I Survive a Camp Out
Every 2 years in my son school, they have a camp out where the parents and siblings are invited to join the teachers and the children to camp at the school's backyard for an overnight only because the children are too small and they will be scared if we are not going to be there with them.
Like usual, if I have to do something new I always feel worried and so anxious. Even though the camp out location is only 2 minutes away from my home but I felt like I am going to camp out in the wilderness! So I better be super prepared!
Originally I want to sleep in my friends’ tent but after asking some people, I found that there are not enough tents to share around. Based on that right before we arrived in the school, we made a quick stop to a store to buy our first tent. We bought one that is the easiest to assemble. Basically, all Richard has to do was pull the top then with one click only the tent is assembled! Amazing huh? Then we put the rain cover on top. That was very easy too, all in all, it only took us about 10 minutes to read the manual and assemble the tent. That’s not bad for complete beginners like us. We are very glad to buy this tent!
1
And while we were busy setting up the tent, KK play with his classmates. Oh.. they had so much fun playing in the school playground for longer time than the usual.
2
Later we called KK to write down our names on the information paper outside the tent that the teacher placed.
3
After we finished set up the tent, we went to the nearby McDonald for our quick dinner then return back to the school because the camp out is about to start. By then most of the parents are also arrive already. They came first to set up the tent then leave for dinner too just like us.
4
For awhile everybody kind of going to every tent to say hello and to see how their tent look like. While the kids do more than that, they tried each other sleeping bags too! Kai Kai, James, Nicholas, and Matthew were like monkeys. They jump from one tent to another like monkeys high on sugar!
5
Exactly on 7 o’clock in the evening, the teachers started to round up the kids to sit on the patio stairs for their singing performance. KK and James were so excited, they keep yelling to call their friends to come faster. They remind me like soccer’s avid fans! Especially James with his face all painted up!
6
Not all of the kids share their enthusiastic like KK and James, so they kind of dragging their feet. The teachers told KK and James not to scream so loud and sit down. You can tell from KK’s face what he thought of that order…. Borringgggg
7
But finally all the kids are rounded up and they are ready to start their performance. That surely perk up KK a lot, you can tell right from this photo?
8
Let me tell you something first. All this time, for full 2 yrs when KK started to go school, not once he ever sing or dance on any school performances that they had. Every time I was invited to see him perform. All I see was a boy who absolutely refused to sing, just sat there and looks bored, and here I was all prepared to document his performance with my digital cameras, 3 extra batteries, 1 extra memory card, and Richard with his camcorder. But we pretty much recorded nothing, just a bored kid.
But today is different story. For the first time ever, KK sing and do the hands movements like his other friends! The sight was so amazing and so unexpected that I think my mouth just hang down open! I was so amaze that I did not even remember a word of the lyric. All I saw was my beautiful son finally sing!!!! You are lucky that I am still functional enough to take a few photos of him singing.
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2
3
-- The teachers help the kids from sidelines. --
But when the kids kind of stop singing maybe for taking a breath first or something. I gave KK 2 thumbs up sign and he saw me that time. And he speak his mind out loud, real loud “ Hey I did a great job just now!”. Everybody kind of look at him and laugh and laugh… because they can see that KK is not faking it, he was truly surprise that he did such a great job singing and do the hands movements too. Like he couldn’t believe it that he just did that. Soooo funny!
4
After the performance, the 2 teachers lead the kids away from the camp side. They took them out on a stroll at the nearby woods area. They ran after their teachers while bringing their own flashlights.
--See KK running with his flashlight on his hand? --
While the kids are away, the parents stayed behind and we were told that we are about to give our children a surprise. First of all, we were divided into 7 groups. Then each leader of the group with take a draw to get the children story that their group is going to perform.
--Richard as the group 3 leader take the draw from Miss Linda --
I was in group 1 and Richard was in group 3. My group will perform “Hansel and Gretel”, a story about 2 little kids who wonder off in the forest then they saw a candy house that belong to a witch. Richard’s group will perform Pinocchio, and he would be the Pinocchio.
--busy preparing the plots or making the props using what we can find in this school room --
--My group are making the candy house with my candies drawing --
--The chidren arrived and they had no clue on what is going to happen --
Too bad that I don’t have any photo of my amazing performance as Gretel, no thanks to Richard who maybe absolutely stupefied to see his wife on stage! He did not take a picture or film at all! Sometimes that man makes me want to…. Arrrgggg!
