On Saturday Greg and I took the 12-13yr old scouts down to the river to learn how to paddle a raft and how to make a fire. It was ok weather, but the wind was blowing so hard. It was relentless! The river sort of flows in a direction, but not enough to move your raft much. So we paddled into the wind towards a small alcove where we planned to let the boys out of the boats and go exploring. We were not even halfway there when I started thinking, "This is not going to work. We will have to turn around and head back before we get there." The wind kept blowing harder and harder. Sometimes it would let down for a minute, but we could look at the water ahead of us and see it coming. We pushed ourselves harder and amazingly we made it! It was fun to be around the boys and see how they interacted with each other. They sort of reminded me of puppies--the way they had so much energy and just took off in all directions to go play and explore. I'm somewhat new to this thing of hanging out with 12 year old boys, but I think it was fun overall.
(We thought we would be the only adult leaders on this trip, but the dad of one of the boys came and another adult leader. I was glad...I felt a little overwhelmed at the idea of being responsible for so many boys on this trip!)
When we got back from our paddling adventure Greg gathered the boys around and showed them how to build a fire. With all the wind, our fire lit up right away and we were roasting hot dogs before we knew it! After all that paddling it was a good thing we could eat so quickly...Everybody worked up a big appetite!
We had a couple hours left so we let the boys run around and play. I was amazed at how well they could stay entertained in just a small area outside with rocks to climb and water to throw rocks in. We could have left them alone for a few days and I think they would have had fun the whole time.
Greg earned the boys' respect by jumping off the cliff into the water after dinner. We all thought he was crazy, but the boys had fun cheering and yelling when he did the deed.
Once the rafts were dry, Greg showed them how to fold them up and load them back in the trailer. We broke out the s'mores and the fun continued until our carpool parents showed up. It wasn't until we were starting to drive away that all the boys came running to get in the cars. Next time I think we'll plan an overnight camping trip.
At the end of the night I was worn out and sore from paddling and chasing boys. (Well, I didn't actually chase any boys, but you know...) It was a lot of fun and I look forward to going with Greg again.
