Published: LifeLines for Health, vol. 5 (Summer 2015)

Written by: Farah and Porus Pavri Edited by: Yasmin Pavri

Day 1: Our very excited wait came to an end when we boarded the plane to California in April, for the first time, to attend Inhibitor Family Camp at The Painted Turtle. After a long trip from New Jersey to California, we boarded a bus which took around two hours to get to the venue. The route leading to camp was very scenic. As soon as our bus entered the premises, our Camp Director, April was there, all dressed up, to welcome us. She seemed more excited than any of the participants. Her excitement and enthusiasm could make even an antisocial person come alive!

We were dropped off near our cabins. Ours was “Yellow 3”. A beautiful cabin that fit two or perhaps even three families. The cabins were very creative on the inside and had a beautiful welcome basket and kit ready for us.

There we also met our camp counselor. His name was Dave. Such a fantastic person. His level of maturity made us feel very comfortable leaving our son with hemophilia and inhibitors with him. He was caring and went out of his way to see that our trip was all worth it.

The next person we met was a very interesting person. His name was “PUN”. He looked funny and spoke bone-tickling funny. He immediately made us feel comfortable and engaged us in some hilarious conversations. The one very outstanding quality that he had was remembering each and everyone’s names. How amazing is that? Some of us can’t remember the name of a friend or a neighbor we met two days back, but he was tremendous. He was the life and soul of the camp. Our family loved and adored him. A humble person by nature and someone who loves, simply loves kids.

Being our first camp experience, we didn’t know there were fixed times to eat and only a certain amount of minutes were given to complete your meal. It worked perfectly for parents who have fussy children that take over an hour to eat at home.

Day 2: Saturday morning we started our day with archery, ate breakfast, went horseback riding (met/saw some beautiful horses), did wood carving with POPS (made a turtle, the kids made their pine wood derby car and we also made a “PAVRI” sign key holder). Then we had lunch and the adults went for an education session while the kids had a blast with their camp counselors and enjoyed blasting rockets. After that we went fishing, had dinner and enjoyed some restful quiet time.

Day 3: By now we were a bit tired so we missed the early morning activity which we can go to before breakfast. After breakfast, we went boating, did some arts and crafts, had lunch, and the kids had a lovely time playing on the huge chess board. Later we attended a beautiful session on how to keep calm when you are in the middle of a bleed. We also learned that we must be kind and loving to the part of the body that is bleeding instead of cursing and saying bad things about it. Then it was time for the main attraction of the camp. Ta na na na.... Ta na na na... The Pine Wood Derby organized by our very own POPS. Porus really wanted his car to win and was pretty disappointed when it was eliminated in the first round :( After dinner we enjoyed the talent show in which Farah participated and played the keyboard. We went to the camp store and picked up some souvenirs for ourselves and the kids enjoyed an awesome magic show by our very own Pun.~

Day 4: Time to go home. Mrs. POPS had put together a wonderful presentation of family pictures and several other pictures taken at various activities which we saw. We had to pack and say goodbye to our friends, both old and new, and a goodbye to our cabin, and our swing outside our cabin, and the big chess board, and our wonderful counselors and friends and volunteers at the camp. Thank you Janet, Eric and Joan for inviting us and giving us this beautiful camp experience that we had only been hearing of in the past. Our kids had a blast and seeing their enjoyment gave us adults a very satisfying feeling. The environment was safe and the “Well Shell” took care of all our medical needs. Our kids still have and love their turtle pillows. Porus has “Lee” written on his and remembers his new buddy Lee fondly when he cuddles up with the pillow. We really look forward to coming back and having the same fun each year.