This Is Their Theme Song

It's getting to be that point of the year. When we were at the pool yesterday, we discovered the pool is closing for the year this weekend. We also found out that it was the last week of summer camp in the park district. How did we find this out? Wellllll, it's possible the pool staff made an announcement on the PA system.

I'd often wondered how the lifeguards and pool staff felt about the campers. They come to the pool a few times a week for a couple hours at a time, trooping in by the dozens with a counselor or two in tow, to be released to the pool without strict supervision by the counselors. The campers were understandably a bit rowdy, and wow was it crowded. The first time they came in, I counted over 220 of them (with twenty-six counselors, a few of whom were obviously dedicated to special needs children as one on one aides). We left the pool shortly thereafter.

As 3pm approached on this last day, I found out the pool staff's true opinion.

They announced over that lovely PA system that works so effectively, "Ok campers! It's the last day of summer camp, and it's time to leave the pool. Start gathering up everything you have and go find your counselors. And as you're getting ready to go, we have a special song to play just for you!"

I wondered what song they were going to play. I remember being in high school on the last day of school where they'd play "School's Out for Summer." (That is the name of the song, right?) That said, it isn't a good fit for the last day of camp. I wracked my brains trying to think of what song they would play for the campers. Once the first few strains started up, I knew what it was....



I absolutely died laughing. Yep, I know exactly how the lifeguards and other pool staff feel about the campers now!

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This week, Mister Man has been at camp - his first "real" day camp. It was supposed to be a full day from 9am to 3pm, but not enough people registered for the full day, so they canceled the second half of the day. I was really proud of Mister Man when we found out about the change last week. He's been looking forward to this camp for months - he picked it out all by himself and chose to do the full day versus the half day option - but he took it in stride and didn't freak out.

Each day when we get to camp, he runs out of the car and into the building where his camp meets. And I do mean runs. I follow him and sign him in, but he's already busily ensconced in that day's activity by the time I finish with that. He's too busy to say good-bye.

So what has him so intrigued? It's a space camp. They build rockets and learn all sorts of facts about space - one of his favorite topics. After reading the description of the class, he fell in love. He was sure that he was going to build a rocket and discover The Unknown (which apparently is a planet that scientists know exists but have yet to actually discover).

I had a really hard time explaining to him that in a week long space camp, he was not in fact going to discover a planet. In fact, his rocket wouldn't make it into orbit at all. He would be lucky if it got 50 feet off the ground. That took a lot of convincing, but he finally understood - before the class started - that he was not going to be discovering any new planets.

He did build his rocket though, and today was launch day - with parents invited (and most showed up, although a very visible few did not).

They headed out to a field for the launches. Everyone had a rocket to launch, so there was a lot of waiting. Fortunately, they had a task. For each rocket that launched, they were to use an altimiter to determine how high the rockets went. It was pretty cool, actually.

When it was their turn, the children filled their rockets with water from the communal bin. Next was the walk out to put the rocket onto the "aquapod" before it was pumped to 50psi by the instructor.

Next, all the children had to check the skies to ensure they were clear. For the first few rockets, some of the children were concerned as an airplane was flying past. The instructor reassured them that no, the rocket would not interfere with the airplane's flight.

Once the all clear was given, the child pulled the ripcord, and the rocket flew into the air, releasing the parachute from the cone to help it float gently back to the ground. (Ok, so my camera doesn't take pictures fast enough to get any of the flight sadly. Yet another reason I need a fancy DSLR!)

He was so thrilled with all he learned, and there was a neat ceremony afterwards where each child was presented with a certificate of achievement. Mister Man is already talking about what he'll learn next year. He can't wait. And honestly, I can't wait either!