Polar Bear Plunge and Zip Lining

We had a perfect week in the Parks!  With great weather, water levels and temperatures finally at a tolerable stage we hit the river, lakes, and trees for some great fun! 

Tuesday

Chilly water!

This past Tuesday we took our TES and Fox groups down to Pipeline to do some Cat fishing and some “polar bear plunge” swimming!  The water is starting to warm up a bit so we found it to be the perfect opportunity!  The kids had a blast floating in the rapids and we heard lots of squeals as they entered the water for the first time.  The cat fishing wasn't the best but we still managed to catch a few 5 pound blue cats!

Thursday

On Thursday we have a big group of St. Christopher Kindergartener’s.  With this group we have been trying to focus on a lot of wildlife and hiking.  This week we took them to University of Richmond Lake.  While at the Lake we split into 3 groups and would rotate.  We had a group fishing, hiking and one group was fish printing!  We saw lots of wildlife and caught a ton of bluegill.  The kids loved feeding the ducks and watching out for the large snapping turtle as we were fishing!

 

Friday

Lifting the Zip-liner up the rope!

 

Friday’s group went zip-linning with Riverside Outfitters this week.  We headed over to Forest Hill Park where everything was perfect for the ride of their lives!  They had it set up so the kids not zipping would be helping pull the zipper up the rope.  Once they were too the top the RO guide would lower them down at their requested speed.  At the beginning the speed most requested was super slow, but towards the end of the day we heard lots of “faster, faster” screams as the zipped down!

Trying out the balance beam

Saturday

On Saturday we had the privilege of setting up a table at the Dominion Riverocks on Brown’s Island.  There is fun for every age with kayaking races, ultimate air dog competitions, music and much more.  We set up our fishing target and our new biking balance beam to let kids and adults try it out!  The beam looks a little scary at first sight but once you get the hang of it, you usually never want to stop riding over it!  We had a great turn out despite the crazy weather!

Sunday

Not a bad catch for his first fish!

Sunday we had one of our famous fishing birthday parties.  For the parties we will take groups out to a private pond to fish or sometimes we will even raft down the river if it’s warm enough!  This weekend we had a group of boy’s head out to a private pond in Hanover.  They had a great birthday and had one of the boys catch his first fish EVER!