Midwest Tree Climbing

In one word… MAGICAL
I took my summer camp kids here with «high» hopes of a nature adventure, and it was nothing short of my most elaborate dreams.
We arrived to a big house in the middle of the «forest» aka country… and instead of being cooked and eaten by the evil witch, my little Hansels & Gretels had the time of their lives!
We were greeted with an assortment of basketballs (& hoop), soccer balls, wiffle balls, tennis balls, badminton supplies, frisbees, even somethin along the lines of croquet supplies! Of course within minutes they had expelled the majority of them into the surrounding bushes and trees, but the wonderful owners just laughed and said not to worry about retrieving them!
Then, half the kids went on a nature walk with one of our instructors to a small lake, where they saw a deer! This delighted my little city slickers already.
Meanwhile, half the kids got to climb «Goliath» the enormous tree in their yard — the real reason why we came. They were safely harnassed up, and while not many of them made it all the way to the top, they were delighted just the same, and wanted to go again and again!
While they weren’t climbing, hiking, or using the latrine/​outhouse/​port a potty (ohh. what an experience! they sure overcame that fear! many of them for the first time) they were happily passing the time scooping up frogs from a pond (and trying to sneak them back on the bus), picking apples and then feeding them to the three horses that were on the property! They never tired of it.
And then for lunch time, we were allowed to grill, and made them some bananas w/​chocolate & marshmallows and corn on the cob.
They did not want to leave. It was such a special experience for them, as they don’t get the opportunity to be in glorified nature like that.
And, I got to climb up with my co-​workers. AND YES!!! WE made it to the top! Where we got to see the looks of awe and disbelief on the kiddies faces. It could not be beat.
The people who ran this for us were sooo generous in every way. I couldn’t and wouldn’t change a thing.