Safety Camp

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this camp. Its held in town by the police department and park & rec. Its for children going into kindergarten or 1st grade. Its a week long, every day for a few hours. Last year we signed Eli up because with me being a little bit of a helicopter parent and him starting kindergarten I wanted to make sure that if I were to let go some of my control, that he was well prepared for school and the dangers of things out there. Of course we teach our kids safety things, but theres just something about hearing it from others that sometimes kids grasp more. Safety camp totally met my expectations and then blew them totally out of the water. I wish that there was a safety camp for every age and all year long. Eli officially graduated his 2nd and final year of safety camp last week, and next year Zach will get to attend his first year. Seriously, I cant say enough about this camp and what its done for my feeling safe and trusting that Eli has so much safety knowlege in his brain and its given me that strength and trust to let Eli a little more free in certain situations. I would recomend the camp to everyone, so check it out if your child is in that age group next year...or any year after. Its the best money ever spent. And like I said I could go on and on and on about how great it is...just trust me on this one and sign your child up, you wont be dissapointed. And there are some amazing people who run it. So, heres some photos. ... in some what order.

Safety camp banner and logo thats on the campers shirts.

Eli's group. The "Blue Man Group". The blue team and they were ALL boys in the group. Eli was very excited one of his friends from his Kindergarten class was in his group. And I was so impressed with his counselors. The camp is organized and over seen by adults (police department and park and rec and some volunteer), but each group of kids has teen counselors..middle and high school kids. Last year the counselors were good, but this year Eli's were GREAT. "M&M" and "George of the Jungle" were their camp counselor names. They are the two on the outsides of the top row. (The teen in gray was a volunteer but not with a group, she helped with snacks and crafts for all groups) I was so happy to see that both the counselors for his goup had all the kids names memorized in the first day and they were really great with the kids. So fun and carring at the same time.

I think this picture just shows that Eli is big enough that he's too old for Safety camp next year. He was getting a little too tall for the cars, and had a big bruise on his knee's from peddling and hitting his knee's on the steering wheel.

Bus safety.

Animal safety.

Learning about Firemen and their suits.

Lock 'em up officer!

Stop drop and roll!!

Eli loves to volunteer to come up front at things and be the helper.

The entire camp (morning group).

Eli and some of his blue group buddies hanging out with their counselor George of the Jungle.

Eli getting his graduation diploma from Officer Gwen Jons (I watched her two sweet boys in my daycare years ago when they were just a little younger than Zach and Eli are now!)

Giving high five to the Old Fashioned Festival Queen and Princess's after getting his diploma. A friend of mine from High School, her little girl was in this camp this year also. Durring the graduation there was one little girl who when she got her diploma and shook Officer Jons hand, she totally stopped and did the hand shake pose for her moms camera. Becca and I both laughed that we forgot to "prep" our kids for photo ops. haha It was pretty cute though.

My proud little graduate. He is already a little sad that he can't come back next year, but atleast he can say hi to returning volunteers when we drop off Zach for his turn. One of the volunteer adults told him on the last day that she was getting teary eyed because she was going to miss him, that he was such a joy to spend the week with. Made Mamma proud.

(and p.s. I was not helicopter parent following around at camp. haha Gwen was nice enough and emailed me most of these pictures that she took all week long. I took the graduation ones)