More Typographic Play

After posting my potential Tshirt design for the Arborshire, I was asked to draw up something similar for SBC if the school ended up going with a different design.  Unfortunately, I have no idea if the admissions team will select my design, and I will not find out until the end of the month—if then.  So I started to play in a different way to at least keep the juices flowing :)

Here's the result:

 

I like it, but mostly because I had fun with it—especially adding "Fred the Buoy" and the A-frame into the mix! :)

Even if 'the boss' does not want to use this design, I should be able to use it for my Advanced portfolio, so I don't regret the time spent in the least!

Feedback welcome—readability? It's always hard for me to know for sure sometimes.  After all, I should be able to read my own writing!

SBC Christmas

Photo credit: JenJen

We have some non-costume pictures of us as an engaged couple now!  Our friend Jen took some pictures of us by the tree at the summer staff Christmas party this past weekend (thanks dear).  It was a great time overall.  Some of us came the day before and spent the night—that was a blast!  We ate food (lots and lots), hung out by the fire, swapped stories, laughed (lots and lots), ate more food (seriously, tons of food), stayed up too late, took random naps (just because we could), played games in the gym, and then attended the dinner party on Sunday night.
It was great! And of course, spending time with my special Mr was wonderful.  Even without the snow, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

Photo credit: Emily (?)

Missing Them Already...

Some pictures I never had a chance to upload.  I have a feeling that this will be happening a few times within the next few days—there are just so many good times, and so little patience when it comes to posting, haha!  But for tonight, some photos and forgotten quotes.

We painted on the sidewalk outside Home Base with some home-made side walk paint, and yesterday we took pictures under some of the "costumes" that we made.  The picture of Lindsay (above) was my personal favorite—ADC campers are so funny!

Some more humor over the past few weeks—this group was only with us for a few days, but we sure had fun!  The last day they were here called for some extra silliness.  So we stuffed some of our pillows up our shirts and ran around the room for a while :) 

Joe brought this AWESOME towel and Alec enjoyed some attention in front of the camera and gave us a few laughs!

Jack was with us the last two days—and he drew this picture for me :)  It's of a train and a tree.  Oh yes, he is also showing off his favorite face and the ring he got out of the "Pinana".

QUOTES:

Her DID?!? —Tyler

You should have quit while you were still early. —Adam

I'm donna till you! —Tyler

I hav' da black... bu' ith's pur'ple... —Tyler (I have the black... but it's purple...)

Tamanna! —Joe (Banana)

How do ou tike my new cocks? —Tyler (how do you like my new socks?)

They just don't make shovels like they used to... —Jack (super serious and quite sad about the lack of quality found in sand toys!)

Photo Frenzy x2

Something that has been popular off and on over the past few weeks is minnow catching.  Some attempts are more suscessful than others—below is Jackson's take on the sport.

 He did not catch a thing, but he sure had fun with it!

Our theme this week is "celebration", and we had 2 pinatas today :)  Or as Tyler called them "Pananas" (pronounced like 'banana' with a 'p'), and that is what they have been called ever since he first said it this morning.  Pinatas just might always be 'pananas' to me from now on—Mexican or not ;)

We went for a speed-boat ride on Monday!  Tyler was super excited and kept talking about the "peed boot" even after we had left it :)  Dave, the director, took us on the ride and that was just great.  Where else will you have the director of the entire camp take some time out to spin kids around on a boat?  And they loved every minute!

We also had a chance to take the kids to the zip line 2 weeks ago and again this week! THEY LOVED IT! haha, but for all the talk and begging that they did before the zip line, I was surprised how SILENT they were on the way down!  And most of them had little petrified smiles on their faces (if they even showed that much emotion).  Even I screamed the first few times down!
But after all that fun, we had to have a group shot—and their true colors came out again. There is no such thing as a 'normal' photo with these kids :)

More photos later—too tired to edit now...

Photo Frenzy!

Alright! Here are some photos from the past 2 weeks—I have been very bad about taking photos lately, but I'm hoping to make up for that shortly...

