Last Friday after we got back to school, I thought about writing about our trip, but my feet were wet and I was tired so I told myself I would write it once I got to Fulda. And then once I got there, I decided it could wait. So here we are!
Thursday was the perfect weather for Camp Omega. We were outside in sweatshirts and no jackets! The sun was shining, there wasn't much wind, perfect for a nature walk. Our first task was to find non-man-made things for each letter of the alphabet. We split into our "car" groups; the 5th grade girls had ridden with me, and I was their team leader for pretty much all of the trip. It was so fun! Normally I'm working with the boys, putting out behavior fires and helping with homework, and the girls don't demand as much attention. They were so excited to be with me; it was nice! We missed some tough letters like J, Q, U, V, X, Y. We were bummed we didn't find all of them.
Afterwards, we moved on to archery, always a fun activity. There was enough time for the kids to do two rounds and the chaperones one. Recurve bows were our only option to shoot, and it was hard for the kids to pull back the string, so Zach (our Camp Omega leader) moved the quivers/line of fire closer. Then they could hit the target! We took lots of good pictures.
For lunch we had chicken strips, which coincidentally was what was on the school lunch menu for the day. Camp Omega added a session to all school groups... service project. Our group was split into three: one group split wood with a wood splitter, another swept leaves off the sidewalk, and my group swept out the shop and put hoses away. It didn't take my group long to do our job. No one was supervising (except me) so we were at a loss of what to do afterward. We watched some cats they had running around, took a "nap" in the sun, rolled down the big hill by the dining hall (I did not participate in that one), then saw the other sweeping group playing Gaga Ball and joined them. It took the wood choppers the longest to finish. Then on to canoeing.
It was then I realized I had not put on sunscreen. Oops. Everyone found a canoe and paddles and life jackets and jumped right in! Or should I say, paddled right in? Some of the boys tried to ram canoes and splash everyone. For a while there was a splash war going on. The boy I was with was a good partner and we were too fast for anyone to splash us! I had given my camera to one of the 6th grade girls to take pictures on the water (she was a middle sitter and didn't have to paddle). Then we handed the camera to Zach to take a group picture. That took some finagling! We grabbed paddles and pulled each other's canoes close together and hung on to each other's gunwales. But we were all facing the wrong direction! So the outside canoes paddled while the inside canoes held on. And we spun around! It was pretty awesome. And the picture turned out fantastic.
Fort building was next, or should I say Survival Shelter Building. Again, car groups were sent off to build a shelter that would blend in and withstand rain. My 5th grade girls and I found a big stump we could make a lean-to shelter. Our roof was pretty solid. We had two big branches leaned up on top of the stump and we filled in the space between with smaller sticks. On top of all that we threw a layer of leaves. The side of the lean-to was more sticks leaned against it, but that wasn't as air-tight. The other groups came up with some pretty neat shelters too. Afterwards we played more Gaga Ball and had supper (turkey, mashed potatoes, etc.).
Right as we finished cleaning up, the power went off. And it didn't come back on. Zach called the electric company and they said it'd be on by 9:00pm. Okaaay. We played Eagles Eggs and Flashlight Gaga Ball until it was time for campfire. Oh, and we did read-aloud while it was still light enough. By the time campfire/worship/highs and lows was over, the power was back on. More Gaga Ball until 9:00 cabin time. Everyone got ready for bed and we had lights out by 10:00. Most were sleeping by 10:30. And with the sleeping came snoring, the kind of snoring you hear in movies. I'm not entirely positive which people were snoring, but there were at least three! Still, with all that, I was out light a light! No kids got homesick this year, although there were some who got up at 4:00am to play Gaga Ball. They were dressed and ready to go and even left the cabin! The walls are so thin, you can hear what anyone says anywhere in the cabin, so even though the boys were on a separate side, we girls could hear their Gaga Ball plan. One of the other female chaperones got up and chewed them out and sent the 4:00am-ers back to bed. I'm so thankful she did it instead of me! I could stay snuggled down in my sleeping bag.
The boys still got up pretty early to play Gaga Ball, but at the more decent hour of 6:30am. Breakfast was egg/sausage/cheese sandwiches. The weather started out nice before breakfast (sweatshirt weather again), but in the time it took to walk to breakfast it had cooled down enough we wanted our winter jackets if we were going to be outside. Fire building was our first activity... and of course it started sprinkling. Still, all of our car groups got a fire going, even my group of little 5th grade girls! Annnnd then it began to downpour. We hustled to the Beta Center (where they do the teaching of sessions before going out into the wilderness) to learn about orienteering. Most chaperones had brought one or two umbrellas along, so we snagged those from the cars as we had more wilderness to explore yet that morning. Zach taught us how to use compasses to find directions (something I've never been able to figure out... but I know now!), then he gave us a scavenger hunt questionnaire to find the answers to. By that point it was merely sprinkling, so we felt confident in braving the weather. Partway through, it downpoured again. The 5th grade girls and I were close enough to our shelter from yesterday that we ran ahead and hunkered down inside. It was waterproof! Well, it dripped in a few places, but it kept us mostly dry! Eventually we had to move on. We only got partly soaked. One girl didn't bring a spare sweatshirt and jeans, so once we were finished being in the rain I loaned her one from my winter emergency kit in the back of my car. She is so tiny she practically drowned in it, but it was warm and dry and fuzzy, so there were no complaints!
Normally at the end of Camp Omega there are tons of complaints and it's hard to drag them away. This year it was too wet to play Gaga Ball the second day, so they couldn't argue about that. And their shoes were so soggy from walking in the wet grass and leaves I think everyone was mostly ready to go home when we did. We packed up our stuff, did a little read-aloud, and left camp by 1:15 to put us back to school by 2:15; just enough time for recess before going home for the day. I love my kids, but being around them all for over 30 hours with no breaks is tough. Let's keep it in 9 hour increments.
Today was back to normal. We began work on our church year chain (colors of the liturgy) and I think we'll finish stapling tomorrow. We did more NaNo prep work. And we did a plant science experiment. Ugh, I'm so mad! I was going to bring back corn and soybeans from the farm this weekend and I totally forgot! I got halfway home last night when I suddenly remembered. But I wasn't about to turn around and go back. I had some sunflower seeds in the closet and a few kernels left from last year, so we made due with what I had on hand. Hopefully the experiment works!
Mrs. B invited me over for supper tonight since all her people are gone (Pastor's conference). So I best head over there soon!
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