Eagle Bluff Observation #2

As promised, back in Our Eagle Bluff Adventure - I wanted to note a couple of observations I made over the weekend.

Before you get started, I want you to know that I have written this post over and over, and for some reason cannot get it to convey the message the way I want it to. This is the closest I have come.

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Like their father that came before them, my boys are not part of the "popular" crowd. My boys would more likely be categorized in the "geeks & freaks" group. I am ok with this, because (like I said) I too was a "geek and / or freak". The label has negative connotations to it, but in reality, they are just words. As an adult, I wear that label as a badge of honor! Being a bit geeky and a little freaky has gotten me to where I am today. I am happy and healthy. I have a strong faith. I am married to a beautiful woman (both inside and out) who loves me for who I am. I have a loving family, wonderful children, and a successful career. What more could a geek ask for??

Having grown up a "Geeky-Freak", it goes without saying that I was subject to a tad bit of ridicule from the "popular" kids. (Some of the names that were used in "ridicule" later became nicknames that actually ENJOYED having (behind their backs), and I still use to this day!) Name calling and teasing were part of my life. With my boys being in sixth and fifth grades, it is inevitable... and, so now I hear stories about the teasing my boys get from the "popular" kids from time to time.

Case in point. There is one particular "popular" boy that is very athletic. He is very active, and involved in all sports. He is also very talented in that area. This young man is "larger than life", talks a big talk, and is known for putting other kids down when they don't make the "perfect" play, or score for the team as often as he does. He is very critical of others who do not meet his "expectations".

This fella is not a bad kid; he just does not yet understand how his actions come across, and how others perceive him. He is the "top dog" in the school, and considered by many as the "most popular" in the class. Many of the boys strive to be just like him, others strive to avoid him. He is not what I would call a "bully" - just quick to notice (and point out) other's "shortcomings", while not acknowledging his own.

While at Eagle Bluff, this young man was boasting how he could not wait to get to the Tree Tops Ropes Course. Once we arrived and checked out the course from the ground, this young man was boastfully talking about going backwards across the course, faster and better than anyone else.

When the time came for his turn, he quickly donned the required safety gear and made his way to the entrance. He climbed to the first tier, and then slowed as made his way up to the second tier. By this time, he was 30-35 feet off the ground - and was TERRIFIED! No amount of coaching, encouraging and supportive talk could get him to go any further. He sat on the 2nd of the 7 tiers crying while the rest of the class passed him. When all the other kids had all gone by, he finally gave up and made his way back down the course (in front of his whole class).

I bring this up, NOT to point out this young fella's shortcoming, or to rub salt in an otherwise embarrassing wound... (Because, not only did he not go across the course, but I did not get on the course, and #3 of 5 only made it to the first tier before having to sit while the remainder of the class passed him by and have to work his way back to the entrance.) All totaled, there were five of us that did not make it.

I wanted to take this opportunity to talk to my boys, but felt that while we were still at Eagle Bluff, it was not the ideal time.

I later (after we got home) sat my boys down and talked to them about how even the "most popular" guy in class, the guy who "seems" to be able to do anything and get everything - is as human as the rest of us. And how they should NEVER let someone make them feel less important, or less worthy because of something they can or can not do (or do "perfectly").

I went on and further talked to them about how (as good as it might feel to turn this young man's failure back at him) they do not like to be teased by this boy, and why it was just as important to NOT to tease him.

We talked about the "Golden Rule" - "Do onto others as you would want others to do onto you". I live my life by that rule, and I think the world would be a better place if EVERYONE (of every race, creed, color, ethnicity, sexual preference, or "fear of heights") would strive to live their lives by this rule.

They were reminded that "Rising Above" will help make them fair minded, and stronger individuals when they become adults. I was proud to see that my boys had not teased this young man, and grateful for the opportunity for yet another "life lesson teaching" moment with my boys!

Eagle Bluff Observation #1

As promised, back in Our Eagle Bluff Adventure - I wanted to note a couple of observations I made over the weekend.

First Point...

#2 of 5 and #3 of 5 are older now. While they still "curl up" with dear ol' dad on family movie nights and the like, they are more "peer oriented" than their younger siblings. If given the option of hanging out with me, or going to play with their friends, they are now at the point that they choose the latter.

(Well, #3 of 5 is still "teetering" on the edge... He has days where he would rather just hang with me... But I fear these days are numbered)

I did not chaperone the Eagle Bluff Trip thinking my boys were going to "hang out" with me. Instead, I attended for the opportunity to "observe" my boys in their own natural setting (with their friends). To that end, I was not disappointed. Both my boys have a "core" group of friends, but then other miscellaneous associated friends that I hear about often, but never spend much time with. This trip allowed me to spend time getting to know all the kids my boys hang with, and to get to know the ones that they do not hang with (and sometimes why).

