Exploring Routes - Day 2
Today started with a slow morning. We woke up to heavy rain and took our time getting out of bed. Several campers decided to stay in their pajamas for a cozy breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and fruit. Because it was our first morning waking up at camp, we took some extra time to talk through our daily morning tidying that we do to help to keep the house feeling calm and clean. It was a great way to practice working together to care for our space so that we can all enjoy it. Once everything was tidied, we got ready for our morning adventure.
Because of the rain and predicted afternoon thunder, our plans shifted slightly and we decided to go for a walk in the nature preserve a few minutes down the road. Before heading out though, we spent some time planning our afternoon baking project and coming up with a grocery list. We flipped through a cookbook filled with delicious ice cream recipes and voted on the one we wanted to make. Then we brainstormed a cookie that we thought would go best with it. After some deliberation, we decided on salted caramel ice cream with chocolate cookies (which we would later turn into an ice cream sandwich!)
With the plan for the afternoon treat set, we headed to the preserve and started walking in some light rain. After a short period of time, we came upon quite a deep puddle. This left us with a decision: turn around and go back to the car or splash through the puddle and continue. We all agreed to keep going! We decided that spending some time outside was worth having wet feet. The puddle covered most of our boots and we were initially a little bit wary of the rest of the walk, but we were quickly laughing and splashing through the following puddles. We realized that once your feet are soaking wet, they really can’t get much wetter so you might as well just go for it! This is a pretty awesome realization because it opens up all kinds of adventures. Once you realize that rain can be a fun adventure rather than something to stop you from going outside, you can start to have fun in all kinds of situations.
We did ultimately reach a part of the trail that was pretty flooded and muddy where we decided to turn around, which was a great lesson in what counts as adventure, and when to call it quits for safety reasons. We headed back to the car to get warm and dry!
Back at the cottage, we changed into dry clothes (which never feel better than after a walk in the rain) and had grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch — the perfect rainy day meal! We then enjoyed a wonderfully dreary rest time, during which we spent quiet time on our own beds reading, journaling, making friendship bracelets and napping. We needed this quiet time to regain energy for making ice cream sandwiches!
We split into two small groups, one to make cookies and one to make the ice cream. The ice cream portion involved making homemade caramel which was exciting! Once the ice cream and cookies were at a pausing point, a few of us went for a quick and refreshing swim in the rain. We then sat on the porch and painted picture frames that we can later put our group photo in.
Next was free time, during which campers took turns showering and then hung out and talked about daily life, friends, and school.
For dinner we ate rice bowls with many different fresh veggies, two types of salmon, two styles of tofu and some really delicious seaweed toppings. Campers also had the option to learn how to make onigiri!
After dinner we played a game in the living room before enjoying the ice cream sandwiches we had made. They were absolutely delicious, wether we chose to eat them deconstructed or constructed!
We wound down the night with a shout-out circle, recognizing kind/awesome things that people had done throughout the day. We also took turns sharing one thing we are grateful for in our lives. Then we drank herbal tea while Chloë read aloud before heading up to bed for quiet personal time and then lights out!
