Camp Omega

The past two days have been full, but fun. We had no troubles getting to Camp Omega; we actually got there a little early. Yesterday's weather was sunny, but chilly.  A few weeks ago a tornado went through camp. It knocked down a ton of trees and we could definitely see the aftermath of that. Much of it is already cleaned up. No buildings were damaged. We learned that the cook had been in the kitchen during the tornado. She hid in the freezer and called the owner to let him know where she was. They said it took them four hours to cut a path for her to leave camp so she could get home.

Our service project for this trip was to haul wood. We had to sort out the big logs/pieces into the back of a pickup to be brought to the chopping station up the hill. The smaller pieces had to be stacked in the dry wood shelter. We got a lot done in an hour, but there's still so many brush piles (and bigger piles) to deal with. They've had many volunteers helping with cleanup and I'm sure more are coming still.

Normally by 5pm Thursday I am about ready to pull my hair out and need alone time. This trip, I didn't get that feeling. There were enough parent chaperones along that I could relax a bit more and take time to watch the kids in the cabin during canteen (aka- sit on my bunk reading while reminding the kids who popped in that they had to eat their snacks outside... there were some girls who chose to lie on their bunks and talk instead of being outside). Most of the kids were good listeners too.

Rain came after supper, so no after supper bonfire, but we had a good time singing indoors. Afterwards we had free time for reading, playing cards, making bracelets, or playing other games. Some girls played dance, most played dark hide and seek.

The boys got pretty crazy at bedtime. The dad who came along didn't do much shushing (I think he's a pretty sound sleeper), so the boys talked past when they were supposed to. This class didn't beat the record for earliest risers (one year it was 4am- they wanted to go outside and play gaga ball), but they were up around 6am. The boys were at any rate; our male chaperone had to leave early in the morning to bring his wife to the hospital for a scheduled surgery (she made it through surgery fine). We had enough room to bring everyone back, and we mostly needed a male chaperone for the night part of the trip, so it was fine he left. But that meant the boys were left to their own devices for a few hours before the rest of us got up.

The cabin we stayed in had two sides, one for girls and one for boys, with the doors in between locked so there isn't any 'purpling'. The doors are super thin though, and you can hear anything said on the other side of the cabin. The boys got loud after our male chaperone left, but after a while they got really quiet. We female chaperones thought they had disobeyed orders and went outside to play gaga ball without an adult. It turns out they were all in their cabin still; no one was outside at all! What a pleasant surprise!

Yeah, this group of students is definitely more relaxing than some years past.

Since I'm pooped after two full days of activities, I'll give you a quick list of the things we did and then I'll head for home: ABC nature hunt, wilderness survival scenario, hatchet throwing, fire building challenge, read to self, gaga ball, soccer, canoeing, archery, our service project, and read-aloud.