The Wonderful Aqua Ninja Nerd Club spent their day at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. As we drove into the area we saw 4 White-tailed Deer, several Prarie Dogs and a few birds of prey. After pitching our canopy and organizing our gear we sang “Fred the Moose” and a special rendition of “Jitterbug” by staff member Zach. After “waking up” we were ready to “go-go.” We played a morning game of Smaug’s Jewels, were a camper (Smaug) must guard his/her jewels from the clutches of the other campers. The group discovered that team work was the best way to steal the jewels, as opposed to individual efforts. After applying sunscreen and filling our waterbottles the group set out on a journaling trek around 2 of the Arsenal’s lakes. As we walked campers drew or wrote about different nature they saw – cactus, Barn Swallows, insects, flowers, a bee nest and the deer from before were among those spottings. Our nature trek wore us out and we had lunch under our canopy and discussed our families.
The campers enjoyed their free play -some explored the nearby grasses while others took turns hiding and seeking various objects. The group then set out to go fishing! We chose a dock off the shore of Lake Mary to start. While half the group fished the other half hunted for insects and were pretty successful. Even though we tried fishing from 2 different parts of Lake Mary the fish just didn’t seem to be interested. That’s okay because the campers got some good practice if we go fishing next week and they all kept positive attitudes. Campers enjoyed delicious GORP for snack. After that all we had time for was a few minutes exploring the Arsenal’s neat visitor center before we had to load the van to go home. On the way home campers debriefed on “something that surprised them today.” Our afternoon songs were “Country Roads” and, of course, “On Top of Spaghetti.” We’re looking forward to the mountains tomorrow!