Every year, our church hosts a survivor weekend for the youth group. Its held at a ranch, owned by one of our members, and is headed up by a team of men who put weeks of planning into this weekend. They come up with a theme and plan a days worth of survivor challenges for all the kids. Josh has been doing it for the past 4 years and I finally joined him this year. I had so much fun!! Thankful that I was a tribe consultant (usually some of the wives takes this role) and not a tribe member! The day literally lasted from sun up to way after sun down.
Love this tree..
Troy giving instructions for this year's tribes
First challenge: Come up with a tribe name and chant and decorate your flag.
My tribe was the Fab 5
After each challenge there are points that are awarded to each tribe for 1st-4th places. At the end of the day the tribe with the most points wins.
This challenge was a favorite of mine. They shot tennis balls into this grid made up of their tribe buffs. Goal: shoot 4 in a row.
After, they all grabbed a buff.
Next, was a water bucket hold. Each member had to hold a bucket above the rope, if you touched the rope with any body part, you are out.
This one was a doozy! They had to fill sand in these cylinders with holes in them, and then transport the sand to buckets WAY off in the background! This one took awhile!
This one is a classic from Survivor. The memory game!
One of the rules is that your tribe flag cannot touch the ground at any time, so I was the flag holder during this challenge.
Erin, Erin A, me, and Lauren
(we were photo bombed by Sam Pless)
Phillip, Josh, Chris, and Erin
The men were demonstrating this next challenge...
We then settled down, where the kids had to cook their own lunch. It consisted of 2 carrots and celery, potato, 2 oranges, and apple and water for boiling.
They had to build their own fire in these pits...and then wait for the food to cook.
This was another favorite of mine: landmine. Each tribe had a team member who would verbally instruct the whole tribe across the field, without knocking over any cups or tripping on the rope.
This challenge is talked about all year: the wheel of grossness. I don't remember what all they had but it was all disgusting!
Century Egg
Balut (baby duck)
Jenga! Survivor style!
We also got to shoot some targets. I finally shot a gun for the first time.
My hubs
The last challenge (that they do every year) is to construct a cross out of wood and carry it up a hill to the designated spot.
This was such a cool experience! After the challenges, we went back to the house and had dinner, then trucked out to the very back of the property (which is 600+ acres) for the devotional around the bonfire. There is so much work and time and thoughtfulness put into this 2 day adventure, that I now have such appreciation for. Can't wait for next year!
