Blogging in a river

I'm sitting in a river at camp. On a rock, actually, but with water rushing all around me. Dipping my toes in when I feel warm, but then pulling them out when they get chilled, which is fast. This water is still cold. 

The fifth graders are journaling so I figured I could too: on my blog using my phone app. 

This morning I struggled out of bed at 7.30. It was a late night, I crashed at 11.30 but I believe many were up much later than that, and earlier. All I know is that when I made a toilet run at 4.20 everyone was quiet, but the sun started coming up and many were awake by 5 and making noise. 

At 8 we began implementing an ambitious plan: that all the students and adults would cook their own breakfast using wood they could find, matches, and a cut-up upside-down juice tin. It took about two hours with varying success. The chief difficulty was how small the fire was. If you built it up and then just cooked, it didn't last long. It required constant attention. Really a group task. Someone on fire duty, someone gathering wood, someone cooking, and someone eating. With all the someone's rotating so all got to eat. 

All our camping experience helped my son and he was an excellent fire maker but unfortunately the group wasn't great at working together. They had two fires going but my son didn't get to eat as much as he would have liked. 

Now we're at the river and it is great to not just look at it but sit "in" it. Though I have to say my back isn't liking the experience as much as I'd prefer. 

Soon we'll go back to the campsite for lunch and then drive home again. It's been a fun couple of days, I'm glad I came. It's the last primary/elementary school camp I get to go on as a parent. Next month "I" graduate to only having middle and high school boys! Wow.