Acquara Independent School

Soooo, we did Oral Hull Family Camp again. As parents who “work” the camp, we have a different parallel experience than the kids almost. I’ll keep this post about the kids’ activities.

Getting there was much easier this year. We took the train to Gresham and then were picked up at the train station by someone who knew how to drive. They bought two car seats last year, one was a booster and one was a five-point forward facing. I had heard that they took back the booster. By law, Avery still needs the five-point harness, but they bought the booster. I decided to let it slide. He could go up to the booster when he is 4 years old and 40 pounds, and now he is 3 1/2 years old and about 37 pounds, so as a safety thing, it isn’t that far off, but it is just funny because I specifically asked for the five-point harness. Technically, Aaron and Naim are not 60 pounds and 4’9″ yet, either…and they had no car seats at all. but we got there in one piece. (It was a bigger deal last year because our driver was completely incompetent and I WORRIED about an accident much more. I heard that she has lost her license and got fired.)

So, activities, (most of these refer to A and N only.) :

• They did a building thing out of marshmallows and pasta.
• They joined in a campfire sing-a-long
• They went fishing and Naim caught a fish.
• They went tandem bike riding. (Aaron rode a tricycle.)
• They did a craft project out of clay, and did some kind of peanut butter activity (Naim was covered in it).
• They went swimming.
• They rode a hayride.
• They played in the game room (air hockey, foosball, etc.)
• They watched a video description movie outside and had popcorn and floats.
• They finished their clay projects and I think played beep ball or frisbee.
• They participated in a “challenge course” under sleepshades.
• Aaron and Avery stayed behind while Naim went with the grown-ups and did a sleepshade O and M course. Nik, Jim and I were the leaders of this and he was in my group. He did very well as did my whole group, but another woman in Jim’s group had a complete meltdown. So we had a M and M session afterwards that Naim participated in. I am not going to write about it here, but lets just say there was a lot of whining and bitching, and Naim held his own well and really put some of those parents to shame.
• They danced at a PJ Sock Hop where Aaron wore his pajamas over his clothes.
• They went on a short hike to a waterfall.
• They played at a playground.
• They rode on little ponies.
• They did archery.
• They participated in a presentation about planets and the solar system using scale models.
• They made their own pizzas and sundaes.

They also swang a lot and hung out with our friend, Jim, a lot and basically ran around the camp and had a lot of freedom. Naim likes the freedom best. Although Nik and I still have some (a lot) of issues with Oral Hull, when you look at it from a kids perspective, they really do a wonderful job with programming. The kids did a ton and had a lot of fun. The staff really treats them well and is very nice. It is a safe, comfortable place for them to hang out. I am always ready to go home but they are very sad to leave.

Avery did some of the activities above but he fought fatigue and maybe anxiety. He walked around A LOT. But did not participate in a lot of the activities much. He always wanted to go home or go back to his room and rest. We spent a lot of time babysitting him while he slept. He did participate in the pony rides. At first he did not want to, but then he said, “I want to ride the cart.” (one pony had a little cart behind it.) When we were riding the cart, he asked the lady who was with the pony to drive him home, it was pretty funny.

Filed under: Aaron, ADLs, Art, Avery, Class/Camp, Communication, Drama, Industrial and Technical, Music, Naim, Physical Education, Science, Social Skills, Social Studies, Spirituality | Tagged: Oral Hull |