Brandon Springs

Yesterday we took off on a fun co-op adventure: "camping" at Brandon Springs. I say "camping" because Brandon Springs is my kind of camping- nice, air-conditioned cabins, good food that is made by someone else, and fun activities that are led by someone else! We moms needed a change of pace from the usual mom-intensive end-of-semester event that we usually plan, and this turned out to be just the ticket. We might make it an annual event! Because we stayed on a Sunday night, we had the entire place- and the staff- all to ourselves. It was wonderful! We only stayed one night, but we packed in lots of activities: canoeing (a few crazy kids went swimming too); we learned about bats (the flying kind), pond life and outdoor survival skills; had a campfire where we roasted marshmallows; and spent some time at the archery range. I have some tired, happy kids. It was a great way to end our co-op year.

Here's our gang!

Canoeing on the lake

John caught a nice catfish

This is the shelter that John Mark and Nathanael's team built during the survival skills class.
The kids loved the pond study. They found all kinds of bugs, tadpoles, newts, leeches and a salamander. The best part was that we had a park ranger to be our guide and tell us what all the things were that the kids had caught!