Sixth Grade Camp Round III

I joined Drew on his 6th grade trip to the Sierra Outdoor School this September

Two other dads and I were responsible for this super fun bunch of boys for the three days

We started off with a visit to the historic town of Columbia.

The kids do a simulation of a water brigade showing how the towns people would have handled fires.  Its always fun for them the get a little wet passing the fabric buckets down the line of their classmates in a relay competition.

I love wandering through the little town and stopping into the shops.  This year our time there was cut short, but we did get to go into a saloon to grab lunch, an ice cream and of course the homemade root beer they are known for.

The teachers take turns with each of the little groups throughout the week and are fun to get to know outside of the classroom setting.

I loved hanging out with Drew and his buddies for a few days!

One of my favorite activities of the week is always the silent mile.  We hike all around the mountain that the the camp is on and then the kids are instructed to hike in a single file line with big spaces between them so they aren't distracted by each other but instead take in their surroundings.

It gives everyone a chance to observe

to think and to be grateful

After they have taken time to record their experiences the next activity is to tackle heart attack hill.  Its a steep climb up and they are challenged to try to run up the whole thing.  Drew and his friends were the first of their group up the hill.

We had a big group of girls and one more group of boys assigned to our little troop for the week.

The classes are held out under the trees

along the many trails around the camp

and a few games held in the gym.

One of them included taking the shoes from all the kids mixing them into these cans and then in a relay coming out to retrieve them while all the teachers and chaperones play keep away with them.

They were taught skills in team work

How to follow directions using a compass, survive in the outdoors and practiced making shelters.

They learned about the different kinds of birds native to the area 

and how they survive in the wild.

They had fun singing for their mail in the lunch room

Goofing off into the wee hours in the dorms, and just hanging out with their friends.

I had fun hanging out with my friends too!

These ladies were in my cabin with me where we had lots of late night conversations and plenty of laughs.

But the best part by far was just having the time with my guy!