I Survived

Sure, there's nothing like getting up at 5am, and get about 10 dozen 5th graders on a 2 hour boat ride to Catalina with luggage and sleeping bags.

And there's nothing like riding on a boat with said kids and a healthy percentage learn the hard way that they get seasick.

But yes, I survived. I realize now that I was getting anxious about things that weren't such a big deal and was unprepared for other things.

For some reason, I was really dreading the snorkeling. I was already generally cold and the thought of paddling around in 50-60 degree water (yes, even in wet suits) was making me miserable. But surprisingly, it wasn't so bad. The water was indeed freezing and seeped into the wet suit and no, I didn't have it in me to follow the suggestion of warming my suit up by turning it into a warm pee-koozie. But I was pretty occupied the whole time. I brought a girl to shore after she felt uncomfortable being in deeper water and another boy who felt nauseated clutched a boogie board that I would help push around. I was surprised at how much swimming I did--which was a little hindered in a tight wetsuit--maybe that warmed me up a bit. And I was surprised at how deep the water got and, yes, it was pretty cool seeing the kelp forests and fish.

What I didn't think about was how loud and antsy 10 year olds get. Fortunately the camp totally anticipated chaperones like me:

The camp called it "the Caffeination Station". I made multiple trips to this oasis daily. I'm sure it saved me.

My girl was bummed that I was the "mean mom" who would yell at the kids to pay attention to the instructor. I corrected her and said, no I'm a strict mom. She didn't appreciate the amendment.

The other part I didn't think about was escorting any of the ten girls in my cabin to the bathroom during the quiet hours of 9pm-6am. In the middle of the night, a girl would fiercely whisper that she had to go to the bathroom. I'd stumble out with my shoes half on and walk them to the common bathrooms and stand half-dozing and slack jawed until they were done and stumble back to the cabin. Surprisingly, I fell back asleep pretty quickly.

As we left Catalina, it was raining. Dosed up with Bonine, I was prepared for the rocky ride back. I passed this setup by another school on a lower deck:

Kids watching a DVD, facing backwards, on a boat in choppy, rainy waters. You bet your buns I hightailed it out of there.

I helped pass out saltines with this mom who had this cool contraption for dosing out ginger ale to our kids:

We made it back in one wet and soggy piece. Hooray! Actually, I'm looking forward to reviewing the pictures I took because surprise, surprise--after all that anxiety about going, I'm really glad I went.