charlie and the moon.

 I began this post about two weeks ago. I apologize for taking so long to write it, and I apologize that it's so long in general. Perhaps you can read this this week, instead of the Sunday paper... 


Newsflash: I am proving to be VERY BAD at this.
Know that I HATE that. I love writing, and I hate that I don't have time to keep up-to-date on my posts. I hate that I haven't found time to sit down and tell you guys all of the wonderful stories I am living each day. (I also hate that I begin each blog post with an apology about how I never blog. Sorry...)

Here's the deal: I want to tell you that I'm going to try harder to blog more. But I say that every time, and at this point, those are probably just empty words, because, let's be honest, I haven't been doing a terrific job. So, I will continue to do the best I can, and do my best to make more time to capture these days.

With that being said, I have A LOT to catch up on. It's been over two months since my last post, but unfortunately I don't have the time or energy to give you all the dirty deets on this winter. SO, I'll break it down: 13 things to kick off 2013. (Do I win an award for cheesiness on that one or what? Give it to me, I'll take it.) Words and pictures from the last few months -- ready? Go.

1. Houston, We Have Lift-Off!
At the end of November, we got our summer assignments for 2013. I was asked to serve on the team, with 5 other Fellows, that will be in charge of a program known as Dallas Launch Camp. You have no idea what it is, but it already sounds awesome, right?! Right. I'm pumped. Let me elaborate --

Launch Camp is designed for kiddos that are not yet ready to come to overnight camp, either because they are too young or because they aren't ready to spend a week away from home without mom and dad (...or mom and dad aren't ready to give them up for a week). It's a day camp program that we run at various locations in Dallas each week during the summer, and it is designed to introduce them (and their families) to Sky Ranch and the camp experience so that they will be ready for overnight camp in coming summers. It's purpose, if you will, is to LAUNCH campers into overnight camp. Launch Camp - awesome, right? Yes.

So basically, we were given a budget and told that this camp is ours to create. We are in charge of everything from designing activities and programming, to writing and implementing Bible study curriculum, to marketing, to helping hire staff, to designing merchandise for sale. It's ours to dream up and make happen, which is a crazy awesome opportunity to be handed.

I am beyond excited about this program and the people I get to work with. I am honored and humbled to be trusted with such a ministry and opportunity to reach kids and families. I can't wait to see how the Lord actualizes His plans through us over the next few months!

The Launch Camp crew enjoys and outing to In-N-Out Burger.

School Programs Staff: People trust us with their kids.

 3.  Recruiting: "Love Jesus? Love kids? Need a job? Come work at camp."

 As I mentioned, we've had some opportunities to begin recruiting our staff for Launch camp. Last semester, we spent a day at DBU hanging out with college kids and talking to them about camp. We set up some camp games and went around to different common areas to speak with students. It was fun to get off camp and go meet new people! We had some pretty interesting conversations, and we found some good staff for the summer!

We love field trips!

4. Conference Room Fever
When we haven't been off camp recruiting and marketing, the six of us have been spending days on end in the conference room planning for camp. We've been working on summer themes, curriculum, budgets, activities, and supplies. There have been great days as well as very frustrating ones, but it's been neat to see us learn to work together and come together as a group. Everyone has specific strengths to bring to the table, and it's so fun to be given a blank canvas to fill and create together.

Through these days and this experience, I am learning a TON about how to work well with a team professionally to reach a goal and about what is needed to run a camp well. There are so many aspects of camp that I never even thought about, and it's so cool to be in on the process of summer camp from the ground up. (I love my job.) I am also learning lots of new ideas about games, activities, and how to think about things from a programming/director side of it as opposed to the way I thought about and approached camp when I was just a counselor. Being a part of this team has also made me very thankful for my experience on the officer board with Longhorn Singers. I feel like I learned a lot of valuable things through that - about leadership, working together, communication, and organization - that I am able to bring to the table now. Cool, huh?

While it's been great to have time to plan and brainstorm for the summer, we have experienced some slight cabin-fever. When you work at camp, it's hard to stay in one room all day long -- our brains and our focus wander elsewhere. With six of us in one room, I'm sure you can only imagine all of the daily antics we get ourselves in to...

Question: "Jake, is that your breakfast?" Answer: "Yep," and bangs head on table.

Don't worry, we make it outside for plenty of breaks! 

This picture is definitely worth a thousand words...

5. Spring Fall Cleaning
Another big project we had to tackle was our storage shed. This is a space that is shared between Summer Camp and Launch Camp and was left pretty messy after last summer. One of the first things we wanted to do as a team was go through all of our supplies from storage and make an inventory of what we already have, so that we can adequately plan activities and supply lists. This ended up being about a three-day project.

