The kids left for the second half of the week with their school groups. The 6th and 7th graders, Caroline in tow, took a four hour drive out to Barrier Island, SC. She had learned about some of the things they would do before the trip. The mud pit got the most talking points. Caroline did not want to do the mud pit. Not at all. When her group was approaching it, she asked if it was a mud run or an obstacle course. Nope. It was literally a mud pit. They got in and sat. I asked her if she crossed her arms with a Hmph! as she sat.
Her favorite part was the nature walk. That day her friend clocked 22,200 steps, with their hike being a large part of it. Caroline said she talked to the naturalist guide the entire time and kept asking her Would You Rather questions. She also named the alligator. Andy.
One day they went seine fishing (net fishing). They had divided the kids into two groups - peanut butter and jelly. Caroline was peanut butter. She was told peanut butter was not getting in the water. When they got to the place for the fishing, the peanut butters were sent in the water first. She was not happy because she was wearing sweat pants that day. It wasn't that the sweat pants would get super heavy in the water that made her upset, it was that she wouldn't be able to wear her comfy pants the rest of the day. My girl likes her comfy pants.
There were other elements of learning. They took a night walk on the beach and talked about the moon and the tides. She learned about bugs, insects, and nocturnal animals. There were rec games played. Some food was good like the waffles. Overall, she said she would do it again (which was good because she'll go back next year).
The boys had a shorter drive to House Camp. It was just over border in North Carolina, up in the mountains. The road to get there was quite windy and the first question out of everyone's mouths as they exited the cars was, Did you throw up? Apparently at least one person throws up every year from the windy roads. This year was no exception. The upper school is divided up into four houses, sort of like Harry Potter. They compete in games all year to earn points.
The first day they played Mission Impossible. It was teachers against students. The students each had a piece of paper. The object was to get across the field, get it hole-punched, and get back to the other side untouched. Along the way were teachers with pool noodles whose sole object was to take them down. If you got hit, you had to rip up your piece of paper. If you got hit on the way back or if you got hit twice then you were sent to math jail. Henry said he got sent a lot because his competitive streak came out and he played to win. He also enjoyed math jail. It was manned by the math teacher and you had to answer a question to get out. Josiah decided to beat the system. He put his whole piece of paper in his pocket, picked up a ripped piece of paper and got to the other side (and back) five times before they figured out his whole paper was in his pocket. Apparently that was against the rules, but it was a good try. During Mission Impossible, one kid somehow jumped off a cliff. The details were a little sketchy as a lot was going on at the time. Details like, how far was the drop? how did he fall? The kid was part of the cross country team and showed up to the meet on Saturday with his arm in a sling, so he's fine otherwise.
When the boys talked about their food, the chicken and waffles dinner was a big hit with everyone.
Last night, Todd tried a magic trick with Benson. He showed Benson a crumpled up piece of paper, then made it disappear with a sleight of hand. Benson was fooled every time and it was hilarious as he looked around for it.
Caroline then tried the disappear-behind-a-blanket trick. He was alert and walked to where she should have been, but he did not venture further mostly because he sticks to carpets in general.
Benson's a cutie.
And so goes another week.
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