Pickney Gone…

May 21, 2007 /

Maya’s gone to Science Camp for the week…or, truthfully, she will have gone in a few hours, right now she’s still asleep in bed.  But once I take her to school today, she’s off for a week of hiking in the woods, exploring tidepools, looking at different biomes and ecosystems…fun fun fun.  I don’t know if most states/areas do Science Camp, but I gotta say, it was the BEST week of my whole elementary school education.  It was the first time I was away from family for that long, which is a pretty liberating feeling.  No homework or regular school stuff to do, which is also awesome.  Nature, hanging out with my best friend, all excellent fun stuff.  Here’s the highlights of what I remember from Science Camp. 

  • Campfire songs, including “The Cat Came Back”, which was SO fun to sing at that age.
  • One day, we were told to close our eyes, take hands with our neighbors, and we hiked into the woods…when we opened our eyes, we were in the middle of what looked like a fairy grove.  The trees were completely different than the rest of the forrest around us.  They were smaller and shaped differently and colored differently, and they were beautiful and mysterious.  This was almost 30 years ago, though, so I really don’t remember WHAT it was about them that was so mysterious, or what kind of trees they might have been.
  • Pebble Beach…OK, it probably wasn’t THE Pebble Beach or anything, since I don’t even know where the heck that is, but it was a beach, down at the ocean, made of timy pebbles instead of sand.  Boy, was that cool.
  • Milk.  This is dumb, but I remember being SO excited by being able to drink all of the milk that I wanted all week.  We were far from wealthy at the time, and my mom used to buy us a gallon of milk a week, and that was it.  I loved to drink milk, and could have easily drank a whole gallon every week.  Alas, I had a brother who wanted his share of milk as well, so I had to curb my appetite for that.  Not at Science Camp.  I wonder if the people working there thought I was insane?
  • Sequoia Trees…or maybe Giant Redwoods…I’m not sure.  Trees like the one in the picture, above.  I remember seeing a 2000 year old tree, a tree that was born around the same time as Jesus.  THAT’S cool stuff to get your head around.

I’m not sure what Maya’s memories of Science Camp will be…I hope she has an amazing time, and that she brings back memories that will last her a lifetime, and that she doesn’t sit in any poison oak.  Our house will be quiet and kinda lonely without her.

12 Comments

  • Beenzzz

    May 21, 2007 at 6:40 am

    I hope she has a good time at science camp. She’s going to have the time of her life. I think this kind of stuff is harder on the parents who are at home and miss their pickney. 🙂

  • Py Korry

    May 21, 2007 at 8:03 am

    It will be weird not to have her around for a full week –well, 5 days. But who’s counting!

    And yes…real milk! We had the powder crap for years when we were growing up. So, having an endless glass of real milk must have been heaven. 🙂

  • Gina

    May 21, 2007 at 9:26 am

    My sister is a teacher who takes her 5th graders to Science Camp every year. I don’t think she looks forward to it quite as much as the kids, though!

    Try to enjoy the temporary child-free environment! Go around cussing or watch R rated movies the whole time. 😉

  • CG

    May 21, 2007 at 9:54 am

    How many times I have to say sorry PY for the powder mik. One good thing came out of it, you have perfect teeth PY. Hahaha

  • Maya's Granny

    May 21, 2007 at 10:40 am

    J, I wish I could have bought you all the milk you could have wanted. I’m glad that there were places, like science camp and your grandparents’ house, where it was plentiful.

    I know you came back from science camp so jazzed.

  • Chrissy

    May 21, 2007 at 5:30 pm

    Ohhhhh…I remember my camp days. Maya’s going to have a blast 🙂 What a neat experience it is for any child! BTW, that is a gorgeous photo!!!

  • ally bean

    May 21, 2007 at 5:45 pm

    There was no science camp in my school system back in the dark ages. In fact, we never went on any field trips at all. It was against school policy for kids to leave the school yard, so we stayed at the school building all the time.

    Your way sounds much better to me. Hope Maya is having lots of fun.

  • Susan in Italy

    May 22, 2007 at 4:50 am

    What a great way to introduce the idea that science is fun! I never had that type of science education and had little interest in it in general. Oh well…