Landon has had SUCH a brave week I just have to brag on him.

Kids Camp

I signed Landon up for Kids Camp at a very large nearby church. Although we’ve attended a few times, he really doesn’t know anyone there. When we drove up the first day I was blown away by the numerous splash pads, at least four large blow-up bouncy houses/obstacle courses, tents with rows of tables and chairs, a huge pirate ship out front and more. (It’s a pirate-themed program.)

Inside was well-organized chaos. We checked in, picked up his color-coded camp T-shirt and then checked into his specific age group area. Volunteers happily flitted about answering every question, giving kids high-fives and smiles, and building excitement for the week ahead.

I heard there were 600 kids in attendance and there must have been at least a couple hundred volunteers to shepherd the kids around, feed them, teach them, entertain them, set up, tear down, attend the parking lot and more.

Landon was reluctant to attend the program, but walked in without issue and declared it was “a little bit fun” after the first day. He’s a tough critic, so that was high praise. As the week progressed, he was in good spirits, brought home crafts, talked a bit about what he did and overall seemed to enjoy it.

Pool Time

Landon and Bryce are such water kids and we try to frequent the local community pool as the weather and schedules permit. After Landon’s first day of camp, we went to the pool. We spent some time playing in the 4-foot section and he jumped in a great deal. He does amazing belly smackers.

When we were almost ready to leave, we ran into a preschool family, said hello, turned around and another preschool friend was there! Naturally, I abandoned our plans of leaving and sent the boys off to play. They all stayed in the 4-foot section for awhile, then one declared, “Let’s go to the 11-foot section!” Landon’s never been to that end before as it’s only recently he can swim without a floatie. (My rule is no deep end until you can swim unassisted.)

The other kids started going down the waterslide and Landon climbed up, but was apprehensive about going down. (Yet he doesn’t balk at the enormous waterslides at Sandcastle. Riddle me that.) With some encouragement, he went down, splashed into the pool, swam to the ladder to get out … and immediately ran to the steps to do it all over again.

While talking with another mom, whose son had only started going down the slide one week prior, I happened to look over on time to see Landon waiting in line at the diving board then fearlessly leaping off of that into the water!

He had such a big week with doing a few things he was scared to do, but when he did them he realized it was a blast!