Mighty Lakota

Great Weekend at Mataguay!  It was the first time any of us camped there.  It turned out to be a great place.  Those of us that were early had a little bit of a hard time finding the place since it is so far off the beaten path.  That turned out to be the source of its charm.  Mataguay has a small creek running through it which was the source of water for the Indians that had inhabited the area for thousands of years.

 
As always, the Lakota members all chipped in to make it a fun camp out.  Some highlights were the fishing, the laid back schedule, building a medman and medgirl scarecrow, decorating the popup, archery and BB Guns, the beautiful starlit sky  and ,of course, trick or treating after the nation campfire.  The girls got a chance to use the personalized plates that they created at the first pre-camp meeting and we all were sporting our new Lakota wear.

What a camp out!  Del Mar beach is a great venue and the weather was awesome.  We had well over 50 people in the Lakota camp including seven new dads and seven new princesses.  Hoya Hoya to:  Robert and Ella Boladian, Tony and Taryn Castaneda, David and Reese Desmond, Paul and Anna English, Brand and Mia Humphrey, Art and Katie Miguel, and Barry and Cristina Pedler.  Thanks to the tribe for welcoming them Lakota style. 

The first night set the stage with the nation dinner followed by talking around the campfire and a card game that provided the quote of the weekend, “this gentleman right here”.    Lakota represented well and the various nation events.  Thanks to Sachem Dan and Greg for their leadership in the sand castle competition.  We definitely  moved the most sand. Rookies Art and Tony dominated the early rounds and lost by only one point in final round of the hard-fought bocce tournament.   We did well in the fire and ice competition taking first place.    Congratulations to Rachel Truttmann and Rilee Grau for their second and third place finishes in the hula hoop contest.  They make it look so easy.  Sunday morning revelry was a lot of fun.  The girls were great sports.  Hopefully they’ll all wake up as easily on Monday morning for school

As usual we ate pretty well in the Lakota camp.  I heard at least one dad say that  he had seven tacos.  Probably not a camp record but still pretty impressive.

 It is great to see everyone pitch in to make it such a fun weekend for all.

Lakota Rocks!

What a fantastic ending of the 2008-2009 season for the Wildcat nation at Fiesta Island during the weekend of June 12-14. The Mighty Lakota showed the strength and commitment to the Adventure Princess program with 18 dads and 27 princesses participating, again the largest tribe in the nation. Our good Chumash friends assigned us terrific beach front property for our teepees with panoramic view to two nights of spectacular Sea World fireworks. Fiesta Island was a surprisingly pleasant venue to most of us who had not camped there before, and the princesses loved playing with sand, dirt and water all weekend long.

The biggest highlights for Lakota were the much anticipated Wildcat Cardboard Boat Race and Regatta. To the Hawaiian theme of the weekend, New Lakota Chief Slow Cheetah lead the Engineering and Construction of a fantastic Outrigger Cardboard Boat, and Sachem Blue Wolf lead the artistic effort of decorating the boat. Many other Lakota dads helped building this vessel that turned out to become the best boat in the Wildcat nation proven by the fact that Lakota won the race with clear margin. We were awarded with pride and a diploma stating: “Lakota Rocks!!”

As always, we had excellent eats throughout the weekend and played some great rounds of Euchre. We were also fortunate to have Lakota’s very first Chief, Sachem Rocky camping and playing cards with us for a portion of the weekend.

As this was the last campout of the season, the Lakota leadership role was handed over to Assistant Chief Slow Cheetah. I like to thank the entire Lakota tribe and the Wildcat nation for the support during my time as Lakota Chief. It has been fun and rewarding for me and my three daughters. I also like to thank our five bounce out princesses, Chloe, Celina, Madeleine, Sarah, and Riley for their time with the Mighty Lakota.

Lakota Rocks!!!!!

Sachem Hunting Eagle

A special thank you post to our Chief this year. He did a great job, brought tons of enthusiasm, championed a new cheeeeer and rallied the troops.

Check out yet ANOTHER Lakota win, this time at Fiesta Island in June.
Yes, Lakota Rocks… and so do you… Sachem.

Another laid back but enjoyable weekend for the 13 dads and 18 princesses that camped together at gorgeous Dos Picos the weekend of May 15-17. The princesses enjoyed riding their bikes and scooters throughout the weekend, as well as playing various games and picking bugs for Brave Beetle’s collection. Frequent visits of squirrels and the lovely crows that woke us up 5.30 in the mornings was enjoyable, but fortunately the 8 foot snake that the girls saw on Friday afternoon never came back to visit.

    
The highlight of the weekend for the princesses was clearly the super soaker water fight that later developed to a nasty tribal fight between dads, with a soaked Lakota chief Hunting Eagle being one of the big losers. The dads enjoyed great eats, a few games of Eucre and Washers, the latter primarily dominated by Colty and Sabella. Due to lack of artistic leadership and competitive instinct, we ended up with the “Most Uncomfortable Chief” award in the headdress competition. Sachem Chumbler, we miss you, please come back!! This was CC and Joe’s last campout as members of Lakota, and we like to thank them for all the great time together and hope they will come back for future family/alumni campouts.

Chief Hunting Eagle

The Mighty Lakota was a little light at Big Rock Creek with 7 dads and 12 princesses. However, those of us attending had a great time at this fantastic and historic site which used to be a retreat for Hollywood stars. Sleeping in tipi’s were new and cool for most of us. On Saturday, the younger princesses enjoyed the ropes courses and some of the older princesses enjoyed the largest zip line I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately our very own MedMan Matt was knocked down when he was spotting girls on the zip line, which earned him a blood bead and his very own zip line cheer.

      
Fishing rainbow trout was another highlight for some of the princesses, while some of the dads were able to observe a big bear that was roaming around in the parking lot in the middle of the night. Exciting but at the same time a little scary especially since Big Bunny and Little Bunny were sleeping in their van there. All in all Big Rock Creek was another memorable experience for the Mighty Lakota.

Chief Hunting Eagle

Lakota had again very strong attendance at the San Mateo Family Campout which was hosted by us, and almost all the princesses brought their moms and siblings along. A lot of effort was put into planning and preparing for an enjoyable weekend for the entire Wildcat Nation, but when looking back at the weekend, it was all worth the effort. For many of the dads, the weekend started Thursday night preparing food for the Saturday Night nation dinner. At Lakota Sweet Friday we served birthday cake this time since it was Baby Blue Dolphin’s birthday this day.

Saturday morning kicked off with the second annual Treasure Hunt for the princesses, and a Putt, Pass and Kick competition for the boys, followed by the Bear Claw hike to the famous Trestles Beach where the Sponge Bob Relay Race took place. The Lakota princesses won this race the last three years, but were defeated this time in the final by the Dorado moms (and princesses).

After lunch we had time for a craft followed by the bike and scooter parade and the water balloon sling shot contest which turned into a big water balloon fight. Under Jim’s management we served a delicious dinner to the entire Wildcat Nation, what a feast it was. Fortunately the MedMan were able to keep the rain away until Sunday morning. Thanks MedMan, can you imagine what a mess we would have had if the rain showed up on Saturday?
Thanks to all moms, dads, siblings and princesses for helping to make this a successful and memorable weekend for everyone.

Chief Hunting Eagle

Lakota continued a very strong season at Indian Hills and were again the largest tribe in the Wildcat Nation with 20 dads and 26 princesses. With careful community planning we managed to squeeze most of our tents (with the exceptions of a handful that wanted to share tent) into the allotted dirt area that we got to share with our friends from the Serrano tribe. The questionable weather forecast was brought to shame by the MedMan who brought us sun and beautiful weather throughout the weekend.

      
All the Lakota princesses enjoyed the wide variety of activities offered at Indian Hills, especially the zip line, the paint ball shooting and the BMX trial where many princesses (and Blue Wolf) earned their blood beads. The petting zoo with goats, pigs, bunnies and turtles were also frequently visited by the Lakota girls. Indian Hills was a relaxing but eventful weekend for the Lakota tribe. We enjoyed each others company, good eats, drinks and a few rounds of Euchre throughout the weekend.  We’ll be back for the cup later in the season.

Chief Hunting Eagle

Marston was a blast!!

Lakota had a blast at Marston during the first campout of 2009. The weather was terrific and we were again the largest tribe in the Wildcat Nation with 30 princesses and 22 dads participating. Now, that is commitment to our princesses and the program. Again we were able to stay at the Raintree Ranch Lodge which has become a bit of a tradition for the Lakota tribe and where we have very fond memories from. It’s where it all started, Euchre that is, and familiar Euchre terminology like “the kitchen” was born here. Our princesses did great in the Marston Olympics and came in second place, beaten only by the unstoppable Dorado princesses. By also showing great spirit and participation throughout the entire weekend, the Lakota princesses wrote history by being the first tribe winning the Nation Cup back to back. Lakota girls, you rock and you make me and all the other dads very proud. CONGRATULATINOS!!! (that is Span-wegian for “good job”)

Chief Hunting Eagle

This is where someone writes a witty story about how Lakota did the Charlie Brown theme well… Or… we just let this entry sit here and ponder the wonders of our esteemed Chief’s mustache.