CILTs changed who I am

In the morning while the counselors finished one on ones with all 40 CILTs, the whole team wrote their graduation song together. This session decided to change the words to the Imagine Dragon song It's Time. Their final product is so good. They get to sing it on stage at closing campfire tonight.

It's tradition to eat our last Team CILT lunch together as a giant picnic. We all make a giant circle in the Party Room and pass the food all the way around. By popular request we played double tap one more time and managed to call out some kids. This last day just feels so nostalgic no matter what we're doing.

It's been so fun for me to see Kathryn, a CILT from last summer, and Sophie together. They're best friends back at home and have loved being at camp together.

Pop stop is one of my favorite times of the day. It kind of reminds me of passing period back at HSJH-- everyone is out and about. You've got free time just to talk before heading off to your next activity. I love getting to see Rachel Wilson all the time, the one and only Chrissy Crowe, girls like Nat and their babes and my CILT girls.

It's also become a tradition to have a CILT girl photo shoot in the last pre-lunch period of the session. We just gather all the girls we can and take really fun pictures that I'm sure will show up all over facebook and #tecumsehtuesday later this year.

Tonight was Sports Mania themed for dinner. Everyone got dressed up in their favorite sports paraphernalia which looked a lot like our Jock Jams day last week.

You can just never have enough pictures with your camp friends. I love these people and it'll be so strange to not have them here in a couple days.

I'm so thankful I get to work with these counselors this summer. They are some of my best friends and people that I look up to. Watching them with their campers makes me inspired.

Of course the four of us went together as Team CILT. We don't mess around.

Did I mention Team CILT is fierce?

I love Friday nights in the dining room. My table was filled with such fun kids and we sang and danced all night.

We decided to lift up Smooney in a cheer leading stunt. I'd say it was pretty successful. On the way back down though things got a little sketchy. We were all fine but it was pretty hilarious.

A huge thunderstorm started during dinner which led to everyone being inside for an extended period of time. This meant we had one of the most epic dance parties River Village has ever seen.

There are few things I love more than dance parties. Especially when they start playing Taylor Swift. The rain was pouring outside as the sweat was dripping inside.

We had closing campfire inside tonight because of the storm but it didn't dampen our spirits. The CILT counselors sported our new party tanks as we called the names of our graduated kids. It's been an awesome two weeks together.

Session 1 2013- It's Time

So this is what it's like, living the CILT life
And now it's time to leave, even though we wish we had all summer long
But now it's gone
Packing my bags and giving all my campers a last hug

We don't ever want to let them down
We don't ever want to leave these friends
Cause after all, the CILTs never sleep at night

It's time to leave camp, isn't it
We've learned so much and we made memories that will last
I'm not the same as I was, you don't understand
That CILTs changed who I am

We fell off all the blobs and sang our chapel songs
The path to Gish Post runs through miles of muddy trails right to the top
We freaked out
Turning our hats and whipping out our brown shirts on Friday

We climbed a 12 ft wall
Haven't we done it all
And we found out
That Richard Girsch doesn't exist at all

It's time to leave camp, isn't it

We've learned so much and we made memories that will last

I'm not the same as I was, you don't understand

That CILTs changed who I am

Chopstick challenge, Jock Jam Day

We visit nursing homes, blindfolded tasks, Prince Henry

We shadowed Day Camp, you don't understand

That CILTs changed who I am

The Longhouse never looked so homey

The Brova boys moved so slowly, to devos, to devos

It's time to leave camp, isn't it

We've learned so much and we made memories that will last

I'm not the same as I was, you will understand

That CILTs changed who I am

Our night finished with the closing CILT devotion-- one of my favorite nights to have all 45 of us together in a giant circle for the last time. I'm so thankful for the kids in this group and the way they made me fall in love with camp all over again.