Trip Up North

Friday we headed up to pick Fox up from Lake State. The boys loved going over the bridge and it was a gorgeous day.

They did a nice job talking about all the things the boys did during the week. They all had a great time with one relatively minor incident involving one camper (not Fox). They actually got to play around and program huge robotic arms, they made transitor radios, and also learned about GPS and did a hunt, they visited the Soo Locks one evening and got to watch a boat being passed through. Fox passed on the rapelling though. For his final project he made a robotic mouse that will follow a dark line on the floor. Fun times.

On the way out we stopped by Castle Rock, a Michigan tourist icon, to say hi to Paul and Blue. I though my thighs weren't going to make it up alllll those steps but I did. Ben enjoyed being king of the world when we were at the top. Then on to the cabin.

Saturday, after a morning of the boys playing war games in the woods and me enjoying some reading time, Rob got us all out on the trail and out to the oak ridge. Normally we've hiked farther but it was hot, I didn't have a lot of energy but I forged ahead and Fox was a pretty big lump himself. Ethan and Ben however thought it was awesome.

After we got back the little guys and Rob went into the river for some floating fun. Here is a video of Ben riding the tide. Remember the days of your youth? (See video at the end.)

Sunday we headed over the Hartwick Pines State Park. Of all the years we had been going up to the cabin neither Rob nor I had ever been there. We had no major plan, only that we hoped it didn't rain on us since the sky was starting to look a bit ominous. To our delight there was some good things happening in the park that day, one was a vintage baseball game but instead of staying to watch it all we opted to hit the old growth trail. Along the way we stopped at the chapel, I don't know what it is about a church or alter but many are compelled to kneel when they come across one, Ethan and Fox did just that when we walked in. As Ethan took a prayer position Rob read the Nature's Prayer in his old time evangelist preacher voice which gave us all a good chuckle.

We had a lot of fun exploring the old logging camp replicas they have and got a bonus of some craftmen doing iron and woodwork projects plus some cute sales booths. Ethan and Ben tried out some shanty boy bunks. Ethan and I got into checking out the logging stamps and seeing what they stood for, some were pretty funny. He remembered learning about them at the Sloan Museum field trip and also recalled a lot of things Mrs. Coppo had taught them during their Michigan history lessons as we walked around the displays. (See I am actually there, that's me on the trail in the orange.)

It started to rain on us but before we headed out of the park I wanted to stop by the visitor center and I was glad we did. As luck would have it they were have a Michigan Raptors program so we caught the second 'show' with a very friendly, part Native American handler from See North, a non-profit based out of Harbor Springs, Michigan. He had with him a red-tailed hawk, a barred owl, and a red shouldered hawk. The owl was so tame because she was imprinted on humans that he let the kids come up and get pictures with her at the end of the presentation. Ethan was the only taker for that out of my crew.

Now that's what I call summer!

Movin' On with Life

Fox Robert is away at Lake Superior State University this week for a Robotics Engineering Camp. We haven't heard a word from him so I'm taking that as he's having a fantabulous time. My dad was kind enough to drive him up there for me on Sunday "on his way" to spend a few days at an old stomping ground, Harbor Springs. Early tomorrow we'll head out to Sault St. Marie to pick him up and check out their final demonstrations. I'm excited to see what they created. From there we're going to spend a few days at Rob's uncle's cabin outside of Grayling.

The second week of creative arts camp was extremely hot which put a damper on our outside adventures. The days were split up differently too with my new teaching partner. We had a huge span in ages which made it challenging, from first graders to sixth graders and they stayed mostly together this time instead of working in two groups. One day I brought in a bunch of building toys and challenged them to make inventions and everyday objects with them. They dug it.

The school of rock outing is always a big hit. This time all 14 were in the same band but we kept rotating so everybody got to try several instruments, again they did "Wild Thing."

One morning we ventured out briefly to do some rubbings for an art project. Around the corner from the center is a house my aunt and uncle used to own back in the day. That was a lifetime ago when I was still in school myself. Love this blue and gray combo, cute door for a garage.

There has also been some headway made on a few house projects, with a new (reclaimed) doorwall going in and some siding (also reclaimed) finally going up over the ugly old bare wood. Next a couple new windows and we'll finish siding the back side.

The boys have been putting in some hard work in between watching cartoons and playing video games. They've raked, moved wood, piled wood, tended the fire and burned brush, weeded, hoed, and the older kids mowed.

Creative Arts Camp-Week 1

Creative Arts Camp for week one was definately a good time and my teaching partner was great thinking on her feet as we revamped our lessons, ideas and daily structure at the close of each day to accomodate the abilities and desires of our participants. At the end of the week I can confidently say I made 16 great new friends: Pauline, Megan, Angie, Addison, Jessa, Jenna, Mary, Alajondra, Emilee, Owen, Oscar, Devarshi, Hannah (teen helper) and Ms. Brenda.

After introducing some basic movement concepts the first day, the next day I brought in banners and billow cloths and we did some praise dance. The kids broke up into groups and presented moves to represent Joy/Power, War/Peace, Glory, Death/Rejoice. It was very sweet and I was honored that they took it seriously and with reverence. I polled the group the day before and they all had church associations except for one of the boys but he went with it.

A couple of the days we took a trip to the park which was only a few blocks away, one day we did soap carvings, another leaf & tree rubbings.

The second day for drama they worked on creating their own skits based on a folktale and it had to teach a lesson or present a problem and then a solution. The beginning of the third day we worked on masse to create masks for the skits.

We also took a trip across the street to the School of Rock on the third day and they split into two bands and learned how to play 'Wild Thing' by the Troggs. Good times!

For the conclusion of day three all the groups presented their scripts to each other, for my afternoon time with them we created props, sets, and blocked out the scenes. We had some very different stories one was 'The Tortoise and the Dog' (no pix), 'The Death of Jonie' (an annoying octopus gets thrown in a volcano), 'Get Along' (boys group), and 'The Three Pickles and the Big Bad Squirrel' (an adaptation of The Three Billy Goats Gruff).

The last day I brought in a bunch of native instruments my mother collected throughout her travels and we had fun making up rhythms and playing along with a drum CD from a group in Nova Scotia. We also took our lunches down to the park and ate picnic style.

Our final activity was making God's Eyes which was a huge hit, many of them made several 'eyes'. They'd get done then run out to the side yard of the art center to find a couple more sticks then jump back in and get to work. At the end of each day we brought the two groups together for a time of reflection. Ms Brenda introduced me to a technique called 'Rose and Thorn' the rose being the best part of the day the thorn being the thing they liked the least which helped us gauge how to proceed the next day. I'm happy to say as the days went on the majority of campers had 'no thorns' to report. Woot! Good time....exhausting schedule being completely in charge from 9a-5p with no breaks but great to have something new to put my mind and energy into. Next week I'll do it again with a fresh group of campers and a different teaching partner....stay tuned!