Happy Summer Everyone!!

Today was a beautiful day to wrap up a great couple weeks of Land Lab summer camp.  Last night, our overnight campers enjoyed a campfire dinner of hot dogs, corn on the cob, salt potatoes and lemonade.  After dinner, the group made s'mores before heading out on a night walk.  After a peaceful night's sleep, everyone woke up, cooked breakfast over the campfire, and began to break camp before our fellow campers returned for the morning activities.

Our day was spent mostly cleaning up, finishing up our tie dyes (they look great), and playing Capture the Flag. For those who were interested, Dylan and I set up an ultimate Capture the Flag course all around the Land Lab and the pond area.  As morning changed to afternoon, we had a picnic lunch with plenty of fruit and healthy snacks.  Many kids had their parents come to the picnic, and after lunch, they showed their parents and siblings all around the Land Lab. Around 1:00 pm, we wrapped up this great adventure and everyone headed home.  I hope this experience was a great kick off to everyone's summer, and that you all have plenty of adventures between now and the beginning of school.

Have a great rest of your summer!
Alex

Soaking the corn 

Hanging by the pond

Hanging out

Chilling out

Making marshmallow sticks

Ahhh!

Taking a walk

Cooking the corn over the fire

Looking for wildlife

Contemplation from the tree tops

Out on the dock

Dinner is almost ready!

Looking for crayfish

The group observes as Judy removes a leech

Checking between the toes..

Tent city

Putting dinner together

She ain't heavy....

Does the tooth fairy come to the Land Lab?

Getting ready for our s'mores

Camo eyes

Campfire time

Great fire!

Dylan makes breakfast

Our last gathering in the barn

Packing up!

Picnic with some of our parents

Julie helps varnish the birdhouses

Check out the cool design!

All done!

Tie Dye in process

Everything dried very quickly today

Keeping cool and...

...staying hydrated

Watercolors on the porch

Balloon toss -- first close together...

...then farther apart

Today was out last full day of Land Lab camp this year.  Today we made sure to wrap up all of the projects that we had started this week (apart from the shelter).  We had tons of fun tie dying, staining our birdhouses, going on hikes, and mostly just having a relaxing day. In the morning, Dylan took kids to go on hikes and find walking sticks, Allie, Chantelle and I worked with kids on the porch and finishing up our tie dye projects, and Julie helped kids stain their birdhouses (they look soooooo nice). It was a really, really hot morning, so we made sure to keep cool, drink lots and lots of water, occasionally poor water on ourselves and most of all have tons of fun without getting super hot.

We started the afternoon off with a great lunch, and played some mellower Capture the Flag outside.  Then we had a great afternoon meeting and all drank more water. Some of the kids and I used the outdoor water pump to fill up our hats or bandannas with water, and if someone ACCIDENTALLY put their head under the faucet then who knows, it's all in good fun. We had quiet time either inside, or outside, under trees or in the shade. During the afternoon we didn't really vary our activities all that much. We finished those birdhouses and tie dyes that needed to be done, and went into the woods to find more walking sticks. We also tried to start a fire with a magnifying glass (tons of fun) and gathered sticks for our fire later tonight. We finished up the afternoon with a really fun water balloon toss, to help us keep cool. All in all, we have had a great time this year, and to those of you who can make it, I can't wait to see you all tomorrow at the picnic.

See you then!
Alex

Today was a really nice and hot day at the Land Lab, so we made sure to frequently apply sunblock and bug spray.  In the morning, Dylan and I took a bunch of kids to work on the shelter, while Allie, Julie, and Chantelle stayed behind to work on the porch and start setting up for our tie dye project.  While at the shelter we also gave the kids a crash course on how to start a fire with a magnifying glass on a sunny day, which we had tons of fun trying to do. The shelter is coming along well.  We have decided that it is unrealistic to try to finish it this year, but we are still excited to make any progress that we can build on next year.

We broke the morning block up for a slightly early lunch today, in order to get to the pond sooner. During lunch we all ate, changed into bathing suits, reapplied sunscreen, and sang songs. We then went to the pond, started making a new batch of Stone Soup, and went over the pond safety and wildlife respect rules again. After we had reviewed the safety rules, we had a solid couple hours of swimming, boating, wading, and eating our tasty Stone Soup. All in all it was a really great day!

See you tomorrow!  Remember that if your child is staying for the overnight, they will need to bring everything on the equipment list.

Alex

Holding down a log

Just chillin'

Tie dye!

Lunch in the barn

Dylan made cut-offs!

Singing at lunch

Going over pond safety rules

Draining the canoe

Ahhh! Cool water on a hot day

Hangin' by the pond

Today started out as quite a rainy day, but by noon it had cleared up and become stiflingly hot, so we decided to have at least half of a Pond Day. In the morning many kids worked on the shelter, helping to notch logs and build the walls, some kids stayed behind to continue working on their boats, and others created wind socks with glue, sequins,  multicolored fabric, and all sorts of other cool decorations. The shelters walls are each about two feet off the ground now, and I saw some pretty cool wind socks this afternoon.  Those boats that were tested were somewhat successful, but we learned from each of the boats, and had a ton of fun making them.

This afternoon we had a partial Pond Day.  After lunch we changed into our bathing suits and went straight over to the pond to start our adventure.  First we took some time to introduce some of our  newer campers to the pond, and how best to observe the wildlife while still being respectful of the environment.  One of the advantages of having lifeguard Julie Sherbeck on staff is that we can send at least a few of the kids at a time out into the center of the pond onto the floating dock, while others wade in, looking for frogs, crayfish, and other wildlife. We let some of the older kids take the canoe out into the water to explore the farther side of the pond.  During this time we caught about 15 frogs, 3 crayfish, and tested several boats.  We also cooled off and had a lot of fun. In addition to enjoying Pond Day, we also had Stone Soup, which we cooked over the open fire at the pond. All in all,  a great day at Land Lab camp!

Have a great night, and remember we will be having another Pond Day tomorrow, so please make sure to bring a fresh change of clothes, a bathing suit and a towel or two.

Alex

We just discovered that the pictures from the last two days are missing from our blog entries. We have worked out our technical difficulties, so today's post will include all of the pictures from today, yesterday, and last Friday, which did not upload properly the first time.  

Friday

Quiet time

Afternoon meeting in the barn

Sharing our work from the morning

Hangin' in the barn

Xavy's weather report

Our birdhouses!

Baking cookies...

...in our solar oven!

Capture the flag

Afternoon meeting in the barn

Monday

Chiseling a notch

Creating a notch

Cutting wood to length 

Preparing to make a notch

Playing with stamps

Making a bracelet

Arts and crafts on the porch

Decorating a wind sock

Cutting out a wind sock 

Making a wing sock

Tuesday

Planning the shelter

Cutting a notch,

cutting another notch,

and another notch!

!

Pond day!

Girls on a float

Floating one of our boats

Dylan manages the aquatic life exhibit 

Cool frog

Go away smoke!

Around the campfire

Stone soup

A happy crew

Allie takes the canoe out...

...on the pond

Happy swimmers!