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Summer Camp Memories

One of my favourite movies is Troop Beverly Hills. I can actually recite the entire movie by heart, in case you were wondering. Although I am not crazy about camping now, (roughing it anything less than a four-star hotel!) when I was a child, I loved it. I have vivid memories of my first experience sleeping in a tent for a few days—good memories, but also frightening memories, because I was convinced a bear was going to attack me and my friends. I slept in between my two best friends one night and I felt like they provided me with enough protection so that I was able to fall asleep. The next night, however? I wasn't in the middle and of course with my over-active imagination, I couldn't stop thinking I could hear a bear. Yeah... I didn't sleep much that night! I much preferred the days of camping when we stayed in cabins, in more civilized bunk beds.

Despite my sleeping arrangements, the fun camp memories have stayed with me throughout the years. I remember going shopping with my father to find the perfect camping equiment—sleeping bag, backback, and the proper clothes and boots. The first time I went away to camp I was nine years old. I remember getting on that bus, and waving good-bye to my parents. I was excited, nervous, scared... and ready to have some fun!

I remember all the songs we'd sing on the long bus rides getting to the lake to swim, or the place we were going to go hiking. Although I usually attended camp with my best friend, making new friends was all part of the wonderful experience, and it was always bittersweet, saying good-bye to the friends I wouldn't see again until next summer.

Now that I'm a mom of two young boys, I spend a lot of time researching the proper camps to send them to in the summer time. Although they're still too young to do overnight camp, (they're five and seven years old) they have been going to summer day camp for the last couple of years and they—and I—love it!

From swimming to songs, crafts, and sports, their days are packed, busy, and fun.

Cooking hot dogs on a stick over a fireplace... making s'mores... and doing craft after craft—some of which I still have, by the way—were all part of my amazing camp experirence and now, I see the same joy in my childrens' faces, when I pick them up from a day of camp. They're so exhausted from their fun-filled day they can barely stay awake past dinner time, even though the sun is still shining outside.

Muskoka Woods reminds me of the fun I had at camp when I was a child. Doesn't this video make you want to be a child again, at least for a few weeks?

This is the type of camp I know I'd have loved to go to. Their mission? "To inspire youth to shape their world." Pretty positive, no? From water sports to media and arts, and leadership and team building programs, Muskoka Woods is the perfect summer camp destination for children and youth. Also? Fun is their trademark. The best part? No tents! Guests stay in clean, fully-enclosed cabins with bunk beds! Yay!

If you want to sign up your children for camp this summer, it's this easy.

All this talk about summer camp makes me wish I was a kid again—when it was all about fun, fun, and more fun. Seriously... wouldn't you love to go back in time to re-live some of those awesome, first-time memories? Now you can live vicariously through your children...

Happy and safe camping! 


Disclosure: I am participating in the Muskoka Woods Blogger Campaign by Mom Central Canada. I received compensation as a thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion. The opinions on this blog are my own, as always.

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