I was gone on an adventure last week. I was chosen to be a chaperone for my youngest son's outdoor education class {aka CAMP!}. Being a chaperone is so desired that the teachers have to pull names from a hat to choose parents. I was lucky enough to have been picked and could not have been happier!
Although, my little guy wasn't nearly as happy about it. Turns out, I'm can be "a little tooooo...." {his words}. He said I could go as long as I promised not to bug him too much about sunscreen, dressing warmly, taking a shower, and eating his veggies. I figured I could manage that for one week so we had a deal and I was in.
The trip is 5 days with 60 kids, 8 chaperones {4 dads, 4 moms} and 2 teachers. Even though I'm the mother a boy I was assigned to lead 11 girls and manage their cabin {for obvious gender reasons}. I was fortunate to share my duties with another mother and our group of girls paired up with a dad chaperone and his group of boys {including my own} for all activities, except eating and sleeping.
The kids completed team challenges. This one involved wood planks and getting each member of their team from one side of the 'pond' to the other using only the planks. The 'alligators' {grown ups} would 'eat' {kick out of use} any planks the kids weren't standing on. There was some trash talk to try and unnerve the little buggers, but they did pretty well...
Except for one casualty...The wood planks left a splinter in this boys finger and it required some simple surgery performed by our patient and kind naturalist.
Of course there was hiking and lots of it!
There was a Barn Dance where we doo si dooed the night away
We stopped to smell the wildflowers. They were sweet ~
We went to the ocean and hiked the dunes
Headed to a marsh where we learned about plants and animals that live in brackish water
And we ate pickleweed which did in fact taste salty just like a pickle
We all made it to the beach!
The kids played wave tag ~ the grown ups watched closely ready to jump in the icy water and save somebody if needed. Thank the Lord it wasn't needed.
Faces got sandy and dirty
We saw seals {see his little head poking up}
Two!
And sand crabs
we saved a snake from the middle of the road
And although it was all exciting, and exhausting, and fun, it would have been nothing without this face
This face that warms my heart and fills my soul.
I love him to bits and feel so thankful to have had that week with him.
No TV, no phone, no computer.
I know the memories will last a lifetime for me and I hope they'll last for him too.
Hugs,
Carrie
PS ~ You'll only see the face of my child in these images so as
to protect those who may not want their kids faces on the internet machine
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