Scout Camp

Caleb had a lot of fun at scout camp.  They all camped out at Bellows Beach and had a huge paintball fight on the last day!  I "borrowed" these pictures from the troops facebook page.

3rd grade camp out

This week I went on a field trip with London's class. It was a 3 day/2 night camp out (in cabins) with 45 third graders! We left the school around 9am on Wed. morning and drove out the road, to the Southeast Methodist Camp. They have cabins, a lodge with a kitchen, and working toilets and showers. I didn't take a shower because the floor was kind of gross and the shower heads didn't work very well, but it was nice to have sinks and real toilets.

I was not happy (initially) about this field trip. First, we don't do "spend the nights"... period...and this was sleeping over for two nights. Second, it was a $40 field trip. Third, I don't really even like camping (tent camping to be more specific, and this was going to be cabin camping so not too bad, but still...) The only way London was going to get to go was if I went with her. (Yes, I'm that protective... =P )

I ended up really enjoying myself...and London had a ball. There were a lot of activities that kept the kids engaged and active all throughout the day. I was in a cabin with 16 third grade girls and four other moms. The first night the girls WOULD NOT settle down. After getting their breakfast last the next morning (for bad behavior) they didn't make a peep the next night.

This was just a REALLY funny cart. They shortened the name of the camp to make it fit...but they didn't think about what it said on it. We took the 3rd graders to the "SE Meth Camp"! I told one of the moms, and she joked "Yeah, next time we should take them to the Pot Farm"!



The first day the kids played several games. In this one, the kids were predators, and they had to sneak up on a sleeping kid who was the prey. The "prey" had on a blindfold and had to point if he heard any sounds, and the predator he heard would have to go back to the start.

Wednesday night, we walked over to Eagle Beach and had a BBQ. I hadn't ever been to Eagle Beach, and it is really beautiful. Incidentally, that night during the BBQ was the only time it rained the whole three days! We have had such a wonderfully sunny spring...more sun than rain, which is amazing.

Thursday, the kids cooked their own lunches. They were given a hobo stove made out of a coffee can, and a can of heat made out of a tuna can filled with cardboard and wax. They cooked hamburger patties on the hobo stoves, and had chips and a drink to go with it.

The parent helpers got their hamburgers cooked on a grill, since we were all needed, to make sure no one got burned and had fully cooked hamburgers to eat.

London and I roughing it! ;)

During the day on Thursday, the kids were broken up into four groups and had four, hour long activities to do. One was weaving, one was locating mosquito larvae or bugs and inspecting them, one was learning about survival, and the final was a nature hike. Me and one other mom, along with a high school student volunteer, took the kids on the nature hike. The other mom and I thought it was quite ironic that the two moms who were most afraid of seeing a bear, were assigned to lead the nature hike! We taught the kids about beavers, an alluvial fan, nurse trees and had them do a "micro-hike" with magnifying glasses. We (the moms) also learned about "dancing with devil's club", but I will explain more about that in a different post.

London and I in the devil's club

I am explaining the micro hike to the kids.

London on her "micro-hike"

She found mosquito larvae...but you can't really see it in this photo.

The last day was spent cleaning up camp and then going on one more hike. I helped clean up, but didn't get to go on the hike, because I had to run home to shower and catch a plane to Idaho to surprise my family. I had way more fun on this field trip than I ever thought I would, and even found myself getting excited that we would still be living here when Isaiah is in 3rd grade, and I can go again! (It actually startled me that I was excited to go again!)

Camp out!! ~Darwin's first post!!

I took Caleb on his first Boy Scout camp this weekend. It was a lot of fun. There was a lot of dads and two leaders, so we were one on one with the boys. We did a two hour hike to the cabins, the hike is normally a little shorter but there was 2 to 3 feet of snow that was softening on the trail. It was like walking on a balance beam that you could not see and not everyone did so good. We identified plants and animals on the way out. We had a lot of fun walking with the boys. When we got there we built a fire and made dinner. All the boys thought it was the best food that they had ever eaten. The hamburgers "were ever, even better then McDonald's". That night I read the Patrick McManis's story "The Skunk Ladder". I could not stop laughing the entire time that I was reading. Then we all went to bed. The next day the boys worked on scout skills like sharpening a knife and ax, chopping wood and lashing. Caleb and I were able to walk down to the beach and look at birds and other animals. We had a lot of fun. The walk out was another two hour walk and we were both glad to get to the truck and drive home. The night we spent in the cabin, Caleb said that he thought he heard a bear. I guess I still snore.

Here are some pictures.

Field Trips, Haircuts, and Scout Camp

Yesterday, I was able to go on a field trip with Isaiah's class. They went to visit the City Museum. They really didn't look at the museum stuff...they learned about glaciers. The first picture is of Isaiah making his own valley with a "glacier". They gave the kids an ice cube and a tray of dirt. As the glacier moves, it creates a valley and picks up dirt as it goes. Our home is located in a valley that was created by a glacier (over several hundred years) so it was neat to see how that worked. The other picture is the kids looking at a model map of our town. They were able to see the whole valley that the glacier carved, the ice fields behind the glacier, and several other glaciers that we can't see from the ground (they are up in the mountains).

