From the day that camp ends, TheZone campers wait for the day that they can get together with their friends and mentors again, in the special atmosphere that is TheZone. Thanksgiving weekend was finally their chance to return to their home away from home, the place where happiness and love fill the air. Hundreds of children and volunteer mentors loaded buses across the East Coast, full of excitement for the weekend ahead.

And the retreat that was planned did not disappoint. The kids descended from the buses into a winter wonderland. The sprawling campus that the children usually explored in summertime was transformed, with over a foot of snow blanketing the grassy fields and turning the alpine slide into… a snowtubing dream! From snowball fights and snow angels to snowboarding and snowmen, the fun continued all weekend long. And when it was too cold to stay outside, exciting activities awaited indoors, along with fresh, homemade doughnuts and hot cocoa.

By the time the buses pulled out late on Sunday, the children inside were exhausted. But it was a good kind of exhausted, the way you feel after climbing a mountain or running a marathon. The kind of exhausted that only a weekend of happy memories can bring.