Moose, Alpaca, Moose, Moose Aplaca

 Apparently at 4-H camp there are a lot of songs.  One song specifically endearing to my recently returned daughter goes something like

Moose Alpaca, Moose Moose Alpaca, Unicorn etc...

So, Erin returned from her first week-long sleep away camp this morning.  She had the time of her life it seems.  She has been talking about wanting to go to 4H camp since mid-winter.  In 4th grade the 4H agent comes to school once a month or so and talks to the kids about 4H-y stuffs.  They introduce camp, encourage the students to make a class presentation etc...  She signed up to go without knowing if any of her friends were going along.  Turns out she had a few friends there, but no close ones, and still was able to have an amazing time.

She signed up for 4 different sessions and had each session for an hour a day the 3 middle days of camp.  Her favorite was canoeing (making Daddy W. very happy).  She was most excited about it because at the end of camp all the kids were taught how to tip their canoe so they would know how to get back inside.  She also did a low ropes course where each day they had a team building activity (cross the swamp with logs, fill a bucket that has holes in it), a kitchen science class (they made glow-in-the-dark Jello and homemade ice cream).  Her final course was a game called Gau Gau, played in a small arena with a large tennis ball.  She's played it before and really loves it.

E spent her week in a 10 girl cabin and made several new friends.  Each night they had a campfire where they sang songs, told stories and did skits.  When she got off the bus this morning, her little voice was completely hoarse from singing and shouting all the way back home.  And throughout the rest of today she's continued to share her songs (especially Moose, Moose).

It is sometimes difficult to get her to tell me about what she's been up to, how her day at school was etc.. so I didn't have high hopes that she'd share a lot about camp with me.  I was pleasantly surprised at her willingness and excitement about sharing some of her stories.  She had an amazing time, and can't wait to go back next year.