Camp Oasis 2014

Austin had the great opportunity to go to a camp just for kids with Crohns and Colitis.
It is called Camp Oasis.

This year it was just outside of Denver, Colorado.
There were 2 other kids from our area that went.
Jaden and Blare, they are both 13 and have Crohns too.
Blare's mother drove them out there, 7 hours in the car :)

Austin took his camera...so these pictures are all his...enjoy!

On the drive there.

He slept in a cabin with 9 other boys from ranging in ages of 7 years old to 11 years old.

He had 3 councilors..2 girls and 1 boys.

They did lots of arts and crafts, and a lot of outdoor activities. This is Austins favorite one...archery. They did T-Archery (traditional) and F-Archery (where you ride on a horse and shoot at targets as you ride) he had a blast doing both of them.

This is "Pirate Dan" he is one of the camp councilors. The amazing thing about this camp is that they have a ton of medical staff on hand, and to be a councilor you have to be over 18 , have Crohns, colitis, or a child with one of these diseases. So everyone that works there knows exactly what you're dealing with.

Pictures of some of the kids he met...with Pirate Dan

They had 3 days of rain while they were there...and even a flash flood warning one day.

They have an amazing ropes course the kids were able to do. They talked a lot about how life is like these ropes courses, challenging, but you can make it through it with help from others, not giving up when you are scared. It was great for these little kids to know they can do hard things.

More outdoor pictures. Austin said he loved taking the camera with him and maybe he will be a photographer when he grows up. I tried to not use all the pictures he took and he freaked out saying "Mom, there is a reason I took each one of those. They are beautiful, you need to show them all." So here ya go :)

They also had a rock wall for the kids to climb. This is a picture of the staff.

His councilors again.

Austin being himself...goofy!

His little friend James, they did part of a talent show together. Austin did some beatboxing...Who knew he could do that??

And before you knew it camp was over...and he was flying home. Jaden's mom flew over and got them, then flew home with them. Blare was staying longer with some family members.

Austins first airplane ride...didn't go as smooth as we were hoping. He kind of got sick. After we picked him up from the airport we ended up making 2 stops on the 20 minute ride home...he threw up in the car...and 5 more times when he got home. But by the next day he was doing great again. Crohns...it will get ya!

When Austin first got home he wasn't so sure he had a good time. He said the food wasn't very good. He was upset they didn't have the salad bar open for breakfast...silly kid! He said everything was Gluten free or Lactose free, but a lot of kids with Crohns have to eat those types of food or it causes problems. Austin has a list of foods that trigger a flare or make his flares worse and he knows to avoid them. He ended up losing almost 4 lbs in the 6 days he was gone. Not cool!!!
The longer he has been home and had time to think about all the fun things they did and the amazing people he met, he will now tell you he wants to go back again next year :) I am not sure that will happen, the camp lost a lot of Federal Funding last year and it is kind of expensive, but I am glad he had the opportunity at least once.