My cabin was hands down the best part of camp. Everyone got along super well, and we were always messing around, cracking jokes, and staying up way too late talking. Even when we were supposed to be asleep, we’d still be laughing and whispering across the room. One of the weirdest things, though, was that in the middle of the night, the toilet would randomly make this horrible high-pitched screeching sound—like it was trying to sing or something. It was so loud it would wake some of us up, and then we’d all just start laughing because it was so ridiculous. Ms. Evans was seriously the coolest counselor ever—she joked around with us all the time and took the funniest pictures of our cabin doing weird stuff. By the end of camp, it felt like we were all best friends. Our cabin just had this vibe that made everything more fun—even the haunted toilet.

We woke up late and just walked around the camp. Then we decided to explore the hall. We waited in the hall until we all got food. For breakfast, we had scrambled eggs, potatoes, and sausage. There was also orange juice, fresh fruit, cereal, yogurt, bread, and a variety of hot sauces. Soon after, we got in the vans and drove off to the Cochiti School. At the school, we got a tour of the school from some of the students. Then they took us outside and taught us to make fried bread, which is not that hard. First, stretch out the bread dough, then make a hole in the center, and then they will do the rest. When the bread was done being fried, we took it and put beans, cheese, lettuce, onion, and tomato on it. Then, when we got food, we sat down with the other students and chatted. They also gave us soda.

After we ate the best tacos of my life, we went to their old gym and played a small game of kickball, but not your ordinary kickball game, there were 3 boxes that represented 1st, 2nd, and 3, and home plate. The bases are inside of the half line. One team kicks the all and the other team is in the outfield, you can catch the ball off the wall, you have to run all the bases 2 times, and you can't stop at home base. This makes it so you can’t hit the ball with all your power, but you have to be accurate. 

After a fun game of kickball, we were all tired and decided to take a little nap. It was also a time to reflect. Clarke: I thought of how lucky we were to be picked to come early and turned my watch to the correct time.

When we travelled to New Mexico nine of us went on the first flight to Seattle while the others caught the next flight that was the next day. Olive and I were part of the group of nine. We got into Albuquerque at around 2:30 am. We slept in and then went to start our day. A highlight for me from this day was when we went to Nadine's house. She welcomed us into her home and gave us food. The food she gave us was mini croissants, iced tea and watermelon. The food was very savory and fresh especially after not having good food for around four hours, or at least what felt like four hours. The food made me very happy and I'm very grateful that she took the time to prepare food for us. After that we all gathered on her couch and she showed us how she made her storytellers. She explained storytellers are clay figures with kids around them. For example a mom figure with a few kids that she might be holding. She told us they are called storytellers because when she was a kid for entertainment her and her siblings or friends would gather around a grown-up and tell stories. So, all her figures were modeled after these people. There were a few figurines she had on display. One of them was unique because it didn't have any kids around it, it was holding a drum and wearing a traditional headdress with feathers. Nadine offered a service to make custom figurine based on your likes or just what you wanted your figurine to look like. Nadine had a kiln she kept in her house that she used to fire her creations. Her figurines were priced from a range of 20-50$. But she was willing to negotiate. Overall, Nadine made me feel very welcomed and loved. I'm very glad she took the time to show us how she made her story-tellers and made sure we were not hungry when she did. 

8th grade graduation…

When we first walked into the gym, Nicole led us to a section of the bleachers to sit. We had to take off our backpacks when entering the gym( because we thought it would be too crowded in there). It was the opposite; there was a minimal number of people there, with only 17 kids graduating … with 5 of them being absent. ( baseball tournament) 5 minutes later, we were still waiting for everyone to arrive, so we decided to play a game called I have a tissue. ( explain how to play) After we played, the ceremony started. Young men and women walked out the door one by one, dressed in their cultural outfits. The crowd was clapping and cheering at all of the kids. The parents showed so much support to their kids. One of the students came from Mexico, His little sister was so happy for him; she was in her dress, screaming “yayyyyyy” for her older brother! As they entered the gym, they had 3 white flowers in their hand. (I'll get back to that later) They, 1 by one, sat down in their chairs. The principal talked and vented about how much she loved these students. She showed so much affection to them, showing that she thinks of them as her children. The 1st speech came to us, I don't remember her name. She talked very quietly, and nobody could hear her. But I bet she said some very nice things. The 2nd speech was up. Her name was Amethyst. She talked about how supportive throughout her life. It was very sweet. Now it is time to talk about the flowers: 1 for a teacher, one for a family member, and one for the principal. Not a little later than the flowers. The ceremony closed up. Graduates taking pictures with parents with the blue grad poster behind them. Tears of joy were falling from the proud parents. Beautiful…

Games in the gym

Jellyfish, turtle, hunter: rock, paper, scissors game, but there were 2 teams, if one team beat the other, they would chase you trying to tag you before you get to the line. If they tagged you, you would be on their team. Hunter beats turtle, jellyfish beats hunter, and turtle beats jellyfish.

