Finley Finishes Up at Camp Sewataro

Here's Finley on his first morning of camp back in mid-July.

Here he is the first afternoon after camp.

He kept those same smiles and that enthusiasm for all six weeks and had the most amazing experience from start to finish.

He caught a few of fish this summer and his camp was so on top of it that the "fish cam" always sent us photos the next day of any successful casts!

He dressed as a pirate on his tribe's costume day.

 

This isn't a photo of Finley, but he did get harnessed up and climbed this rock two times!

 He loved all the fun sports and games though his favorite was puff hockey and whiffleball.

Here's one photo of his beloved Delaware tribe (he's in the orange and striped blue shorts).

The second to last day of camp, Finley proudly came home with a swimming card that announced he'd passed the American Red Cross Level 1!!  This is a kid who was mildly comfortable in the water and wouldn't even put his face in the first week -- within three weeks, he had requested goggles since he was going underwater at camp!!  Now he's a total fish -- swimming across the pool doggie paddling and keeping himself afloat, gliding on his front and back, bobbing up and down under the water, jumping off the side of the pool/dock, and telling us, hands down, that swimming is his favorite camp activity.  Hooray for swimming twice a day for six weeks and being taught to swim by super cool counselors!!

The last week of camp, we spent some time writing and drawing thank you notes for all his counselors and it was a great way for me to see what impact each counselor had on him through the summer.  I wrote the note and Finley drew a picture and signed his name to each one.

 (yes, once Finley rode the bus home after a tornado warning had been lifted, but just as a patch of hail came down in our area!!)

Did I mention he loved swimming? I love this back float drawing -- who knew floating would create  such a positive memory??

I teared up that first morning dropping him off at camp but surprise, surprise I teared up dropping him off on the last morning, too, since I knew he had had such an amazing experience that we were all sad was ending.  That afternoon, Dagny and I were super excited to greet him off the bus and find out how camp had wrapped up for him.  Here comes the bus!

Finley and his bus buddy, Jack, were quite beloved by their bus monitor, Hannah, and I think the feeling was totally mutual! (too sunny for a good smile, but you get the idea)

 Finley's already counting down the days until next summer at Sewataro and we are too!! He just gained so much confidence--in the pool, making friends, and trying new things--though it was hard to tell who loved camp more, Finley (who was actually at camp) or Dan (who was reliving his own life changing summer camp experiences all summer long)!