Primative Pursuits Pinecone

I forgot to tell you...

Back in July Wuggie went to a camp called Primative Pursuits, to learn how to make camp and be a scout in the woods. When he and his dad picked me up from work after the first day, Wuggie was silent and slumped in the back seat.

"How was it?" I asked with trepidation

"Awesome" he said without opening his eyes.

I am so glad he got a chance to be out in the "wilderness" with such a cool program. It could be a UU program; it is very value-centered, and the values are so deeply in line with my own! (Except I don't know anything cool about wilderness survival). Wuggie's been to nature camps before, but apparently what he needed was a chance to learn something real, to take it seriously and be taken seriously.

The rest of the summer has been spent at Coddington, a traditional day-camp experience with great counselors where campers mostly choose how they will spend their day (like summer used to be). This is his first year, and he likes it very much; he asked if he could go back next year. We were worried that he would be outside all day long (which is not where he usually spends his time I must confess), but it doesn't seem to bother him at all. He comes home covered in dirt most days, as a young camper should, but also seems to spend plenty of time trading Pokemon cards (I know he didn't learn that at Primative Pursuits...)

Half Time

Now that Wuggie Norple and I are both half-time (him at camp, me at work) we are having to make our own adventures.

Last week we completed the Summer Reading Club for the local library, Applebees and Barnes and Noble. Then yesterday we got a call explaining that Nick had won a prize in the library drawing! "Do you want to go now to pick it up?" I asked. He was out the door and on his bike before I even got my shoes on. He got his pick of books and chose a volume from the Jedi Apprentice Series.


Most importantly, we finally lived out a year-long dream of walking the Carl Sagan Planet Walk that runs from the Science Center all the way to the commons. We had Dad drive us to the science center, our backpack loaded with a variety of snacks suitable for travelers. The walk happily wanders by many of my favorite parks and streams and gardens, and has many benches and steps where we could sit and rest. It was like a mom's dream come true to be sitting on a park bench with Wuggie sharing a dish of blueberries between Neptune and Uranus. He even agreed to let me take his picture at each planet! We walked the whole way home, arriving weary and triumphant. It was a proud day.

Today we didn't have any special plans, and it was cold and rainy off and on. Poor Dog was out of biscuits, and moved by her plight, we made her some ourselves. (They are Cheese Biscuits in case your dog is feeling left out.) Wuggie Norple is getting to be quite a cook. Dog seems to agree.

The Lodge

It's done! Last week Wuggie's dad installed the slide and the climbing wall, and Wuggie Norple installed the sign that has his own name. Then they tricked it out with a pulley system and other cool gear. We held the grand opening with new friends on Friday night. I told Wuggie Norple that we had to come up with something funner than "the playstructure" to call it. He said "how about 'The Lodge.'"