We pulled all of our boxes and crates out and went through each one. We threw away things that needed to be trashed and re-organized/consolidated materials we wanted to keep. We also set up a system to number our shelves so that boxes can be found and accessed easily. We then numbered each box and, with the help of an iPad, cataloged each box, its contents, and its location in the shed. (Aren't you proud, Mom?)

First we made a mess...

...then we cleaned it up!

And we found these cool sunglasses in the process!

Meanwhile, Jake is busy playing with the little green army men...

6.  Once Upon a December
I know this is technically supposed to be my camp blog, but I couldn't resist taking just a moment to touch on some other things that happened in December outside the Sky Ranch world. Here are a few gems from December 2012:







7. Adventures at Ute Trail
As soon as we got back from Christmas, the Fellows loaded up the vans and headed up to our camp at Ute Trail (in Colorado) for a week. We went to work an annual retreat for our Summer Staff that happens every year around New Years.

To be honest, the 16-hour drive to and from was a little rough, but it was well worth it! It is beyond beautiful up there. It was so fun to go experience winter in a place where winter actually exists, and to experience the beauty of Creation in a way that isn't possible here.

I hate to admit this, but at first I wasn't SUPER excited about going, for various reasons. Once we arrived, though, it turned out to be a perfect way to start the new year. It was such a neat time to build up community with each other as fellows, as well as the rest of our full-time summer camp team and college summer staff.

We were there to work the retreat, so I spent plenty of time cooking meals and doing dishes, which was actually really fun! It was a super low-key week, so we really didn't have to do that much as far as work and running the retreat. Most days were spent hanging out with summer staff and playing one of about a million different board games in the lodge. It was wonderful.

We also had more than lots of free time to hang out and explore on our own. I spent several hours each day on a couch by the fire catching up on reading and journaling -- talk about perfect. I finally had a chance to dig in to a book my dad gave me, "The Indwelling Life of Christ," which, by the way, I am loving so far. I have had very few moments since I began the Fellowship where life slows down long enough for me to truly sit still, in a quiet place, and spend a significant amount of time with the Lord. It was so refreshing to find multiple opportunities for this during my week in the mountains, and it allowed me to refocus my perspective and my heart as I began this new year. If you haven't done that in a while -- sat still and quiet in the presence of the Lord -- I implore you to do so, sooner rather than later. It is amazing how much we, as humans, get caught up in ourselves each day (I'll talk more about that in a bit). Take a step back, and allow Him to refocus you on the things that are truly important.

Ice on the INSIDE of the window of our vehicle on the drive up. Yes, our heater was broken. No, it wasn't so fun.

Ashley, Anissa, and I trying on hat at the merchandise table.

Whitney and I enjoying the view.

Standing on a frozen lake! (Mom and Dad weren't too happy when I sent them this one...)

8. Inflatables
I am now a black-belt in the art of Inflatables. Yes, inflatables, as in bounce-houses, obstacle courses, etc. We own several in our inventory for Launch Camp, and we've set them up several times this month for various reasons.

Inflatables are a challenge. Each one weighs anywhere from 200-800 pounds, depending on what it is, and each one demands to be wrestled with and conquered before it will allow you to inflate it properly. Our team has suffered many frustrating afternoons due to this fact. We've wrestled inflatables in and out of the trailer, on and off the dolly, and we've spent a good amount of time trying to figure out the best way to roll each one up for storage and movement purposes. If any job at camp is going to give me strong muscles by the time this is all over, it will be dealing with the inflatables. A successful day's work with these guys makes me feel like I've accomplished something!

Of course, sometimes you just have to accept defeat.

Fellows with Sky Ranch CEO, Linda Paulk

10: All Staff Retreat
Last week, everyone left camp for a day and enjoyed time at Alloso Ranch for our all-staff retreat. Since this is my first year working full-time at Sky, I haven't been a part of one of these before. This was another really cool day that I'm thankful I got to be a part of. We spent time worshiping together and being thankful for what the Lord has done, and we also spent time in prayer about the future. We got to be a part of brainstorming new ideas and ways to improve camp over the next few years, and we got to hear about the things they've been thinking about and planning at the executive level. I loved the fact that they got all of us involved and gave us opportunities to throw our ideas out on the table. It was great to be a part of that and to see what that looks like in a professional setting. It was also a great day of fellowship with the rest of the staff!

Thursday night, Jake and I made history. Sort of.

We did a campfire for a school, which is a night event that consists of a combination of skits we perform and skits the kids perform for each other. We've both worked several of these by now, but it was our first time to do one together and our first time to do one with someone who is not a "vet staff." I think we were both super excited to finally get to do a campfire with a fellow Fellow, and "exciting" is definitely one word to describe it.

