Return to Horse Camp
In 2017, I wrote a post about what was likely my daughter's last trip to horse camp. I'm delighted to say I was wrong.
Though she and her friends had kind of aged out of horse camp, this year Elk River added a "Horsing Around with Mom" camp for older girls, and so we went back, along with her friends Meara, Flannery, Dia, Matilda, and their moms. The girls are just a few weeks away from all going to different middle schools (except Dia and Beatrix, who will be together at SPA), so it felt especially poignant.
We had a blast! We were put in a lovely, brand new cabin — Pinto — which felt like glamping, with AC, showers, bathrooms, etc. (we had stayed at Pinto before, but it's old iteration was a totally different direction across camp and was quite rustic, even though adorable; I think that version of Pinto, though, has gone to the proverbial glue factory). There was a great screen porch for hanging out at night. We were just a short distance from the new horse barn, which was also very fancy, and seemed like a much nicer experience for the horses, with a large, shaded arena. Other elements of the camp, though, were just as we remembered, so the change was not too hard.
We kayaked (Beatrix has learned that she loves to kayak and even tried the corkle, a round, spinning kayak), snd swam in the natural lake. We hung out at the archery range for almost an hour (though I always think the moms love it more than the girls do). We had a fantastic, long trail ride through the woods, where Beatrix was on and fell in love with Kentucky, the biggest horse in the area; I had Midnight, who loved to snack but was charming. We shopping in the trading post and did the low ropes course (shhh, we were not supposed to do it without supervision) and the girls did a cute skit at the campfire and we had s'mores. We played lots of carpetball and sang crazy songs (though not too many, thank goodness). We hiked likely miles through the camp.
The girls had lots of talks about upcoming middle school and decorating lockers and excitement/worries about classes and friends. The moms had similar conversations, because I think we have many of the same things to think about right now.
You don't often get a chance to go back and do something like this with your kid, and I'm awfully glad I did.
Though she and her friends had kind of aged out of horse camp, this year Elk River added a "Horsing Around with Mom" camp for older girls, and so we went back, along with her friends Meara, Flannery, Dia, Matilda, and their moms. The girls are just a few weeks away from all going to different middle schools (except Dia and Beatrix, who will be together at SPA), so it felt especially poignant.
We had a blast! We were put in a lovely, brand new cabin — Pinto — which felt like glamping, with AC, showers, bathrooms, etc. (we had stayed at Pinto before, but it's old iteration was a totally different direction across camp and was quite rustic, even though adorable; I think that version of Pinto, though, has gone to the proverbial glue factory). There was a great screen porch for hanging out at night. We were just a short distance from the new horse barn, which was also very fancy, and seemed like a much nicer experience for the horses, with a large, shaded arena. Other elements of the camp, though, were just as we remembered, so the change was not too hard.
We kayaked (Beatrix has learned that she loves to kayak and even tried the corkle, a round, spinning kayak), snd swam in the natural lake. We hung out at the archery range for almost an hour (though I always think the moms love it more than the girls do). We had a fantastic, long trail ride through the woods, where Beatrix was on and fell in love with Kentucky, the biggest horse in the area; I had Midnight, who loved to snack but was charming. We shopping in the trading post and did the low ropes course (shhh, we were not supposed to do it without supervision) and the girls did a cute skit at the campfire and we had s'mores. We played lots of carpetball and sang crazy songs (though not too many, thank goodness). We hiked likely miles through the camp.
The girls had lots of talks about upcoming middle school and decorating lockers and excitement/worries about classes and friends. The moms had similar conversations, because I think we have many of the same things to think about right now.
You don't often get a chance to go back and do something like this with your kid, and I'm awfully glad I did.
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