Eco Camp

Dear Readers:
Since June 13th Grant and I have been working at Marianas Trekking for their Summer Eco Camp. We just finished our third week at camp. The groups are set up according to age and Grant is in the older group(Barracudas/Piranhas)ages 9-12 and I am in the younger group with the (Sea Turtles and Cocunut Crabs) ages 4-8. The one word I would use to describe camp is: active. There is never more than 10 minutes that the kids are sitting still, we keep them really busy! A typical day would look like this: snorkeling at the beach, games in the field, lunch at the resort, swimming in the pool, more games at the pool, and one rotating activity. The rotating activities means that we have one per day, they are: horseback riding, go karts, putt-putt, hiking, dance class, and arts and crafts. The camp starts at 9am and ends at 3pm. It is definitely a tiring day but each day is an adventure of its own. I really like the fact that we are outside all day because I think it is great for kids to be outside more and there is so many activities to expose them to. Kids can come for any length of time they want from one day to the whole summer. Most of the campers sign on for a 2-week period. I have built some good relationships with the kids that stay for 2 weeks and it is fun to see them everyday. Having new kids all the time keeps it interesting tho! My favorite activity is snorkeling at the beach because it is fun to go snorkel with them and to enjoy watching the fish go by. Also where we snorkel there are a lot of starfish which is my favorite:) I also love that I get to teach them new skills such as baseball. I taught the kids how to hold a bat properly before we played a game of "wiffle ball" baseball. Another thing which is great is Grant and I used to work at Ingham Okoboji Camp in the past and have been able to teach the kids here the fun games we loved from camp. I enjoy working with Grant even though most of the time the groups are split up. It is nice to share everyday what happened everyday and to share stories. The kids say the cutest things and I have enjoyed my time with them so far. Here are some pics from the 1-3 weeks of camp.