It's Over

My Lake Bryn Mawr summer 09 is officially over...

I flew in last night at 11:10, after an extremely bumpy ride--so turbulent, in fact, that it was kind of scary. There was lightning outside the plane and the guy sitting next to me was so freaked out that I stopped listening to my Ipod so that I could calm him down. We talked about the vacation he was going on--he and his wife, who was sitting two rows behind us, were going to Glacier and up into Banff. That seemed to work, but every 10 minutes or so we would hit a really rough patch and be tossed around. It was starting to make me feel a bit unsteady, which never happens to me on an airplane, but the dude was starting to make me nervous by being so nervous himself. Needless to say, I was glad to get off that plane.

Saying goodbye to everyone at camp was just as hard this summer as last summer. I cried a lot. It isn't fun to say goodbyes. I will miss everyone like crazy. However, the best part of Bryn Mawr is picking up exactly where we all left off the next time we see each other, like 10 months haven't passed. It was hard to say goodbye to my girls in 14 and 12. They all hugged me and cried. I was pretty much over 15, so I didn't even mind seeing them leave. Is that bad to say? It is how I feel. I was sad to say goodbye to Livvy, though.

The bus ride was good. The girls were really good--there was one pucker, and she made it into the garbage bag so I didn't have to clean. The parents picked up their kids and peaced, so there was no stress there. And then the driver picked us up early and we didn't have to wait for an hour! It was great. He drove us right through New York, so we got to see the city. We made good time to the airport. I did get stuck paying an exorbitant fee for my bags, but I was so ready to get out of there at this point that I didn't even care. I met up with the same group as last summer and we all sat at McDonald's with red eyes, extremely tired, hating life...and didn't want to leave each other when it came time to go. I was on the same flight as Tanya and Erica, so that was good.

And now I am home, and I washed all my laundry because it smelled really bad. Then I will pack up again and head to Casper to see my boys!

Gold Wins!

For the first time since I have been at Bryn Mawr--4 summers--Gold has won Color War!!! It was a pretty exciting race. There was something like 18 points separating them before going into Sing--unheard of in the past. In previous summers Green has always come from behind to win, but this summer Gold won Color War and even though Green won Sing, it wasn't enough to bump them over.

The Final Fight, or the Conflict Resolution as they called it, wasn't much of a fight. It was Gladiators trying to bump off the Green and Gold representatives. Very funny until Beau whopped Josh with a mat as he was flying through the air off the tumble track into the Bunk One girls. There were a few tears and more than one ice bag after that. Poor Josh felt awful. It probably hurt him too. Not a very soft landing. After that there was a dance off between the Green and Gold representatives. Drew was once again the giant hotdog, but he didn't dance. Bummer. The dance moves were hilarious and the girls really enjoyed the production.

I have been cleaning all day today. I do not like today or tomorrow. Cleaning and packing are not fun. I was hot and sweaty and grumpy today.

My stuff is mostly packed. A few last minute items to stuff and then I will be done.

Lightning Strikes

Last night we had a humdinger of a storm--there was a high wind warning, a golf-ball size hail warning, and severe thunderstorm warning. I had last night off and had just barely made it out of the dining hall when the heavens opened up. I was stuck in 22 by myself while everyone else was stuck in the dining hall--with 300 kids, lucky them! Anyway, I had just closed all the windows and was listening to it downpour outside (it sounded like a waterfall), when there was this sizzling noise followed by a BOOM so intense I could feel it in my bones. It hurt my ears and the whole bunk felt like it was shaking. You've heard it described as a thunderclap before? This was just like a giant hand had clapped next to my ears. I'm pretty sure either the building got hit or right outside got hit. And of course I'm the only one in the bunk. I called my parents and Dad asked if I felt anything, but all I felt was the soundwave afterwards. It was kind of cool. And now the topic of lightning fascinates me. Getting struck would suck, but Brandt told me that once you fall down your heart will restart from the jolt of falling. Good to know.

