Adam's Camp, YMCA of the Rockies, Colorado

This is going to be a long one—I had time to type :) Feel free to skip as you like.

Day 1 - Sunday
We started traveling from Cole Camp on Sunday morning only 20 minutes behind our intended departure time. Our 12 hour trip would turn into more like 14 or 15 by the time it was finished. We made it to Denver that evening and settled into a hotel trying to catch a little bit of the Olympics. Unfortunately, the girls were exhausted and we turned the TV off before the US relay team beat France. We are hoping that nothing happens to the DVR recording that we set up before we left so we can watch :) The girls were impressed by the huge windmills (?) that were in Kansas and then Josie really got excited when she saw the mountains.

Day 2 - Monday
We spent the morning in Denver. We took the girls to a museum and saw a great collection of Dinosaur bones and fossils. The girls thought that was pretty cool, but of course, the coolness wears off quickly. Luckily, we were one of the first ones there so we had the place pretty much to ourselves. We woke up, thinking we were late (by our watches) and did a quick shuffle to catch the breakfast bar. When we got down there, we realized our mistake.

After lunch, we made a slow drive to the YMCA park in the Rockies, where Adam’s Camp takes place. It said 80 miles (but recommended allowing 2.5 hours). We allowed more than 3 hours with the intention that we would have a lot of time to look around. We looked around a little bit and took some pictures at Lookout Mountain and got to camp just in time for registration at 4pm.

We were greeted at the check-in by the Adam’s camp staff who had already taken care of checking us into our cabin and had a bag of food with everything we would need for dinner (spaghetti, garlic bread, cookies, and a salad—what a treat!). They also had a duffel bag and a T-Shirt for Olivia and a bag full of goodies that was good for keeping the girls occupied in the cabin. [The cabin with no internet/TV/radio/etc.—yeah, for us, that’s roughing it, sad huh?]. No worries, we still had the portable DVD player from the car and the girls could still watch movies to wind down when they needed to.

After checking in, we had until 6:30 to unpack and look around. At 6:30, there was a welcome meeting at one of the buildings. While the parents met in one building, we were able to drop the kids off at another building next door and there were several staff on hand to play with them. Olivia was a little nervous but did really well with this, as Josie was with her.

We spent quite a bit of time that night prepping Olivia to the fact that we were all going to our own camps and meetings the next day and that she would be by herself at hers, Josie would be by herself at hers, etc. She didn’t respond at first but then later she asked us to come with her so I know she was listening.

Day 3 - Tuesday
We dropped Olivia off at 08:30 and it went well. Jason did the duty and said that you could tell she was nervous (biting her hand and tugging at her hair), but she didn’t cry or even say much. Because the layout of the camp is so big—I wasn’t prepared for how big it is--we drive everywhere because it isn’t practical to walk and each of the kids are assigned to one of the staff’s car. We are responsible for securing her car seat every morning into it. Olivia’s name was written on the window with shoe polish or paint so we knew which one to use. After dropping off Olivia, there was a breakfast for the parents and siblings in another building. After breakfast, Josie went with the sibling group to play and Jason and I attended a meeting where we heard the touching history of how Adam’s Camp got started, got to meet Adam and his parents, and found out what options were available for Josie the rest of the week. Josie was a little disappointed that her fun didn’t quite start yet. After the meeting, we drove to town to get a sweatshirt for Jason and we stopped to get lunch with Josie.

Pick-up for Olivia was 2:30 pm from the swimming pool. The art therapist was with her (there are 5 therapist and 2 volunteers for every 5 kids—1 physical, 1 occupational, 1 art, 1 music and 1 speech therapist). She said that Olivia really ‘came alive’ at the swimming pool at the end of the day, mentioned that she took a nap (what?), and asked me if Olivia ‘shuts down’ to avoid therapy. That would be true. She also does it if she doesn’t quite understand. So, it sounds like she had a tough spell in there, but when we picked her up she was extremely talkative. She was speaking in full sentences and telling us all about her ‘name on the window’ and ‘look at the mountain’.

We were scheduled for a 3pm game of mini-golf and we gave it a go. It went alright, but Olivia wasn’t in the mood to play so we quit a little early. Jocelyn got better at her form and was having a pretty good time. After mini-golf, we returned to the cabin and ate an early dinner. The Adam’s Camp crew has done a great job of organizing things for us to do at certain times as family groups (with other families). All activities are optional, but it’s a nice way to have something planned without any of the stress.

After dinner, we went for a hike within the YMCA grounds. We chose the Waterfall Trailhead for 2 reasons—I like waterfalls and wanted to see one (and I was planning it), and most importantly, it was the easiest and shortest hike. Well, the easiest hike took probably an hour and a half for the round trip which wasn’t too bad. Going up there, we had our doubts as Olivia had to be carried 3 or 4 times. Fifty-five pounds up hill is a bit much for our desk-sitting selves (I’m speaking for myself as I seem to be the one she wants to carry her. Thankfully for me, Jason took more than his share on that one though!). Coming back, she hit her second wind and she almost trotted/ran all the way. At the waterfall, you could climb up a steep area and get to the top. Well, I wanted to do this and Olivia started following and wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. I went ahead and took her with me (not the brightest idea I’ve ever had). She was proud when we got to the top and was put her arm in the air saying “We did it!!!” Jason had to help us get back down :). We had a good talk on the way back and Olivia notified us to ‘watch out for the lions and zebras in the forest’. The girls got to see a beaver dam and were fascinated by that. Jocelyn was the first to discover a small snake on the trail which she thought was exciting. When I asked Jocelyn what her favorite thing about the day was, she was very clear—“It was seeing the waterfall, not the walking to the waterfall, but seeing it.”