For those fathers (or anyone reading this) out there with only "young" children - this may sound depressing, or maybe even neglectful on my part. It can be (depressing that is) at times, but only if you look at it from a selfish point of view. You see, while they are spending less time with me, they are spreading their wings, and beginning to experience bits of life of their own. They are experiencing the rewards of making good decisions, and learning lessons from their "less than good" decisions.

While it can be depressing, it is also both encouraging and exciting to see the early traces of successful independence bubbling up from inside them. That is (after all) what raising our children is all about isn't it? Raising them into becoming successful and responsible members of society.

Don't get me wrong. I am still there for them as their father. I will catch them when they fall, and help point out the things that they don't pick up on their own. There is just some satisfaction, and a sense of pride that I feel (as a father) when I see my boys "doin' their own thing", and doing it well!

Our Eagle Bluff Adventure

We are back!

I am confident the kids had a great time, I know I did!

The trip started off with a two hour bus ride to Fountain, Minnesota (the self-proclaimed Sinkhole Capital of the World). Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center is just outside Fountain.

Rather than a blow by blow, minute by minute rundown of the entire trip, I'm going to make some summaries, and then some observations. First off, since this was an "Environmental Learning Adventure" , the trip was centered around some environmental classes. Our kids (and chaperones) participated in the following classes.
- Wildlife Ecology
- A Naturalist Program called Reptiles (included a special guest Timber Rattlesnake)
- A Tree-tops rope course
- Animal Signs
- A Naturalist Program called Cave Ecology
- Fungus AmongUs (we actually ate a home-made mushroom pizza in class!)

Wildlife Ecology: Students will investigate the dynamic interrelationships of wildlife populations and their habitats. Through interactive demonstrations and explorations, students will learn about components of habitat, carrying capacity, limiting factors, and biodiversity, and then see examples of these concepts at work in surrounding natural areas.

Reptiles: Often misunderstood, reptiles can evoke strong emotions. With the help of a live snake, students will learn about Minnesota reptiles, conservation efforts, intriguing facts, and reptile’s amazing adaptations.

Animal Signs: Using all their senses, students will try to unravel the mysterious lives of Eagle Bluff's wildlife and discover the food chains living nearby. Time will be spent exploring and interpreting animal signs, acting out an example food chain, and the entire class will work together to form one large food web.

Cave Ecology: Caves are a fascinating result of the Karst geology defining the landscape of Southeastern Minnesota. Learn how caves form, what special creatures inhabit caves, and why they indicate a unique subsurface highly vulnerable to contamination.

Fungus AmongUs: What lurks inside the Chamber of Disgust? Only you will know after investigating the important role that decomposers play in the world. Participants will be amazed by the diversity of fungus as they search for and identify mushrooms, molds, crusts, and slimes. They will witness decomposition in action and discover that pizza (and many other foods for that matter) just would not be the same without fungus.

(Course Descriptions above all come directly from the Eagle Bluff website)

While at Eagle Bluff, we ate pretty good (for a residential camp for K-12 kids!) We enjoyed...
- Mini Turkey Corn Dogs
- Pasta Bake
- Scrambled Eggs & Sausage
- Sausage, Pepperoni, or Cheese Pizza
- Chicken Drummies (or herb encrusted baked chicken breasts for the adults)
- French Toast Sticks & Bacon strips
- Bag Lunch for trip home (Cold cut sandwiches)

Each meal also included a Salad Bar that consisted of two different types of lettuces, cole slaw (or other miscellaneous type of "salad"), cottage cheese, mandarin oranges, and dressing. In the mornings, the salad bar was filled with cereals and fruits! It was quite the spread. But there's a catch (as there always is)...

Each school was to keep track of the food waste they were responsible for creating. Each school was assigned weight to try and keep their waste under (based on school size and length of stay). Our goal for 29 students and 12 adults for three days was "less than" two lbs of food waste - TOTAL.

I'm embarrassed to say at home we seem to waste about two lbs of food each meal... I thought there was no way these kids could do it. By the end of the trip, we had a total of one ounce of waste for the whole group! It was a good lesson for the kids (and the adults) about just how wasteful we are. It was not hard to achieve this at all! I foresee a change at home!

We also partook in some "group activities" that included included a campfire, the "Eagle Bluff Olympics", and we had a GREAT time with some tug-o-war events... (boys vs girls, 5th vs 6th grade, girls vs 6th grade (that was a humbling loss for the 6th grade boys), chaperones vs kids, etc) the tug-o-war was a BLAST! And finally we were rained out of a "night hike".

