Shadow Mountain Hike, Hippy Bus, Polar Plunge & Selfies

On day two of camp, Brans said they had pancakes and “gruel” (aka: oatmeal) for breakfast with ham steaks, and then took off for a 7+ mile hike. Brans said the hike was hard but the views were beautiful. He said they didn’t give the kids snacks to take on the hike though (but someone shared 1 gummy bear with him) so he was starving by the time they got back for lunch at 2pm. 

One of the sights they stopped at during the hike was to see this old “hippy bus.” Brans said the counselors told them that a Mom, Dad, & little girl found the hippy bus and started living in it. One day they got so hungry that they started eating each other. The girl was the last one left and they finally found her and she is still alive now.  Brans said that after the girl was found that wolverines started living in the bus as well. Seriously? Where are the counselors getting these crazy stories? But needless to say Brans and the other boys thought it was cool to explore. 

Then the boys hiked a little further until they came to the base of these mountains where they all got the chance to test their manhood by jumping into the icey water of a lake! 

This is the lake the boys all had to do the Polar Plunge challenge. I don’t think any of us can say that lake water wasn’t frigid. Check out that snow right at the base of it! Yikes! 

Brans took on the challenge though and received his man card when he completely emerged himself in the freezing waters. Brans said most of the boys ended up going in with the exception of about 17. I would have been in that group of 17! I am a totally sissy when it comes to cold water! 

Brans found the North Pole! 🙂 

I sent Brans off to camp with a package of some of my favorite treats – red vines! I think he had fun with them! Love the selfies! 

For lunch Brans said they had Squirrel stew (beef stew) & chips and then they got to go and do the slip and slide again. Brans said the slip and slide was fun but people were butting in front of others and pushing which made it lots less fun. Afters the slip and slide the boys all went back to their cabins to change and then headed back to the pavilions for dinner.  Brans was happy to get pizza, salad, and twinkies.

Then the boys got some free time. Brans and his friends played hide and go seek and then did they called “a bug fight” where they found different bugs and put them in a frisbee to see if they would fight with each other (ants, worms, rolly polly’s, and a cricket), but Brans said they didn’t do anything and mostly just sat there or walked around. Then Brans built a sand castle with his friend Ian.

The rest of the night they spent around the camp fire, singing more songs, and then the counselors told more stories (not scary ones this time). Then they retired the flag and headed to bed.

The last day of camp they had cereal for breakfast and then spent the morning cleaning up their cabins and the common areas. Then they played forest Ninjas where you had to hide and if you got found you had to go to “jail.” The object of the game was to get as many people in jail as you could. The team with the most points won. After that, the kids got to launch the rockets they had made on the first day. Brans said you could launch your rocket as many times as you wanted. Bransons rocket cracked the first launch and then bent a whole bunch every launch after. It was pretty pathetic by the end.

The kids then were instructed to go on a dinosaur egg hunt in the woods to find 4 eggs. The eggs ended up being giant watermelons that they cut and let everyone eat. Brans was so excited for that because it was the first time he’d gotten fruit in 3 days! Then they had sandwiches, macaroni salads, and coolaid for lunch and then had their camp graduation ceremony. Each boy was awarded with a camp shirt, and got a chance to speak in the loud speaker and tell everyone what they liked about camp or any feelings they had about camp. Brans said most kids just said, “camp rocks!” Branson wanting to be different just got up and said “banana” and sat down.

Branson ended up getting home from camp about 3:15 and came in looking absolutely exhausted! He was so tired and ended up napping most of the day and then got sick and threw up several times (we think he got heat stroke). Poor fella! But he really liked camp and was glad he went. 

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