I love the start of a new week and going to chapel for the first time on Monday morning. It's the best to see first year campers experience the Green Cathedral for the very first time. I love the way the light comes through the trees. I love that we sit on wooden benches and the kids make circles in the dirt with their flip-flops as they listen to the skit. I love that later you hear them say things like, "Chapel is like church, but way cooler."
We have a new crew of Blazer girls. They love unicorns.
We got to ride down the wet willies today at the Lake. The girls shrieked and torpedo rolled on the way down.
We took opportunities to hug counselors from other cabins that looked friendly.
I also really love pop stop. Obviously because we get Diet Coke in the middle of the afternoon. But I also love it because the whole village comes together to hang out for about 15 minutes. I get to see Emily and Mary being goofy partners together. I get to run into Burke who is working at camp this week.
I get to make toasts with my friend Carolyn and sing her "Don't touch my baby," song. This is the life.
For the first time ever I got to sleep out in hammocks in the pine forest. I wasn't sure how I would feel about the experience but I loved looking up at the pine trees against the starry sky as I fell asleep. One of our girls found out she could only sleep on her stomach which is tough in a hammock so she spent the night on a picnic table. Other than that it was a really positive experience.
In the morning on the way to chapel all of the Day Camp counselors make a high-5 tunnel. I love getting to see the River and Lake counselors all together before they head off to do their own thing for the rest of the day. Mags, Grace, AJ, Kevin, and Paige are fantastic and I love that they were all on staff this summer.
Kind of sort planned but on accident Kraft, Shan and I represented Team CILT today. It's so fun being a Blazer counselor but Mel, Frat, and all 125 CILTs out there-- we miss you guys.
We've perfected the jump-roping in a clock-like-circle game and got all the way up to 123 this week--a new River record.
There are some kids that you know you will never forget. On Monday I introduced myself to a girl in a jean dress... because she was wearing a jean dress and she had to be pretty sweet. I was right. Cali is hilarious and does great impersonations and wants to be friends with everyone. I'll miss her doing her Fabio impersonation right in the middle of lunch even if Kraft would rather she not be using him as a prop. Oksana is one of the sweetest girls I've ever been a counselor for. She's in a different cabin this summer but I love every chance I have to hang out with her.
A new addition to the Choctaw schedule this week was an 80's Barbie Workout Dance Party. Emily and I found an old VHS we had done as kids, got some neon sweatbands and our cabins were amped to dance.
The moves were pretty difficult but Barbie's encouragement kept us going strong.
Highs of pop stop: Arielle and I continued to work out. Watching Kaya and Olivia read a letter from their friend at home that continually made them bubble over in laughter.
The girls were thrilled that they could actually keep their headbands. I was so excited to run into Rain and Maddie, two of my old campers that I got to have two summers in a row.
We love lake time... and paddle boats... and muddy counselors... and clay creatures.
We asked Eric to eat dinner with Choctaw cabin tonight. Before he sat down I said, "Ok girls, my friend Eric is going to sit with us. When he comes we're going to ask him as many questions as possible. He doesn't know that we're making up this plan and it'll be so fun to watch him try to eat while answering all of your questions."
Eric was a great sport and the girls impressed me with their question asking skills. "Do you like pretzels? How many brothers do you have? Can you eat six burritos? What do you do with sports? What's your job? Why are you here? Why? Why? Why?"
I love hanging out with this group of girls.
Wolf Shirt Wednesday- Week 8 Edition
I love moments like this when you catch a counselor just sitting and talking, connecting with campers. It's a rarity for kids to have an adults undivided attention, someone asking them questions and really listening to their answers. This is one of the most important things we can do.
I'm continually amazed by the eating habits of children. She likes corn dogs but not the corn part, just the dog part. She likes salad but just the cheese part.
This week brought the return of Pirates of Tecumseh.
Four teams battled it out in the main field sea as they sailed their ships to different ports to compete for gold coins with challenges that tested their speed, agility, team-work and spirit.
Team black vs red vs yellow vs green.
And after we counted out all of the gold, team Sunshine came out victorious. But we, the black team, were still pretty proud of ourselves.
Day Camp jumped in to play as they passed through the pandemonium.
And then at the trading post I opened one of the best packages EVER- 50 miniature cupcakes straight from NYC via Sarah Fitzpatrick. So many flavors and so many too share- I made a lot of friends.
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