We were supposed to meet our school at 7:45 to walk them out to Campfire. Before that, we were supposed to go out to our campfire site so that we could build the fire and get everything ready. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we didn't get out to our site until 7:35. Begin scene: two Fellows at a campfire site in the middle of the woods, at least a 5-minute walk from where they need to be in 10 minutes, and no campfire to speak of. Let the games begin.

About two seconds after we start trying to build the fire, we look at each other and share a moment of panic/laughter as we realize that neither of us has ever actually built a campfire before. Sink or swim, it's game time. We start by building a base with three logs, then pile some paper, leaves, twigs and other kindling on top of that. I've seen others do this to start their campfires, so it seemed like a logical plan.

While Jake is trying to start the fire, I decide to call for backup on the radio. I called Phil, who was on security this week, which means he was up late going through the checklist and shutting things down on camp.


Problem #1, solved. Phil is getting our kids, so we now have time to build our fire. Problem #2, this fire is refusing to be built. 10 minutes later, we're still trying, and failing, to get this thing to light. We've tried everything. Kindling, cedar bark/leaves, pine cones, paper, and dryer lint. Nothing will hold. We had a few flames start, but nothing lasting.

7:55, and Phil is stalling for us. Still no fire, and the situation is getting more and more ridiculous. And you're all thinking, "Hales, why didn't you soak that trash with some lighter fluid or something?" Well, friend, here in Outdoor Education we like our campfires to be legit and all-natural, so we usually don't use any type of accelerant unless we absolutely have to. So now you're thinking, "I'm pretty sure this would have been one of those times." And yes, you're right, it certainly would have been. However, remember that part about how we were out in the middle of the woods? Yeah, we definitely didn't have any lighter fluid out in the middle of the woods, and we for sure didn't have time to go get any. We were stuck, and about a hundred 5th graders were on their way to a big disappointment. 

Next: a series of fortunate events.

As we frantically try for the millionth time to create fire, I plead, "Lord, we need a miracle." And apparently, He was like, "Alright, here ya go." Not 30 seconds after I spoke those words, we get another flame to light. We start piling more sticks and leaves on top, and I am blowing air on it from every angle trying to fan the flames. We were in full-on "emergency mode," talking to each other in those voices that paramedics use when working to backboard someone quickly or keep a patient from flat-lining before they reach the hospital. We are doing everything in our power to keep this thing alive, and I'm quite sure we looked absolutely ridiculous while doing it. At one point, I remember literally lying in the dirt trying to blow air on the flames from underneath the wood. We're reaching over and around each other at awkward angles for supplies, we're running around trying to get more materials to feed it, and I'm pretty sure we both got burned a few times due to the intricate placement and re-placement of various sticks and logs.

After about 3 minutes of this, our fire is actually starting to look like a fire. The flames are still alive, and every time I blow on them, they get huge and make an awesome noise. (I feel like I understand fire-breathing dragons a lot better after this experience.) We start to add actual firewood, and end up building an awesome pyramid-type-thing. We celebrated with numerous high-fives and cheers, and twenty-five-ish minutes after we first began our project, we have a campfire. We're talking, actual legit, bona-fide, "come-make-yourself-a-s'more" campfire.   Hold your applause, ladies and gentlemen, it's all for the kids.


We spent the next few moments admiring our work, taking pictures, and discussing how cool it was that we actually created a fire. I mean, how awesome is it that you can make something as epic as our pyramid-campfire out of nothing but a lighter and some wood? (If you've never done it, I highly recommend you try it, because you will feel SO LEGIT afterward.) That conversation led to "if we are this excited about a simple fire we just created, how much more excited is God about the fact that He created us?" How cool it is that the Lord can show Himself to us in simple silly moments like these.

We see the herd of flashlights approaching from the trail, and we're ready for Campfire. We built it, and here they came. As the kids are getting seated, I excitedly find Phil and show off our work. "Phil! Look at that AWESOME FIRE!" He was duly impressed with our work.

After the victory of successfully building our first campfire, we were on a roll. All of our skits went as planned, and we made the kids and their teachers laugh -- a lot. (We laughed a lot too, it was so fun!) The kids skits this week were actually pretty good as well, which is usually a hit-or-miss thing, depending on the school. One group brought out speakers and did a huge dance party/competition thing, which was awesome! I think campfires are one of my favorite parts of this job. I love getting to be silly and goofy with the kids, and I love getting to be part of such a fun camp tradition and experience for them.

