well, the first week of
camp is over. what a relief! we can finally get into the full swing of things. I'm actually quite excited for the summer ahead. we have an absolutely fabulous staff and a lot of fun stuff planned.
monday: the whole camp went to liberty park, which is always a good time. I did a place-based lesson of the salt lake valley in the seven canyons fountain. it covered such awesome things as local geography, a little history, but it was mostly about watersheds. (too bad the actual fountain was closed for maintenance... no dipping in any "streams" to cool off.)
tuesday: I took a group back to liberty park for my elective. this time it was
fred the fish. man how i love fred the fish. it's a great lesson on storm water pollution. some things I learned this go around: the kids are more engaged if they can actually hear and understand what is going on, but dumping yucky things in a jar is always fun. that afternoon I just ran some random sports (boccie ball, frisbee golf, and field hockey/soccer) games for the younger groups, while they weren't making boats to float in the marriott library fountain.
wednesday: it totally rained! all our plans had to be changed since we do everything outside. I took my elective group to the marriott library to read nature stories. that afternoon the whole camp went swimming at steiner (except for the youngest groups because there isn't a zero entry to the pool... they went down to the slc main library instead.) and swam in their indoor pool. we had looked at the wrong shuttle times (the summer schedule runs off the normal afternoon schedule, who knew!) so everyone was a little cold on the way back to campus. overall it was a fun time, though.
thursday: my elective group went swimming at the HPER pool on campus. I got to work in the office instead of swim. I was there pretty much all day. oh, and it was another rainy day. which is always fun for camp.
friday: we went up to rockport reservior, but didn't swim because it was too cold. we also went over to jordanelle state park to check out the nature center. jordanelle was really fun. I pretty much hung out with the littlest group--the five year olds--and had the best time ever. their counselor, lisa, turned everything into a teachable moment. these kids were so engaged! we even got to see an osprey nest! the only bad part about this day was that we were fifteen minutes late getting back to campus. some parents weren't too happy. we would've been on time but three kids refused to hike any faster than they were going. as a result, the rest of the camp was waiting on a bus for twenty minutes...
so the week, even despite the inclement weather, was a total success. it was very reminiscent of the first week of camp two years ago: the rain, it being the first week, having to be in the gym instead of on president's circle, the smaller group sizes... but luckily this year there were no random rainy day gym accidents. no broken femurs, no reason for a totally ridiculous law-suit.
the only real accident we had this week involved a counselor. but he fractured his knee-cap in four different places and won't be able to walk for weeks... yikes! that is pretty major, but at least it didn't involve one of the campers!
fave quote of the week:
"club U rocks harder than bon jovi!"
said by an eight year-old camper
{duct tape dress form tutorial here.}
As you can see I was so concerned about my well-being that I frantically searched my cupboard for anything including the words hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, or high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients. Some foods were obviously going to be bad for me, but others I was slightly surprised. (those fiber one bars for example)
do old crayon bits got you down? you need something to do with them because you'd rather not throw them away? but come on, nobody likes drawing with the unwanted stubs! well, then here's your chance to give them new life. recycle them into fun, multi-colored crayons the kids (and let's be honest, you!) will love to draw with!
arrange the broken bits into a fun shaped tin for baking. or, if you don't have anything fun shaped that's suitable for baking, you can melt the crayons in something else and then pour them into molds or even heavy-weight cookie cutters (on a cookie sheet, of course!) work too.
bake at three-hundred degrees for about ten minutes or so. it is fun to watch the crayons melt into ooey-gooey swirls of color. once the wax has melted, remove from the oven and let cool. I used non-stick tins, and as the wax cooled the edges came away from the sides of the tin making it oh so easy to take out! hurrah!
get creative with the color combos. this could be hours of endless fun. seriously. and look how cute they came out!
sticker found on a light on the uofu campus. [image via my cellular telephone]
I am an avid public transportation rider. I ride the bus and/or train whenever I can, even if it's not the most convenient option. I believe in it. but when I see these signs on major routes all over the city, I get a little worried. uta, are you sure you know what you're doing?
don't try it, it totally sucks. it's somewhere along the lines of "treat milk" (aka "pink milk" aka nestle's strawberry milk) mixed into crappy soft served ice cream. and the banana swirl? yikes! it tastes like the yucky fake banana flavoring! not a very fun combo, to say the least!
while swimming tonight at a local pool in town (the taylorsville community pool to be exact) the lifeguards all blew their whistles at the same time, instigating the five minute break. what is the five minute break you might be wondering? I don't know, I'm still trying to figure it out. it basically consisted of everyone getting out of the pool for five minutes--and not all the way out mind you, we all had our feet dangling as we sat on the side. to top it off, a storm was blowing in from the south. instead of the five-thousand degree temps we've been having, a fabulous little chilly breeze was had by all. a cool front + wet bodies equals not so much fun. all the lifeguards sat at the ready in their chairs, but nobody was allowed in the water.
after a tour of my alma-mater, we had a lovely jetboil picnic on the campus of snow college. I reminisced the whole time. I miss those days...
then we drove home via the mt nebo loop scenic byway. a very scenic drive, to say the least. here we are at the devil's kitchen, otherwise known as little bryce canyon.
looking back at mt nebo herself, the tallest peak in the wasatch range. nearly 12,000 feet in elevation, she is a beauty to behold. we topped out at 9,500 on the byway. I nearly got HAPE.
here is the sweetest surprise, a gift for no reason in particular: a cute little white MacBook.
if I were to have a book club, this would be on the list. seth kantner's novel, ordinary wolves, is a beautifully expansive story of the alaskan wilderness and all those living within. it is a coming of age story; a story of social unjust and racism; a story approaching some of life's toughest questions. in it the land and her people are not romanticized; it is a harsh reality set amongst a harsh landscape. and as kantner grew up in the wilderness of northern alaska himself, some say that ordinary wolves is somewhat autobiographical. I think it is one of the truest depictions of the land, native and non-native peoples, and attitudes between the two.
kids, this is why you wear sunblock. yikes!
we were partakers of the bounty of the first yielding of our future food tonight. yesterday we harvested: beets, baby carrots, lettuce, green onions, and a zucchini. all hail self sufficiency and sustainable living!
lower red pine
lunch at upper red pine
negotiating the boulders
scenic vista
we went to the living room, aka the furniture, aka the couches
you can access the trail via the bonneville shoreline trail,
the views of the valley are always amazing
it's called the living room because people have placed these
hurrah for good times and hurrah for hikes!
