Just Kidding Around....

We've arrived at OSRUI!

My oldest child spent 2 weeks here and we picked him up on Sunday, and then returned a few hours later (with freshly laundered clothes for him, thank you Sun Laundromat) to move into our rooms and begin our family's time at camp. I will be serving as faculty for Kibbutz haTzofim, a section of OSRUI that spends most of its time outdoors, and lives in large platform tents.

This is a new experience for me and my family! For the past six years, I've worked with Kallah, a similarly-aged unit (kids in about 4-7th grades) but living in cabins and eating their meals indoors.

I knew things were different right from the start:

At OSRUI, the "Downstairs" units live in tents while the "Upstairs" units live in cabins. As you can see, we take this division pretty seriously!

Another major difference - you might have noticed that the full name of this unit is "KIBBUTZ haTzofim" - and we take that Kibbutz concept as far as possible. These campers work together to prepare meals, work in the garden, and perhaps best of all, take care of the animals:

Yep, no kidding around (oh, it never gets old with me), we have goats and even a cow. I hear there are some bunnies around but I haven't seen them. I'll keep ya posted.

Our campers in Tzofim get all the other fun parts of camp, too - they venture "upstairs" to the pool, the waterfront, the arts center, the sports center, etc...but it's just a little bit different from what I'm used to in the past. And you know what? It's really exciting for me to step outside of my element! My kids are also enjoying the picnic tables and the goats, so hopefully the fun will continue!

More updates as camp continues....