Finalization

Color War has been humming right along--and I apologize for not updating this sooner. I've been pretty busy and then the internet decided to go out...not a happy event. However...it is working right now! The lack of time and the many things going on does necessitate a list.

1. I started to read The Time Traveler's Wife. I like it so far.
2. I really like my new counselor in 15. She makes me laugh.
3. I really really like my old counselor in 15, Livvy. Today in her exit interview with Britton she said some very nice things. They made me choke up a little bit, actually. I really appreciate her and all the hard work she's put in. I know it hasn't been the easiest time in 15, but she's stuck with it. Plus she's just a nice person. So lovely to be around.
4. Gary Brown is a kick in the pants. He told me yesterday he wants to come visit me in Montana. He said that my parents must be very nice people and he'd like to meet them.
5. I got to serve snack today for the first time ever! Granted, it didn't last very long but I liked it while it happened.
6. My girls in 14 are such good kids.
7. I have been having very good times with all my girls in general. We've been laughing a lot.
8. I am tired.
9. Today was the hottest day all summer--96 I believe. That doesn't sound that hot, but to all of us here used to 70s and rain, this feels like being broiled alive.
10. I got all my paperwork done!!!!!

Color War!!!

Color War broke last night--it was an Indiana Jones, National Treasure sort of thing. Instead of fighting, like we normally do, it was just a series of scenes starting with a huge volcano down in the ropes course with our good archeologists and the two bad ones. The whole premise was that they were trying to get the pieces of the halo to join them together and unite Bryn Mawr. I was a fallen angel without my halo, and I held a torch along the path to adventure and then on the nature trail while we sang the Alma Mater. It was a pretty cool thing. The girls walked along through the nature trail and all the torches to Wembley where there was the final event in the Cave of Lost Angels--and Gary Brown as the knight/advisor like in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and the archeologists had to pick which angel to put the halo on. If they chose wrong, they died, sort of like drinking from the wrong grail in the movie. I thought it was done very well overall. I don't have any pictures, but the video is up on the website.

A week and one day left at camp.

Rainy Days, UFO Chasers, Lane Judging and Benny and the Jets

UFO chasers for Carnival...I was applying for the position of Galactic Ambassador, but you can't read my plate from here

Getting my palm read at Carnival--check out my sweet face paint by Aaron!

Yes, I am wearing a toga--and my tinfoil hat is amazing. Check out the height!

Enjoying some pretzel and showing off the face paint!

Carnival was yesterday--and it poured! It was the first carnival in my 4 summers at camp that had to be indoors. Boo! And at the same time, we made the best of it and the kids had a good time. And I loved loved loved my face paint that Aaron did and my carnival costume, which was basically a toga with a sweet tinfoil hat. I also added a plate advertising the fact that I was applying for a job as Galactic Ambassador. Everyone else went tinfoil-crazy, but I wore exactly what I would wear were I to actually be a UFO-obsessed individual, complete with the advertisement.

Today Gary Brown asked me to be a lane judge for the swim meet. Of course I said yes! I have never actually done that before, but I figured I'm a reasonably intelligent individual. How hard can it be? Harder than it sounds, let me tell you! It was a little bit stressful at times, trying to figure out who came in what order--especially with 8 teams and some of the older girls being right on top of each other. But I never screwed up! I had a good time.

Tonight Anita and I went to eat at this random little diner/restaurant in Honesdale. It came complete with mini quarter-jukeboxes in your booth. Anita was messing around with it and ours starting playing, at a very loud volume, Rod Stewart. We were getting some dirty looks from the poor diner-goers of Honesdale who were trying to eat and not appreciating Rod Stewart blasting into their dinners. Ooops. There was just one problem...we couldn't get it to turn off! I was semi-embarrassed, but Anita just pulled out a quarter and said we had to redeem ourselves after that song. So what else could we pick but Benny and the Jets?? We rocked out to that song and I saw quite a few people nodding happily along with Elton. Much better than Rod!

On another note, I have a new counselor in 15, a former Bunk 1 camper who left in 05, which was the year before I came to Bryn Mawr. She seems like a cool kid.

