Sleep-In Sunday

I love Sunday mornings at High Rocks! This morning was a particularly wonderful morning. A cool breeze, sun, and I get to sleep in a little bit later than 6:30 am.  Although, I still woke up early, it felt a little more restful since I did not have to rush off to my morning meeting and the wake-up bell comes thirty minutes later on Sundays.

After a brief peace on the back porch with my coffee and then some productivity time, I made my way to the dining hall where our chef, Nate was handedly working though the scratch-made doughnuts.  After grabbing a quick picture, he offered one to me early.  I was so excited!  We rounded out breakfast with a sausage and egg scramble, oatmeal, fresh cut fruit, and assorted cereals.

Sunday is also laundry day.  We have a service that brings all of the camp laundry back in about 8 hours! I feel like that is impressive!  Anyhow, it also allows the boys to take some responsibility for their actions by sorting, gathering, and then hauling the bags to breakfast. 

After some time at assembly, we gathered for our Sunday morning reflective time by the lake.  The focus once again was on respect. Once of our cardinal point on the High Rocks Way Compass.  I presented to the boys about how important empathy is along with finding and working you part of the group.  Listening is a big part of that, and adolescent boys are not always great at listening.  We ended up also discussing a dynamic first presented by Paul Petzoldt and then later craft by NOLS known as Expedition Behavior.  This concept focuses on a lot of expedition and backcountry dynamics of group behavior. Details include treating everyone with dignity and respect, doing your share, admitting, and correcting your mistakes, being kind and open hearted along with a few others.  Our June three-week session is very much an expedition.  Living and understanding everyone in your group is an advanced skill, so practice is important.  It seemed well received. I tried to add humor in examples to make the point clear.

The rest of our morning the boys has some relaxing time swimming, boating, running, gaming, and even chilling.  It was a perfect day for some relaxation and choices.

Lunch brought us slow-cooked pork that was roasted all night long.  We sided that with some hushpuppies, beans, slaw, and a salad.  It was a perfect Sunday afternoon meal.  Add a little sweet tea and that really hit the spot.

Our afternoon was more freetime/choice period rotations followed by a cookout of hamburgers and hotdogs with all the important sides.  Our day ended with our weekly campfire up the hill with some music, a story, and a thought.

We are looking forward to another exciting week.

See you soon!

Don

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