Fun at Camp Ireland and other summer camp fun!

I went with Brandon's den to Camp Ireland on the Friday before we headed to Sun River.  I was able to use a community service vacation day with State Farm to go.  Our den had a parent go each day to the camp and we carpooled out to the camp all week.  I picked the boys up at Alberta Rider and we headed out the 35 minute back roads to Camp Ireland.  When we got there the kids got to play group games and then we had a fun assembly where the dens got to perform skits for everyone at the camp.  The camp counselors also performed some funny skits.  After that we went to our first station which was a fun coding station.  The boys had to decode a worksheet and then got to make their own code.  The second station they went to was a fun Obstacle course.  The boys loved the obstacle course and I even raced Brandon (and lost).

Working on their own codes

Such a fun obstacle course

Cheering teammates on

That suspension bridge did me in!

Climbing down the tires

Going across the monkey bars

After the obstacle course we had lunch and then the boys got to have free choice time where they got to go various stations and choose which one they wanted to do.  They were excited that they got to go to the trading post (where they sell candy and other goods) and go shopping after lunch instead of at the end of the day.  Brandon got some candy and a soda and I got some candy for Olivia and an old fashion licorice rope for myself.  The boys were disappointed that the cooking station was not open but had fun doing the giant board games and doing the stomp bottle rocket that sprayed water.  They also got to the obstacle course again.  In between the free choice time, the boys got to do archery which was really fun (even though the Archery master was a bit strict).

Giant Jenga!

Archery time!

The camp ended with a fun closing ceremony with a few more den skits and then several really funny counselor skits.  It was a fun way to end a very fun camp.

The kids had some really fun camps this summer and seemed to be pretty excited to go to camp (a plus from the year that we did the school's YMCA camp with Brandon and he hated it and would cry when we made him go).  This summer, the kids started off being off with me the first week school was out (I was on vacation).  The second week they went to a fun Oregon zoo camp where Brandon was with the 3rd grade group and learned about Home Sweet Habitats and Olivia's 1st grade theme was "Animal Tales."  Olivia was a bit apprehensive to go to camp at first but did great and they both loved the hot lunch I bought them at the zoo.  Each day they had a fun Critter tale to tell me and it was fun to hear which animals they got touch and interact with.

The second camp the kids went to was Willowbrook Art camp in Tualatin.  They both loved the camp and loved the choices they got to have going to each station.  The camp was more than just art projects, it was music and drama as well. There was also looming and pottery.  Brandon got to be in the Artisan group for 8-18 year olds and Olivia was in the Village group for 5-7 year olds.

The kids went back to Oregon Zoo camp the following week and this time Brandon did the 4th grade Extreme animals camp (we had to put him with 4th graders because the 3rd grade content was the same) and Olivia did My Big Backyard which was a half day at the Children's Museum.  Both kids loved this session of zoo camp more and Olivia especially loved the crafts at the Children's museum.

The fourth week of camp Olivia went to Westside Gymnastics all day camp and did the Jedi Gymnastics camp while Brandon went to Cub scout camp at Camp Ireland.  Since Brandon was not with her, we wanted Olivia to have a camp she was comfortable with by herself and since she knows Westside so well we picked that camp for her.  She had a lot of fun by herself and was excited to go each day.  She also got to walk over to her gymnastics and dance classes (we had her do 2 make up classes plus her 2 regular classes that week) and that was so easy.  Also Westside Camp by far was the closest camp to us and had the longest hours although was a bit more spendy at $310 a week.  Olivia got to do a fun field trip to see Toy Story 2 at the movie theater and go bowling.  Also Critter Cabana came and shared their animals one day.  The kids have had a lot of fun with their camps thus far this summer and we still have 3 more weeks of camps to go (with 3 weeks of vacation and Grandparents camps mixed in).