In Which a Dream is Fulfilled

When I was a little girl, my brothers got to do a lot of awesome things when they were scouts.  I was insanely jealous.  A lot of things they had to do in the cub scout manual, they let me do with them.  It was a lot of fun.  But there was one thing I was never allowed to do that I always really, really wanted.

Well, yesterday, I go to do it.  In your face my brothahs (I have five)!  I'm a Wolf Den leader now, suckas!  I got to go to Camp Kiesel this year and nobody could tell me I couldn't go because I'm a girl!

It was really, really fun, too.  I got to go canoing with the boys and hang out and enjoy the kids running the camp.  Yep.  Daniel, our fifteen-year-old guide took us around.  What?  You mean I could have worked at Camp Kiesel during the summer when I was a kid?  Why didn't anybody tell me this?  There was archery and BB gun shooting and an obstacle, course and they learned about leaving no trace behind when they go camping.  There was a craft and a nature hike and a trading post.  I loved it.  I got really, really dirty, but I loved it.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to shoot the bows and arrows this year.  There were 37 kids in our group, so the adults didn't really get to participate much.

I went to wash my hands after the closing ceremonies and I had to wash them twice they were dirtier than I realized.  I took over 250 pictures, but I will share with you just a few.

 The theme this year at Camp Kiesel is Knight Training.

 The counselor is trying to entertain the boys as we wait for camp to begin.

He was singing "Father Abraham had seven sons..."

 Then the princess got taken by a dragon!  And we all got sent to knight training to save her.

 First lesson:  Archery

 These are all the boys in the blue group!

 Four of our five boys and the other leaders.

 Getting ready to shoot!

 That's really cool.

 Daniel, helping Riley.

 Don't hold the arrow.  Just use your fingers.

 Aim high - why not?

 It's hard to find ways to be entertaining while lecturing sometimes. :)

 Next stop!

 Oh, look.  It's the princess.

 Leather working.

 They pressed a dragon into the leather for the boys.

 This is our Nature Hike guide.

 He showed the boys various plants along the way.

 He called this one "nature's toilette paper".  It's Elephant's Ear.

 Bridges are cool.

 Especially when waterfalls are involved.

 At the top of our hike.

 Waiting for the rest of our group.

 My favorite part.

 Lunch time!

 Gathering us together in our groups after lunch.

 Interesting.  Well, I guess he is always ready for dinner.

 Waiting for all the groups before closing ceremonies.

 The Blue Group's flag.

 A fallen comrade.

 We saved the princess and earned our knighthood!

 The staff had a cheer, too.  (Oh, yeah.  Our group had to come up with a cheer.  It went:  "Who are we?  Blue Dragons!  Who are we?  Blue Dragons!  Blue Dragons!  Blue Dragons rock!"  Or something like that.)

What a beautiful place!