But at least I am able to share some photos about other groups. Here they are:
--Goldilocks broke the baby bear's chair--
--Little Red Raiding Hood that looks scarier than the wolf, check out that guy's tatoo!--
--2 Spiders that scares Miss Muffet--
--A Cow that jump over the moon--
--Cinderella in puppets version--
--Richard is great talking to his little audiences about this interactive Pinocchio story--
--The narator also doubled as the witch and she made a very confincing witch with her amazing act and her beak nose. Everybody loves her performance. This is the story about Snow White. Look at how giant is the dwarfs, haha!--
And these are some of the children reaction photos. They never fail to cheer their own parents.
--Look at their faces, they loves this surprise by their parents--
--they are so captivated by the stories that they need to stand up to watch it--
--KK always sit with his gang of boys--
After the performance ended, the teachers gave us few minutes to play or talk and then we have to get ready to bed or sleeping bag in this case. Here are some activities photos before bedtime:
--KK and Nicholas chose to play again in James' tent --
--Richard and James' father, Vince chose to chat--
--I also chose to chat with Mary Ann, Vince's wife--
Then we went to the school room to brush our teeth, wash our faces and hands. Go back to the tent and change to our pajamas. But today has been such an exciting day and we could not sleep. We are not alone, I heard all sort of noises coming from other tents too. Next to us where Agregado family sleep, we can hear James and Nicholas still playing in the tent.
--Cuddling with KK in our tent--
--Ready to bed in our jammies--
--Nobody in the mood to sleep after such an exciting day--
--Horsing around in the tent--
I found out that it wasn’t easy to find the right position to sleep on the ground because they are so bumpy. So I kind of drape my body to fit in between that bumps. If I stay on that position I would be okay, but unfortunately, my allergy was acting up and my nose are absolutely blocked and that made me turn around a lot and each time I lost my best position! So pretty much I couldn’t sleep a wink all night long! I could hear 2 children were sneaking around our tent with their flashlight, but I did not know who they are. Then I heard Vince tried to keep James and Nicholas to sleep. KK at first also too hyper to sleep but soon he fell asleep and once he fell asleep, nothing can wake him up. We know this for sure. KK has slept through 3 earthquakes (6.8 Richter scale as the highest point), tropical thunderstorms back in Surabaya, 3 barking dogs before ( We used to have 3 golden retrievers ), numerous times when he is in the airplanes, my loud vacuum cleaners, his cousin step all over his head while he nap on the carpet. Richard fare slightly better than me since he did not have allergy attack. Over all I may be able to dose several times for a total time of 1 hour. But because the mood is so happy, I did not feel tired at all! I wasn’t alone too; most of the first timer camper like us experiences this too. But some old timers they can sleep through the night just like in their own comfortable home. To make it harder for beginners like us to sleep, it was raining all night long! But thanks to my “brand new-waterproof and has UV protection-easy to set up-tent” we are completely boned dry inside our tent. Not all of us are this lucky. Elsa and Hedy has to sleep in a damp tent because the rain just leak into their brand new but never been used tent.
--drinking coffees and eat some fresh fruits and muffins that has been prepared by the kids--
We were served by the teachers a nice breakfast of cut up fresh fruits and muffins that was prepared by the children themselves yesterday morning in school time. The kids made the muffins themselves bake them too! Cutting fruits are easy for them. Since they entered this school at the age of 3, the teachers taught them how to use a real knife to cut up fresh fruits, veggies, and cheese for school snack everyday. Everyday there is a “special helper” whose duty consists of : feed the fishes/hamster, then prepare the snacks for others, and check the weather outside and reported back to the teachers. We were also served coffee, juice, and milk.
--Packing out their tent back--
--Agregado family looks pretty fresh despite our ordeal last night---
--Richard packing our tent--
--Again... it takes just a snap to dissamble the tent--
So while some of us packing up our tents, some ate their breakfast, and the kids mostly are playing together.
--the fathers proving their worth for coming Father's Day event, only fathers help their sons, mothers like me and Mary Ann just sit and watch--
Then some of our closes friends there decide that we still want to have more fun together so we meet again at the nearby McDonalds for extra breakfast together.
