School Camp

Had a good few days at camp. I must admit, it was a day too long, I was a bit over it by Thursday afternoon but probably due to the weather rather than the kids.

It was organised differently this time, each adult was given a specific activity which was rotated so we had one in the morning & one in the afternoon, the groups of kids then came to our activity. The plus side was that if you got a group with some of the more um - "challenging" kids, you only had to put up with them for an hour or so at a time.

Generally the kids were fantastic, there were a couple of little shits but what do you expect with 160 odd 12 & 13 year olds?

Lowlights:
- a bit rushed & disorganised especially on day 1
- no camp staff on some activities which I think should have had them as the parents had to teach the kids & if we didn't know then they were not getting the best out of the experience.
- the weather was a bit crap (raining on & off Wednesday & Thursday)
- MatthewM breaking him arm on the BMX bikes whilst I was the parent in charge (believe me there were a couple of other kids who I would quite happily have injured)

Highlights
- meeting the kids & getting to know them
- seeing  how some of them had changed & matured since year 7 camp or in some cases primary school was the last time I saw them
- Being pleasantly surprised by some of the kids I was expecting to be a pain turning out to actually be some of my favourites.
- the overall good manners from all the kids when doing the activities and also when dishing up their meals to them (still a few who need to learn to say Thank You but generally only ever needed one reminder)
- the parents accommodation was great (Carolann & I shared a room), we had our own showers & loos so did not have to share with the kids, plus we actually had a full kitchen (wish we knew that before we went)
- the camp food was actually pretty tasty and plenty of it, the kitchen staff were lovely (usually the people who run these kitchens make the dinner lady on Jamie Olivers school food show seem sweet & kind)
- Carol Ann & my detour to Tirau for some shopping & a stop in Cambridge for Gelato (Thanks to Mike for agreeing to pick the kids up from school so we could do that).

The biggest & best part of it all was when I got home & Siobhan came flying down the drive and flung herself at me and gave me the biggest hug ever and told me all night how much she had missed me AWWWW :-)

Oh - and wine!!!!! Not allowed alcohol at school camps these days so was glad to come home to a nice bottle.

On the Thursday night one of the teachers managed to get hold of a TV set so we got to watch the final of the netball - what a nail biter!!! It was a good way to finish the night but I think most of us were so would up after such a nailbiting final we took a bit of time to get to sleep.