Camp in the City 2016

For the third year in a row, our church hosted Camp in the City. Reese was super excited about attending again and Sam was excited that he got to go for the first time. Saturday night after Sam's final summer baseball game, four counselors arrived at our house to stay with us for the week. We had boys again this year and it was so much fun.

There is an app that you can use to follow pictures that are taken each day at camp. It is a fun little way to check in on the fun that your kids are having.

Our friends had boy counselors at their house again this year as well so they brought them over to our pool and we cooked out together Monday night. The kids think this is the best night of the week. They all play in the pool and have a blast.

One of my favorite parts of the week as well! I just love that our kids have these guys to look up to.

This picture was on the app and it is one of the kids favorite games they play at camp. This picture has three of our boys in it and two of the boys we met at our pool Monday night.

During the week Hayes got to have a lot of fun on his own too. We went to White Water, the zoo, had lunch with Lance, and he had a play date twice with his best buddy!

Wednesday night Reese and Sam had a swim meet. We decided to have them swim in the first half so I picked them up from camp and we had a few minutes to kill with ice cream at CFA. Lance took our boys and Hayes to get BBQ for dinner.

More pics from the app...

Thursday night the church hosted dinner for the host homes and all of the counselors. It is a fun night of getting to visit with everyone while the kids are eating pizza in childcare. Matchy-matchy...

Thursday night we took the guys up to the ball field after we got home from dinner at church. Lance had a blast pitching to them. They all seemed to have fun playing as well. 

Friday night the counselors got to our house a little bit later than normal because they had to pack away and clean everything up at the church. Once they got to our house, we fed them dinner and set up the blow-up movie screen outside. We watched Zootopia and made S'mores. It was definitely a fun last night with them.

 At the end of the day on Friday, they have a closing ceremony. They show the parents some of the fun they had during the week and some of the things they have learned. They also give each kid character cards that describe each of them. I love that they can accurately describe my kids in three words after just one week with them. Here is Reese with her counselor whose nickname is "SnowJoy".

Sam's counselor actually ended up being one of the boys who was staying with us. They usually try not to let that happen but there were several boys his age who were also hosting boys in their homes. So Sam just got to be the lucky one. His counselor's nickname was "Rock and Roll". 

Bright and early Saturday morning they pack up and leave. We made a big breakfast for them and then snapped some pictures. We made some great memories with these guys and were really blessed by having them in our home.

Hayes, being the man's man that he is, loved every single second of having so many guys in our house. He wanted his picture with this sweet guy. All of the boys were so kind and fun with each of our kids. We loved getting to know them and learn a little bit about their lives and who they are becoming.

We had Reese snap a picture of Lance and I with the boys because we never get to be in a picture with them...this was the best we could do. Ha!

It was another fun year of CITC and we can't wait to do it all again next year!