Box R Brrrrr....

Thanks, Uncle Garth, for capturing this crazy cold 

unforgettable moment in the life of a Box R Ranch 4th grader.

Box R or Bust

The 4th graders had a blast.

Mick and Dane's friend Memmo's dad, Dave.

They balanced and jumped and hung and fell their way through the obstacle course. They rode the hanging oil drum "bucking bronco," they shot arrows at the archery range. They also ziplined, rowed, and swam at a lake while the temperature outside was 50 degrees. They gathered sticks and made dream catchers, hiked in rain and hail, slept in tipis, took turns at KP, howled like wolves, and roasted marshmallows round the fire.

And if they were Dane, they also roasted wet socks. And "accidently" burned them.

Those 27 fourth-graders came back today grimy, dragging, and happy. They were a little queasy from the bus ride home, but you could tell it didn't matter. Their teacher set them up with an awesome adventure.

When I asked Dane at dinner what the highlight of his trip was, he said, "Being with Dad."

Dane and Dad.

Mick said he loved being there for Dane, too, even though it was cold and a lot of work. He also said one of his highlights was that our niece, Indi, came and sat on his lap the first night at campfire.

Indi.

Such a great time.

Dane and Nic.

Dane and Aubs when Aubs and I dropped in for a couple hours.

Our friend Linda and her daughter Alex.

Linda and Alex.

Dane and me. Dane says, "Creepy smile Dane."

Mick, Aubs, and Indi.

KP duty.

Box R Ranch Trip as told by Dane

So, on the first day, I was at the YMCA for the beginning. We packed up all our stuff and we took a long time for us to go there, and then we were driving there. And in the middle of the drive the girls bus stalled - it's true - and they had to wait there for an hour.

So, we took all our stuff into the tipi and we set up everything. Everybody had their own spot for their clothes and sleeping bag. I was with Keller, William, Ben, Isaiah, Jorge, Carson, and Mason. My camp counselor was named Tucker. I didn't know any of them - except I met Keller at a birthday party once - before I went to camp.

We went to sleep in our tipis and then we woke up for Polar Bear Swim. It was warm, but the water slide was cold and we weren't allowed to do the zip line. This was at 6:30 in the morning. And then we started rotations.

One of the rotations was going swimming again; another was art; and the last was sports. The next day we did archery. And I was not that good. So, there was hay and a target. And in the target there was a yellow, black, green, and a red and yellow. Yellow was the bullseye. I got the worst ever. Wanna know why? I got two in the hay and one in the white. But it's still my favorite thing.

On Wednesday we did a campfire. We roasted s'mores and they were yummy. It was a very cold night so it was nice doing that. That night, it was actually kind of raining.

Every night there was skits. There was a really good skit. This wasn't my group - and it was cows with guns. And my group did the midget exercise once -- we were midgets and we did exercises and stuff. We weren't in midget mode but we put shoes on our knees. It was a funny play. One of the counselors said, "So far, that's the best play."

Then there was the broncin' barrell. It's an awesome barrell ride of sorts. You'll have to see when we go. It's freaky -- I know how to work it, though.

When I was going there, I thought it would be a giant box with an R on it and it would have a bunch of ranch dressing in it. It's true. But it was really a giant ranch.

Every morning, I just put on clothes. I didn't care if they were clean or dirty. *

I want to go back next year!

By Dane Reynolds



*Note: Mom here. This is true. His duffle bag had many clean clothes in it when he returned. I think Dane wore the same clothes 3 days in a row -- underwear included.