Ninja: In 5th grade, when you guys went to Tamarack, I bet that Ninja was a very popular game. When we 6th graders went, that's most likely the only game that we played. A game where one at a time, you tried to hit the other person's hand with one move, quickly having to dodge the other player's move.

Listening game: a game where there was an inside circle, then an outside circle. You would take turns listening to each other's response to the question, like: Who is your celebrity crush?, how many pets do you have, etc…

Walking teams: 2 teams have to get to the other side with all of their feet touching! My team won, and we got to go to lunch first! Our technique was to crawl in a circle with all of out feet in the middle of it.

Lunch

For lunch, we had chicken tortilla soup! It was so good! It had a little bit of spiciness to it but otherwise it was one of the best soups I have ever had. 

Some sides that we had with our lunch were cucumbers and carrots, M&M cookies, Otter Pops, and lemonade or water. Mostly every lunch or dinner you would have a cookie to go with it. Also lemonade there is very good.

After the graduation ceremony, we got to meet the Cochiti 7th graders. At first, they were shy, but once we got on the baseball field, they started engaging with us. Their baseball field was so beautiful. The field was full of turf, and beyond the field, there was nothing but beautiful mountains and hills as far as the eye could see.  We batted first and we went 3 up 3 down. Then, when we were in the field, we made 5 errors (or so) and they scored about 2 runs. Then, when they had to leave to catch a bus, we gave them the socks as gifts. Afterward, we got to keep playing and we played girls versus boys. The boys won but we didn’t play much after we played with the Cochiti students. 

Volleyball, we just arrived at the field that was all turf, and it was beautiful, and everyone seemed nervous because we were meeting people we had never met before. However, we all knew that as we played more, we would become more comfortable. Right when we started to play, we alqqll saw that the Cochiti kids were way better than us, and I think that is because they have that super nice field. And actually, we started to get better and could actually hit the ball. Anyway, they were super nice and amazing at volleyball, and I wished we could go back and play even more fun. And right after that, they went to the gym to pick up some of the socks that we had gifted them.

At the end of the first night, we gathered for a closing circle where we shared our thoughts and feelings. We began by discussing our fears for the upcoming day, allowing everyone to express their concerns. Then we shifted our focus to what we value, reflecting on the experience we had during the trip. It was a meaningful way to connect and grow together as a group.

On our class trip to Bandelier National Monument,  we were excited! We had planned to explore the famous ladders, but unfortunately, they were closed because of icy conditions. We were a bit disappointed, but our teachers reminded us that safety is super important. Instead, we hiked on different trails and enjoyed the beautiful scenery around us. We saw amazing rock formations and learned about the people who lived there many years ago.

We had an amazing forest ranger named Steve who guided us throughout the day. Steve was incredibly knowledgeable about the park's history and wildlife. He told us fascinating stories about the ancient Pueblo people. 

We had a man named Bernard, and he was part of the Cochiti people. He told us a lot of what he knows about his people, like how big the population is.

Anchor: Anchor stands for A: appreciate 

N: news

         C: concerns

         H: health

         O: oh cool!

         R: reflect

We went over A.N.C.H.O.R. every night we were in New Mexico. Every night

and day, there would be leaders. And every evening, the leaders of the day would go over the first three letters of anchor. The leaders of your group do the rest. You will share what you appreciate and concerns. The leaders of your group share tommorow’s schedule for the next day. Then, you will share your physical and mental health, something you thought was cool that day, and you will reflect On your day.

Amp: Amp stands for…

A: analize 

M: manage

P: prepare

The leaders of the day would also take charge of this acronym. First, they would go over the plan for the day. Then, for manage, the leaders would go over the items needed for the day in your day packs. So they would go over a list of supplies, and then for prepare, you go to your cabins to make sure you have all of the items.

It was Crosby's 12th birthday, and we wanted to make sure he had a great time, so in the morning, we all went into the main lodge and wished him a happy birthday, and we gave him 2 presents.

Later in the day, we went to Nadine's to learn about the storytellers that she makes. When she figured out that it was Crosby's birthday, she made a cake and added a candle as we sang Happy Birthday to him. 

