We had an adventurous week and most of it was led by unit director Dave Miller. The lucky fellow was able to spend his birthday over in Seattle with the Seattle Seahawks.
Dave took 14 boys to Seahawks training camp where they saw the 2019 team working out and getting ready for the upcoming season. Port Angeles youth came along and several of the kids came away with autographs.
The girls were certainly not left out, because the very next day Dave headed back to Seattle with a group of 13 girls and met up with the women from Seattle Storm at Swedish Hospital. There they heard from female doctors, saw a mannequin simulated birth in the learning lab, and were taught CPR.
Our club girls enjoyed time rubbing elbows with the WNBA athletes and were impressed at the kindness of Alicia Clark and her willingness to spend time together.
Besides all the fun on the road, the club was non-stop with activity …
Morning camp
Our morning campers tackled engineering this week with lots of building. They focused on building bridges and what it takes to keep a structure strong while spanning distances.
The highlight of the week was up-cycling their own creation. With the collection of recycled materials, empty toilet paper and paper towel tubes, shoe boxes and the like, our campers were able to collaboratively construct a large bridge.
They loved building all week and begged for their photos to be taken with their creations.
The week concluded with a trip to Joyce. The bridge there that crosses the Elwha River has a pedestrian bridge below the deck for car traffic, and our members could see the construction and hear the rattle of vehicles above.
Brain Gain/ Positive Action
We always have a lot of fun during Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week.” Tessa, our program director, has a passion for sharks and it the kids know it.
All things happening in the club related to the scary creatures of the sea. On Day One, kids were surprised during daily snack to find gummy sharks in their bowl of gold fish crackers. This kicked off the week and set the tone for a creative, silly and learning week.
In the art room the kids made their own blue slime, created and painted sharks from paper plates. In the gym they played fun tag games with obstacles. In the games room they had a club assembly, did Shark trivia games and watched “Shark Tales” on the big screen.
A favorite of the members is Water Play Day when they can bring their swimsuits to the club for a day of wet fun, so with our shark theme and warm weather our kids got the chance this week and spent a day tossing water balloons, squirting guns and playing with the hose.
Junior Rangers
With all the sun and heat leading up to this trip, our kids couldn’t have been more excited for their Olympic National Park destination: Sol Duc Hot Springs. Many of our kids don’t get the opportunity to swim in outdoor pools, so they were thrilled to be able to take a dip in one of four pools.
The members set out on the trail to Sol Duc Falls and took in the unique view from above stream before heading back.
On the trail, park rangers shared how the mineral springs are made from snow melt and rain mixing with gasses from cooling volcanic rock creating the park attraction of water around 100 degrees.
The name Sol Duc was derived from an Indian word meaning bubbling water and was known to the Quileute Tribe for its curing properties. Known for the warm water, our kids spent quite a bit of time was spent in the fresh water pool trying to keep cool.
