More Surfing

I'm not sure I can say enough about Walking on Water Surf Camp. It wasn't just the surfing experience, which was incredible for a brand new seven-year-old. It was the devotions and the games and the staff. It was just the overall feel of a faith based camp. I didn't want to put my kid in the car yesterday and leave. I wanted him to keep surfing, keep learning from surfers who are grounded in their beliefs. This camp made me want to buy a big van, load it with boards, and follow Bryan Jennings wherever he might go.

Not because he'd make my kid a better surfer--although I'm sure he would. But because he's so genuine and so authentic and so passionate about making sure that these kids are believers first and surfers second.

I didn't even realize until last night, when camp was done and over, that this woman is a known actress and artist. In Hawaii, she pals around with the pros. In Del Mar, Faith Fay just palled around with my kid. 

His counselor, Katherine, gave him a semi-private surf lesson every day, took an interest in him, and pumped her arms in the air every time he caught a wave. And he caught a lot of them.

And Julian approached Troy and I on Wednesday and asked if we were Garrett's parents.

My first thought is always, "OH NO! WHAT HAS HE DONE?" But Julian just wanted to tell us that he thought Garrett was an awesome little kid. We think he's pretty special but it's always great to hear it from other people.

There's probably a limit to how many pictures you should take of one child during a five day span doing the exact same thing. I'm fairly certain I didn't hit that limit. After all, it's hard to capture that perfect surfer shot.

"I want to surf the outside!" he tells me.

"I really want to surf a barrel!" he says.

 And then, finally, "I want to surf Maveriks."

So it's probably a good thing that we live so far from an ocean.

But when I'm watching him ride waves, it makes me almost sick that I can't take him all the time.

Matthew liked surf camp, too. He's a happy kid where water and sand abound.

Garrett got all of surfer hair cut off today. He didn't really want to. I didn't really want him to either but it doesn't translate to Utah culture. Here, he's just one of the kids with surfer hair. There, he's practically the only boy in school without short hair. The extreme dryness doesn't help. It makes his hair look like straw. So, today we had his long blonde locks chopped.

I know I'm going to miss running my fingers through it.

And he's already declared that surf camp needs to happen next year. So I wonder if we're going to start this process all over again in a month.

I'm okay with the fact that he announced his love for camp and his desire to do it again because I was kind of already thinking the same thing.