Camp Timberline

Every June, I go to camp with the Grade 7s I teach at school and last Mon-Wed was no different. The only thing different this year was that we finally had awesome weather and the heat was actually quite intense. My great attempts at trying to stay out of the sun and preventing myself from getting even darker didn't really work.

The flowery and wide entrance this year is welcoming compared to the flooded entrance and road we had the previous 2 years. I consider the ranch big in size for our Gr.7s to use as a 3 day camp site. The big house in the background has some cabins and a big cafeteria and kitchen downstairs together with camp offices. The sand space to play volleyball outside the dining hall is also quite nice. Even me, the not so sporty one, ended up playing there quite a few times with the students.
This year, like previous years, I stayed in the Buffalo Pound. It's spacious for one person since it's really meant to sleep up to 9 people. However, being the city girl, I would much prefer my own bed...maybe next year would be better when we get to try the new bunkhouse they're building with individual washrooms for each cabin.

Of course there are a whole bunch of outdoor activities for our students on the ranch. Another staff member and myself were in charge of the archery station, so of course I had to take the opportunity to prove I can do archery and pose at the same time.

This was also the 1st year we got to go horseback riding with the students! It was very fun to ride on Rosy (my horse) but a bit scary when we had to trot though it was only my first time riding ever. And let's not mention the pain that one endures afterwards because of the trotting...horse riders will know what I'm talking about. I was not warned! Just my luck...I also happened to be assigned to the hungriest horse, so she took every opportunity to eat grass and hay along the entire ride and I had to exercise my practice on pulling the reins. Rosy was also very big for the petite me and I was barely able to touch the stirrups as we rode.



And who can miss out the bonfire at night when we go to camp? The great part about bringing elementary students is that they're just so excited to be away from their parents (many for the 1st time in their lives) that they're always happy and appreciative of all the activities. Needless to say, the marshmallow roasting and camp singing were very enjoyable. Why do you think we're willing to go back every year and supervise day and night? Sorry for the darkness in the video though...I swear it wasn't as dark when I was filming...but it's probably better that I didn't show any student faces anyway.