Once we arrived, we unpacked massive amounts of food and started the process of cooking up spag bol for 30 people- lots of mince, pasta, tomato sauce and chopped tomatoes, garlic bread and lots of dishes to do. The kids arrived halfway through cooking, we got the table set and by 9 8 pm we were eating dinner and chatting. Our theme for the weekend was "Circus" so after our first short talk from Dave on Peter being called by Jesus, we got into our teams for the weekend (Go Team Atlantic, we're gonna pump (clap) you up- and yes, we stole that from Hans and Franz). Each team had ten minutes to create a circus costume for one of the kids in our group and we quickly got down to work.
Poor Felicity was poked and proded as people glued and taped things to her. She was an excellent sport.
We got a catwalk performance of all our contestants, including a lion and a ring-master.
The next morning, while light rain misted down, we played a game in our teams. Each team, using only the chairs had to get across from one side of the field to the other. If the "eye" card was held up, they had to make a sign of eyeglasses, as Charlotte demonstrates below. The last group to do the sign got a chair taken away. Team Atlantic and Team Lion did great but Team Harbake had a little trouble keeping their line straight and so Team Revolution had to curve their line as well. The kids were great sports and it was absolutely hilarious to see three or four kids trying to balance on one rickety chair.
You can't have a Pathfinders Weekend Away without Dave and Jonathan gladiator jousting on unicycles.
Before lunch we had some free time in the rain. Kate, Naomi, Charlotte, Anna and I did a rain dance and then we played a couple matches on Rounders.
After lunch it was High Ropes time. The High Ropes are different than at Hume- they hold onto you all the time when you're up on the ropes and there are different obstacle courses that you can pick and choose. Same harnesses though, as Anna, Freya, Joy, Lucy and I are modeling.
I love these three little ones- Rachel, Felicity and Holly.
This was called Jacobs Ladder- I stayed away from it. But Ben's got the splits going on.
This is Ben on the trapeze- look at this form! ( He missed the trapeze- we teased him). I did this one and it was easier than the pole at Hume. Still shook like crazy up there!
This is me on the Tarzan rope. Eek.
This is me on my way down from the top section of the Tarzan rope where you hold onto one rope. It was the highest one of the entire High Ropes Course. Awesome.
Rachel, Heth and me.
The little ones on the top of the obstacle course.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at Pool Olympics. We did water polo, water relay races, synchronized swimming competitions and "Rescue the Duck". Since I don't have a bathing suit in England and am too cheap to buy one here that looks identical to one that I have at home, so I was just in the tank top and shorts and didn't want to go in. I helped keep score and referee the games and was having a wonderful time. Until bloody Ben pushed me in. I got him back later though.
After dinner, it was Circus Extravaganza. We were all decked out in our circus outfits, including Ed, Charlotte, Naomi and Kate.
Ben and Jonathan freaked me out- especially Ben. I hate "sad-faced" clowns.
We divided up into our groups to work on our sketch for the night- our group was presenting the Super Scraper 3000, a window-scraper that gets you dinner, combs your hair and solves global warming by holding back the ozone layer.
Joy, Felicity, me and Rachel featured above and Andreas, Andy Mac, Jonathan and Nathan below. Greatest group ever!
Team Lion did a dance to Aqua's "Barbie Girl". It was absolutely hilarious.
Team Revolution did a game-show. They were hilarious.
Our skit was hilarious.
I didn't get a good picture of Team Harbake's sketch making fun of the leader's meeting but we got some good ones of "Movie Director" that the leaders did. Pete was our director and we did a scene about a bank robbery several times- once very boring, one action packed, once in slow motion (CPR on Dave was incredible in slow-motion) and one in song-form. Pete was incredible as the director, really getting into everything and was so, so funny!
Of course you can't have a circus without some clown getting shaving cream in the face and this time it was Rachel and Heather's turn.
That night Rachel and I got Ben back by putting a drawer and a half of kitchen utensils underneath his sheet. We stole his clothes from the bathroom while he was showering, then sprayed him with water pistols filled with squash and ribena and then, clearly ensured that he wouldn't be able to go to sleep right away. Jonathan couldn't keep in his laughter when Ben discovered his bed utensils, which made up for us nothing being able to see his face when it happened.
After breakfast, the final talk, some chats with the kids about the weekend, another game of capture the flag in Carroty Woods, and jacket potatoes for lunch, it was clean-up time. It was a major chore with all the mud that was in the two entry-ways of our loft. These shoes are only half of the shoes for the whole group. There wasn't too much rain this weekend but there was tons of mud and it was crazy to clean up. Good thing there were thirty of us.
All in all, despite losing sleep and being thrown in the pool, it was a great weekend. So strange to have only 30 people altogether- the last time that JAM hand only 30 people was the 8th grade retreat and that was only a portion of our 8th graders. It was really nice to get to know all the kids though, and I introduced "Reflection" and they loved it! Passing on the great songs. Look at that crazy crew- so glad I got to spend the weekend with them all!
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