This camp out turn out to be such a terrific experience that most of us beginners start to think of doing it for real. Not in the backyard anymore, but out there in the Provincial Parks… and (I hope not) see some bears….
Like usual, if I have to do something new I always feel worried and so anxious. Even though the camp out location is only 2 minutes away from my home but I felt like I am going to camp out in the wilderness! So I better be super prepared!
Originally I want to sleep in my friends’ tent but after asking some people, I found that there are not enough tents to share around. Based on that right before we arrived in the school, we made a quick stop to a store to buy our first tent. We bought one that is the easiest to assemble. Basically, all Richard has to do was pull the top then with one click only the tent is assembled! Amazing huh? Then we put the rain cover on top. That was very easy too, all in all, it only took us about 10 minutes to read the manual and assemble the tent. That’s not bad for complete beginners like us. We are very glad to buy this tent!
1
And while we were busy setting up the tent, KK play with his classmates. Oh.. they had so much fun playing in the school playground for longer time than the usual.
2
Later we called KK to write down our names on the information paper outside the tent that the teacher placed.
3
After we finished set up the tent, we went to the nearby McDonald for our quick dinner then return back to the school because the camp out is about to start. By then most of the parents are also arrive already. They came first to set up the tent then leave for dinner too just like us.
4
For awhile everybody kind of going to every tent to say hello and to see how their tent look like. While the kids do more than that, they tried each other sleeping bags too! Kai Kai, James, Nicholas, and Matthew were like monkeys. They jump from one tent to another like monkeys high on sugar!
5
Exactly on 7 o’clock in the evening, the teachers started to round up the kids to sit on the patio stairs for their singing performance. KK and James were so excited, they keep yelling to call their friends to come faster. They remind me like soccer’s avid fans! Especially James with his face all painted up!
6
Not all of the kids share their enthusiastic like KK and James, so they kind of dragging their feet. The teachers told KK and James not to scream so loud and sit down. You can tell from KK’s face what he thought of that order…. Borringgggg
7
But finally all the kids are rounded up and they are ready to start their performance. That surely perk up KK a lot, you can tell right from this photo?
8
Let me tell you something first. All this time, for full 2 yrs when KK started to go school, not once he ever sing or dance on any school performances that they had. Every time I was invited to see him perform. All I see was a boy who absolutely refused to sing, just sat there and looks bored, and here I was all prepared to document his performance with my digital cameras, 3 extra batteries, 1 extra memory card, and Richard with his camcorder. But we pretty much recorded nothing, just a bored kid.
But today is different story. For the first time ever, KK sing and do the hands movements like his other friends! The sight was so amazing and so unexpected that I think my mouth just hang down open! I was so amaze that I did not even remember a word of the lyric. All I saw was my beautiful son finally sing!!!! You are lucky that I am still functional enough to take a few photos of him singing.
1
2
3
-- The teachers help the kids from sidelines. --
But when the kids kind of stop singing maybe for taking a breath first or something. I gave KK 2 thumbs up sign and he saw me that time. And he speak his mind out loud, real loud “ Hey I did a great job just now!”. Everybody kind of look at him and laugh and laugh… because they can see that KK is not faking it, he was truly surprise that he did such a great job singing and do the hands movements too. Like he couldn’t believe it that he just did that. Soooo funny!
4
After the performance, the 2 teachers lead the kids away from the camp side. They took them out on a stroll at the nearby woods area. They ran after their teachers while bringing their own flashlights.
--See KK running with his flashlight on his hand? --
While the kids are away, the parents stayed behind and we were told that we are about to give our children a surprise. First of all, we were divided into 7 groups. Then each leader of the group with take a draw to get the children story that their group is going to perform.
--Richard as the group 3 leader take the draw from Miss Linda --
I was in group 1 and Richard was in group 3. My group will perform “Hansel and Gretel”, a story about 2 little kids who wonder off in the forest then they saw a candy house that belong to a witch. Richard’s group will perform Pinocchio, and he would be the Pinocchio.
--busy preparing the plots or making the props using what we can find in this school room --
--My group are making the candy house with my candies drawing --
--The chidren arrived and they had no clue on what is going to happen --
Too bad that I don’t have any photo of my amazing performance as Gretel, no thanks to Richard who maybe absolutely stupefied to see his wife on stage! He did not take a picture or film at all! Sometimes that man makes me want to…. Arrrgggg!
