Apache Boy

We just dropped my 8-year old off for two weeks at Ridgecrest Camp for Boys. 

Two whole glorious weeks just for HIM.

Many parents would think that we signed him up for US, but that would wrong. Asher is a great kid. He does almost everything right. He lives by the rules, the clock, the schedule, the system. In fact, camp is a GREAT place for him because of such regularity. But he needs freedom. He needs to run around with his shirt off, to talk loudly, to tell nonsense stories (over and over) and have someone else tell him "we heard that before" or to laugh super hard at him, he needs someone else to play with, run around with and to teach him things that we simply don't have the patience right now to do (i.e. chess, how to build a fire, a dam in a creek or any of the other crazy things he is going to get to do).

The biggest reason he is going? He gets to be a boy. ALL BOY. So much of school these days is geared towards sitting in your seat, being polite, standing in line and having your finger on your mouth. Which are proper and fine things.

But at Ridgecrest, he gets to be WILD. And totally accepted. And loved. And his leaders will tell him how loved he is because of the God who made him. And that is why life is important and full and worth living to the limit.

I can't wait to see him at the end after sock wars, paint wars, bedlam ball, camp outs and everything else they are going to do.

This is a typical day at camp:

Typical Schedule
7:30 AM     Reveille
7:45AM      Morning Assembly
8:00 AM     Breakfast
8:25 AM     Morning Watch
8:45 AM     Quiet Time
9:00 AM     Cabin Clean-Up
9:25 AM     Inspection
9:45 AM     1st/4th Skill begins**
10:40 AM   1st/4th Skill ends
10:45 AM   2nd/5th Skill begins
11:40 AM   2nd/5th Skill ends
11:45 AM   3rd/6th Skill begins
12:40 PM   3rd/6th Skill ends
12:45 PM   Free Swim (Lake Open)
1:15 PM     Waiter’s Call
1:30 PM     Lunch
2:00 PM     Rest Period
3:00 PM     Canteen
3:30 PM     Afternoon Activity
4:55 PM     End of Activities
5:00 PM     Free Swim (Lake Open)
6:15 PM     Retreat
6:30 PM     Supper
7:00 PM     Evening Activity
9:00 PM     Go to cabins/showers/devotions
10:15 PM    Taps

Yes, they wake them up with a trumpet blowing Reveille every morning and go to sleep with a trumpet playing Taps every night. Seriously. 


His six skills this week are:
Archery
Outdoor living
Chess
Baseball
Crafts
Swimming

The camp is split up into tribes based on ages. Asher is an Apache this year.

He's going to be a well-rounded Apache beast when he gets home. In Wikipedia, it says this about the Apache tribe: The fame of the tribes' tenacity and fighting skills, probably bolstered by dime novels, was widely known among Europeans. In early 20th century Parisian society, the word Apache was adopted into French, essentially meaning an outlaw.

I love that! Asher with tenacity, fighting skills and a little outlaw in him will be exactly what we are looking for.
Check out this video for a little bit more of a taste of camp:




If you want to send Asher mail at camp, go to the Ridgecrest website and look for the mailing address! 

You can also follow along this week at camp on Facebook and "like" them if you do that sort of thing: Ridgecrest on Facebook