Then, when we were back at Bishops Ridge, we all as a class celebrated by giving him cupcakes (they were really good)as we sang Happy Birthday.    

After cupcakes, me, Marley, and Marley, plus all his people who were in the Crosbys' cabin, had gone and hid and went to Crosby's cabin to surprise him. Before he came, Marley and Wesley had set up balloons in his bunk, and we had gotten him a birthday card and a present; We all were hid outside of his cabin and when he saw the balloons we jumped out and said Happy Birthday to Crosby, we wanted to make it extra special since he couldnt be at home for his 12th brithday.

Last night, there was another birthday for a guy named Gerald. He was one of our leaders, and on the last night, we had a birthday party for him with his favorite cake, cupcakes, and you were allowed to make s'mores. It was a surprise for him, so Clarke went out and got him, and when he came, he was very surprised. We sang him happy birthday and made s'mores.

Meow Wolf

After a long drive we made it to Meow Wolf in Santa Fe. There were really cool statues of animals like spiders and wolves outside, setting the tone of a fun (but a little weird) experience. When we first walked in we were told to wait, then handed some glasses that looked like 3D glasses (we didn’t end up using them for anything). We then went inside to a house (the house of eternal return) that was in a darkened room. Then we walked in… 

It looked like a normal house from the first glance, but when we looked closer, we found a passage in the fireplace. We all climbed through the fireplace and went into a room like a fishbowl. It was a mirrored room and then we found an exit that led back to the front of the house. Then we turned around and our teacher Ms. Lynn wasn’t behind us anymore. They made it a big deal not to lose our teachers or we could get in trouble. We then had to sit on the side and wait for her to come out. Without spoiling the mystery too much there were many cool rooms and secret passageways. One really important one was the fridge… When you enter it, you come into a room that looks like an alien spaceship. Then there were secrets about the family and other secret passageways in places like laundry machines, mailboxes,  behind bookshelves, and in the cupboard under the stairs. Each room had its own kind of personality and relationship to the mystery. I think there was an order of clues to follow but my group just picked to walk around and looked for clues randomly. A large part of the story was this hamster that was having an experiment being done on him. 

Each of the rooms was a piece of art, which is why Meow Wolf doubles as a museum. It has 72 different rooms.  Some rooms were really colorful like one full of candy and rainbows while others were only cartoony like black and white. My favorite room was either going through the fridge or any of the small passageways in the rooms. Then after finishing our hour and a half we walked out and went to the overpriced gift shop… There was a cheap looking hat selling for around $80

Shopping in Santa Fe!!!

When we first got to Santa Fe it was really pretty. The architecture and buildings were made out of stucco and most had a flat roof; the houses in the pueblo looked like the buildings in Santa Fe. Then we went to a small plaza and could shop in the stores facing it. We first sat on the grass to eat the burritos that we had picked up from a restaurant, which were a little soggy. Then after eating we all rushed to shop with around 30 minutes left. 

Stevie’s Reflection: My group got up and we went to a small tourist shop which was very expensive. I still bought something for everyone else in my group besides one. We would have got ice cream but the line went to the back wall of the store. We turned around and found a mall but didn’t know if we could go in so we turned around. We were walking by another mall until we saw our friends with boba. We asked them where they got it and they said it was from the mall next door. We ran over and ordered but realized we were late. Some of us didn’t order but after a while my drink came and we were waiting on one order. Then one of our teachers came and found us so we got our drinks and went to the plaza. We had a little group talk then began walking to the van to go to the airport. There was a really pretty church so I reached to grab my camera and it was gone. I realized I probably should have had it inside my bag. I looked around the town for it for a little with no luck and then met with everyone else inside of the van and we headed to the airport to go home.  Emme’s 

Reflection: At first, we hurried to a nearby souvenir shop that had stuff for sale for a VERY high price. After buying a small amount of stuff (we couldn’t spend too much or we would run out of money) we decided that we wanted to look around more. We walked around a little, looking at the stores, but most were more expensive than the first one. They had fancy watches, jewelry, and so much other (super expensive) stuff. We decided to walk through the tents that were setting up in the plaza. They looked like they were getting ready for some kind of farmers market, but sadly, they hadn’t opened yet. We decided to look in Haagen Dazs because we couldn’t find any other good stuff. We almost left because the line was practically a MILE long!!! We had about 10 minutes, and spent them waiting in line. Just as we ran out of time, they finally called us up. We decided to get our ice cream, then leave. We were sprinting back to the plaza, and miraculously, we were only 5 minutes late!