tim from respiratory and our Lauren and Nurse Daureen.  We all could have ridden all day.  Anthony has a power chair so he had to be lifted our of his chair onto his mom, but it was okay for them, too.

• tried archery (first time for Camp Inspiration activity).  I didn't originally sign the waiver for archery since I thought it wouldn't be any fun for the boys.  Then I heard how they had made something very special that would be easy for most of the kids to use. I wish I had taken a better picture it but they were able to secure a bow to a table and made a special thingy so that it was really easy for the kids to pull back on the string. Of course my guys still needed help but it was pretty thrilling for them!   What a powerful feeling it was! 

• went on a nature hike and touched a salamander and called for Big Foot :)   One day we went on a walk with Outdoor Extreme and a bunch of kids and counselors and family members were there, too, so it was quite a group of us.  We learned about ferns and moss. We saw lots of salamanders in different stages of growth.  One of the kids (a new boy from Idaho) is obsessed with Big Foot and also knows TONS about the woods/forest and it's creatures.  I know he taught the Ourdoor Extreme folks a thing or two!  He told us all about Big Foot and called for him, too!  He had the big foot call down pat!

• made jewelry out of precious clay metal.  I enjoy doing this every year and seeing the ladies come back year after year.  I still need help making my jewelry--you'd think by now I'd know what I was doing!   This year I made a cutout of a star-like shape and put a smaller star-like shape on top of it with a red 'ruby' bling in the middle.  It came out pretty nice!   Connie had some of hers left over so I made a HH key chain for Casey to put on one of his back pack.  It's kind of a cool process.  When you first get this little piece of clay it's brown.  After you make what you want, it's dried in a special dryer and it turns into silver!  This link tells a little bit about it. 

• did all sort of things in arts and crafts.  I think Casey was up there more than Colin was.  Casey helped paint a wooden eagle for Father's Day.  they outlined it in orange and wrote on it in black.  Nurse Daureen put magnets on it.  Both boys also worked on their wooden race cars.  Colin's was blue, of course.  He called it the Blue Destroya (kind of after Dusin Pedroia).  Casey, well, he named his The Bare Biscuits.  His was 'naked' (no paint).  I do have to admit here that they put some rocks on the front and hid them under The Bare Biscuit sign.  But hey, after 10 years it was time for one of the boys to win!

• played kick ball.   I missed most of the game but everyone played hard and had fun.  I have some pictures which I'll share. 

• saw an awesome ventriloquist show.  Sylvia Markson-Fletcher and the Magic Trunk was so funny!  Casey was laughing so had which made it even better for me!  Colin liked it too, but I think he was laughing at parts that he didn't quite 'get' but that's okay!   She did amazing things with the audience and I laughed tears when she had Pez up there dressed like a Mexican woman playing the maraccas.  She had a mask on the bottom of his face that so that she could make his mouth look like it was moving.  Very clever material and just sooo funny!

• participated in musical therapy.  Tim Doak, a former camper and counselor, came with a friend and they made music and helped the group as a whole make fun rhythms and songs. Very cool!

• made marble paintings and fake poop in Discovery.   Casey was a little uncooperative when doing the painting but they came out nice.  Somehow there was some starch and I don't know what else in the water but you splattered paint on the surface of the water and then placed your paper on top of it and it would stick to the paper.  I wasn't there when Colin made his fake poop but I'm sure he liked it.  Later on Nurse Lauren tricked me by saying Colin had an unusual poop.  There was a HUGE lump on his diaper and I realized it was fake after a beat or two.  It was actually chocolate, I believe.

• ran in the ADK 500 (Casey was one of the winners!).   We had the ADK race inside at the stage area.  It was a little different than usual.  They didn't really have heats and they ended up with 3 winners instead of one.  Casey, thank goodness, was one of the winners, as well as Daniel!

