A Day at Rockridge

6 August 2015

So we just got back from 4 days of Family Camp at Rockridge Canyon.  This is how my typical day at Rockridge looked:

7:00am - Running Club
I started most days with a run.  A quick 3km up to the dam at the end of the lake and back again for a total of 6km.  The fun part is counting all the deer...
 
8:30am - Breakfast Buffet
Omelet station, pancakes, eggs, potato casserole: every morning brought a new surprise in the buffet line.  My favourite treat was the cinnamon bun on the last day.  YUM!
 
9:30am - Family Fun Activity
I attended 2 family fun activities: the pool Olympics and the beach activities.  Highlights included watching the Cat do the lily-pad adventure, the Huffer working hard on the in-and-out race, and the Old Man jousting.  My favourite part was pool volleyball which consisted of trying to throw as many beach balls, pool toys, and noodles to the other team's side of the net as possible.  We won.  By a lot. 

11:00am - Relaxation Time
After the family fun activity, there was time to dry off as necessary, catch up with friends, relax a bit, plan the afternoon activities, and get ready for lunch.

12:00noon - Lunch
Every day brought a new lunch: pasta feast, Greek fiesta, and chicken burgers.  My favourite lunch was the chicken burgers because of the chipotle sauce.  The soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies were the best lunch dessert..

1:30pm - Free Time
Each afternoon, all activities are open.  That means: pool, beach, blob, boats, zip-line, canoes, disc golf, and more.  The trick is to run down to the boats first thing to sign up.  I ended up riding all the boats: the wake-surf boat, the water-ski boat, the banana-boat, and the party barge.  I wasn't brave enough to wake-surf but I did try the water skiing and it was super!  I got up on my 2nd try and stayed up after my 3rd try.  Each day, I tried to get a bit of pool time.  I loved swimming a few laps.  I worked hard on my breaststroke technique.

4:30pm - Relaxation Time
At 4:30pm, the activities close.  Usually, I took this time to take a leisurely shower and get ready for supper.  It was also a good time to catch up with friends and compare stories about our afternoon adventures.

5:30pm - Dinner
Each night, we had a gourmet dinner: turkey dinner with mashed potato and stuffing; ribs (sooo good!); chicken & rice with mushroom sauce; roast beef and Yorkshire puddings.  After dinner, there was dessert.  The best ones were the flourless chocolate cake with blueberry sauce and the rustic apple pie.  An honorable mention goes to the strawberry shortcake.

6:45pm - Club
Club starts with lots of singing.  Fun songs.  With a band.  Familiar songs like "Brown-eyed girl", "Twist-and-shout", "Livin' on a Prayer", "Sweet Caroline", "Let it Be", "Sweet Home Alabama".  The words are on the screen for anyone who doesn't know them.  After singing, the kids go outside to have some fun while the adults (and teens) stay for the talking portion of club.  Some guy named Chris would tell these super-funny stories.  Then he would get a little more serious and read from the Bible.  He would spend 5-10 minutes talking about the Bible and then the kids would be called in for more singing.  Afterwards, there would be some announcements which would typically get interrupted  by Mr. Tool and Captain Clean.  More on them later...

9:00pm - Evening Activity
The evening activity would be some sort of party: a Hawaiian beach party, a Mexican fiesta, a country-western night.  Along with dancing, there would be some sort of yummy food: hot dogs, fruit kebabs, cotton candy, nachos.  My favourite evening activity was the hay ride.  We saw lots of deer and the sunset was beautiful.

A little bit more about Mr. Tool and Captain Clean...

So Mr. Tool and Captain Clean claim to be superheros.  While they look like a duo, they actually claim to be a "three-o".  The third member of the crew is Mr. Mittens: a 300lb super-cat who was once dropped into a bucket of radioactive slime.  Mr. Mittens, however, was lost and no-where to be found.  Each of the evening activities was an attempt to lure Mr. Mittens home again.

Over the days, we slowly learned the Mr. Tool and Captain Clean are actually stay-at-home dads who are not so clean and not so handy.  In the end, it appears they might not even have superhero powers.  That doesn't stop the kids at Rockridge from squealing with delight every time they make an appearance which proves the following: kids love people in spandex suits!


Next time at Rockridge

If we ever go back to family camp, I would like to do the following:

1. Try wake surfing
I wasn't brave enough the first time but after water skiing, I realize the wake surfing boat travels much, much slower and I'm sure I could do it..

2. Use the longer skis for water-skiing
I was worried about going fast so I used the shorter skis and went slower.  However, the short skis are really tough to stay balanced on when you are a big adult.  Next time, I'll try the longer skis.  I'm sure they'll still work even if the boat isn't whipping around too fast!

3. Walk to the top of the zip-line each day
You never know.  One day, I might even get enough courage to try.

4. Try the ropes course again
I SUCKED big time the first time.  But I'm sure I could do better!

5. Do more dancing
I tried square dancing and it looked more like pentagon dancing because I kept losing my partner.  It was fun anyhow.  And I COULD have done the Macarena...


~mom