Camp Preparedness

It turns out that Davan is going to go to two away camps this year after all.  I say "this year" rather than "this summer" because one of them is nearly in the fall.  

While we'd heard of it before, for some reason, we both thought about this new camp addition just recently and spent some time checking it out.  The camp is Not Back to School Camp, run by Grace Llewellyn, the author of The Teenage Liberation Handbook. 

We know a couple of people who've gone and have been interested since long before Davan was old enough to go.  I guess we've been a little preoccupied with circus camps not to think of it again.  However, as we're not paying for her to go to Montreal, we decided we could probably swing sending her to this one.

So, in the last week or so, a chunk of our time has been taken up by various camp stuff.  Davan spent a good portion of Thursday reading every scrap she could find on the NBTSC website before deciding that she wanted to register, then registering herself.  There's also been printing out of forms and sending them in.

Meanwhile, we're coming up on the deadline for Circus Smirkus for the various forms they require for camp which included release of liability forms, a camper information form for each Davan and I to fill out, a health form each for me and Davan's doctor and a picture of Davan.  We chose this one:

The health form for the doctor turned out to be quite the exercise resulting in us probably looking for a new primary care provider.  I dropped the form off at our nurse practitioner's office, ended up with a bit of a run around about what they were supposed to do with it, including clarification in person and on the phone and finally, when I went to pick it up, there was an odd comment.  

Davan is a healthy kid who, obviously, has the strength and endurance to train a lot, as that's what she does.  However, she sometimes has tummy issues and (as I've mentioned before and why she and I tried going gluten free for a while) sometimes feels tired more often than she thinks she should.  When we mentioned this to our nurse practitioner, she seemed not at all concerned.  She was fine with us trying gluten free, but when that didn't make any difference and she knew about that, she still wasn't concerned.  She didn't suggest anything else to try.  Okay, then.  It's not like it's greatly impacting our lives, so we're just moving on, but, ya know, if we could have fixed the issue, great.

What's odd is that she put on Davan's form "a history of fatigue and diarrhea."  Davan was not thrilled about that being sent to Circus Smirkus where she is wanting to apply for the rigorous 10 week troopers program next summer.  Um, yeah.

So, I took her to Zoom Care and had a new exam done.  They filled out the form with "cleared to participate with no restrictions" which seems to me to be what it should have said in the first place. 

Then we ended up with a little back and forth with them in regards to getting her vaccination record filled out - I had to take the form home, fill it out and take it back.  Plus, there was a space for results of some lab work and they decided that meant Davan should have that lab work done, so we had to go and get that done, as well.  Turns out that Smirkus doesn't need it done, but has a place to record it if it has been done in the past.  

All this has been keeping us busy with appointments and paper work, but the Smirkus forms got mailed off today and the ball is in NBTSC's court in terms of paper work for them.  

Oh, and I almost forgot that we're also having to make arrangements for getting Davan to and from Smirkus.  My mom very kindly offered use of frequent flier miles to fly her there and her tickets are all arranged.  She has to stay two extra nights - one on each end - because of flight times and the shuttle to and from the camp is proving to be both a little bit of a challenge to arrange (email isn't solving the issue, so I'll have to call) and expensive.  The camp is 50 miles from the airport, but a 1.5 hour drive.  Whew.

It's amazing how much time the Smirkus camp particularly is taking and she hasn't even gone yet.  Between the audition stuff, forms, medical history, transportation...well, it's a journey.  I sure hope she gets a lot out of the camp.