MOSS

I just spent 3 days at MOSS - the McCall Outdoor Science School in McCall Idaho. I was a chaperone for 6th Grade Science Camp. It is a wonderful outdoor learning experience for the students and chaperones alike. Josie is having a great time there and I look forward to hearing about her experience when she gets back tomorrow. Nate took over chaperone duties for me last night and will stay through tomorrow.

The day consists of getting up out of the cabins at 7:45 am, followed by chores and breakfast, afterward we take off on a hike through Ponderosa State Park and learn things along the way, such as: the difference between a managed and unmanaged forest, habitats in sage meadows, lake habitats etc. Our field guide, Patrick, was a great leader and is very in tune to nature so we'd have a lot of 'Sense of Place' time which really was a lot of quiet time to hear, smell and see our surroundings. In other words, great times for the chaperones to have a nap. We have lunch while out in the field and then continue on until 3:45. From there it's 30 minutes of inside cabin time followed by 30 minutes of outside free time. 5-6 pm is chores and dinner. 6-8 is teambuilding and evening program - this also marks chaperone free time (if we want it) where we can rest or go into the kitchen to make hot cocoa becasue it's chilly out. The from 8-9:30 is showering and bedtime rituals. We tried to get the girls to sleep by 10:30 pm which was hard the first night but as the week wears on they are pretty much begging you to go to sleep.

Josie did alright having me as her chaperone for her cabin and her small group - Team Spongebob- they named it that as they called their field guide, Patrick Star. We did have a few Mother -Daughter moments. I, of course, knew nothing and why couldn't I be like Kammi's mom in letting her wear her backpack slung to her knees and pajama bottoms.

All the kids were great and they have a wonderful sense of humor. I found myself laughing a lot. My favorite times were listening to Simone's night time stories in the cabin, Josie's abilities to find the best hiding spots in a very small cabin with just bunkbeds, Kammi's sense of style -PJ bottoms and her black sweatshirt hood tied so tight she looked like she was a ninja. I loved that all of the six kids in our group were very cooperative - one of the 5 C's at MOSS, they asked great questions, listened to Patrick and got along well with each other.

I tend to take for granted that while our family does get out in nature by camping, biking and taking small day trips, a lot of the students that came to camp don't get that experience. Despite the fact that Patrick sometimes turned a little preachy about the environment, it was a wonderful time and I hope I can chaperone for Annabelle's class when she goes in 2011.

Nate has the camera with him so I'm hoping to post pictures at a later date.