After his experience this summer, Clayton could not stop raving about Camp Thurman! When I got an email about a Saturday family camp, I couldn't sign us up fast enough. :) It was fairly inexpensive ($10 per person) and made for a super fun family day. We had the best time! It is definitely something that I can see us participating in year after year.
It was a cold, dreary day, which worked in our favor. There weren't many other families there, so we rarely had to wait in line. The boys wanted to tackle the big zipline first thing. It is 40 feet tall, y'all! Wowsers! Drew, Wade, and Clayton were the first zipliners of the day. I was super nervous just watching them!
I couldn't believe that my Drew was brave enough to do it! As you can tell, he was a fan. ;)
Owen put on a harness, but that was as far as he was willing to go. He pointed up to the top platform and said, "I don't want to do that!" No worries, little guy. You don't have to.
Clayton and Drew really wanted for me to try. At first, I was adamant that I was not going to do it. No way, no how. Then, I figured that if my 5 year old could do it, so could I! I was super scared, of course. I made the lady at the top promise me that I wasn't going to die. Ha! Dramatic much? Once I got past the initial drop, it was actually pretty fun! Wade took some horrible pictures of me (the harness and helmet are a tough look to pull off!), but they are too funny not to share. Haha!
Next we went to the ropes course that was built up high above the trees. Wade, Drew, and Clayton all completed the course. Owie and I were content to watch. I had already played my cool mom card for the day. :)
After that, we wanted to find Kidron Valley, a section of the camp built specifically for the littler kids. Owen was all over that! He loved the rope bridge.
They had a smaller zipline that was over a little creek. Since there was no line, the wonderful counselors pushed Clayton and Drew back and forth tons of times. It was awesome!
After seeing the fun that his big brothers were having, Owen decided to give it a try. He did great! It didn't take him long to let go of the rope and "fly."
After lunch, we did Tarzan's swing. Clayton told Drew that it was even more fun to swing backwards. Little Brother was game for the challenge.
"Whoaaa!!"
Owen wanted to ride with Wade. He was happy as a lark when they pulled the swing back initially.
He and Wade were a bit unequally yoked. Ha!
Poor Buddy was pretty spooked when they let them go.
After a few swings, he was happy again. :)
Next up, Tadpole's Power Pole. Clayton hadn't been allowed to do the power pole at camp. It was reserved for the older campers. On Family Camp Day, all of the activities were open, though. Clayton was determined to conquer this big kid obstacle. Daddy went first.
He made it look easy (even though he later said that it was really hard - the pole moved quite a bit), so Clayton felt confident that he could do it also.
He stood at the top for several minutes. At one point, he said that he wanted to come down. The sweet counselor and Wade both pumped him up and encouraged him to go for it. I'm not going to lie, watching his internal struggle was hard on my Mama heart! I wanted for him to conquer his fear, but I also wanted to rescue him and just pull him off of that stinkin' pole.
After several minutes of encouragement, he went for it!
He did it!!! Even managed to do a couple of pull ups. Ha! By this point, I was full on crying. Wade and the boys were all making fun of me, but I couldn't help it. ;) Seeing my boy with that look on his face, like he could conquer the world, made me so proud.
This sweet gal was awesome! She knew exactly what to say to build Clayton up and make him feel like he could take the leap of faith. Wade and I were super impressed by all of the counselors at Camp T!
The boys were determined to do the giant zipline again before we left. Only this time, Baby Brother wanted to go. Did I mention that it is 40 feet high???
That little buddy slid off of that platform like it was no big deal!
Here's a video of our little zipliner!
These boys are some ziplining champs!
I still can't believe that my 3 year old did that. That boy is a whole lot of brave in a teeny tiny body!
Buck is the Camp Director. He was sweet to stop us and talk to us for a bit. He said that he thought Owen was probably the youngest kid to ever do the big zipline. Ha! He shared with us that he went to Camp Thurman as a kid and loved it. When he was 9, he told his mom that he wanted to be the Director one day. Lo and behold, he made it happen. He is such a neat guy with a long history at this great camp!
The last event of the day was archery. This October, Clayton has been sporting as much pink as possible to support his
Aunt Leigh Ann. He saw that pink BB gun and safety glasses, and made sure that he got to use them. :)
We had the best time at Camp Thurman! We look forward to returning as often as possible. :)
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