Today is a bittersweet day because it is our last full day here in Colorado.  We have had a blast and don’t want to leave!  The RAs and staff have a bunch of fun activities planned for us.  We can’t wait to see our families tomorrow and share all about our time here at the ranch!

We’ve been so busy at the ranch that there hasn’t been time to blog.  There was even a short internet outage so we couldn’t tell you about our activities.

Monday we were divided into two groups and one group worked around the ranch while the other group went on a field trip.  Then the groups switched in the afternoon.

Tuesday we did some group presentations in the morning about different leadership styles and then had more amazing night activities.

Wednesday we went on another field trip.  We got to visit the University of Northern Colorado and take a tour of the campus and then have lunch in one of the dining halls.

We had nothing but fun on Saturday and Sunday.  The RA’s planned a bunch of fun activities for us.

We got to make our own pizzas for dinner and then had our night activities.

Sunday we went on hikes.  There was a long hike and a short hike.  It was truly amazing.  We also had some great bonding time in the evening.

We are halfway through our time at the ranch and are looking forward to our last week here.

We are loving it up here!

Our morning activities today consisted of feeding the animals again or slack-lining.  Slack-lining is walking or balancing along the length of a flat webbing that is attached to two parallel objects.  It is similar to tightrope walking and is super difficult.

Our chaperones are also enjoying themselves.

We went on our first hike today. Colorado is beautiful!!

We got some time to be outside today and have free time.  We had the choice of playing volleyball, basketball, football, soccer, or practice our slack-lining.

Our evening activity involved dancing.

We are looking forward to the weekend because we get to have fun and don’t have to do any academics.

We had our first morning activities.  We got to either help feed the animals, go on a run, or go on a nature hike.

We had more rotations and had work projects.  We also got to work with the horses more and we learned how to brush the horses and put saddles on the horses.

When we have some down time between activities, we always break out the games and get to know each other more.

We also had some awesome nighttime activities and discussions.

Just a reminder – the blog will take a break for the weekend, but check back Monday afternoon for an update! There will be a lot of photos from the weekend adventures!

We had our first rotations and worked with our homebases and our squads.

During our free time between activities and before and after meals we play games like Jenga and speed and Egyptian war and Heads Up!

We also got to experience our first thunderstorm while in Colorado (from the safety of indoors!).

Our night activities included learning about leadership and having an impromptu dance party and concert. (day 2: 2455, 2458-2466)

We flew out of the Burbank airport at 11:50 am California time and landed in Denver, Colorado at 2:50 pm Colorado time.  All 25 students and 3 chaperones made it safely even those students who hadn’t been on a plane before.

We got in the ranch vans after getting our luggage and drove into the Rocky Mountains to the ranch where we met all the staff and RAs.  The students learned who was in their homebase and in their squad.

We then played some icebreaker games and learned about the rules on the ranch and then headed to bed looking forward to day 2 at RMPR.

After the long day the students headed to bed. Everyone is excited to see what the Ranch has to offer!

We are having a great last few days at the Ranch! It has been filled with work projects, fun activities, games, and lots of singing! As we are winding down the week, here are some photos of what the students have been up to!

We got to celebrate a BIG Birthday for one of our students! We surprised her with her favorite cake and a homemade card!

While we are all having fun, some students wanted to send messages home!

Never a weekday that goes by without a little ranch beautification and work projects! We love our community service hours!

Wednesday we got to take a little excursion out into Denver and it all ended with a pickle eating contest!

Thursday is our last full day here and we took advantage of the beautiful morning with a short hike! Great way to start the day!

Monday we leave the Ranch and headed to college! We visited a nearby campus and got a glimpse at campus life.

What a great weekend we had here at the Ranch! The students are wonderful and are all having a great time! We spent the weekend riding horses, hiking and just having a good time! Here are a bunch of photos from our adventures!

On Friday the students went on a short hike to explore the area around the Ranch.

They also took the small animals out for exercise.

Saturday we played some games and got to make our own pizzas! They got baked in the outside pizza oven! Yum!

Sunday we went for another hike.

We also got to spend a lot of time with the horses over the weekend!