Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Bummed Out


I had a disappointing day today. Earlier in the week I found this neat dock building company in Madison, WI that makes a unique product for use in wetland areas. It is essentially a floating walkway which in our case would allow us the walk through our wetland all the way out to the open water. It is an entirely modular system which we could have installed ourselves. I had a long talk with the "walkway consultant" describing our land and he sent me a bid this morning. $13,000!!!!! That's about what the wetland itself cost! Well, we are back to square one on this project. On the bright side, Ray says he's pretty sure he can build something similar from the discarded pallets behind our garage.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Camp Half-Blood

On Valentine's Day, we took the boys to see the highly anticipated movie, The Lightning Thief. The book of the same title is the first in a series of five books which took the pre-teen world by storm over the last few years. If you have someone aged 8-11 in your life, you are probably already quite familiar with the story. For those of you who don't, a quick synopsis. Our hero is Percy Jackson, son of the Greek god, Poseidon and a mortal mother. His true identity has been hidden from him throughout his childhood in order to protect him from various mythical monsters. After a vicious attack during a high school field trip, Percy discovers his true identity. He is then whisked off to Camp Half-Blood, a camp for teenage demi-gods. Here, they are kept safe from evil doers and learn the skills needed to protect themselves. During the scenes of Camp Half-Blood, the four of us started nudging each other, knowingly. There, on the big screen, was what we hope Camp Freedom will resemble some day. The kids were housed in large canvas tents with comfortable wooden cots draped in mosquito netting. The paths were flanked with torches and colorful banners hung from the trees. There was a huge bonfire and a pig roasting away on a nearby spit. The kids practiced sword fighting and archery. They climbed on large ropes and crossed difficult obstacle courses. Their day was capped off with a delicious fireside feast after a ferocious match of capture the flag. We all enjoyed the movie, but the scenes of the camp left the biggest impression in my mind. It feels good to be heading into the spring with a strong visual of what we all want Camp Freedom to be!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Do You Believe in Miracles?

I know this blog is supposed to be strictly about Camp Freedom, but I am going to make an exception today. We had a very exciting morning. The after school program that Guthrie plays hockey with was featured on the Today Show! The report was done by Tom Brokaw!

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Guthrie can be seen around minute 2:37. He is shown from the back wearing a blue coat and a brown hat. It's not everyday that your child is on network tv. In the spirit of full disclosure, I should admit that I love the Today show and watch it almost every morning, so the fact that he was on that particular show is especially thrilling to me. Thank you for humoring me and I promise to get back on message in my next post. I updated the blog this weekend and I hope you enjoy the new look.