But at least I am able to share some photos about other groups. Here they are:
--Goldilocks broke the baby bear's chair--
--Little Red Raiding Hood that looks scarier than the wolf, check out that guy's tatoo!--
--2 Spiders that scares Miss Muffet--
--A Cow that jump over the moon--
--Cinderella in puppets version--
--Richard is great talking to his little audiences about this interactive Pinocchio story--
--The narator also doubled as the witch and she made a very confincing witch with her amazing act and her beak nose. Everybody loves her performance. This is the story about Snow White. Look at how giant is the dwarfs, haha!--
And these are some of the children reaction photos. They never fail to cheer their own parents.
--Look at their faces, they loves this surprise by their parents--
--they are so captivated by the stories that they need to stand up to watch it--
--KK always sit with his gang of boys--
After the performance ended, the teachers gave us few minutes to play or talk and then we have to get ready to bed or sleeping bag in this case. Here are some activities photos before bedtime:
--KK and Nicholas chose to play again in James' tent --
--Richard and James' father, Vince chose to chat--
--I also chose to chat with Mary Ann, Vince's wife--
Then we went to the school room to brush our teeth, wash our faces and hands. Go back to the tent and change to our pajamas. But today has been such an exciting day and we could not sleep. We are not alone, I heard all sort of noises coming from other tents too. Next to us where Agregado family sleep, we can hear James and Nicholas still playing in the tent.
--Cuddling with KK in our tent--
--Ready to bed in our jammies--
--Nobody in the mood to sleep after such an exciting day--
--Horsing around in the tent--
I found out that it wasn’t easy to find the right position to sleep on the ground because they are so bumpy. So I kind of drape my body to fit in between that bumps. If I stay on that position I would be okay, but unfortunately, my allergy was acting up and my nose are absolutely blocked and that made me turn around a lot and each time I lost my best position! So pretty much I couldn’t sleep a wink all night long! I could hear 2 children were sneaking around our tent with their flashlight, but I did not know who they are. Then I heard Vince tried to keep James and Nicholas to sleep. KK at first also too hyper to sleep but soon he fell asleep and once he fell asleep, nothing can wake him up. We know this for sure. KK has slept through 3 earthquakes (6.8 Richter scale as the highest point), tropical thunderstorms back in Surabaya, 3 barking dogs before ( We used to have 3 golden retrievers ), numerous times when he is in the airplanes, my loud vacuum cleaners, his cousin step all over his head while he nap on the carpet. Richard fare slightly better than me since he did not have allergy attack. Over all I may be able to dose several times for a total time of 1 hour. But because the mood is so happy, I did not feel tired at all! I wasn’t alone too; most of the first timer camper like us experiences this too. But some old timers they can sleep through the night just like in their own comfortable home. To make it harder for beginners like us to sleep, it was raining all night long! But thanks to my “brand new-waterproof and has UV protection-easy to set up-tent” we are completely boned dry inside our tent. Not all of us are this lucky. Elsa and Hedy has to sleep in a damp tent because the rain just leak into their brand new but never been used tent.
--drinking coffees and eat some fresh fruits and muffins that has been prepared by the kids--
We were served by the teachers a nice breakfast of cut up fresh fruits and muffins that was prepared by the children themselves yesterday morning in school time. The kids made the muffins themselves bake them too! Cutting fruits are easy for them. Since they entered this school at the age of 3, the teachers taught them how to use a real knife to cut up fresh fruits, veggies, and cheese for school snack everyday. Everyday there is a “special helper” whose duty consists of : feed the fishes/hamster, then prepare the snacks for others, and check the weather outside and reported back to the teachers. We were also served coffee, juice, and milk.
--Packing out their tent back--
--Agregado family looks pretty fresh despite our ordeal last night---
--Richard packing our tent--
--Again... it takes just a snap to dissamble the tent--
So while some of us packing up our tents, some ate their breakfast, and the kids mostly are playing together.
--the fathers proving their worth for coming Father's Day event, only fathers help their sons, mothers like me and Mary Ann just sit and watch--
Then some of our closes friends there decide that we still want to have more fun together so we meet again at the nearby McDonalds for extra breakfast together.
This camp out turn out to be such a terrific experience that most of us beginners start to think of doing it for real. Not in the backyard anymore, but out there in the Provincial Parks… and (I hope not) see some bears….
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