Camp Dog Days

Or Camp Mama.  Or Party, according to Burl.  Whatever it's called, I'll say this: this is the best idea for young children!  A friend told me of her plans to put on a camp for her children and I thought it sounded like a great idea.  

For four days a group of moms put on a camp for our children.  Each mom hosts a day at their house and each mom has a day where they help another mom.  Then, each mom gets two days off.  The day that the mom hosts is a theme of their choice.  Our themes were water, farm animals, art, and machines and motion.  The host mom provided a snack and each kid brought a lunch.  Our children still nap (for the most part), so we scheduled 9-1.  We each have a young baby, so the babies stayed with their mamas.  

   

It's like a free camp for our kids put on by loving mamas!  I have so many friends that would be great for this, but I tried to stick with friends that lived close to me.  It ended up that Burl was the only boy, but he can handle that.  He just likes a good crowd.

My day was farm animal day, which is funny because animals freak me out.  With a dad who has a farm with animals that he raises, I figured I had a good angle.  I begged him to bring a pig and chicken, and he went one step further: he bought a goat.  

There were crafts.  There were books.  There was free time to explore Burl's room and play with his toys.  I wish I could say that he was a gracious host.  I thought he would be because he was very excited about everyone coming to his house.  Usually he is a great host, showing his favorite toys and how they work.  Today was a little hard.  Sharing his house, his toys, and his mama just got difficult.  The animal visit helped.  

We started with the pig, but the pig squealed and flailed so much that it sent three kids into complete panic and everyone was screaming.  The pig went straight back to his crate and we proceeded systematically.  That's when things got exciting.  My dad sat down and held each animal while the kids touched it.  It was a big deal.  

Today was a success.  It was a very exciting day, and I have to say that it wore me out.  My arms and back hurt more than they have in a while.  Holding babies and cleaning up spills is definitely more back breaking than rock climbing and running on the same day.  

The whole thing is very exciting and I would highly recommend it to moms out there with young children and good mama friends.