Today, I went on a field trip with London to the Glacier Visitor's Center. The group I was with went outside and learned about how vegetation can regrow from rocks after the glacier moves and exposes new rock. It starts with lichen, then moss, then fireweed, then lupine, aspen and willow trees, next comes Sitka spruce, and then Western Hemlock. It was kind of fun to learn. Next, we went inside and learned about archeological finds in SE Alaska...like petroglyphs, and paintings. The first picture is of the kids making their own petroglyphs in salt dough. After that, we learned about raptors in SE Alaska. We have eagles, owls, falcons, and hawks. We got to see different kinds of feathers, feet, and skulls from different kinds of birds of prey. (see the second picture). After that, the kids went to eat lunch, and I had to go (to do homework and then go tot class) but the kids had two more demonstrations and then they hiked out to the waterfall near the face of the glacier.

OK, on to haircuts.

Every single one of us got our haircut yesterday. Darwin went to the barber, and I did everyone else (including myself). I lost an inch, Brooklin and London lost 2 or 3 inches, and Caleb and Isaiah got the crew cut that I do...1/2 inch ontop, and 1/16 inch on the sides and back. None of us look too much different...the boys needed it, and the girls just needed the ends trimmed.

Scout Camp

Caleb is going on his first ever scout camp out tonight. He is SO excited. Darwin was able to go with him, and they had fun packing their packs and Caleb got a new pair of boots and rain pants for the trip. They are sleeping in cabins, but they don't have any mattresses on the bunks, so they still get to use sleeping pads and sleeping bags. One of the funniest things Caleb did/said while packing was he kept calling his granola bars "Trail Food" because that is what the list said he should pack....trail food! It made me smile everytime he said it.

Ok...no guilt (although I did mention school) =) ...and it isn't even summer break yet!

Camping video

We got a new video camera a few weeks ago. It is called Flip video. Glen Beck gave it lots of praise on his radio show, so we bought one. It was really cheap (for a video camera) and it is so easy to use, even my mom could figure it out...maybe even without reading the directions. It has a flip out USB connector right on the side of it, and all you do is flip out the plug, and stick it into your computer. It is so awesome. We also bought an underwater housing for it, so hopefully soon, Darwin and Brookin can take it out scuba diving with them. It has a really good quality picture, and the sound is good. I was watching the clip on the camera, and couldn't hear it very well, but when I put it on the computer, it sounded just fine. Anyway, here is a short video of us while camping this week.

**03/24/08**As a short side note...it took me four days to figure out how to post this video. It was too large (154 MB and blogspot only accepts 100MB or less), and even after setting up YouTube, it took me several hours to figure out how to link the two. Actually they are still not linked...it just says "fetching your information, please wait" and never loads, so I just copied the embedded link, and that is how I got it on here. If any of you have other suggestions, please share them!! Thanks! The video quality is much better than it shows too...so don't judge the video quality by this clip. I will try to post a shorter video using blogspot, and maybe it will be better quality. ~@~Melissa~@~

Camping at Hosmer's Grove

Monday was the start of our two week spring break, so we decided to start our vacation off with a camping trip up on Haleakala. We left our house on Monday afternoon, and drove up to about 6500 ft. and set up our camp at Hosmer's Grove. We spent three days and two nights playing in the outdoors. The first day it sprinkled a little, and by the middle of the first night, it was pouring...with thunder, lightening, and freezing cold temperatures. Needless to say, all of us felt like the night drug on forever, and were all a little sleepy the next morning.

Tuesday morning, we drove up to the summit, and were going to try and hike down into the crater, but the visibility was about 10 ft. and it was raining, so we decided to go back to the campground, and play there, since it was a little less rainy there. Isaiah and I (Melissa) drove back down the mountain to retrieve a few things we had left home, and get Isaiah some more clothes...he got most of his clothes wet on the first day (and night)...and Darwin and the other three kids ate lunch and went on a little nature hike adjacent to the campgrounds. When we all got back, the sun was shining, and we were able to warm up a little. (It was between 40 and 45 degrees in the evening.) We set up a rain shelter just to be safe and then prepared dinner. Caleb planned all the food for the week, to pass off a cub scout requirements, and we had "shamburgers" for dinner. We had talked about using dinner rolls as buns, and making small hamburgers for dinner one night, so on the menu planning sheet, Caleb had written "shamburgers" in the dinner spot. I asked him what "shamburgers" were, and he said the "s" was for small, but he didn't put a dot after it, so now he will be forever reminded about the time we went camping and had "shamburgers" for dinner. After dinner, we toasted marshmellows and made s'mores. Tuesday night was much more comfortable for all of us...Isaiah stayed in his own sleeping bag, it didn't rain, or thunder, or lightening, and Darwin turned our mattress, so I wasn't sleeping in the crack between the two mattresses.... and we all woke up feeling rested.

This morning, after eating breakfast, we played and packed up camp, and came home. We had a lot of fun, and no one fell in the fire...Caleb did get a burn on his arm from the grill lid...and everyone wants to go camping again, so I think we can call this one a success. Darwin is taking the boy scouts camping on a beach on Friday and Saturday, so as soon as we get all the gear cleaned up, it will be back in use.

All of us around the campfire...we got a fellow camper to take a picture for us.

Kids stirring the fire.

Brooklin and London slept in this little green tent.

London, Caleb, Melissa, and Isaiah sitting around the fire

Darwin cleaning up after dinner

Darwin, Melissa, Caleb, and Isaiah slept in this big blue tent. The other tan tent is a shower tent, but we only used it to keep gear in. It was way too cold to shower up there.

Brooklin found this giant pine cone while exploring the campsite.

This is Brooklin's shoes and socks after the first day. When I went home, I got her, London, and Isaiah dry shoes and socks. Caleb was the only one that kept his shoes dry.

One last family shot around the campfire.