more mice...

well, it's a new week. a new groups of kids. 120 of them, in fact. they're only here for three days of camp, but i can already tell that it's going to be a choatic couple days. it started off rough...classes this afternoon weren't as smooth as i'd like...but some of that is to be expected.
i taught pond lab twice this afternoon. as i was setting up for it, i just stopped and thought about how awesome it is that this is my job....that it's my job to work outside....it's my job to be in the mountains. whoa...it's great! the two groups of kids i had were mostly uninterested, didn't want to listen, had chaperones that just contributed to the distractions (which was really frustrating)...but we got through it. i could see a couple of them were into it and were fascinated by all the organisms they get to dig out of the pond and check out under the microscope, and that's what i like to see. i have to do the same thing over and over as i teach this class, but i can tell that i won't get tired of seeing them get excited about it.
then tonight, i taught owl archeology. quite interesting. as the kids were disecting owl pellets and finding bones of mice and birds and moles and who knows what else....all of the sudden the kids started screaming. i heard someone say....it's a real mouse!! having seen many other mice in that room before, i wasn't surprised. one of the dad's immediately began to try to catch it. the kids totally got into it. i looked as one of the teachers from the school groups jumped up on a counter and was squirming and laughing. everyone was giggling and trying to get a peek at the mouse, but it was hiding behind a stack of chairs. it took awhile...but finally it was caught! it was a tiny little thing. kind of cute actually. kind of. the dad was holding it up by the tail and kids were flashing pictures left and right. it was so funny. then he let it outside...which means it'll probably just find it's way right back in. but oh well. the teacher who had planted herself on higher ground came up to me and was apologizing that it had interrupted the class...but she said that this was already one of the highlights of their time here. it was just fun to watch them all get into it. it definitely added some excitement. :) i wonder if i'll ever stop having mouse stories. maybe one day i'll just get so comfortable with them around. i don't know, we'll see about that one. actually yesterday in our cabin there was a lizard. that's a new one!
alright...well...i'm off to bed.
later,
brooke.