Jake and I totally rocked it, and we knew it. The kids were sad to leave, and we were slightly bummed to have to put out our fire at the end of the night. We both just stood there with the bucket of water, reluctant to kill our creation. As he poured the water over the flames, I said the only thing that seemed appropriate, "I now declare this meeting of the Midnight Society closed." (Yes, that is an "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" reference, for those of you keeping track at home.)

The next day, all of the teachers were scheduled to meet with the heads of the OE department to give feedback on their experience at Sky. This particular school has been coming out to camp for about 7 years, I think, and they told leadership that our campfire was the best one they had ever had here. BOOM, nailed it. End scene: best campfire EVER.


Here's your bonus "Camper Quote of the Week:"
During one of our skits, Jake came out from behind the trees wearing a huge cowboy hat. I'm waiting "off stage" for my cue to enter, and I hear a kid in the audience say to his friends, "Look guys, it's the ghost of Big Tex!" ...I love my job.

It's Fall in Hideaway! Our jackets and rain boots line up by our front door, but we've only needed them about twice so far. The weather is still trying to decide what to do, but we are hopeful that temperatures will cool down and stay that way sometime soon. It's been a month since my last blog, and for that, I apologize. My October free time has been filled with trips to Austin and Dallas, football games, and catching up with friends. I have many pictures from these adventures, most of which I have uploaded to my shutterfly page, so check them out if you're interested. :) (I haven't uploaded anything from OU Weekend yet, but that's coming, so hang tight.)

Camp is busy, as always, and we are knee-deep in excited, energetic 5th graders. We are well into the season, and it is nice to finally have somewhat of a routine in place. I've taught enough now that I'm comfortable with the classes and curriculum, so I'm able to throw in my personality and have fun with it. I love teaching, and it is so fun to teach in this type of environment. I love getting to watch the kids "get it," and being able to make the material real to them in a way that isn't possible in their classrooms at school.

Most of the curriculum is the same as when I taught 5th grade in Austin during the 2010-2011 school year. For this, I am thankful, because I already have experience teaching it and am confident in my ability to do so. It is really cool to watch how differently the students respond to that material here as opposed to how my students in East Austin did. I honestly think it is because they are able to get out of their classroom for a few days and experience things in a new and different way. I wish my kiddos from Austin would have had the opportunity to attend an Outdoor Education program such as this.

In Austin, I worked with lower SES (socioeconomic status) students in one of the smaller public schools. Here, I work with public school and private school students from all areas of DFW and East Texas.  It has been interesting to have the opportunity to work with different types of students here than the ones I did before. I am learning a lot, and I feel like I am growing professionally as a teacher and personally as well.

I thought it might be cool to clue you in on some of the classes we teach the kiddos, so I'm going to try to do some highlights of each class over the next few weeks. No promises, but I'll do my best. :) Last week I had an opportunity to take pictures of some of our animals in the Nature Center here on camp, which is a "classroom" we use in a class called Expeditions.

Expeditions 
Expeditions is one of our most popular classes. Like all of the classes we offer, this is a three hour class. We have six sections, so that works out to about half an hour per section. The class is set up so that three of the sections are taught outside around camp, and three of the sections are taught inside our nature center.

Outside, we teach a section called "Ecological Succession," where we talk about how humans impacted this area to build Sky Ranch, and how the environment would rebuild itself if we left camp tomorrow and didn't come back. I usually talk to my students about the wildfires in Bastrop a few summers back, and I tell them about how the forests there are beginning to regrow themselves and rebuild that environment. Ecological Succession: the environment having success over what has happened to it. Write it down, there will be a test on this later. 

From there, we move on to a section called "Skulls." Here we show the students several different animal skulls and we discuss features of each. We spend a lot of time on structure and function, and we talk about how to tell if an animal is a predator or prey and whether it is a herbivore, carnivore or omnivore. They then get to look at skulls and make inferences (I always talk to them about what that means -- working on building an academic vocabulary!) about different animals based on what they observe. This part involves a real alligator skull, which is pretty legit if I do say so myself. No, I don't have pictures of that currently, but I'll work on it for you.

After Skulls, we head to a section about Decomposition and the Carbon Cycle. Students observe different samples of tree branches and leaves that are in the process of breaking down. We talk about decomposers and how they break things down over time. We discuss the difference between biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) material, and why these things break down differently. We go through the carbon dioxide/oxygen cycle, which is usually confusing for them, but it's really cool to see the light bulbs start turning on as we continue to go over it.

After we finish all of the outside sections, we move into the Nature Center. Here there are three different rooms - reptiles, mammals, and arthropods -- with lots of animals in each. Take a look!