Celebratory Dock Jump

To celebrate the successful reappearance of my lower lip--no more blisters or scabs of blisters--I jumped off the dock today with Anita and Rachel. No pictures, sorry. It was a quick after-snack-before-5th-period dock jump. And it was AWESOME!!! I love jumping off the dock.

From 9 to 6

I started out with 9 counselors in my 3 bunks--3 for each. I have 6 original counselors left. I guess losing 3 isn't that bad of a number, but sheesh...it's the most that I've ever lost in one summer. One of them was moved from the bunk into another cabin in the same age group, one was moved from the bunk into a different age group, and now one has quit/been fired. I'm not sure what you would call it--perhaps a bit of both? Remember the counselor I was so afraid to have that talk with, the one I was sure didn't like me? She had some unfortunate pictures in the bunk and the girls saw them. Coupled with some personal problems, it was enough for her to no longer be with us. Bunk 15 will be getting a new counselor starting Sunday, a former camper who is super-excited to be doing this for the last 2 weeks of camp. I feel...torn about the situation. On the one hand, the counselor in question and I had achieved a really good working relationship. We were getting along just great and I think it was a battle hard-fought and won for me. So it is sad to see her go now, after everything we've gone through. And yet, I also am glad that one source of drama has been removed from my summer. I no longer have to hold her hand constantly.

On an up note, today is my day off and when I went into lunch I was absolutely BOMBARDED with girls, both mine and Tina's, who were so excited to see me and had missed me all morning. We sat together and had a great lunch, laughing and joking. I really do love my girls this summer. I don't even want to think about leaving them all in 2 weeks.

I Said LOOK!!

Superhero Posse in action, with two of our Super Villains--Erica, Tina, Meredith, Yari, me, Rachel, Heather, Jess and Danielle in the front. Or our Superhero names: Flash, The Tidalwave, The Cannonballer, The Dancer, The Balancer, The Charming Enigma, and The Morpher. I don't remember the two Super Villain's names.

Random 4th of July photo--I think it was during Olympics--Erica, me, Tina, and Jess

MC, Hike, JCSD, Movie Night

Superhero Final Fight pose!

So much has been going on the past couple days and I haven't even gotten a chance to write it all down! I also have pictures.

On Sunday night I hosted the Junior Camp Trash Bag Fashion show--which I renamed the Trashion show, and Drew liked, so I think it has officially been renamed. Anyway, it was fun. The girls had a good time. That one never gets old. They always make something new, and some of the outfits they come up with really look cute. My Bunk 14 made the best little formal dress ever.

After hosting the Trashion Show, my co-host Jess and I with the judges.

Then Drew told me I would get to do morning announcements for Tuesday, because he was on a trip and it was going to be JCSD. So I was super-excited about that and I some time putting together a superhero script. Drew helped me pick music and then showed me how to do the morning announcements--there are a lot of steps involved.

On Monday the entire Upper Juniors went on a hike to the Promised Lands, which is a small area in the Delaware National Forest. We didn't leave PA, but it was about 40 minutes from camp. It was fun, not very long at all--not really a hike, more of a nature walk. But for these girls I guess it was a hike. They sure complained enough. Then after the hike we took them to a park on the lake and grilled for lunch. The problem with that was that the adventure and trek boys are used to grilling for 20, not 50...we started at 12 and I didn't get to eat until 2:30. And even then we ran out of most condiments and buns and all the potatoes. We wrapped veggies and either hamburgers or hotdogs in tinfoil packets and put them on the grill that way. It was very good, just extremely long. The girls did pretty well with the wait, considering they are used to being fed on time and they aren't used to waiting for other people whatsoever. Gil set up the slackline while we were there and we got to do that for a bit--of course the girls all wanted to try, so we spent most of our time walking them across. I didn't get back from that until snack time and then immediately had a bunk meeting, so I was pretty much tired afterwards.

