camp nin, day 2

On the second day of Camp Nin, my true love gave to meeeeee . . . six happy campers eating bagels and muffins and fruit and apple juice for breakfast!

No, wait. 

Here's what happened: Pretty much it's rained all summer in Missouri, and the week of Camp Nin was no exception. So like all good farmers, I studied my weather app every 30 seconds and discovered that we'd have to rearrange our schedule a bit if we wanted an outing that didn't involve seven small umbrellas for seven soggy campers. 

The campers were quite obliging, and all of them donned their official Camp Nin shirts and some spunky bandanas for our outing to a Civil War cemetery and park nearby. 

Please note the matching shoes. Do these young ladies have impeccable taste or what?

In preparation for our adventure, all the kiddos made binoculars. Out of toilet paper rolls. Because isn't that what you do at camp?

Due to their appalling lack of lenses, the binoculars didn't focus so great, but I admit to being pretty impressed by one little camper's addition of fairy wings to her pair. I mean, you don't find binoculars with wings just anywhere, people. This is what makes Camp Nin unique. 

At the cemetery, we had a little lesson on the Civil War, talked about how Missouri's residents were divided, figured out which side fought for what and learned how the war ended. 

Then I tasked them with locating the oldest date on a grave stone that they could find and doing a crayon rubbing of it so they wouldn't forget the date. 

The kids spread out to read through names and look at dates and came to the conclusion that 1805 was as old as they could find . . . and that the name Flave was pretty sweet . . . and also old. 

We also paid a visit to Quantrill's grave (or one of them at least) so the kids could learn about his . . . shall we say . . . colorful past and be encouraged not to follow in his sordid footsteps.

Also . . . check out those rockin' binoculars!

All that walking and learning and crayon rubbing can wear a guy out, so we stopped for a sack lunch before going on a nature scavenger hunt. While no pictures exist of this event, if there was anything green, furry, rough, round or smelly in the park, the kids located it and tucked it away. 

Then it was back home for naps, reading and a little rest before craft time. The kids worked on tissue paper versions of the American flag, in keeping with our Civil War theme, although I probably should have had them make Confederate flags since those are apparently illegal to learn about or even look at anymore. 

The highlight of the day, shockingly, turned out to be chicken chores. Who knew that the bane of my childhood existence--chasing chickens back into the coop--is actually something kids these days consider fun and (gulp) enjoyable?

Also, feel free to let me know how awesome you think my hot-pink-shorts-and-work-boots-combo is. (Hey, my boots have pink camo on them. They match. I promise! Plus, I'm camp director. I do what I want.)

Next up . . . Camp Nin on the farm, day 3!