Livin' La Vida Bryn Mawr

Soooo much has been going on since I last posted! That is understandable, considering a day at camp is more like a week in the real world. Let me see if I can remember some highlights...

Many days and nights off filled with much-needed sleep, great dinners and hangouts with friends, and of course, the Ice Cream Cottage. Oh Ice Cream Cottage, how I heart you! I am off tomorrow, too, and very excited to be heading to the outlet stores. Except I don't have anything on my list to buy because I can't fit it in my luggage!

My girls have been good for the most part. Little fights and misunderstandings and hurt feelings--nothing that can't be fixed with a little listening and some hugs. I really like this age group.

Weather has been fairly rainy and when it isn't rainy it's really warm. Not sure I like that. Am so ready for air conditioning!

Almost heading into Color War, but I don't know what the break will be. I imagine I'll hear soon.

Went to yoga with my girls this morning and had an absolute BLAST! I loved our instructor and wish I could take her class back home. She is by far the best yoga instructor I have ever had. I took some really good poses away from the class and a great idea with some rocks that I am going to do with Kaelan and Kameron.

All in all I am in good spirits and really making the most of these last 2 weeks with my friends here and my girls.

Lions and Tigers and...Woodchucks

We went for a hike yesterday with all the Upper Juniors. Our original all-day hike at the Promised Lands was cancelled due to weather so this one was rescheduled as a baby hike to the Hundred Acre Woods from 10 until lunchtime. I was ok with that. We were going to do some berry picking and that is always fun. Once there, the boys had the girls 'snipe hunting' like they always do--when it got really quiet and the adventure/trek guys decided to split up and have the girls all do 'hoo rahs' while they walked in front. Come to find out, a woodchuck had been spotted.

Woodchuck=bear.

In this case it was a black bear that was also berry picking and we happened to come upon it. The girls had no clue. The boys handled it very well. Gil showed me the spot where it had been lying down and eating the berries. We proceeded to pick berries and made it back without any further mishaps.

I do enjoy life at camp!

Last night was square dancing. It was fun. I learned a Jamaican line dance that I am totally going to teach the boys because they would love it! Especially Kaelan. Of course, he and Kameron would want to add some booty dance to it because that is their signature move.

3 weeks left, people, and then I see you all!

Explanation

How about I give a little background information as to why receiving my Angel should make me so happy?

Ok, that's what I thought.

Here we go: Our girls at Bryn Mawr are referred to as "Bryn Mawr Angels" and the Angel is on all our logos. I suppose you'd call it our mascot. :) Anyway, every Bunk One girl gets her Angel--which is a silver Angel necklace pendant--at the beginning of her Bunk One summer and not before. For staff, if it is your 5th summer you get your own silver Angel necklace pendant. The Angel is something that all the girls look up to and strive to receive--a super special reminder of all that you've done and all that you've worked for to reach this stage. Seeing how reverent all the little girls are about these necklaces, you definitely come to see it as more than what it is, even as a staff member. I didn't really get the significance of it until after my first summer here, but now I am super happy and excited to be included in the 'wearing of the Angel'. I didn't cry, but it was close.

And I shall include a picture of me wearing my Angel sometime soon.

Cheers!

Happiness Is....

Riding the giant fish while eating a root beer barrel, but since I am no longer in Missoula and I gave up root beer barrels due to the color they turn my tongue, this entry will have to be different.

Visiting Day went really well. It was so hot in my polo! I have a nice sunburn momento in the shape of a triangle from the polo's button area because I didn't think about putting sunscreen there. My face didn't get burned and I put so much lip sunblock on my lips that I am positive I won't have a repeat of last summer. All the parents were lovely and the kids had a good time. And this summer I didn't eat too much! I only had 2 cookies at the cookie tent. They had fruit as an option this summer and I did enjoy that very much. We had our pool moment after the parents left and it was heavenly to be in the water. Then Male Beauty! I wore a pretty sweet Hawaiian style shirt with shorts and sandals. I think I was going for a dude-on-a-cruise look. It was fun.

And afterwards....

I GOT MY ANGEL!!!!

It was a very moving ceremony and I almost wish I had more time to absorb the whole thing. There were only 5 of us who got our Angels as staff and it was so awesome. I had to be wearing my Male Beauty get-up, but oh well. I have worn worse to camp.

JCSD, the Blob, Food Coma!

JCSD was on Tuesday--a whopping 2 weeks earlier than it normally is. And boy did that ever make a difference. The problem is that the first 2 weeks of camp are so busy that we didn't really get a jump on planning like we normally do. We had decided the theme should be video games before the girls got here, but that was about it. By the time we got around to planning it and really setting all the events in motion, we were like 2 days away. Not a good thing, for multiple reasons. We did not do a half-ass job, though--everything was done very thoroughly. We just didn't get it to people with enough time. We got called on it and consequently Heather and I cried. We had been working on that soooo hard and we were completely wrapped up in the whole situation and stressed to the max. We had filmed the break with Matt--I was Luigi, Heather was Mario. You'll have to check out the video on the website if you have that log-in. Anyway, we eventually got everything in the right order and the day went off with an actual rainy day plan that worked well. It was probably my least favorite JCSD ever. Except for our T-shirts! They were a stencil of the fireflower from Super Mario with "This Is Why I'm Hot" under it. So awesome! Heather did an amazing job screen-printing our shirts for us.

