The Joys of a 6th Grade Class Trip

   We just got back from Camp Wartburg.  My 3rd son, Jalen is in 6th grade. The 6th grade class at Grant Middle School gets to go on a camping trip. If I had to use one word to describe the bus ride, it would be deafening!  I am always amazed at the sheer volume a bus load of 6th graders can generate. It defies the laws of physics, mathematics, and many other laws as well.  It is a miracle that anyone survives adolescence with their hearing unimpaired.   I don't know how many different words there are in the English language, but I think I heard them all in just a one hour bus ride. The kids seemed to enjoy the ride, though.

I had the privilege of sleeping in a room full of 6th grade boys.  I have discovered the answer to the world's energy crisis. We just need to harness the energy that radiates from every pore of 6th grade boys when you turn the lights out at night! Something magical also occurs when the lights go out...every word, noise, or smell is automatically hysterical!

   Our trip lasted for two nights and almost three days. We had many wonderful adventures. We did a pond study and found a leech, a dragonfly nymph, a baby fish, and a full grown bullfrog.  We went canoing. We did a three hour team-building exercise. We spent three hours on a really cool high-rope course. We did a scavenger hunt, and some field games. We did a nature hike and learned some really neat things about trees and flowers.  We ate ravioli, sloppy-joe's, and many other good things.

   This is my third time going on this 6th grade camping trip and I am dreading the next one because it will be the last one. It seems like such a short time since Jeron's 6th grade trip. This fall Jeron will go off to college!

So...the adventures continue, but the adventures do change. Children grow and change so quickly and then, one day far too soon, they will live in a different house. I have a feeling I will remember the chaos of the 6th grade camping trip and I will yearn for that brief, noisy, carefree moment when life is just about perfect.