Emily's home from camp~ Pictures

[Emilysmom]

My girl is home, and happily listening to CD's in her room. She had a wonderful time......I think this was the best camp experience she has had so far!! She made lots of new friends and was very excited to see some old friends......namely the infamous Scott Hicks. Her counselor, Jamie was awesome and I think she did a great job with helping Emily to be as independent as possible. Emily received an award for "best attitude".....whoa! They did a sort of modified ropes course, and she said she loved that. Her very favorite part was the dance on Thursday night. Everyone said she had the BEST time. I'm thrilled she is home, but so so glad she had a wonderful experience. BTW.....Em's counselor said she was glad I told her to try to downplay any crushes Emily might have on any of the boys or counselors. She said Emily was starry eyed over a couple of them, but it did not seem to be a problem and she was amazed how many of the girls really really had trouble with this whole thing.

Pics are as follows:

1. Horse riding at camp

2. Emily and Sarah having fun

3. Dancing with Scott

4. Emily and Jamie

5. Playing tetherball with Sarah

6. Basketball........one of her favorite things to do

7. Blowing bubbles with Sarah

There were lots of pics with other campers, but I was a bit worried about including them, since I don't know their parents and wasn't sure they would want their child's pic on the net. And LOL CC....I had no signed releases!!






#nosmileys#nosmileys

[Debi]

Camp is good, Camp is great and the pics are AWESOME!!
(gotta say that Kathy with a K has a very good looking gal too)
Thanks for the pics Susan!
(But very glad with you that your girl is home in her natural habitat lol) ;D

[christie]

Awwwww SUSAN, THANKS for sharing the photos

Looks like Emily just had a GRAND time ;D ;D

and I can tell you are one Happy Momma tonight girl

Hmmmm no signed releases girl Hmmmm ROFLOLOL, well thats OK, its only me that you need one from

CC ~

[ashleysmom]

Susan the pic. are great. I really liked the horse riding one. To bad you don't come here to often I would have her ride my horses.
I never realized how much Emily looks like Jordan. WOW!!!
Thanks for sharing.

[Cathy]

Susan,

Thanks for sharing the pics. Looks like Emily had a great time! Glad things went so well for her!

Hugs,

Cathy

[ALLISA]

SHe looks great and happy ! and loving every minute of it.....I remember the FIRST time she was going & you were unsure about the whole thing !! Good thing you let her go !!

Does this organiziation have a national base ? DO they offer his in ohter areas ? I would LOVE to know this option was out there for us at some point !!

Allisa

[Emilysmom]

Allisa~
I know that this particular camp does not have a national base.....it was started by a professor at the University of TN and he has kept it going for 28 years. He is ready to retire and we are hoping that someone will LOVE this program like he has and will continue it. Emily went last summer to a camp that was run by Easter Seals, and it was very good too. I would say that Easter Seals would do camps all over the US. We were allowed to choose which camp would be most appropriate for her......they have about 5 each summer to choose from. We chose one that was designated for kids with developmental delays. But this summer, we hope she is going to what they call the "performing arts" camp. I have heard that there are a lot of kids with Ds who attend this camp session and they get to do lots of stuff like skits, singing, etc. Right up Emily's alley!!!
~
And I can vividly remember when it was suggested by her IEP team that I let her go to a week long camp. I thought they were all nuts!! And....I must admit that I really believed that parents who really LOVED their kids would never let them go off to camp with strangers for nearly a week. But I listened to peole whose kids had gone to that camp (and other camps too) and very reluctantly signed her up. I cried all the way home after we dropped her off, and worried myself sick about her that first year. But she has had more fun each time and always seems to GROW during the time she is gone. I can't say enough about the benefits for her! But, it is absolutely wonderful having her home now.

~
I asked her camp counselor at one point yesterday......after spending so much time with Emily, what would she suggest that we (her family) could do that would help her to succeed. Without missing a beat, she said it would be to help Emily to make eye contact as she speaks and to speak more loudly. This is something we have seen as a problem, and I'm thinking we'll place more emphasis on it when we do her next IEP. Honestly, I was glad she didn't bring up a "new" problem that we hadn't noticed!!
MB..........any suggestions for this eye contact thing?

Susan

[updowns]

Wow, looks like Emily had a great time - camp sounds wonderful and love the pics.

Stella

[Jackie]

SUSAN...those are great pictures of Emily.....she looks like she had a ball!!!!!!!! Now don't you think that it's OUR turn to go?


Jackie

[Kristen]

Looks like she had a great time! Glad it worked out well with downplaying the crush stuff!

[MB]

Great pictures. She looks so happy especially with her friend. Looks like two typical girls having a great time!

WTG Emily!

MB

[Mary_L.]

What great pictures! It looks like Emily had a blast at camp.

Mary

[samanthajosmom_12]

looks like she really had fun at camp. loved the pictures. thank you for sharing them with us. sue

[Alice]

Susan,
Thank you so much for the pictures! They are great!
Emily is so big!
I am so glad that she is home after having good time at camp(frankly, I was nervous a little...).

[SuziF]

Wonderful Pictures Emily! Welcome Home & glad you had a great week !

Hey Susan, why not start with some attention games. Maybe try where you or the boys play the blink game with her while talking~ya know, whoever blinks 1st looses. Or quiz her on the eyecolor of the person she was just talking to. ~or yo could wear some whacky earrings to keep her attention UP !LOL!
Love Ya girl!