Teen Ranch Essay

Name: Suzanne                                  Date: Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Teacher: Miss Babb

When Grade Sevens Go to Teen Ranch

What do the grade sevens do when they go to Teen Ranch? When grade sevens go to Teen Ranch they do lots of fun and exciting activities that bring everyone closer together. They do things such as morning activities, free time, and board game night. Morning activities include skating, horseback riding, rock climbing, and map orienteering. During free time students can trampoline, visit the horses, or go on Team Hammock. On board game night, students bring board games, play them with their friends, and eat snacks. Why not join the fun? Teen Ranch is an awesome place to be.

When grade sevens go to Teen Ranch, they do morning activities. These include skating, horseback riding, rock climbing, and map orienteering. Skating was one of my favourite things to do at Teen Ranch. I used to take figure skating lessons for several years, but I had to quit a few years ago. I'd only gone skating a few times since then. I still enjoy skating which is why I really loved being on the ice at Teen Ranch. I was very glad when I did a spin on Thursday. Since I hadn't gone skating in a while, I forgot how to do a sin, but I can do one again! I loved horseback riding at Teen Ranch. It was really exciting, and I felt so tall! I rode a horse named Cola. She was an excellent horse. She hardly needed any instruction, although she tried to eat grass. I thought it was really cute that Cola would look back at me every time we stopped. When we went trotting, I was bumping so much; I think I was at least two inches off the saddle! Unfortunately, it was raining, so my pants, my coat, and Cola all got soaked! Rock climbing was awesome! It may be a little scary, but it's fun. I made it to the top of the easier wall and tried the hard wall. I couldn't make it to the top of the hard wall though. There was too much swinging around and the rocks on the hard wall were really bumpy; like granite. Despite these difficulties, Rhea made it to the top. The bouldering wall looked really scary, there were no harnesses only mats, but I was excited to try. I did a few easy courses, but didn't try any hard ones. I would've been almost upside-down! The bouldering wall is like the inside of a roof. It starts like a regular wall, but as it goes up, it starts to lean in. Map orienteering was tiring! Rhea and I ran all over Teen Ranch looking for letters on yellow plates stuck on trees and buildings. We had a map of where all of them were, and on the map beside each location, there was a number. On the piece of paper, we marked the letters found next to the corresponding numbers. We found all of them except two. We looked where it said on the map, but we still could not find them. There was also a different map for horse breeds. There were different maps for each pair and more signs then there were on one map, so we kept on finding signs that weren't meant for our map. I was very confusing. We found nine or ten that were ours.

            When grade sevens go to Teen Ranch they have free time. Free time includes, going on the trampolines, visiting the horses, and hanging out on Team Hammock. On the trampoline I can almost do a flip. I land on my back instead of my feet. Zack S. could do a flip and land on his feet. Kyle, Manny and Kevin were bouncing on their back, knees, bellies, knees, and stood again; all in sync! They were good! I can also bounce on my back, and bounce back on my feet again! It feels like I'm flying! Sometimes I visit the horses during free time. I love picking of the grass and feeding Denim. Denim is a baby horse who is a light brown, like hazelnut. Timbit is a small, small, small, small, small horse. I'd say Timbit is about three feet tall. The thing is Timbit will never grow any bigger! It's because of the breed that Timbit is. Timbit is mocha brown and Timbit's mane covers her face most of the time. Timbit is usually far away from the fence, but Denim is right there, getting all the attention and food. He is so spoiled! Miraculously, one morning, Timbit came close to the fence. My friends and I were there and some of my friends were feeding Timbit apples. Denim saw us with Timbit and came over. Denim chased Timbit back to where Timbit usually was; away from the fence, then Denim came back to us. Denim either did this because he was jealous because he was used to getting all the attention, or Denim was trying to protect Timbit from us because he thought we were going to harm Timbit. I think Denim was jealous because we were trying to throw apples near Timbit for her to eat, and Timbit was eating it, but Denim pushed Timbit out of the way and started eating that apple. Most of the time during free time, I laid down on Team Hammock. Team Hammock is great for relaxing, talking with friends, or even reading a book. Team Hammock is a trampoline frame without the bouncy part or the net. Instead, there's a web of nets in the middle.

            When grade sevens go to Teen Ranch they have board game night. On board game night, the board games brought to Teen Ranch get played in the basement of the dining hall. I had brought Scrabble Slam, playing cards, Q-bitz, and the game my mom made, Encore. Ginelle had brought Monopoly. Victoria, Ginelle, Joanne, Rhea, Abigail, a few other people, and I played, but it was Monopoly City and it was more confusing than regular Monopoly. We decided we would just play regular Monopoly on the Monopoly City board. Later on, (this was not very far into the game) we got bored and played my game, Q-bitz. A game where there are small trays with cubes with different patterns on each side, but all of the cubes are the same. There are also cards, and players are supposed to make the design on the card on their tray using the cubes. The first player to do so should call "Q-bitz!" and that player wins. Vanessa wanted me to complete a design in 20-30 seconds. I did it two times, but the other times were close. When we got bored of that, we played the game my mom had made, called Encore. The group is divided into two teams. That has the first team rolls the die and picks a card. The cards have six words on them, numbered 1-6. Whatever number is rolled, that team must think of a song that has the word that is numbered the same number that has been rolled. The team must think of the song, and sing the part of it with the word in it within the time limit of the hourglass. If they can, they gain a point. If they cannot think of a song, the other team may steal it for a point. When we played, we did not take account of the points. Daniela, Cherokee, Jordan, Rhea and I all played until board game night ended. Part of what made board game night great were the chips. They served sweet chilli heat Doritos. They are a little bit spicy, but it still tastes really good. Board game night was totally amazing.

            Teen Ranch is a really great place.  My experience at Teen Ranch was super fun and was educational. I got to practice my tricks on ice again, I learned how to ride a horse, I made it to the top of the climbing wall, my map reading skills increased, I went on a trampoline for the first time, I fed a horse, I played fun games with my friends, and had a fantastic time. I`m really hoping to go to Teen Ranch again one day.