Friday morning, right in the middle of our end-of-the-week meeting, we got the word from one of the camp counselors that one of our recycling bins was full of raccoons. This must have been a hard feat to pull off because the bins are inside a supposedly raccoon-proof wooden box, with bungee-corded lids. For the raccoons, it ended up being a lot of work for nothing because the bin they were in was devoid of any recycled materials. We pulled the bin out and, without alerting any of the campers who were all gathered mere feet away for breakfast (with the exception of Sophie and Willow, who were with me and got to see the action), walked it over to where the forest begins. It took some coaxing and tilting to get the frightened little baby raccoons to leave the shelter of their bin, but once they were out, they wasted no time in scrambling up a tree.
Later the same day, I also relocated a large Wolf spider from the Wild Things (that's what we call the program for campers under 7 years old) room. Counting the Rattlesnake from a couple of days ago, we spent a lot of time moving wild animals this week.
As if that wasn't enough, While I was driving up to camp with Sophie and Willow (the boys spent the night, going on the night hike and sleeping in the field with the other campers) we saw a coyote walking right down the middle of the road. As we got closer, we could see that it had a deer leg in its mouth. It bounded up the hill to our right, and I stopped the van to try and get a picture - an utter failure, I'm afraid, due to the poor light and moving target. It did pause long enough for the girls to get a good look, and they were quite excited - in fact, they spent the rest of the day telling people about it, but due to the fact that they're at an age where fact and fantasy are often seamlessly blended, I had to confirm the story many times.
By Friday afternoon, the kids were all tired and kind of cranky, especially Nate. They all had a great time though, meeting other kids, hiking, climbing (Alex and C on the high ropes course, Nate on the climbing wall), archery, and just plain hanging out around camp or at the pool. Alex got in some more reading time on the newest Harry Potter book too. Once home, we ordered pizza and unwound a bit. Nate and Sophie fell asleep relatively early. Willow hung in there for awhile before falling asleep in the big bed. Alex stayed up late to read more Harry Potter.
I think it was good for the kids to see what I do at work. I hung out with Nate the most, since he was in my group. It was good for me too - I don't really do stuff with the boys as often as I should. This was a good chance to just relax and have some fun (while getting paid too!).
Jen is still in Chicago. She's working hard and not sleeping enough. Hope she makes it over to the art museum (and manages to stay out of the neighborhoods I found myself in the last time I was there - the kind of neighborhoods where taxis won't stop for you).
Today, Sophie is at the zoo with friends. The rest of us are going to go see the Simpsons movie later.
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