Thursday was a fun day. After our other activities we still had time to swim and then go to the

Ft. Robinson rodeo.

Company Photos

Sharing a chair and our stories.

Leather Tooling. It's fun.

Mr. Brandon's company.

More comments from the campers...

Company D

"My favorite part of this camp is the 19th century baseball game. My counselors are Mr. Brandon and Ms. Amelia. They are great!" Jillian

"Today was a great day. I had a lot of fun. I learned about the Buffalo Soldiers and I got to go on a fun jeep ride." Noah

"I learned that the Buffalo Soldiers ate beef jerky and they built log barracks and they had to wear two coats - one heavy and one light." Franklin

"What I liked today was hanging out with my new friends and horseback riding." Trissa

"I really liked learning about the Buffalo Soldiers." Skyler

"My favorite activity for today was horseback riding." Lacie

"It was cool learning about the Buffalo Soldiers." Alyssa

Here's what the kids had to say about Buffalo Soldier day....

Company C

"I liked the horseback riding, the jeep ride and learning about the Buffalo Soldiers." Madelyn

"I learned a lot today. I loved the jeep ride and David, my counselor, is really fun." Syd

"I had the most fun riding horses today. My favorite room in Commanche Hall is the dining room." Taylor

"I learned about the Buffalo Soldiers." Angelina

"I loved the old-fashioned baseball game that we all played." Joe

"All of the kids went on the jeep ride today and we saw where the Cheyenne Outbreak happened." Kevin

"What fun the third day of camp was!" Josie

Saluting the flag

Doing our drills.

Learning about the Buffalo Soldiers from Mr. Ron

Mr. Tom Buecker talks about the fort.

Hanging out with Ms. Tessa

Kevin, Franklin and Michael before

their dance performance.

Playing shinney - A Plains Indian ball game

Jillian, Taylor and Syd

G
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F
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In formation.

American Indian Day

What a full day we had today! Here's what some of the kids had to say....

Company A

"My favorite thing I did was fishing. I like camp because I'm learning a lot of history." Katie

"The most interesting thing today was learning about the Indians." Amos

"Yes, to marching and fishing!" Hoksila

"I have been having so much fun at camp. I've met lots of new people." Brittney

"I learned about the Civil War and the Red Cloud Agency." Madeline

"The hike today was long but I learned about the Red Cloud Agency." Jared

"I love camp" Haley

Company B

"I really like the camp. It is fun." J.R.

"Today I caught a fish." Nathaniel

"Yesterday we learned drills, it was fun." Kylie

"I have made new friends here at camp." Bryttnee

"I like this camp because we get to learn how different cultures lived and we get to have fun." Andrea

"The reason why I liek camp is because the people seem to like me for who I am." Natasha

"This camp rocks. I like this camp a lot." Josie

After our tour of the fort, we had a meeting and introduced everyone. Mr. Rick talked to us about the Old Stories, New Voices camp and its goals. Then Mr. Lawrence, the camp director talked to us about expectations for the week.

After the meeting we all went to bed. Whew we were all tired.

Tomorrow is American Indian day. We are going to learn all about the American Indians who lived here. We are going to hear the music, learn about the dances of the Sioux Lakota and eat Indian food. In the afternoon we are going to go for a hike, fish, play shinny (an American Indian game) and try our hand at archery. It is going to be a very full day.

After dinner we had a wonderful horse-drawn wagon tour of the entire fort. It was a great finish to a great day.

Movin' In

In our t-shirts and hats. Lookin' good

We are living in Comanche Hall for the week. We love it! We all have comfortable beds, bathrooms and the best thing is that we are all together under one roof.

Comanche Hall

Nebraska camp begins!

We all arrived at beautiful Comanche Hall at Ft. Robinson State Park on Monday, August 11 at 5pm. Mr. Lawrence, our director, put us into four companys. Company A is headed by Mr. David and Ms. Katie; Company B is Ms. Tessa and Mr. Ezra; Company C is Mr. Patrick and Ms. Linn and Company D is Mr. Brandon and Ms. Amelia.

Graduation!

You would have thought five years ago that I was going crazy

Over a hundred kids to this day,

and I'm still not getting lazy.

Some of the best counselors to this day, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Booker

these guys taught me a lot, especially how to be the "good looker"

Ms. Hultin averaged a new lingo each year.

You would've thought with all the Riggs, they would have cracked the first tear.

It never fails me, we get great kids each round

12 years of this camp, and they still make the same sound.

Whether they are the big kids to the little,

quite to the loud, mean to the nicest,

They all make me proud.

And I am happy to say whatever company I'm in.

All you kids are champions, and you all deserve to win.

So remember this week, remember everything you learned

for you are the future and this what you have earned.

Arthur Laster, Old Stories, New Voices camp counselor 8/07/08

Comments on the day from campers....

"I like the Sand Dunes! I learned that the dunes were created by the wind. They are huge and I think that is funny that the wind created the dunes" Eugene


"I made it to the top of the Sand Dunes" Gabriel

Climb to Glory! We climbed the Great Sand Dunes!

Wednesday afternoon we drove to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and pitched our tents. We then got to meet some really cool park rangers who taught us about bears, clouds, surviving in the woods and lots of other stuff.

After our cookout dinner we had a big bonfire and a ranger sang us some songs. Then Mr. Booker sang his silly moose song. It was then time to go to our tents and go to sleep. It rained a little while we were in our tents, but we stayed warm.

This morning we got up early, had breakfast and then began to climb the biggest sand dune in the park. It was really hard work and took two hours. But every single one of us made it to the top.

We are swimming now and tonight we are going to have a talent show. Tomorrow we graduate.

HISPANO & BUFFALO SOLDIER DAY

Wow, what a busy day we had on Tuesday! We learned a l ot about the Hispano culture and then we also met two Buffalo Soldiers who told us all about themselves.

We started the day by learning about the Hispanic arts of the San Luis Valley. We painted retablos, carved santos and weaved. We had taco salad for lunch and then we made adobe, learned about the special plants that grow in the valley that are used for curing illnesses, and then we met a woman who told us all about wool and weaving. She also brought three of her goats so we could try milking them. That was hard!

At lunch we had two musicians play beautiful Spanish music for us. We all got up and danced. That was a blast.

After lunch we began to learn about the Buffalo Soldiers who lived here at the Fort. We marched and did drills. We played old time baseball - the way the soldiers played it 100 years ago - after dinner.

The day ended with a sing-along of Civil War songs. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we are off to the Sand Dunes.