I love summer camp. I grew up attending an Assemblies of God church camp in Houston Alaska. Little Beaver Camp was a GREAT place to spend a week or two every July.  I dont remember her specifically. But someone said that Governor Sarah Palin was a camper there one year that I attended. Neat huh? As I got older I not only attended as a camper but worked as staff. I peeled potatoes in the kitchen and ran the “snack shack” and then in later years I was a camp counselor.  I have so many great memories of playing in the Lake, canoeing, campfires and fun church services.  Some friendships I made at camp have lasted a lifetime.. my best friend Elizabeth even met her future husband for the first time at Little Beaver.

I love the camp experience.  everything about it.  So, as you can imagine I was excited a few years ago to find out that our church here in SC attends a summer camp! I have staffed there a few times over the years and LOVED it. This year, when I was laid off from my job at the cafe.. I took the opportunity to volunteer to work there all three weeks of camp. Two of which my own daughters will attend in turn.

This last week was the first week. Called MINI week since it is a day shorter than the other two camps and for Ages 6-9. (so that meant Thing 2 was a camper)  We had a blast. I was responsible for 10 little girls and a 16 yr old CIT (counselor in training) . We arrived tuesday morning at 10  for a quick training session and to get our assignments. I was assuming that I would be a staffer this week. But I was asked to be a counselor.   The sleeping arrangements are “dorm style” with around 7 or 8 bunk beds per dorm. One communal bathroom with 8 showers and 10 or so stalls serve the female population and likewise for the men.

The “campers” arrived at around 1pm and we hit the ground running. My CIT Rachel and I got our girls settled and said good bye to Moms and Dads. I was surprised to not have any tearful girls. They were so excited to play though.. so it didnt take long!. After an opening ceremony we headed out to play sports. Kickball, soccer, volleyball, and basketball kept us busy until 4 pm. I was pretty lucky to have a fairly athletic group so I didnt have to drag them to play.. I was glad though when we switched with the boys who had been playing on a huge waterslide and swimming in the HUGE pool. The girls we SO excited to swim. (what kid doesnt love a pool?)  It was SO hot. Thats one thing we never had to worry about at LBC in Alaska! Usually it was the opposite. July can be jacket weather in Wasilla Alaska.

After swimming we headed in to get cleaned up and ready for dinner. Im sure you have heard nightmares about campfood.. but really we are pretty blessed to have good food at camp. The cooks are sensative to kid pallets and we ate a lot of chicken nuggets and mac and cheese and koolade all week. They had a nice salad bar available to workers though.. so that was a nice touch.

After eating we all got ready to head to the evening services.  The speaker admin chose this year was AMAZING. He is a powerlifter and lifted all kind s of heavy things.. tree logs and broke cinderblocks with his head and the like. The kids loved it. He used all kinds of object lessons to teach kids the Verse of the week

For God has not given me a spirit of fear but of Love, and Power and a Sound Mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

They had dancers and strobe lights and a smoke machine going. It was pretty impressive. The theme this year is UFC (ultimate fighting christian)  and they decorated the chapel to look like a fight ring. So cool. The little boys especially loved it. They printed up cute t shirts in red and white with UFC on the back.

Church services lasted maybe an hour and the kids played in the chapel/gym afterward. They had blow up moon bouncers and a camp store selling all kinds of kid junk.. and  the t shirts and the like.. as well as a canteen selling hot dogs and nachos and piles and piles of candy. YES! nothing  like getting kids sugared up at 10 pm and then getting them all riled up with crazy “camp games” like chubby bunny and hula hoop races. We sang silly songs and did the “chicken dance” as well as the YMCA. I dont know about the kids.. but I was EXHAUSTED when 11pm finally came around.  I was never so glad to crawl into the bottom bunk and crash. My girls were really good about bedtimes.. I was pretty lucky because I heard nightmare stories from other counselors about finally getting to sleep at 3 am. They giggled for only a few minutes before they were crashed out.

Reville is 7 am and it came SO EARLY. ohhh my goodness I was SORE. This old body isnt used to running on the soccer feild and playing so hard all day! Each day’s schedule was pretty much the same..

8am breakfast

9 am morning bible study (usually bible stories told in updated ways and silly games to get things started)

930-12pm tournament style sports. soccer,basketball,kickball, ect

12pm lunch

1pm rest/free time

130 sports or swimming

3pm olympic games (water games.. one day the firetrucks came and sprayed the kids sprinkler style.. they LOVED it. They also had a HUGE slip and slide one day)

430pm- showers.. (yeah for 145 campers.. they must have  HUGE waterheater.. I never had a cold shower)

530 dinner

630- finish getting ready for church (kids had to wear clean clothes and be clean for church..)

7 church services

9 late night live (games ect)

11 pm- lights out

phew. Yesterday was the camp closing and pickup. I camp home and slept most of the afternoon. I was so tired! Today I am zipping my laundry through the wash and re-packing for week 2 that starts at 9 am monday. It will be an easier more laid back week though as it is ages 13-18. More attention to keeping boys and girls hormones in control than anything else!

So its summer… and of course I am reading voraciously . I dont know what it is about hot weather that makes me want to haunt the library. Maybe it’s all the hours spent under the AC or at the beach.. or by the pool.  Or maybe I read this much all the time? LOL

Lately I have been making my way through Jodi Picoult novels. I havent ever read her before and I have been enjoying her style of writing quite a lot. She writes each chapter from the point of view of each individual character. It is a really different way to look at a story and I rather like it.. only that you must pay close attention because the story can jump back in forth in time according to each character.

Have you ever read a book and with each chapter you think “THIS is when I am going to “get” the story and find my hero and become friends with the characters”? and you read and you read and you get to the end and you never found the one you “like”? UGH. The Song of the Humpback Whale was like that for me. I just kept reading and I couldnt ever decide who I wanted to “win”. This morning I was in the bathtub when I finally finished it. I wanted to throw the book and scream. I stomped around the kitchen slamming pans and making with so much iritation that Steven came in from outside to find out what or who was bugging me so much.  When I told him he just looked at me for a long time and shook his head and went back outside. BOYS! 

The story just ended… it took 20 odd chapters to get where it was going and then it was a dead end. Nothing was resolved. No one came out of it better, or sated or anything.  Its like you just fade out the character’s lives and you dont know what the heck happens to them.  UGH! It was so frustrating. Its like I need a few more chapters to resolve my feelings about the story.

I wont go into the exact story since Im sure there are those of you that will now want to go get the book to see what I am talking about… OR there will be those of you that will close this post and think. Wow, she’s a nut. Possibly both? heh.