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We’re back from a fun-filled Labor Day weekend at Camp Winning Spirit! I have a few hundred photos I am going to work my way through in the next couple of weeks as this week we hit the ground running. Today is our relatively slow day (slow for Lex, I am doing a ton of laundry, cleaning and passport searching (fifteen zillion storage containers and two passports somewhere in there!) so we can get hers renewed and both of ours photocopied for Make A Wish. We don’t leave on our trip until August but they are on us to get everything in order so feeling the pressure!

As for the weekend, this was our second year at Winning Spirit and what a difference a year makes! For Alexa she was stronger and healthier so was determined to have as much fun as she could fit into the long weekend. Once I got there I had a great time, I’m still struggling with anxiety and some relapsed agoraphobia so the thought of going to spend a few days with people I don’t really know terrified me.  By Saturday morning I was thinking I must have been crazy to not want to go. Last year I wanted nothing to do with anything cancer related, I think it was still too fresh for us. We had a great time last year but this was a *club* I did not want to be a part of, even if all the members were so wonderful.

This year was definitely needed to turn my perspective around and get us out into the world. We got to know many of the families, had a great time reconnecting with old friends and staffers that Lex just adores as well as meeting new faces and making new friends. The weather cooperated and it was a GREAT weekend, she was wishing it lasted longer!

So without further ado, some glimpses of the fun and hilarity (and achievements!) of our weekend….

Laughing with (or was it at?) Douce

Fun with Douce and ZZ, I only wish I had a clear shot of Douce sitting on her knee!

Sunday she decided to tackle the climbing tower, this was a HUGE deal given how it went last year.  Her counselor Eric gets full credit for this, he just put the idea in her head Saturday and by Sunday morning she told me she as going to try it. So here we were Sunday after canoeing with a few loons (the birds )…

Already ahead of last year, she got up more than a couple of feet and hung out a bit.  Unfortunately her arms were just too tired from canoeing so she got nearly halfway before having to come down.  Still, it was an accomplishment!

Eric and Eric’s shadow

She then topped the climbing wall experience with sailing lessons, which she loved.

DUCKS!

Heidi and Helga (or Beth and Berta)

Monday brought another attempt at the wall with added incentive waiting at the top, courtesy of Berta

YEAH WARRIOR PIXIE!!!!

Chocolate waiting at the top! Congrats Lex!

Thank you Berta!

And a huge thank you to Eric

It was a fantastic weekend and we are ready for CWS 2012, she has new goals she is thinking about and I have to admit I better start pulling out a few goals too.  She is recovering today, all of the activity has left her muscles very sore so she has been treated to nightly massages to get some of the spasms out. We are walking in the Childhood Cancer Lifeline 5k Run/Walk on Sunday to raise money for CCL who are to thank for our wonderful weekend (and much more!) so we got to talking about next year’s 5k (as well as serious sightseeing through Scotland) and along with a big need to strengthen her leg muscles we are going to start a 5k training program together.  She is not interested in running the 5k next year but it will be my goal, so I have a lot of work ahead of me.  Now that I’ve written it here for all to see have to see this through.  If there are any locals who want to run with us next spring/summer I could use the company and motivation!  I need to find a place to do this through the winter too, that is 12 yr old girlie friendly as well.  She wants to have stronger leg muscles to really participate in the family games next year, her legs ached so much and her running just isn’t what it should be so she wants to change that.

We head to Dartmouth tomorrow for a long day of clinic visit and a trip to painfree for an LP, I need a new incentive or reward to get her through the dreaded LP without a meltdown…we have enough Webkinz in this house! I’ll update the visit tomorrow at some point.

and a p.s…I have several more photos of her weekend coming, I just haven’t sorted them yet.

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