The first graders at Peabody do an end of the year camping trip each year to El Capitan Canyon.
Lucky me, my name was picked from the lottery drawing to be a chaperone!
The seven campers I was responsible for.
The planning for this trip happens right at the start of the school year as there are a lot of logistics to figure out with almost 100 first graders attending and 50 parent/teacher volunteers.
Every single minute of the trip is planned with activities: Bio-nature talk, hiking, yoga, obstacle courses, scavenger hunts, baseball, kickball, football, astronomy class, archeology presentation, treasure hunt, llama tour, meals/snacks, campfire songs, storytelling, star gazing and more.
This was the hike up to see the llamas that you see off of the 101 freeway headed north of Santa Barbara.
In all the past years, the hike continues to the beach but the oil spill directly across from us that happened a few weeks prior kept that part of the hike off limits to us. :(
We met 3 day-old goats and were given hay to feed them as well as the llamas however we were the third group to come through so most of the animals were not hungry.
The one llama behind us was the only one that would remain still. The others would begin to do a pretty fast walk away from you as you got close.
The farmer explained to us that before he bought the llamas from the prior owner that they were not socialized or trained with humans at all. So they didn't like or dislike humans, they were just completely disinterested. And although he tried years ago to become their friend, train and hand-feed them, that because all of the llamas were over the age of 20 and nearing the end of their life span, it was too late. I wasn't sure whether to feel sad for these guys or not. I do know that the bundles of hay we were given were just sort of thrown near them and some eventually came and ate it and some walked far away from us. They have a nice view though.
My sweet girl writing in her journal about her trip.
I should note that it wasn't exactly camping in a tent. We "glamped" in little deluxe cabins. While this was definitely more my style of camping, it is the same price as a nice hotel to stay here. The ones we stayed in average about $300 a night and go up from there depending on the size and time of year. Some of them are over $800 a night and they aren't that big. I can't wrap my head around wanting to stay here over a nice hotel because while the cabin was cute and the grounds pretty, a few exits down the 101 is a nice resort that overlooks the ocean and well, I will let you guess my choice. But it was for the kids so enough about me.
Parent volunteers BBQ'd for the entire group for dinner. We sat with Mr. B, Samantha's student teacher, who ended up taking over her class the last couple weeks of school. More on that later.
We had yet to get our cabins to bed but us moms made it the entire day and into the evening and we were still having a great time. We were so impressed by how logistically things went so smoothly and how great each of the activities planned were for all the kids.
Even a professional storyteller came in the evening to entertain the kids.
There was something really special about having all your schoolmates do an experience like this. All the kids were beaming the entire trip.
Campfire songs.
Glow sticks.
The kids sang songs and danced into the night!
As we made our way back to our cabins (in the dark), we walked into an area where gigantic telescopes were set up by astronomers for each of the kids to see the stars, moon and I forget which planet we could see that night but that was cool
The girls got ready for bed, climbed up into the loft and played board games until I finally said they HAD to go to bed. Which then turned into giggling and chatting until about midnight when their voices disappeared one by one. Of course Samantha was the last one standing. Always the night owl!
The next morning our cabin was the last to make it to breakfast. I guess I was the only one that didn't adhere to the recommended quiet hours beginning at 10pm. Oh well...
Samantha did one last yoga session with Ms. Sole.
She's a little shaky on her headstand.
The last hurrah was class photos and then back home to SLEEP!
It was such a special experience to have with Samantha. I am excited for Todd to chaperone Thatcher in a couple years.