The counselors were awesome, as usual.  Like Dr. Kathy said, 'Double H gets counselors from the cream of the crop and Camp Inspiration gets the cream of the cream of the top'.  Casey was glad to have Maverick back this year.  I warned him that he might not be there this year (one of these days he'll have to get a 'real' job, ha ha) but there he was to meet us.  Paige is a great counselor and really 'gets' the boys.  She has the BEST laugh and is always so positive and ready to go.  Having Leslie and Julie back was great.  They know where Casey is coming from and read both boys pretty darn well.  John Z was new to us this year and was an awesome fun guy to be with.  He picked up on the boys very well, too.  Spenser was kept on his toes catering to the boys as well!   Nurse Daureen was around as much as she could be and we always enjoy being with her.  You never know the adventures that you'll encounter when she's around!  She always makes sure the boys have what they need.

We were very lucky to have Nurse Lauren be with us Thursday through Sunday.  Lauren was Colin's nurse for about a year and a half.  She's still perdiem, but she left us to intern in the ER.  We miss her so we were happy she could take the time and be our nurse.  I knew she'd love it and fit right in and she did! 

And, to make everything so much more fun for Gene and I, Nurse Julie did overnights for us Wednesday through Friday!  I can't imagine I'd have had much energy if she hadn't done this for us.  We've had most of our camp nights covered for the last 3 years or so and can't even imagine how we did it before we brought night nurses to camp!  I know she wishes that she could have been with us more during the day to enjoy the fun, but she knows how important it is for Gene and I to be functional and to enjoy ourselves, so thank you to Julie!

• Ackkkk!  I almost forget to mention that Colin did the Giant Swing and Casey zipped down the Zip Line!   We fretted about the weather but it ended up being perfect for swinging and zipping.  Colin liked it but it didn't seem that he was as comfy as he was last time but he hung right in there through all the fussing and prepping and did great.  He was very proud of himself.  Speaking of proud, Casey did awesome on the zipline!  I know he was nervous.  He was pretty much saying so on his DynaVox before hand.  I forgot what he said but we know what he was trying to say.  He did have one meltdown while Colin was getting ready for the swing.  Mav, he and I were talking about school and he just burst out crying.  I never did figure out if it was because he was missing school or just didn't want to to think about it, or what?  He said he was mad at Mav, but we don't know why.  He actually went with Connie and a couple of the counselors on a walk away from the swing area and finally calmed down.  

• Oh, and the dance!  The boys walked down the red carpet and had their pictures taken.  Then they relented and let the counselors dress them up some.  All the campers took turns being introduced and danced their way through the crowd of fans.  My guys didn't last too long it there.  Excellent music but it gets very hot and loud so they end up in the ADK room watching TV and chatting and hanging out.  The parents had a dessert social while this was going on.  Brownies, whoopie pies, fruit and whipped cream, yum!

• The last night there was a cabaret dinner in the stage area.   Tables are brought it and we have our dinner there.  Then comes the talent show.  Casey blew us away by saying, "Home van tomorrow  Casey sad tonight."  He sure got his point across!   We missed a lot of the talent show because the boys had to get into their make up and costumes.  Of course the counselors wanted to be made up, too.  They got up on stage and danced crazy like to Kiss' I Want To Rock N Roll All Night and did a great job!  

• Sunday is pack up morning and awards.  Gene finally admitted why he always misses much of the awards ceremony.  He's made me mad the last couple of years because he does back to the room to pack up before the awards are supposed to start.  I always tell him to get back by 9:00 but he never comes back until more like 9:30.  Well, he says he does this on purpose because he gets teary-eyed and emotional watching everyone up there and hearing what the counselors have to say about the kids and the families.  NO FAIR because I always am teary-eyed the whole time, especially when we're standing up there.  It's just such a huge emotional feeling that I get because I realize how much these counselors do for my boys psyche and heart, thus mine as well.  It really boosts them up and keeps them going until it's time to go to camp again!  These counselors really want to be there and want to make a difference and they truly do.