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...

Trends and Loose Ends

Wow, only 2 more days of ADC left... I can't believe it.

But, at the same time, I'm ready to be done for a while!  I love camp, and I have loved working ADC, but it's time for a break.  It's too lonely out here when everyone else is gone...

But something that came to my attention this morning is the movement in trends.  I'm sure it's like this at a typical school, but I'm not around that so much and was caught by surprise.  The beginning trend was coloring.  We had coloring pages and everyone—I mean EVERYONE—did a coloring page each day.  That trend soon moved to playing cards, and I have played more rounds of "Go Fish", "Garbage" and "Slap" than I ever care to play again!  But they eventually moved past that and Pokemon cards made an appearance.  Waa??

Yeah, that was strange.  Something that was popular when I was in elementary is now the popular topic of conversation and play for my campers.  Strange. (photo above is of some sort of battle / trade involving the cards)
While Pokemon hasn't truly died, it too has been pushed to the side, and fort building has taken it's place.  There are numerous forts built every day—and they are starting to bring blankets and beg to use our towels to make bigger and better forts!  It's nice that they can entertain themselves (as we begin to feel burnt out), and some of the designs they come up with are pretty creative!
Below is a picture of Noah in his fort from today as well as the large fort that some of the other kids built today.

But we're very much reaching the end.  I can already feel myself turn over and begin to think of school.  A mixed feeling of dread and excitement.  I'm not looking forward to being super busy again (of course, I've been busy all summer, so a break will be very welcome!), and I'm not too thrilled to be returning without some of my dearest friends.  After a lonlier summer, the thought of being lonely at school has me crippled.  I know I have plenty of friends in Arborshire, but something's still missing.

Wow.  Last 2 days.

Giggles and Bunny Ears

Silliness.
It's kinda what we eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Oh, and snack too :)  Thus, we have some silly face pictures to share (notice that Hope always puts the bunny-ears on her own head *giggle*)

We've had some extra hard laughs this week because Tyler is back! yay—we missed him and Brandon a whole lot, I'm so glad they are back (it's going to be a hard school year without them...).  But with some added lisps and bluntness comes some fantastic new quotes!

"I have a fever of 204." —Brandon (said oh-so matter-o-factly)


"If I were a chicken, I would have hached from one of these..." —Devin (holding the 'mistake' egg that was super tiny)

"Whe'... da tign?" —Tyler in his sleep (where's the sign?)

"U twack me up!" —Tyler (and that cracked us up!)

"Jared laughs like a girl indian!" —Hope (waaa?)

And our favorite for the week (thus far)
"Dat tittin tinks.  It' dot prayed by a kunk!!" —by the ever famous: TYLER! (Translation= That kitten stinks.  It got sprayed by a skunk)

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

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!

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 :)

"I Tan Heer You"

Here are some of the more recent quotes from the delightful (though sometimes tiring) world of Adventure Day Camp:

"My sister puts the arm–pit–stuff on" —small girl in the VBS program

"I tan heer you" —Tyler (Heather and I were changing in the girl's changing room that is right next to the boy's.  We were talking about something funny that Tyler did earlier and he sternly informed us that he could "heer" what we were saying)

"If you see a crocodile, ask him what his name is and then do this: 'woo-woo-woo', and we'll be right over" —Jack  (on the hunt for Nile the Crocodile)

"You know, some guys get tossed into the lake for that" —Jack  (just moments after Todd told another kid that "campers have been thrown into the lake for less than that".  Way to go Superman)

"What are those dots on your face? (acne) Trina has those too!  What are those, Trina?" —Brandon

"Twina and Tacy" —Tyler ("Trina and Stacy")

Doubtless, more quotes will soon be appearing among my other musings.  Also being advertised is a picture of me and Superman, courtesy of Mommy (though, right after I got out of the lake might not have been the best timing... lol)

NEW ADDITIONS! (7/15/2011)

"Can you go blow your nose please?" (—Me after Isaac breathed in really hard and revealed his runny nose)
"No.  I'm taking it in!" —Isaac

"Thwisby" —Tyler (Frisbee)

"Are you ready to go play bowling?" —Stacy (we hang out with little kids too much... or maybe with Tyler too much ;) )

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!

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!

"Knac"

Oh, kids say the best things!  When you take the time to enjoy them, it's really entertaining to hear all the things they say—and what they actually say, not just what they mean (though that's important too)!