I went to the lake today with my girls in Bunk 13 and was the celebrity blobber off the Aqua jump. The very first blob I did I landed hard on my bad wrist and saw stars--quite literally. I felt my face go white and everyone asked if I was ok. I just crawled back up on the jump and shook it off. I did a second blob and then swam back to the dock with one arm up in the air. It feels much better now. It just did not like that jamming action.

On a completely unrelated note, I watched Knight and Day with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz last week and LOVED it! If you haven't seen it, you should.

Tonight I am doing a Counselor Appreciation Party at 10:30 on Cabin Row. I was off tonight and went to Wal-Mart, where I purchased massive quantities of junk food. Their requests? Double-Stuff Oreos with frosting to dip them in and anything with peanut butter. Ok then. I complied, with some soft cookies thrown in for Jess, my Co-GL, who does not like store-bought cookies unless they are from the bakery.

One of my girls met with Bob Ditter today. I am very impressed with Bob. I feel as though he should make a T-shirt that says "I dropped the rope, I've got money in the bank...AND..." on the front, with "I've been Ditterized" on the back. It would be a money maker!

Still no angel. Sad. Maybe tomorrow night?

Anniversary Night

Got my 5 year jacket! It's a fleece in Bryn Mawr green with my name and the logo stitched on it. And...no angel. Sad! Hopefully soon though. Last night Anniversary night landed on a Friday, which is also Talent Show, so I think that is why they didn't do it. I think they like to make a bigger deal out of it and not share it with 5 million other things. I'll keep you posted!

Heat Wave

It has been soooo hot here! Starting probably the 5th and going up until yesterday, when it finally, blissfully, broke. We had almost in the 100s with plus plus plus humidity these past 4 days and everyone has been cranky, uncomfortable, sweaty, sunburned, and just plain OVER IT!! I had a day off on Tuesday due to the girls going to Dorney Park and it was glorious--if a bit hot. We watched the new Tom Cruise movie and ate non-camp food. Wednesday and Thursday were long days of trying to go in the water as often as possible and avoid sunburns. I have been in the lake so much that I still smell faintly of lake water--after 2 showers?? Yeah, that's lovely. And yesterday while on the surfboards with my bunk 13 and Heather, something tried to swim up my lifejacket! I moved back a little bit in the water and felt it give me a good buffet in the middle of my back--much like those giant Tarpin did in the Grand Caymens, except they were almost 4 feet long and probably weighed 100 pounds or better. This was just a little something. I am hoping it was a fish and not a snake. Eww, I don't even want to think about it if it was a snake. Anyway, after that lake experience the heat started to break and we got some rain about dinner time. Lovely! Our evening activity was a GL night that Jess and I had planned. She was off so I ran it. It was themed skits in a bag and our girls had so much fun. They did a really great job with their skits. Then I sat OD until 10:30, actually got cold on OD, hallelujah, and Beau brought me a social cookie! I was so excited about that. I had been wanting one all evening. Social cookies, by the way, are the cookies they serve for the Senior Camp socials with whatever boys' camp is here. I ate my social cookie and went to bed. And today is also hot, but not as hot--there is a bit of a breeze, at least. Off tomorrow!

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Brought my Batman bear to b'fast this morning because it was late sleep and jim-jam brunch. Jim-jams are your pjs, by the way. The boys and I call them that.

Got to do two glorious dock jumps for no reason whatsoever other than it was HOT today--and I have a standing Gary Brown invite to jump off the dock whenever I want, even if no one is down there, just as long as I wear a lifejacket. Of course I'm going to wear a lifejacket...I can't swim with only one arm that well and with the lifejacket I bob really well. Gil ducktaped my baggie over my splint this time. It still got wet. Oh well.

Finished my JCSD stuff--game and things I needed to put together. Will tell you the theme on the actual day.

Watched the fireworks tonight and wasn't that homesick, considering this is my worst night at camp. I sooooo want to be home with my family right now, watching fireworks with my babies, cuddling my Kamo.

Just one more day and then the girls go to Dorney and I get a day off!

Birthday Dock Jump 2010!

Yay! Birthday Dock Jump 2010! My favorite part of being at camp for my birthday.

Notice the baggie over my splint.

It was cold this morning! The water was warm, but there was a definite breeze.

Pics: What I Have Been Up To

Staff Olympics! Wearing a toga is just not the same when you have a splint. :(

Blindfolded for that trust-game. Ridiculous. At least my wrist was ok then.

Pointing at fireworks for my 4th of July skit with Christine. I really dug my socks.