 Little Courtney before her turn at the carpet ball table—we all played this for a while.  I've never quite fallen for the game, but for some reason the boys absolutely LOVE it, and some of my campers have in the past as well.  I can do it for a while, but then I always tend to move on...

 Emily and Alyssa!  Both only here for this week, though Alyssa is trying to come back another day.  They were good buddies and had a lot of fun at the beach :)

 Noah.  Well, our ham hasn't changed a bit—still as goofy as ever :)

 Last week Abby was picked to stand up front with Jerry and hold a sign for one of the songs! She did a great job :)

 We were also visited by the "Animal Man", who showed us how God provides for the animals by giving them special protection.  Marissa loved the snake—Tyler, was less than thrilled.

I personally loved the Chinchilla (spelling??) the best—it was SO precious!  Super soft, all of the kids liked this one, even the youngest ones :)
"It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!" (if you haven't seen this movie, you're missing out...)

Say Whaa?

More quotes?!? Yes, there are more, due to the fact that I often forget some qhotes until after I publish the post... more soon I'm sure :)  Also included are some photos from this morning / afternoon!  Some silly close-ups and a "smiley" one too!

"I DID'TNT EVIN DET TO SWEEP YET!: —Tyler (very angry that he had spent the entirety of his quiet time messing around — he did, however, get a good 15 minutes before we had to wake him up)

Courtney: "Where's Clayton?"
Me: "In the bathroom"
Courtney: "What's he doing in there?"
Me: "What do you think?"
Courtney: *shy smile*
(Pause)
Courtney: "He goes to the bathroom like my daddy..." (What does that even MEAN?!?)

"Will you help me put on my sun cream?" —Makana  (sun screen)

Hope: "I read almost the whole Bible last night"
Kyle: "oh wow!" *exchange look of amusement with leaders*
Hope: "Yeah, before bed I read 6 whole pages!"

"I HAVE AN IDEA!  Katrina, you should say to Todd, 'You're pretty', and then, he'll look down at himself (*looks down at herself as though to admire herself*) and then you can run past him!!  —Abby (her plan for winning the boys v. girls round of Gold Rush)

"Oh, I win-did it" —Tyler (he won?)

Note from Jack::
Stacy and Katrina
Wanna play with me at our house?
That's it.
—Jack

Beach Party Safety

Our task last night? To throw a beach party.
Our tools? A single hula-hoop and an oar.
What to do... what to do?

First things first: test out the equipment!

And prep for strange situations... whatever they may be...

And of course, we can't just assume that the prizes will be good—we have to take them out for a test drive.  For safety purposes.  And after testing out the equipment, we decided that it was safe for the kids to participate in the games and win some prizes.

It's all for the kids :)

Playing Hard

Me: "You're now in jail"

Noah: "Okay... I just need a harmonica and I'm all set"

Mackenzie: "What animal am I? I'm brown and hairy..."

Devin: "A turtle!!" (???)

"Miss Katrina's playing hard to get" —Zachery

"I know how to play Gold Fish!" —Jared (one of our helpers)

"Didn't you notice my shoes?" —Marissa (she was quite insulted that I had forgotten to mention how much I liked them)

"Just so you know, I put some 'Degree' on" —Mariah (which explains the chunks of deodorant all over the changing room floor...)

Jack: "Where's your flower?"
Me: "Over there by the picture I'm coloring"
Jack: "Why isn't it in your hair?  Girls always wear flowers in their hair!"

"Hewre Twina, here'sth a fower for yo haiwr" —Tyler (sporting the new additions to my new hair accessories in the photo above—one from T-man and one from Jack)

And just so ya'll know, Tyler can say "slip'n'slide" perfectly!  I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed Stacy and I were.

Heat

You know it's hot when...

