Riley's First Camp

Riley has been looking forward to this summer for quite awhile.  She has spent the last couple years watching her older sister go off to various activities and has had to impatiently wait until she was old enough to also participate.  She is four years old now which means that she gets to choose which activities she would like to participate in and one of her choices was Camp Habitat.

Last day of camp.  The kids circle around for a final Hoo-Rah.

The camp director, Elisabeth (in blue), and Riley's camp leader, Katie,
are trying to get the kids to imitate animals they have seen on their daily walks
through Creamers Field.

Riley attended her first camp this year.  Camp Habitat is a wonderful week long program at Creamers' Field for kids ages 4-11.  The kids are split into smaller groups with their assigned  group leader and helper.  The younger kids are only in camp for a few hours in the morning but for many of them, that is more than enough time away from their family.  The kids go on daily hikes, exploring the fields, forests, and ponds, and learning about the animals, insects, and their ecology.  Morgan attend the same camp when she was 4 and 5 and loved it.  We also spend a lot of time at Creamers Field walking or skiing the trails which made it an excellent first choice for camp.

One of the many exciting discoveries the kids made during the walks.
A birds nest filled with little birds born that week of camp.  

It has been a wet and cold summer and rained most of the days they were at camp.  I never once heard Riley complain.  She looked forward to going each day riding in Ms. Ali's car with her friend, Mason, headed to camp.  It also helped that she had other friends from other activities in the same group.  On her final day, family and friends get to gather around their make shift day camp to see and hear what the kids have been up to during the week.  Riley excited ran around trying to show us everything she had created.  They end the day with their usual song, "Habitat, Habitat, have to have a Habitat".  A pretty catching song which we find ourselves singing off and on as the summer goes on.