The Leaning Teepees: Longhouse

How-How faithful followers of the Leaning Teepees! Today marked the end of the Leaning Teepees first trip to Longhouse - a weekend camping (in cabins) trip to Camp Thunderbird in South Carolina. The weather in the days leading up to Longhouse did not look promising, and in the early Saturday morning trip to the camp, there was a slight drizzle. But the Indian gods were looking favorably upon us and provided for an overcast morning to tackle our group activities. After arriving and unpacking sleeping bags, pillows and clothes for the day ahead in our cabin - a 20 bunk room, the eager dads and braves headed out for an opening meeting with the Yguides staff. We learned we would be in rotations to do a number of exciting activities, which included Archery, Riflery, Game time and Canoeing. But our first activity was to make our name

necklaces, which will hold beads and bear claws earned by attending meetings in the upcoming years. Stamping our Indian names into leather was a lot of fun. We then headed to the rifle range to shoot BB rifle guns at targets. We learned to practice safety on the range, and had many sharp-shooters in our tribe. Canoeing and Kayaking allowed us to explore portions of Lake Wylie and see where "The Blob" gets set up in the warmer months (For the novices, the Blob is an inflatable pillow which propels kids into the lake after someone jumps on it behind them. Ok, most of us were novices...)

Each meal time was spent with our tribe in the dining hall, where sandwiches and drinks allowed us to relax after a busy morning. It also allowed the tribe to better learn one another's Indian name, as well as real names. Earning a feather for our vests by doing so will be no easy task for the braves.

Our afternoon activities include games on the playground - a lot of running to work off excess energy, followed by a visit to Star Lab, an inflatable planetarium, which was perfect rest time for the dad's after all the running. Our last activity was Archery, which was under a bright sun!

Dinner in the dining hall consisted of fried chicken, washed down with cake - although some braves chose to reverse the process. They deserved it after an exhausting day (ok - the dad's did too!). A great highlight of Longhouse came after dinner, where all the attendees gathered for a game of Captain's Coming - a twist on Simon Says. Being rookies to Longhouse, the members of the Leaning Teepees tribe exited pretty quickly - but we'll be better prepared next time. The winners were awarded a coveted patch, but don't worry, we earned three different patches this weekend - a black feather for attending our first longhouse, a special Fall 2008 Longhouse patch, and a Camp Thunderbird patch. Our vests are beginning to look better. Of course, there was

one patch to be awarded on Sunday morning, where the competition would be fierce - the Snoring Bear patch for the loudest snorer in the tribe from the night before. But before that, we participated in Firewalk, a special bonding outdoor ceremony where dad's and braves exchanged bear claws , and our special memories from the day. Our tribe proudly announced our presence with authority by sharing our chant with the other tribes. And...we were entertained by the bonfire by the Chief of Longhouse shooting a fire-arrow....directly into a tree! I think he ought to be awarded a special patch for that effort! The evening ended with warm cookies and lights out by 10 pm. We were a tired bunch...

...who woke up quite early to the chatter of little braves from their bunks! Breakfast may have been at 8:00, but we were ready much earlier. The Leaning Teepees were a prompt bunch this weekend. Everett "Red Fox"

Burgin was awarded the Snoring Bear patch (but we know he had competition!). After attending one more brief gathering where the braves gave part of their hearts to the dads, it was off to free activity time - a chance to try our hand once more at Archery, Riflery or Canoeing - before heading home.