Fifth Grade Party at Camp Harlow

In 2010, when Brayden was a fifth grader, I volunteered to take pictures for their Camp Harlow party.  It was the perfect way to keep myself occupied and really absorb all of the fun that was taking place out there.  Not to mention, if we own such a quality camera, we darn well ought to be using it as much as we can to bless others.  

So, it was a no-brainer to volunteer for the same role again this year.  A couple of differences though.  This time, the temperature reached 85 degrees vs. the low 60's Brayden's crew had.  Sunshine replaced the early morning low clouds.  We actually thought that Brayden's year had it pretty good compared to the rain they'd had that week, but it literally paled in comparison to the 2013 version.  

Mikayla got to be the first kid at Camp, as I checked her in with her teacher and scooted on over, to scout pic opportunities.

Within a half hour, folks started pouring in - including three of the four VERY QUALITY fifth grade teachers.  Mr. Gulka, Mrs. Baechtel (Mikayla's), and Mrs. Belnap.

Jonna and sweet Annika-

The person who take care of food went all out.  There was SO MUCH of it, mostly donated.  

One of the first activities open was the "Photo Booth". 

I tried to avoid following around just Mikayla and "her posse" - but, obviously, in this blog, those are the pics you will see.

Again, the weather....maybe the best year ever in the history of celebrating the fifth graders out at Harlow.  GLORIOUS!!!

Love this pic!

At 9:30, the Go-Karts were opened.  Mikayla's finally tall enough to drive!  However, she conceded her spot to her friend, Meg.  (She'll have more opportunities when she goes to camp).

And, then, on to zipline.  It was a very long line - with a long wait.  I spent a big chunk of time on the hillside in the shade snapping a series of 4 or 5 photos per zipliner, and then waiting about 2 minutes before the next one could go.

While I was waiting, I saw something red swoop by.  In Oregon, we have very few birds that have any red on them, so it definitely caught my eye.  I zoomed in to check the bird out and realized it was a woodpecker.  I was so delighted.  Ever since taking an Animal Behavior class in high school where we had to memorize about 40 different bird species, I get kind of giddy-nerdy with my ability to identify some of the "rarer" species.  This guy is a male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  =)

Because I was still doing photography at the Zipline, I missed Mikayla's time in the pool.

And, their time consuming all of this Papa's Pizza (the best around) - not to mention OLIVE GARDEN breadsticks.  (It's like Deanna purposely picked all of the foods that would lure me most).  They also had Dairy Queen donate sundaes for all of the 100+ kids. 

Off to Bumper Boats.  As you can see, I couldn't stop snapping pics.  This was only about half of the total pics I took.

Isn't that the look of total childhood joy?

My gosh, I love this girl.

Back to more pics at the pool (specifically mid-air diving pics).  This is Mr. Gulka.

Back to the Zipline.

By 2:00, the kids were wiped out, but still full of smiles.  What an incredible day!!!

All in all, I took 848 pics.  The slide show I made was 25 minutes long.  It made for some fun viewing for the kids during the next day and a half of classes with technically 6th graders still contained in 5th grade classrooms.  =)