Family Camp :: III

Monday.  Day 3 of Family Camp.  

Getting ready to go, but still time for a class on Reptiles and Amphibians.  Time enough for Lake to place a call back to civilization: "We're not coming back!  Science camp has stollen our hearts.  The desert is too dry, too beautiful.  We can't face the pollen count in the valley.  Please send care pacakges.  We love to get mail!"

I'm in love with the sun-bleached views through old, warm, worn-in wood and screen doors.  The sound of the spring stretching.  The "thwack" and "thud" when it falls closed.

They taught us how to catch lizards with a long pole and fishing line loop.  It worked so well!  Gracie held onto hers for an hour or more.

No online learning here.  Hands on, people.  Live and in your face.  

The kids ate it up.  The grown ups too.

Lingerers that we are, camp was over, but we didn't leave for another hour or two.  Ate our lunch.  Played a bit of basketball.  I gathered a bundle of sage, and we finally said our goodbyes to camp.

And just as we had done on our way there, a stop in Sisters at Sno Cap for a scoop or two before heading back over the pass.  Gracie let her avant taste shine with a scoop of black licorice over rainbow sherbert.  (When we stopped in on Friday she had chosen bubble gum.)  That girlie had the darkest green tongue I've ever seen.

And Lake, sweet Lake.  Way to roll with it, babe.  I wasn't sure if this weekend was going to be a bit challenging for you, but you totally rocked it.  Way to camp, my boy!

I'm not sure yet if I'd do the camp right away next year, or give it a year to let interests brew and then go back.  It was a fabulous experience for our family, and I think it's totally worth doing again.  

So glad we went!  So happy Hancock is alive and flourishing out there.  It's a wonderful place to be able to send my thoughts when things get a little too, you know, around here.  A little bit of a brain break, a kiss of sun, a big sky, sage in the wind, the shade of a juniper, and a rock or two.