On June 9th-11th, Branson was able to go on his first three day summer camp trip all by himself! Nebo School district has a great camp for 11 year old boys up Hobble Creek Canyon in Springville and since one of my fondest memories growing up is going to Clear Creek Camp, I really wanted Branson to have the experience. At first Branson wasn’t sold on the idea, but after sharing with him some of the fun things I got to do up at camp, he quickly changed his mind. It helped too that a few friends of his from the ward were going too. đ
I let Branson take my old camera up with him to camp, and am so glad I did because he took some great pictures, and I got to see at least a little bit of what he experienced.
Branson and I spent the night before packing for camp and I had to laugh when I found this book in my room. It seemed like the perfect book for Brans to take to read if he had any down time. đ If you can’t see the book clearly it says, “Werewolves don’t go to summer camp!” ha ha.
Before Brans left, I also wrote him a few letters that he could open every day to help ease any home sicknessness he might have. I remember my Mom doing this same thing when I went to camp and Heritage Tours and it really made me feel special and loved. I’m grateful for the good example of my Mom.
I had to drop Branson off at 8:00 am on Thursday morning, where he loaded his gear into a trailer and then took off on a bus with all the other boys. It looked like there was quite a large group of boys going. If I remember right there were around 80 boys.
Brans said he ended up falling asleep on the bus on the way over and then once they arrived they were divided into cabins (they could choose their own groups) and then they were allowed to go and set up their beds.
After that they did rotations where they got to do lots of fun activities from archery, to making bracelets out of rope, to putting on a skit, to playing a game called Kimosabe, to playing Shadow ball, and making Rockets.
A view of the mountains from camp.
Branson funny enough came home with two very “outrageous stories” his counselor’s told him. One was that BYU let out a bunch of wild gorillas (which they think lived in this big cement vault). The other story was that a girl who came to camp years ago during the girls session saw a Fur-winkle and started throwing rocks at it, and the Fur-winkle got agitated and came down and scratched her on her leg. Luckly she survived and is now working as a counselor at the camp. They also told the kids that if they caught a furwinkle that BYU would give them a full 4 year scholarship! The best part is that Branson is totally convinced its all true! You can’t sway him to think its a joke! ha ha! Love that boy!
I have to laugh at some of the things Brans thought was cool enough to take a picture of.
Flies on poop! Totally picture worthy! đ
This next picture Branson says has a story behind it. He says that the counselors told them to look in the trees for mockingjays and that if you found one, you could get an extra soda. Brans saw one, but the counselors couldn’t see it in his pictures, so they wouldn’t give him one. đ Bummer!
Rope Bracelets! Brans said that this para-cord rope was 6 feet long before making it into a bracelet. These would be super useful if you ever got lost in the woods and needed rope.
Branson said the pink flowering plant in the middle of this picture is called a popcorn plant, and that if you bend down to smell it, it smells exactly like buttered popcorn.
This is Branson’s friend David. Branson’s favorite friend at camp though was a boy named Ian who was actually Mr. Cope’s son. Mr. cope was Harry’s 3rd grade teacher, and Branson and Harry’s choir teacher as well.
For lunch Brans said they had hot dogs, chili, chips, and dessert, and then they had free time. Branson built a sand castle with two friends, and then got called in for dinner. They had spaghetti, salad, and root beer floats. Brans said the counselors told the kids only to have two cups of rootbeer but that lots of the kids had way more than that, and ended up throwing up all night. Apparently it was super sweet and turned lots of tummies!
The rest of the night was spent around the campfire telling ghost stories, singing songs, and doing skits. Brans said the ghost story totally freaked him out and scared everyone in the group. The counselors also showed the kids some star constellations and planets. Lights out was at midnight, but Brans crashed 11:30 (his normal bedtime is 8:30). He said it was a great first day at camp.
