Winter Camp Highlights

Bones Heal, Awesome is Forever.

Mariposa Kids started out 2013 with a bang and then a sniffle and then a break.  Over the years you begin to see trends in kids energies, maybe in adults too, but the week following winter vacation has never been dull.
We had our fair share of illnesses, and I suspect that will continue on into this week. We are going to be making sure everyone is washing their hands. Some illness was more back to school related than actual bugs- vacation can be a hard thing to say goodbye to and this makes everyone act a little odd.

A big thing that I noticed is that something has happened to all of our fifth graders... all of them. Where once you saw children you now see...older children, almost young adults, all with a little different attitude. The classic  “big fish, little pond” scenario has set in. It’s exciting, a tad heartbreaking, and sometimes a little bit scary.

Our job, as I see it, is to harness that excited energy and try and understand them all the way through these next few months. Over the last week the fifth graders have been put in the position of becoming leaders and all have done exceedingly well. On Thursday we all did a big work-out together and then broke into groups and played different games. The fifth graders were in charge of their groups and did a lot of one on one teaching with the younger kids. Mira was one of our youngsters who I remember was pretty stoked to have learned how to play four-square from Myckel and Natasha. The fifth graders have had great examples set for them by some our middle school friends who have been joining in, helping out with homework, organizing games and being just totally awesome.  

To conclude our first week of 2013 we had what I hope to be our only major injury of the year- a broken arm.  The monkey bars claimed yet another victim, this time it was the brave Gabriel and his left arm. He is getting a full cast today and I hope we all get to sign it. We wish him a speedy recovery, but welcome him to a club of bone crunching greatness. As my friend Squirrel says, “broken bones heal, but awesome is forever.”  I didn't see Gabriel's monkey bar maneuver but I imagine it was grand  ;)

Mariposa Fall 2012 in photos