Mason's first overnight camp

I can't believe my kid is old enough to go to summer camp...overnight...alone...and not miss me.  sigh.  Mason and his friend John went to camp Wapsie the first week of July for 3 nights.  I wasn't sure what to expect when I signed him up last spring.  Jake had to drop him off because I was getting LASIK surgery that day (bad planning mommy).  It was probably good because I think I would have been sad leaving him there.  Jake said he ran off and was raring to go.  He left on Wed afternoon and we picked him up on Saturday morning.

At camp Wapsie the young kids are in the teepee village, and they actually sleep in these huge teepees.  I myself couldn't envision what this must be like so when we went to pick him up I was excited to check them out.  There were 6 kids to each teepee and they had little wooden bunks that they slept on in their sleeping bags.

At the end of the 3 days we went to pick him up and they did an all camp show to say goodbye to all the campers from the week.  Each little group stands up and sings a song that represents their group...made up by the kids and their leader.  He must have had a blast because he told me he wants to go back this winter (they do camps throughout the year!).  I have to admit as much as I missed him it sure was calmer around the house!

Update: I meant to add a bit of detail about what Mason said he did at camp.  Each day they got to go to the swimming pool which he thought was a blast.  They made crafts.  One night they had to sleep in the chapel due to storms.  But the highlight of his camping experience was when they went canoing.  He loved riding in the canoe and was especially excited to tell us about this HUGE fish that is like 10 feet long and his name is Harold.  Apparently they stopped at a spot that Harold is known to live (they didn't actually get to see this fish), and their leader said they would ask Harold all kinds of questions but they had to be yes/no questions.  If the answer was yes than Harold would rock the boat, if the answer was no then it would stay still.  So they asked him all sorts of silly questions about what foods he liked, Mason reported back that he thought it was funny that Harold said yes when they asked if he had a girlfriend.  Jake asked Mason if he thought his leader or someone else was rocking the boat, and as serious as could be he said, "NO, it was really the huge fish dad."  There is still some innocence left in the boy...doubt that will last much longer.