- You walk outside and your sunglasses (or camera lens!!!) fogs up due to the change in temperature
- The lake water is no longer refreshing
- The ice cream starts melting before you get it out of the freezer. (yes, I ate an ice cream sandwich w/ plate and fork yesterday)
- Socks and shoes are so uncomfortable that even the most decided flip-flop haters are wearing them
- Nobody complains about how cold the water in the fire-hose is
- Everyone would rather put up with itchy bug bites than put pants on in the evening
- The sand is so hot, a camper cries because they can't make it to the beach and we have to pull out the sprinkler
- The windows to "Home Base" are fogged up (the room that ADC starts/ends in)
- You're online during your morning prep-time in order to find a game to play that won't kill all of the kids because of heat exhaustion
- The wet hayride doesn't sound too bad anymore... even to the counselors!
- You wear 2 or 3 shirts a day because of all the sweating

But I'd rather it be hot than cold!

Under Attack

I am being hunted.

There is a deerfly that lies in wait for me outside.  As soon as I set foot outside the cabin door, I hear his wings beginning to warm up, and I grow uneasy.  By the time I'm outside the screen door on the porch, he's in full action.  I am constantly dodging barrel roll attacks and nose dives from the offending fly—though that is only the warm up.
I practically expect small explosives to be going off around me as I ward off these attacks with my wash cloth, though he seems to have skipped to biting.  Sometimes I even find him waiting for me outside of the Anex, where we hold the day camp.  Usually then I am largely defenseless as I speed-walk back to the cabin.

So rude.

Humbled

Oh these kids, always keeping me humble!  Brandon is famous for being quite frank and letting us know how well we look, or how well we do not look, but yesterday after church I was informed of my previous inabilities in the area of polish.
The conversation went something like this:

Girl: "You look familiar"
Me: "Do you recognize me from VBS last week?  I handed out your snack every day"
Girl: "Oh... that was you?"
Me: *nod*
Girl: "Oh, you look a lot better now!"
Me: *eyes wide, shaky smile*
Girl: "It's a good thing you put on make-up"
Me: *mouth open*
Girl: "... and deodorant"

Thank you little girl.  I'll have you know that I was usually more freshly showered, and deodorant-ed when you saw me in the morning for VBS than I was yesterday morning, but it was still good for a laugh ;)  And what can you do after something like that but laugh and share with others how embarrassing your life is?  So that's what I'm doing :)

Apparently the square-cut T-shirts aren't a good look for me?  Oh well, it's a good thing I'm not here to impress anyone!

Notes From Jack

Dear Jared & Katrina,


If you don't want me in Adventure Day Camp anymore that's fine, but if you do, tell me.  What? You changed your mind? Ugh! I'm gonna kick you out of camp and take you to jail.


Love, Jack

Jared and I got this note from the character above.  Life is definitely never boring around here! Haha, and this one had us laughing for quite a while, and it still tickles a little as I read it again.

Love you too Jack :)

Napping Again

*Insert sigh of relief*


Back to a somewhat normal summer routine for us!  We still have VBS in the morning, which makes our day both easier and harder.  I did not know that was possible before now, but let me tell you: it is!  Stacy and I are still running around trying to help everything run smoothly during the VBS itself, and now we have our own kids to keep a second eye on.  But it's still good, just mixed around some—swim time is in the afternoon instead of the morning, for example.

We only have 4 kids right now.  It's so strange!  1 left during lunch because she had plans with her mom, and just after lunch 2 more left because Bre has a case of pink eye (prayer welcome on this!), so her mom came and took both her and her brother home.  Never a dull moment!  But I'm glad to be back with my kids again—to be in our little room (sorta), and to be headed towards something closer to what we have been doing.  It was nice to have a break and to be with the other staff members more, but I do like what I am doing now.

A definite plus side to the 'normal' routine is that nap time is back! Yay-yay-yay!  So now I have some time set aside for me to start posting again :)  Here are some pictures from the Family Fun Fair on Saturday.  It was a blast and all of the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves.

And of course I had to snag one of Superman and Red Brother (even if it is a bad picture technically / artistically speaking)  Sometimes I worry about how well they get along... last Wednesday my fears were realized when Superman helped my family soak me with a handy squirt gun.
Multiple times.
*sigh* I guess I should be used to it by now ;)

I think it's time for MY nap now, hopefully another post tomorrow!

