We had such a fantastic time camping with the Not Back To School Camp-out group. We camped for 2 nights during the week that public school kids 'go back to school'. We didn't. We went camping with other homeschoolers. How cool is that! The group reserved a group site near the Sandy River outside of Portland at a campground called Oxford Park. The space was close to town, yet far enough away to not feel like you're close to town. We were one of over 20 homeschool families to camp together. We knew just 2 other families, but during the time there we made new friends and had a blast.
We set up tent next to our my friend Amanda and her 2 twin daughters Izzy and Maddy. Next to us was another woman and her two daughters. Other tents and families were dispersed all over an expansive tree covered camping space. During the day the kids played, climbed trees, road bikes, practiced walking along the slack line Amanda brought, ate camp food, played by the river, visited, napped, and did some organized activities. At night we gathered by the fire to visit, roast marshmellows, the kids played with glow in the dark sticks, ran around playing with flashlights, and had a ton of fun.
It was also VERY cold. End of the summer camping means the weather was changing and we did not prepare as well as we should have. Next year, we'll pack warmer clothes and bedding.
One of the highlights of the camp out was the ranger guided informational adventure and tour. The group of campers gathered together to follow a ranger where we played some group games and activities and she taught us about the animals that live in the area. We walked down to the river where she gave a short lesson of geology and discussed the different rocks that were there by the river. She also pointed out animal track. We saw where a beaver had came up on the shore, broke off some branches of a bush and we even saw a tree that had clearly been chewed on by a beaver.
