First Time at 4-H Camp

 This is the first year for our kids in 4-H. My husband participated for many years as a kid, showing animals. I also participated, even though I was a townie and never showed animals. I have fun memories of doing tree leaf collections and baking cookies.

4-H is so much cooler now, with a whole variety of projects. Desert Boy is signed up for a lamb, shooting, legos, and computer coding. Desert Girl is a cloverbud (younger, non-competitive 4-H) and signed up for entomology and flowers.

Other possible 4-H categories include baking, sewing, crafts, model rocketry, outdoor cooking, photography, robotics, welding, woodworking, and more.

There are lots of 4-H meetings, but we've missed them all because we live so far away and currently don't have a local club. But we heard about 4-H camp, which was over the course of three days. We already had other activities planned for the first and third days, but we could attend Saturday, which was Family Day. We drove out to White River Valley and to the unmarked camp, which is on private property. 4-H camp has been held at the same spot for a long time, next to a hot spring. My husband used to go there. A metal building is a new addition and allows for a variety of activities out of the hot sun.

The first activity of the day: an obstacle course. First, get through the spider web.

After making a simulated campfire, run to the pond.

Two swimmers had to swim across and get some rubber duckies. Desert Boy volunteered to be one of the swimmers and did okay. He could really use a swim team, but we'll just have to improvise!

Then they tied themselves together and hobbled through the door. The team that Desert Boy and Desert Girl were on won, and later they got a free icee for their efforts.

Not long after it was lunch time, with some delicious hamburgers.

It was getting hot after lunch, so it was time for a water game. PVC pipes had holes in them, and the kids had to cover the holes with a goal of filling the pipe to the top.

Water kept spilling out of the pan, making it a cold task.

When that was done, it was time to swim! My husband and I looked at the hot spring, which was off limits. The water was quite hot.

First, a group photo.

Then into the pond! The water comes from the hot spring, so is quite pleasant.

The bathtub used to be a soaking place, but it needs a good cleaning.

We enjoyed our day a lot, and the kids begged to stay longer. We could have, as there was a fatal accident on the highway by a construction zone and we were delayed a couple hours. Drive safely!

The kids are already asking about 4-H camp for next summer, and it's tentatively planned for the second weekend in July. Hopefully they can make it and make even more great memories. And maybe next year, more local kids will participate, which will make it even more fun. :)