Family Camping

Family camp is here!  Which is why I have had absolutely NO time to post anything, but there will be more soon :)
ADC starts again tomorrow, so this post is going to be extremely short so that I may go to bed at a semi-decent hour tonight.  I'm ready to see my kids again, but I'm also very ready for a break.  Like, I'm REALLY ready for a break!  Whipped out from the past few days of constant activity—but my routine will be back soon!  Yay!  Things are still a little mixed up because the room that we usually use for ADC is currently being used for a nursery / craft room for the VBS.  Talk about confusing!  Now we have to jump between hoops and try a different routine until Wednesday.  (Oh, and did I mention that Family Camp is Wednesday-to-Wednesday this year?  Well, it is, and it's kind of throwing everything off.)

I love family camp.  I really do! And I love the fact that I have been able to be with the other staff for a while, but I am stretched much thinner this time around.  NO time to check Email or do any planning or do anything other than run from one activity to the next.  This is my official apology to those whom I have neglected—I love you, I'm just too crazy right now!  Hopefully this weekend <3

The picture is from the Family Fun Fair that we have every year!  This time it was in the middle of the week and we had some of the youth pastors get into a dunk tank!  So funny—especially when Kevin started reading the newspaper as his youth group tried to hit the target and knock him in.  It was priceless fun!  I've missed him, so seeing him and his wife Melanie again added some extra fun to the week.

I've also had more time to spend with the dashing Superman, which always adds some fun to my life—thankfully my bosses are wonderful, and scheduled us to work some of the same activities together this week.  Yay!

Buddy Check!

You might not be aware of this, but buddy checks during swim time are serious things around here.
You can only be 'buddies' if you are best friends, and a refusal to be someone's buddy is the highest insult you can produce!
Here are two of my favorite 'buddies'!  Tyler and Brandon are buddies each day, though they ask to be buddies each morning.  Sometimes, it doesn't go over as well as you would think.  Earlier this week, Brandon came to me in pathetic little tears to tell me that he didn't have a buddy, and that Tyler didn't want to talk to him.
Broke my heart!
Of course by the time 10 o'clock rolled around, the two were buddies again as though nothing had happened!  Too cute :)
As buddies, they have to grab the other's hand and hold it in the air in an "A" shape until we finish counting the groups.  We do this to make sure that we have all of the kids and none of them have drowned. (true story) Here's their buddy-stance for Thursday.  Slightly modified during an extra long buddy-check period.

Yes, they were dancing.

Yes, they provided their own music!

Shortly after, Brandon begged to be buried in the sand—which we did, maybe 3 times?  That was good for a few more laughs, he's so giggly that it was super hard to burry him!

It was a fun morning at the beach—despite the fact that Ashley found a sandy little hand print on the bottom of my shorts... that was embarrassing, but that's as high as most of them can reach...  :/ Hopefully we'll find another solution soon!

Zip Line!

Guess who got to ride the ZIP LINE!!!
*points to self*
This girl.
(Evan too, but it wasn't his first time...)

Yes, I finally got a chance to ride the zip line—and I also got some training on how to put people on the contraption.  Safely, of course.

It was a lot of fun—there was screaming and such from my side, and I wasn't uber excited by the height when I first got up there, but it was a blast!

No pictures of my actual ride—I wasn't about to bring my camera with me (and it probably wouldn't have been allowed), but I'll be adding some pics I took of the (senior teen) campers going down soon.

Yay zip line!


 .

Smile. I Dare You.

It’s just been one of those days.

There are tons of people at the campground—which is fine, really, it’s only a sneak peak into what Family Camp will be shortly—but the level of rude that people can reach has surprised me today.

Maybe I’m more sensitive to it today?  I don’t know.  But I was struck by how impatient everyone was in the bathroom this morning—so short tempered and offended that the paper-towel dispenser that they were banging on had quit working, so angry that they had forgotten their soap, and appalled at the sight of a handicap shower.

You might not have known this, but people who are physically handicapped don’t shower.  Yeah, it was news to me too.  Needless to day, it wasn't too much fun getting ready this morning... especially in my staff shirt.

