Happy Saturday morning from scenic, soggy Idyllwild! It's been pouring buckets here since the wee small hours of the morning. Those of you who were beginning to begrudge my fair weather reports can rest assured that Portland-esque clouds and rain have caught up with me at last.
I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures in this post...as you'll soon figure out, things have been a little nuts around here!
This week kicked off with our staff bonding trip to Fiesta Village (in Portland we'd call it Bullwinkle's) for putt-putt, laser tag, and skee ball. I upheld the proud family tradition of dominating skee ball (390,000 points!), but my laser tag technique could use some finesse (it's hard to sneak up on people to zap them when you're giggling....or so I'm told).
On Tuesday, the entire staff completed our belay training on the ropes course, and the new folks were able to climb the last two elements: the Catwalk and the Power Pole. The Catwalk is a log suspended horizontally between two trees and you try to keep your balance as you cross it. The Power Pole is essentially a 30' telephone pole that you climb up and then try to balance on. Once you're standing on the top, you jump off and try to hit or kick a tether ball....this is possibly the craziest thing I've done here.
Tuesday also marked the introduction of the AstroCamp staff to a Stitch'n'Bitch. We had crafts and entertainment of all varieties going on: knitting, crocheting, cross stitch, origami, Mad Libs, and we even had a group weaving rugs out of retired belay ropes!
Our first group of kiddos arrived on Wednesday afternoon, and life has been a whirlwind of funny questions, excited shrieking, exploding balloons, and critter hats since. On Wednesday evening, I got to participate in one group's Kids vs. Adults Dodgeball Championship of the Universe. The 4th graders killed us, but two of my fellow instructors pulled off what is possibly the funniest thing I've seen at camp: one would throw a ball really high, like a pop fly. As the kids were looking up and reaching for it, the other would tag them in the tummy with another ball. The kids were always so shocked...but they fell for it about three times!!
This week, I'm looking forward to my first astrophotography session with some of the seasoned instructors (assuming the rain stops...cameras and scopes + rain = sad panda), as well as stepping into solo teaching!
Have a marvelous week, everyone!!
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