Spring Campout

Time for the cadets' spring campout.  The long-standing tradition is to take the boys, who range from first to fifth grade, to some private land 50 minutes away near the south tip of Lake Canandaigua, and camp from Friday night to Sunday morning.  It's a pretty area on a hillside with a stream running next to it. Both nights they make s'mores, and Saturday before dinner there's a fire-starting contest. Saturday, and time permitting Sunday morning, there's a hike. Oh, and Saturday afternoon they go fishing on a local pond.

 

There's also plenty of time for the boys to wander around and find salamanders. This area is rife with them for some reason.

 

There an old out house which the cadets built years ago. I think Sam and I were the only ones who used it.  Everyone else either, well, held it until Sunday morning, or dug a hole using Danny's shovel. (Danny's the head counselor.)

 

Last year Sam came down with strep throat, threw up twice Friday night in the tent, and we left Saturday afternoon. This year he did fine, but I had Coxsackie disease (hand, foot and mouth), a Father's Day gift from Joshie who'd suffered a fever from it a week before, with no other symptoms. It was mostly gone by the campout, thankfully, except for some red spots which made it unpleasant to walk or hold things.

 

(I also got food poisoning eating an undercooked burger Saturday and spent an unpleasant Sunday in bed--but the campout was over by then, thankfully.)

 

I did devotions Saturday and Sunday on FIRE, and God's holiness. Also taught the junior cadets how to make a one-match fire, 2 of 3 of them managed to do. When the contest came they made a fire in four matches which grew to a nice size and lasted for hours.

 

All in all, it was a good trip. (Well, especially good for Sam!)

 

They found dozens and dozens of salamanders

These are Bob and Charlene. Sam could tell you which is which.

A New York state department of conservation web site tells me that this is a "red eft" (or "red spotted newt"), and has toxic skin. Didn't seem to bother Sam, I am glad to say.  

Sam caught a nice large-mouth bass again this year.

Here the boys are at the pond waiting their turn to fish, passing the time by letting tadpoles suck on their feet.

The tadpoles do this to rocks if there aren't little-boy feet available.

Here Sam is working on the fire with one of the other two junior cadets, a boy from Eritrea named Holyote.