The Wildcats and Northstars came together as the Sequoia nation for it’s Winter Campout. This year we went back to Camp Red Leaf in Inglside IL.
Arriving late Friday eventing it was a rush to find bunks and get dinner started. The dinner provided was hot dogs and hamburgers and as the food started to come for the hungry campers another group started to set up a black light dance party for the evenings activity.
The dance was a hit! We had prepped for the dance by asking the girls to submit songs they wanted to hear. We had balloons, stickers and paint that would glow, decorations and karaoke for those who were brave enough.
The party continued till early morning. We had a number of girls who wanted to earn their night owl patch so they stayed up.
What’s the night owl patch? It’s a patch we reward girl who stay up and tend the campfire till early morning. The Northstars had their first Night Owls awarded on this trip, and a few Wildcats earned it for themselves as well.
Day two found us on a winter hike to a very unique playground. No only was there a teater totter made out of a tree trunk and a tree house that was handicapped accessible, the big draw was the tire swing.
The girls doubled up, one on top of the tire and one inside. The dad’s took turns pushing and spinning them.
Of course at some point, the girls wanted to ride with their dads and we jumped in. Riding on the bottom was hard work. As the girls could just fit inside the tire and swing, the dad’s had to engage their abs and hold on!
Most trips ended not because the spinning was becoming too much, but because our Abs gave out!
That afternoon we created an Olympics challenge for the girls. The Wildcats and the Northstars mixed together, forming 4 teams that competed against each other.
The events were:
- Javelin throw (which was a pool noodle)
- Three-legged race
- Bucket Toss
- Balance test
- Knock Down Pitching Challenge
The girls had a blast and we ended it with a dad’s vs daughters dodge ball game.
Do you think we are done? Of course not!
The first event for the evening was the fire ceremony. Not only did we have our standard coming together and reaffirmation of our aims, but we had two extra events to cover.
The Northstars had a new chief selection to attend to. All of the dad’s tossed a liquor offering onto the fire, waiting for a sign.
When “Boston” tossed his, the fire flared and the great spirit had made the selection.
The next order of business was to welcome our new Hay-a-Lusaka to the group. Two of our girls had made the effort to finish not only the standard tasks we set for all the girls, but went further to complete three big projects to be inducted as a full members of the hey-a-Lusaka!
All that and we still haven’t eaten yet.
That night’s dinner was Chinese themed, with beef and broccoli, fried rice, egg rolls and Bolgogi Beef, which we followed up with a movie night of Wicked!
They grabbed some extra mattresses from the empty rooms, hauled them into the main area where we had set up a projector and movie screen.
At this point, some of the girls were tired from their night owl escapades that a few of them ended up sleeping through most of the movie.
Personally I wanted to sleep too, but I stayed up till the end because I knew this was possibly the only sleep my daughter would get, if she wanted to repeat last night.
Thankfully, once the movie was over, they all went straight to bed.
The final day is always a little sad. While the dad’s cleaned and packed, the girls helped haul things to the car and then played a last round of spoons.
Goodbyes were said and we are all looking forward to the next campout when we can come together again as a full group.
Scroll through a selection of our photos from the trip below.