Day 4 – Wednesday
We started the morning by dropping off Jocelyn at 0820. This got Olivia started whining/whimpering because she wanted to spend the day with someone instead of going by herself. We kept reminding her about the canoe that she would get to go on and by the time we dropped her off, she was still a little upset, but not crying. After dropping off the girls, there was a meeting for the parents. The topic today was supposed to be finding balance in your life, but it went into more of advocating for your child. This was still useful information as it seems all of the parents were struggling wit the same dilemma of ‘how much do you push for your child and when does this harm them more”. We picked up Jocelyn after the meeting. She was excited about everything that she got to do. She made a sand picture at crafts which she and Olivia are both fascinated with. She also climbed one of the walls twice (and said she had a little trouble and couldn’t make it up all of the walls). She seems to have made friends and enjoyed herself, so that is good.

One of the things on Jocelyn’s wish list this week was to ride a horse. So, Jason also rode a horse for the first time and went with her. I used some of my alone time to study for my statistics test that I still have to take. My last deadline is August 31st (and I am in no way ready for this). Yikes. Jocelyn rode the horse but was scared at first. The lead went ahead and guided her horse and that helped some.

At 1430 Jason and Josie picked up Olivia from the reservoir where she was canoeing. He said she couldn’t wait to get back to tell me that she dropped her oar in the water. “The people had to go get it”. It seems like she had a good day and has made a friend. There is actually a little girl in her group of 5 who is also 4.5 years old has Williams Syndrome. William’s syndrome is a deletion of the exact same chromosomal section that is repeated on Olivia.

We thought we would go for a hike with the group, but we ended up being the only family interested so we returned to the cabin for an early dinner and then set off to Granby Lake in search of a picture or two and some ice cream. Well, we got a few pictures, but it was really difficult to find ice cream. We finally settled on ice cream from a grocery store that we found (we could not find an ice cream place in 4 towns that we searched—I think this explains why Colorado has the lowest percentage of overweight citizens in the U.S.).

Day 5 – Thursday
Jocelyn was really excited to go to camp this morning because she wanted to do more crafts and go swimming. She got to go swimming and play mini-golf but they didn’t get to do crafts and so she was a little disappointed. We had a quick 15 minute meeting with one of the therapists this morning. She said that things were going well and that they actually put lotion on Olivia in the morning and she calms down right away. I guess it is similar to the brushing that we used to do with her (has the same effect). She reported that Olivia loves playing with the other little girl and that she is taking turns with her and following 2-step directions pretty consistently. They seemed to feel that her goals of communication and social interaction were appropriate and right on target. Olivia got to climb the wall today. I’m not sure how that went exactly because her report is about swinging around like a monkey (she is secured to a safety rope and I guess they get to swing from it for fun).

The girls loved the waterfall so much the other day that we scoured our books for another one in the area. It lead us back to Grand Lake, which is a very cute little town, to a place called Adam’s Falls. It was a wonderful trail (short, which was good because Olivia was exhausted today) and although the ‘falls’ were not like a waterfall the other day it was still great. We had to hurry a little bit to avoid a short rain shower. We came back and enjoyed a slow night at the cabin.

Day 6 & 7 – Friday and Saturday

For all of our wonderful impressions with the weather during the beginning of the week, it sure changed our minds on Friday and Saturday. We were unable to do many outside activities as it rained and then hailed and then sleeted and snowed for 2 days. Yuck. I do love that even when it is 32 degrees, it feels like 50 here. That was nice. On Friday, we took the girls to the crafts place so that Olivia could make sand pictures like Jocelyn. She had been begging and begging. Olivia's horseback riding got cancelled due to the weather. We spent a lot of time with other families crammed into the main lodge trying to watch the Olympics. On Saturday, camp and therapy lasted until noon. Jocelyn's group had a little presentation where Jocelyn's award was for having courage. She got to try a lot of new things this week that scared her a little bit (we have not been an adventurous family) like wall climbing and horseback riding. I'm really proud of her for trying new things.

Olivia's presentation was after lunch. She cried and tried to escape to sit with us as the presentation went on but they did a great job of keeping her there and trying to reassure her so that she could participate. The camp provided child care during the afternoon while Jason and I went to Olivia's meeting. We got good information from the meeting--I will probably have a separate posting related to her feedback (because this one is so long and because there is a lot to put into that one as well). All in all, I think Olivia had a good time at camp and we have noticed tangible improvement in her speech. We had one of the best conversations that we have ever had this afternoon about the camp and her new friend.