I'll have a couple more "observations" forthcoming, but it's so darn nice outside, and I have a couple of projects waiting for me - I just cant sit here anymore!

Stay tuned!

With Only Five Days Left

I sit here and am working on my Windows Live Writer (if you blog and you don't have it, get it! - Unless your on a Mac... Sorry Mac folks).
I have procrastinated long enough now. I decided (even though it was "done" and all that was left was a final review (for my own "mental health" sake), that this morning was going to be my morning for the infamous "tax day".
About an hour later now, and everything is done. After hitting the "Transmit My Return Now" button and a five minute wait, my Turbo Tax program keeps sending me an Error Message, reminding me that my tax return was NOT successfully transmitted, and to try again later. I am not too sure what is going on yet, but I suspect that the IRS's servers are VERY busy - It reminds me of trying to visit a busy web site.
So, Since I have some spare time (waiting to upload this $%#$% tax return) let me catch you up with a couple of items that are going on here...
#1 - I went home sick on Tuesday. I woke up with a raging headache, and felt worse and worse as time went on. I arrived at work, and was fighting back from vomiting. I talked to my supervisor who sent me home. I slept for nearly five hours, and while I still felt lousy, I was feeling better than I did that morning. Today (Thursday) I feel like I am back to normal.
#2 - Tomorrow, I have another "Powerhouse" meeting with long time friend, and fellow Blogger Lisa from "Many Things Do Not Fly", the soon to be published author and webmaster of the now defunct (but I'd sure love to see active again) www.offthedeepend.org Don, and Jenny (who has yet to provide me any sort of link, or book she has published....(grin)). We are meeting at an undisclosed establishment that has some ancestral ties to one of the attendees. I am really looking forward to hearing more about that!
You can check out my Powerhouse Lunch label and see some prior mentions of our "get-togethers". I only have posts abut our first lunch, and mentioned one I missed. There is a whole lunch that I did not mention. (Sounds like a future project). Tomorrow will be my third of our four "Powerhouse Lunches". It should prove to be fun, as this group of folks are always a gas to do lunch with! (If you are reading this, I will have photos of the family this time, and Jenny - PLEASE have something anything to add after your name for future lunches! ~Wink~)
#3 - I am preparing for three day "field trip" with both #2 and #3 of 5. Our children's school only goes to 6th grade. It has been tradition that the exiting 6th grade class takes a "final field trip" together as a culmination of their time together at St. John's before they prepare to head into the world of the Public School System. This year (due to budgetary constraints), the school has combined both the 5th and 6th grades, and will start sending students on this annual trip every other year. This year, since I have both a 5th and and 6th grader attending St. John's - I have two attending the trip.
When the school asked for volunteers, they received more offers than they could actually use (or the facility could handle), so there was a "lottery" for parental chaperones. Thankfully, I was chosen as one. I will soon be heading out with #2 and #3 of 5 to the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center. I am very glad to be able to attend (as I will be one of the only parents with two children attending this year), yet at the same time, I feel badly for the parents who wanted to attend, but were unable to.
The Public School 6th grade kids also take a three day trip to Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center. Due to several reasons, our #1 of 5 was a public school student, and therefore attended the Wolf Ridge Trip when he was in 6th grade (seven years ago.. Seven years?!?!? Has it been that long??!?!) I was able to attend the Wolf Ridge trip as a chaperone.
I am sure I'll return with some good stories from Eagle Bluff! It will be very fun to compare the trip to Wolf Ridge, to the one at Eagle Bluff.
#4 - More of an interesting tidbit, but I found out yesterday that another one of my closest high-school friends (Tony M.) is about to become a co-worker with one of our fellow classmates -whom I have known from my days the earliest of elementary School at St. Kevin's in Minneapolis. (Mike B.)
I left St. Kevin's in third grade when my parents moved from Minneapolis to Bloomington. I attended Nativity in Bloomington until I "graduated" 8th grade. When we "graduated" from Nativity, I attended Holy Angels where I met up with most of my old friends from St. Kevin's! Mike B. was one of my good friends from St. Kevin's - and although five years separated us, and we were not part of the same "gang" of friends, we remained friends through high school. Mike B. is one of the people I look forward to catching up with each reunion, and this year was no exception! This year I met his wife, and shared some great stories! I am glad to hear that Tony and Mike will be working together... Maybe this will provide me yet another opportunity for "Powerhouse Lunches"!
Well, this darn tax return is still hung up, so I think I'm going to call it quits until tonight when I suspect the IRS's servers will be slightly less busy!