Camp Kiesel

Yesterday I had the opportunity to tag along to Camp Kiesel with Tess and the Activity Day girls from our ward (ages 8-11).  It was so much fun; they did so many great activities with the girls.  We started off by learning about some of the trees, plants, and animals around the camp and took a nature walk.

Here they are on the row boat.  I was surprised by how many of our girls were really quite afraid of the water and lots of them had never been on a boat before!  They were nervous but we really encouraged every girl to try everything.  And (as is almost always the case in these situations) they all loved it!

 Each girl had to go through an obstacle course which included this rope bridge.

 Target practice with the guns was really fun too.  (Tess's safety glasses wouldn't fit her face so she wore my sunglasses instead.)

 Tess's favorite part was the archery.  She did really well.  (And we had just happened to watch "Brave" the night before, so she really felt like Merida!) :)

 I got to try the archery too.  I was more like the little dumb blond suitor in "Brave" because I'd pull back my arrow and then the tip of the arrow would slowly slide out to the right before I had a chance to release it.  Yeah, I'm good.

 Our last activity was making a little bead craft.  They made a critter...some girls called it a lizard because it had a long tail, some called it a turtle, but it also had a long neck....I think it was a dinosaur maybe?  Doesn't matter, it was fun to make.

The girls also had stations for playing games, learning about how to protect nature ("leave no trace") and a visit to the trading post, where everyone bought candy and jewelry.  It was a really good day!