Since it was Shawn's birthday balloons were in order. I tied them to his cell phone and laughed each time the wind took them in one direction after another. Since he's the camp nurse parents had to take medicine to him. The principal was telling everyone to take their medication to the balloon boy:c)
Two days before camp the students find out who is in the cabin with them and they spend the school hours doing team building activities. One of them is making a banner to hang outside the cabins. The wind was so bad at camp that most of the decorations blew away so I'm glad we got this picture!
With one bus for girls, one for boys, and one for luggage, we loaded up and headed out. And yes, with 93 kids, 24 parents, 5 teachers, and 3 administrators, the luggage bus is packed floor to ceiling.
The girls bus was very well behaved. Must have been because the principal was the bus driver!
After lunch, an orientation walk, and a time to move into cabins, we headed out on our first hike. Just an hour and a half from home is such a pretty area! The mountains, well, Oklahoma mountains, okay, large hills...are so pretty. The camp has done such a good job of keeping stuff in it's natural state. Trails are narrow and fit perfectly into the landscape.
Since this is school sponsored it is for a grade and the kids have a booklet that they have to fill out for each trail. I even learned some things from this! Hikes are three hours long but there's a lot of stopping for lessons along the way.
Part of the trails are just dirt
but a lot of it is rocky. Loose rocks or paths cut right into the rock. It was slow going for about a third of this first trail.
After all those rocks we ended up here. Not a very big waterfall...but a nice one for Oklahoma!
I found myself fascinated by tree roots. Most of the steps on the trails were actually tree roots that the dirt had worn away from. We talked a lot about erosion. This tree seems to be dealing with that right now. I was slightly embarrassed for it.
In three trips I've never seen water here but we all still walk across these cement things. It's just more fun!
The camp continues the team building by having meals served family style and meal set up and clean up done by the kids. Watching the kids sweep, clean tables, and put out plates and silverware is a pretty good indicator of who actually has chores at home. I was amazed at the different ways one can use a broom!
The camp offers four activities and our first was riflery. Hmmm....let's hand loaded BB guns to 5th graders and see what happens. I was a little worried. We all survived though. This girl was a lot better than I expected.
That's her shot!
This is the other mom who was in my cabin with me. She was also very good. I made a mental note to not upset her.
What's cooler than seeing your math teacher taking a shot? The kids loved it!
The cute camp nurse was pretty good, too!
As we were leaving riflery the view over the lake was just beautiful.
The kids headed off to the outdoor activity center for a lesson and some fun and the counselors had free time to shower. Thank goodness! We were sweaty and dirty and needed a break from those cute kiddos. Of course, for the second time there, I didn't get a cabin with a shower. Good grief, what does a girl have to do? (I did however get a working air conditioner. For that I was grateful.) I packed up my stuff and headed with the other moms to the shower house. I of course got the shower that didn't spray but shot straight. I have some interesting bruises now from that. But boy did I get that dirt off of me!After three trips and a very long hour I got all seven of our girls showered and they were in bed by 9:30. Sadly when the teachers did bed checks after 10 they got them riled up. We were not amused. Luckily we got them quieted down quickly and even the girls parents had warned me wouldn't sleep well were out. Day 2 is the only full day at camp so every minute is packed with not stop activity.
Consider that your warning:c)
Posts
4 comments:
I remember it well. Not really being the camper type I was dreading it, but it turned out to be a great trip with great memories, it looks like the traditon continues.
thanks for the great report! Loved the pictures and the comments.
Wow - that looks fun! How brave you are to be with all those kids! ;)
it turned out to be a great trip with great memories, it looks like the traditon continues.
Domain registration india
Post a Comment