"Do you remember when you used to call me Brandon?" — Brandon
"Can I have a knac?" —Tyler ("snack".  I had no idea what he was talking about!  When I finally got it, Stacy and I laughed for a good 5 minutes)
"Your 'rudolph' isn't brown anymore!"  —Brandon (Poor Stacy scrapped her nose last week.  Brandon noticed that it is healing nicely)
"I'm gonna twickle you!" —Micah
"Bel-bow" —Ben ("elbow")

"Those Poopers!" —Tyler and Brandon (they call the geese 'poopers' because, well, they poop everywhere!)

"Why dows it tay 'no tish watching'? —Tyler (why does it say 'no dish washing')
"I'm trying to get a sun burn!!" —Tyler (he was laying on a beach towel and we told him it looked like he was getting a sun tan—Rose came by and asked what he was doing and this was his response)


ps. photo of me taken by the lovely Emily before I got to ride the ZIP LINE for the first time!

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! 

Chalk and Nikie Names

Our theme this week is "Growth".  So we went outside yesterday (during the few moments that it wasn't raining) and drew things that grow on the sidewalk!

Hoping to incorporate some home-made sidewalk paint within the next few weeks, but we'll see how that goes.  Anywho, here are some photos that I snapped during that time.

Also to share: some newly acquired nick names! Compliments of Head Lifeguard (Nikie)

For the 3 leaders of the Adventure day camps:

Becca — Boss Lady

Stacy — The Teacher

Katrina — Mother Dearest

Theme Verse: 2 Peter 3:18, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ"

Relays Gone Rogue

While planning our schedule last week, we were informed that the beloved 'swim time' was not going to be available for Monday.  Not that we're really attached to the 10am swim routine, but we were informed that we couldn't go on the water at all on Monday—not morning or afternoon, for either swimming or boats.
Not okay!
The campers love being in the water, and as a campground, that's one of the biggest perks that we have to offer to them—not to mention, it's pretty easy on us to just play around in the water, or to sit on the beach and keep an eye on them.
But we planned some water relay games to do instead.  We figured that they would still be getting wet that way, and it could be fun—right?  I think the Becca and Stacy joined me in being a little unsure about the activity.  Not that it wouldn't be any fun, but that it wouldn't quite measure up to the fun of the beach and sand.  And did I mention that it was overcast and gross outside?  Cuz it was overcast and gross outside.

But oh! We had an absolute BLAST!  We started out with the relays, and though we had about 6 planned, we only did the first 3 and a water ballon toss before ambushing them with water balloons and sponges filled with water. It was the most fun I have had in a while!  Dripping wet and screaming, we ran around the field, dodged between picnic tables, and tried to get everyone else as wet as we were!  SO much better than the lake!

I don't have any pictures of the fight, because I was quite busy getting my campers wet and trying not to get hit by another bucket of cold water—but I will add some photos of my war wounds soon.  While giving a hug to a dry friend (who dumped a bucket of water on me!), we tripped and fell on the cement.  We weren't hurt very badly, but I've got a few scrapes to show off now  :)

Oh, how I love counseling!

Quotation Marks

m Oh, how I love working with kids—they say the best things! haha
Here are some of my favorites from week 1 and 2, hopefully more to come :)

Week 1
"Rubbish" — Adam
"I'm allergic to girls" —Jack
"We used the other-different-kind-of-baby-turtle-food" —Brandon
"It's not the 'Amazing Race', it's the 'Handsome Race for all Super Heros and Princesses'" —Jack
"We hugged for longer than 7 seconds, that means it was a real hug" —Allison (which explains the death-grip around my neck...)
"You dot to be tidding me" —Tyler ('you've got to be kidding me')
"Baa" —Ben ('bye', said like he's from the deep south)

Week 2
"Why can't you talk right?" (Brandon to Tyler, who doesn't say his 's's)
"Are diamonds poisonous?" —Tyler
"I'm dur-ty, I nee a dink" —Tyler (no, not 'dirty', but 'thirsty')
"Is this for fake?" —Brandon
"I'm going to wear my cow girl clothes every Thursday..." —Lindsay
"Reach for the sky" —Jack


There were so many more, but my lack of preparation caused me to slide on the whole "write it down so you remember" thing, so this is all I have right now