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.

Ute Indian Day/Monday

Today we studied American Indians. We ate all kinds of Indian foods such as pemmican, Indian stew and Indian fry bread. We met a Ute Indian woman who told us all about her culture - she even taught us Ute words!

We learned that the Utes when they killed a bison would use every part of the animal. They used the bladder for a water jug and the stomach for a cooking pot. We got to see and touch these things!

After lunch we went to the beautiful Trinchera ranch and took a hike. We saw all kinds of different animal prints.

We met a really cool guy named Ben who is Osage. He talked about being a modern day Indian.
Then he danced for us and taught us to dance. It was a really busy day.


Here are what some of the campers had to say about Indian Day (Monday)....


COMPANY A

"My favorite thing was meeting Mr. Ezra (my counselor). Austyn

"Riding the horse was so fun and a little scary. It's very fun here." Olivia

"My favorite things were playing games, meeting new people, riding horses and eating." Sissi

"I like old time games, learning about the Utes, the yoyo and learning the Ute words." Leonard

"I liked riding the horses, learn about Ute Indians, nature walk, putting up the flag." Dominique

"My favorite thing was old time games. I also like doing the drills." Trahavonie

"The most fun I had ws the old school games. It was a hot day but we still had fun. I was the best day of my life!" Jessica

COMPANY B

"Today we had a Ute speaker. She told us that in the Ute family the woman is the boss." Tommy

"I learned that the Utes believe that we came from the Bear. The Bear is a sacred animal to them." Emma

"It was a fun day today. I learned a lot from the Ute Indian woman!" Lissette

"Today was fun. I learned some words in Ute. This camp is cool." Erika

"We learned how the Utes would kill a bison and then use every part of it." D'Morea

"I learned all about the Indians. The woman was boss in the house." Luis

"We saw a Ute baby cradle board." Jesse



COMPANY C

"Dinner was good!" Louis

"What I liked about camp so far is learning about other people." Sierrah

"My favorite part of the day was that Ms. Stacy (the Ute speaker) taught us lots and lots of new things." Pilar

"Company C is a good team. Thank you Mr. Brandon and Ms. Holly." Sha La'sha

"Today I learned that bison is the real name for the buffalo and Indians use every part of the bison." Matthew

"Today was very good because we saw some horses and we looked for deer prints in the ground." Fernando

COMPANY D

"I learned Ute words today." Tristan

"I love the military drills! Although I lost 3 times, I still had fun." Leondre

"My counselors - Patrick and David - took us on a hike today. We saw a lot of things." Eledina

"Some activities that I have done today are: finding animal tracks, touching the horses and the really cool t-shirts we wear." Roneesha

"Today I went on a hike. It was fun. We also met a real Indian." Claudia

"I learned the horses come in different types. I also learned respect and to be honest and respectful." Jerveil

"I learned how it feels to go on a hike. I also learned about horses." Marquise

"My company is company D - Dynomite! I am having a lot of fun." Christian

First impressions

Rae'ven says "The fort is old and rusty-looking. I am in Company A and Ms. Tessa is nice and I have some friends who are in my company." I learned how to do a drill team."


"Old Stories, New Voices is fun but...when you are away from home you get homesick," says Olivia. Tomorrow Rae'ven and I and all of Company A get to ride the horses bright and early. We are excited!

Colorado Camp begins!

We are off. We had a great drive from Denver. We stopped at Cuerno Verde by Colorado City for lunch. Then we arrived at the fort at 2:00 p.m. The girls are all sleeping in the Infantry barracks, the boys are in the Civil War Exhibit building.

We got into our companies Ms. Tessa and Mr. Ezra are the company leaders of Company A.
Ms. Katie and Mr. Arthur are the leaders of Company B. Company C is Ms. Hollly and Mr. Brandon and Company D is Mr. David and Mr. Patrick.

The companies explored the fort and then decorated big sugar cookies for a snack. Then it started to rain! Really, really hard so we all went into the Fort Theatre and met Mr. Booker and Mr. Ron who are Buffalo Soldiers. They taught us how to get into formation and told us how hard it was to be a Buffalo Soldier. Along with how tough it was to just be a soldier at a fort in the middle of nowhere, Buffalo Soldiers had to fight prejudice. We are going to learn more about Buffalo Soldiers in the next few days.

Bowling Party

On May 15 the Denver kids and counselors met for the second time

before camp in August.

We had a bowling party at Elitch Lanes and boy

did we have fun! Here are just a few pictures

that Mr. Brian (our photographer) took of us all having fun!!

Some of us are better bowlers than others.....

But the important thing was that we all began to work together as teams and to get to know each other and our counselors.

We bowled a couple of games and then finished our time together by eating hot dogs and fries.

Next time we all see each other will be in July at the museum. The parent meeting will be on July 19 during the day with an activity at the musuem beforehand. Stay tuned for more info....

In the meantime have a great summer and we will all see you soon!

Summer is a comin'

We are getting ready for summer and we are so excited for all of the camps....
Here is what is happening this summer with Old Stories, New Voices.

• The Texas camp is from July 20-27. It is going to be at beautiful Ft. McKavett again. Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Ezra, Mr. Isaiah, Ms. Katie and Ms. Bobbe are all planning on driving to the fort to help with the Texas camp.
• The Colorado camp is from August 3-8 at Fort Garland. We are cutting the camp short by one day so that the Colorado staff can drive up to Nebraska to bring Old Stories to Fort Robinson, Nebraska.
• The Pennsylvania camp is August 5-7 at Meadowcroft.
• The Nebraska camp is August 11-15 at Fort Robinson.

The Denver kids have met once and are meeting again this Thursday, May 15 for an old-fashioned bowling party. Stay tuned for pictures from the party.

Fort McKavett, Texas

Rick Manzanares, Lawrence Pacheco and Bobbe Hultin took a road trip to Ft. McKavett, Texas recently to meet with their NEH partners. A great time was had by all, plus we accomplished a lot. Dates for the next three years were set for camps in Pennsylvania, Texas, Colorado and Nebraska. Here are the dates for 2008: Meadowcroft, Pennsylvania - July 13-19; Ft. Mckavett, Texas - July 20-26; Ft. Garland, Colorado - Aug. 4-8; Ft. Robinson, Neb.

Aug. 11-15.

Some of the highlights of the Texas trip were seeing a real live armadillo!

Rick catching some zzz's on the porch!

Sunset at the fort

"Haiku poem

I hate big spiders.

Some spiders are fat and juicy.

And spiders hate me."

Obediah O., Company F.

"Today all of the battalion went to the Great Sand Dunes. You notice finally after an hour of hiking that you've been moving backwards, then when you developed a technique and start to move you climb for an hour then fall over the edge of the dunes and tumble 100 feet and can't get out. But I have to thank the counselors for a helping hand and high spirits. I would also like to acknowledge other campers without them we could never have made it as far as we did. Farewell and DON'T PANIC."

Will G., Company F.