It didn’t stop there.  At 9:00 and we only had about 9 kids.  Awesome!  A super manageable size, but we can still do a lot of fun things!  And then 9:45 rolled around, and in the middle of our morning routine, 6 kids walked in.  Oh, and I forgot to mention: drop off time ends at 9.  Coming in 45 minutes late, and ‘mom’ was not too thrilled with me.  Apparently we charge too much?   Sorry, I don't set the prices...?

Ugh, but despite that, it's been a pretty fun day. The campers are great and not to blame for their crazy parents or the strange visitors in the bathroom.  It's super hot outside, (FINALLY!) and some fun activities at the horse ranch planned for this afternoon.  Should be great :)

Go-Go-Go!

So, yesterday we had 18 kids.
Yes. 18.
Remember when we were worried that we would get any campers? Well, that feeling has long since passed.  Today we have 22 kids, most are around the ages of 6 and 8.
It's been a blast, but it can completely wear us out.  On top of that, I'm still recovering from the cold I had this past weekend—which has left a cough and a runny nose to keep me company :(  Hopefully I'll have pictures to post soon!

I'm taking pictures for the senior teen campers this week too, so I've been plenty busy in the evenings!  I want to be involved in the over night camps, but that leaves little rest time for me after a full day with the day campers.  And most of my quiet time is spent trying to sort through the pictures and edit those that I do have... which I have been behind in lately... oops!  But it's worth it—I've also had a chance to see some of my girls from last year! And that was super exciting :]

But now I'm tired. Hopefully more later, but with only a few minutes left in quiet time, I need some rest!

Adventure Day Camp—Week 2

Look at these silly boys!  We had a blast with them (though still dealing with some bad attitude issues from the little man in the hat...).  But we love the hay rides!  Hopefully we'll have more kids on the next one though, because without the weight to hold it down, this one became VERY bumpy!

 And how can you not fall in love with this face?  Isn't he darling? :)  Unfortunately he got sick yesterday and had to go home early.  And I'm blaming him for my current state.

More time at the beach this week! They made some epic sand castles—the one above had the largest 'moat' of them all!  It was pretty intense, and she was very proud :)

 And my lovely co-workers :)  I love getting to spend time with them every day.

Tag games! 

Sick and Random

Really?
It's the end of June and I am stuck in bed with a cold.  Runny nose, congestion and fatigue.
This is not how counseling is supposed to go.

And just as a warning, my thoughts are so scattered right now that I can hardly stick to one topic for very long, so this post is probably going to jump around a whole lot!

Not doing so hot on the sleeping thing.  I've been able to dose quite a bit, but only one real nap.  Although, it was so heavy, that my spinal cord felt fused into place when I woke up.  I just remember laying there wondering if I would be able to move at all.  And realizing how much I had to go to the bathroom!
Wow, you don't realize what a blessing indoor plumbing is until you're sick and have to walk a block in order to use the bathroom or to get a drink of water!  And to top it off, it's a big weekend here at the campground, and there are people EVERYWHERE.  Because, you know, that's what I want to do when I'm sick, walk past tons of people—feeling and looking as bad as I do—trying to get to the bathroom before I a) explode, or b) get too tired and have to sit down and rest.

But during one of my ventures out, my ADC campers went by on their friday hay ride!  I had mixed feelings, because again, I didn't really want to be seen—but they all yelled and waved to me and I felt so loved afterwards!  And they don't care what I look like anyway :)  It was nice to hear the "hello"s and "I love you"s and the screams of "Mother Dearest!"  haha
I just wish I felt well enough to be with them...  I've missed them a lot these past two days!

And I got a text that some of the other counselors had a chance to try out the zip-line today!  I turned green.  It could have been because I'm sick, but I'm pretty sure it was due to some untimely envy.  Not that I would have been able to go anyway—because I would have been with my ADCs—but it's another reminder of what I'm missing today.

Being sick is so not fun.

Later...
You know, it's so great when you have people in your life who will put up with the fact that you're sick, who still like to be around you, will give your germ-y persona a hug, and can really make you laugh.  And laugh hard, despite the fact that you've felt more like crying all day.  And you know you're blessed when one of those people is your handsome boyfriend.
Thanks Superman, I appreciate you more than I can say—now go sanitize! :P