It seems like years ago, but just this past Spring as we were signing up for summer camps, my youngest son kept talking about "A Detective in Paris." I had read both my boys descriptions of a variety of different themes from different camps, including Camp Galileo to gauge their interest level. "A Detective in Paris" is one of the themes for Galileo this summer, and it seemed right up my younger son's alley. He loves to sleuth, and he loves art, so it is perfect. My older son loves to be creative, so this theme is a good match for him as well.
But... as we tried to figure out our schedules, it appeared that Camp Galileo wouldn't be in the cards. Summer camp can be quite pricey, plus with a trip in the works for my husband's 40th birthday and the expenses surrounding my brother's wedding, we decided to focus on just one camp for each boy. Since my oldest son has wanted instruction in video game design, it made sense for him to do Galileo Summer Quest. Meanwhile, I signed up my youngest son for a different camp whose schedule matched well with Quest so that both boys would be out of the house at the same time. (In this case, I gave my older son his first choice since we've been exceptionally supportive of my youngest son's gymnastics, both with time and money.)
Well, on the first day of camp, my oldest son was super excited. So was my youngest. As we drove to his camp, he said, "Hooray! I can't wait for 'A Detective in Paris'! I'm going to catch that thief and do all kinds of beautiful art!"
Um.....
Fortunately, a member of Galileo's marketing staff - who happens to be a blogging friend of mine - wondered if I might be interested in a free week of Camp Galileo in exchange for spreading the word about its awesomeness.
I was already super-psyched about Summer Quest, and had been exceptionally impressed with the Camp Galileo staffers who had participated in our school's science fair the last several years. I wrote the fastest email of my life to happily accept the proposal. After all, I was already gushing about Galileo for free!
Much to my youngest son's delight, they had space in "A Detective in Paris" - perfect!
My oldest had a fabulous time at Summer Quest, even shedding a few tears on the last day because he was so sad to see this fantastic experience end. Although I could only say "you'll see them next year!" about the specific Summer Quest staffers, I told him he still had a Galileo Learning experience still to enjoy this summer at Camp Galileo.
If "Detective in Paris" is even half as good as Summer Quest, my boys are still in for a fabulous adventure. They are looking forward to it, and of course I am, too!
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Disclaimer: I researched and paid for Galileo Summer Quest with my own money. Then by complete wonderful random chance, Galileo Learning contacted me to see if I'd be interested in reviewing their camps. As such, both my kids attended Camp Galileo for an additional week on Galileo's dime in exchange for my posts.
I've written about our Galileo Adventures here:
In Search of Tech Camp
The First Morning of Camp
The Report from Galileo Summer Quest
A Detective in Paris
Camp G is for you and me!
We're gonna miss you Camp G! Until next year...
