Bruin Woods 2009

Bruin Woods, that is.  We just got back from an amazing week up at the UCLA Conference Center at Lake Arrowhead.  Every year they have a 10-week family camp known as Bruin Woods and each week is it’s own set group.  It’s available to all Alumni of UCLA and you get in via a lottery system.  Last year we got in as did my folks for our first year of Week 4.  Once you get a certain week you get it for as long as you keep paying to come each year.  This year Jenn & Benoni also got the same week so we had the entire Metten/Pantoja family together.  It was a great time together!

There is a ton to do each week.  The kids are all in specific classes for their age group and they have classes from 9:30a-12:00 and then 1:30-5:30p each day.  This year Micah was a Bruin, Kylah and Lucas were Cubs, Emma was a Teddy Bear and Alexa was a Pooh.  They do things like boat rides, arts & crafts, swimming, hiking, zip line, dress up, games of all sorts – so many creative things each day.  The thing that makes the week, in my opinion, are the amazing counselors.  They have about 50 counselors from UCLA and they are the most energetic, loving, friendly, out-going, talented people you have ever met.  The kids fall in love with them every year!  They absolutely take the camp to a whole other level.

For the parents there are a ton of things to do.  This year they actually had a mini-sprint triathlon (150 meter swim, 3 mile bike ride and 1 mile run) which I might attempt to participate in next year.  What’s great about Bruin Woods however is that you can do everything or nothing and it’s all good.  Overall, it was a great time with the entire family!  I think we’re all in a bit of a depression right now coming down off the mountain, but I guess we’ll just have to look forward to next year.

Check out some of the pics from our trip!

A little video from the trip: