Camp Gilmont or Bust!

One of the neatest things that Hudson PEP does is give the 5th graders a few days (and nights!) at an outdoor school, Camp Gilmont.

Camp Gilmont is in Gilmer and the kids head there on a Tuesday morning and come home Friday afternoon. They spend the week doing outdoor learning.  They did Aquatic Biology where they waded into a lake with a net to catch bugs and such to study.  They had Forestry where they measured an area in the woods and, in their group, they measured trees, found out types of trees, saw what kinds of animals/bugs lived in the area, etc.  They hiked and hiked and hiked.  In their down time, they were taught string tricks and whittling.  It was just a wonderful week for Russ.

Here he is writing out his packing list.  I helped him look over the list after he wrote it and he packed himself from the list.

I sent three envelopes that were stamped and addressed, with a sheet of paper folded inside.  He got the hint and I got three letters!  He said he teared up the first night that he wrote us because he was missing us.  So sweet.

It's such a great experience for the students and comes at a perfect age.  5th grade is a good time for us parents to start letting go of a lot of the control that we've held for the last 10 years.  I prayed for him to make good decisions in his free time conversations, to be a good friend, to listen to and obey his instructors, to do everything with a good attitude as unto the Lord and to just have a great time making new memories with his classmates.

When he got home, Slade was out of town so my mom took Randall and Judson while Russ and I went out for a catch up dinner.  And, boy, did we catch up!  He talked and talked and talked!  I loved it!  He shared everything he could think of.  He had such a great time and it was such a good experience.

One of the things he was worried about was whether he would like the food or not.  He's a little foodie.  He was pleasantly surprised to discover that he liked pretty much everything they served.  And I liked that it was homemade and healthy.

Russell is growing up too quickly.  It's so true that the days go slowly but the years fly by.  I'm so proud of the young man he is becoming.