On Monday night we broke JCSD. The theme this summer was Camp Superhero--which basically means that we were all superheroes and since the Super Villians were attacking Bryn Mawr, we had to train the Junior Campers to defend. The video that Matt put together for the break was amazing! I will have a way for you to watch that later. I was the Cannonballer, able to reach the speed of both light and sound if properly propelled from my cannon. It was a good break and it led to an even better Junior Camp Special Day. I did the announcements and that went really well. It was freaking hot that day, and the morning started out badly by Danielle and I having a disagreement over something stupid--basically, we were both in the wrong but she overreacted very badly and when I tried to make it right she didn't want to have anything to do with me. So I walked away and she found me at breakfast and apologized for taking out her bad day on me. Yikes. After that things went much smoother and we had an awesome final fight in the gym against the Super Villains.

Last night I happened to be on, so I got to accompany my girls to the movies. We watched G-Force, which for those of you who don't know is about a trio of Guinea Pigs who are trained to be FBI agents. Yeah. You heard me correctly. However, what made it even better was that it was in 3-D! Yes, we wore the glasses and had things leap out at us. My favorite part, actually? Going up into the projection booth with Bill and the owner of the theater while he showed us how the 3-D part was done. It was pretty trippy up there.

I was really tired after all of that, and then I had to sit OD until after 11. Consequently, this morning I am dragging.

Tubing and Awesomeness

I went tubing yesterday with my girls in 14. We had an Explorer and although she wasn't too sure she wanted to try tubing, she eventually decided that if I was her partner and we went really slow, she was game. It was a good time. Gary Brown made sure we didn't almost fall out and the Explorer enjoyed herself. And then of course we had to dock jump. I do love the dock jump.

Last night on OD I had this surge of complete and utter happiness. I have been struggling with something all summer and last night I felt it snap back into place--of course I had to do some joyous airkicks! I probably looked pretty special on cabin row doing some utterly ungraceful hops up and down, but whatever. I was feeling it at the moment. And THEN Charlotte brought us cookies and Puchi gave us soda and then I saw a huge FROG in the middle of the road that made me smile.

And today was late sleep!!!! I am at the point of my summer where I am starting to get extremely tired. All I do on any time off now is sleep or sit around. There is no more fun trips planned at this point, just what can I do to ensure I'm in bed early on my time off...And once I do get home, I think I sleep and do nothing for at least a week. But I am not ready to think about coming home yet! Camp has flown by and I am having too much fun with my girls.

Last night I had so much fun walking around with them and laughing about anything and everything. We have really bonded this summer and I enjoy all of them.

Times

I went to Philly to pick up Explorers yesterday--there were 4 of them, not that hard a job. The drive up was long and I didn't really enjoy it. You know how sometimes you can have a good conversation with people you've just met, and sometimes you know there won't be much of one at all? Yeah, that was pretty much the drive up. I knew within the first 3 seconds that the driver and I were not going to be conversing well. We still could have, I guess, but it definitely would have been a stilted, limping conversation that would take more effort than it was worth. So as soon as she got on her phone, I plugged in my Ipod. And enjoyed every second I got to listen to my music. Picking up the girls was good. The parents were very pleasant and very interested to hear what was going to happen with their girls this weekend. The drive back was extremely short--the girls fell asleep, I fell asleep, and we all woke up near Honesdale.

JCSD is fast approaching. I am excited for it and a little bit anxious as to how the day is going to go down. We are still working out some logistical things right now.

My lip is feeling better--still blistered and gross, but the swelling has gone down and it doesn't hurt as bad. I will be doing a happy dance when it eventually is gone completely! I think a dock jump is in order!

I played in the lake on the surfboards with 14 yesterday. We have an Explorer in our bunk and they were pulling out the stops to show her a good time. We had some fun times. I stood on my surfboard 3 times and then had to abandon further attempts because my girls like to try to dunk me too much.

Everything else is going well--I won't even say how many days left we have, because I will cry.

Sunburn

My lips are sunburned! Ok, just the bottom one...remember I said I had a sunburn from Visiting Day? Well, that included my lips and they are now blistered. Gross, huh? And it hurts sooooo bad! The first day the blisters made their oh-so-welcome appearance, it hurt so bad to talk that I tried not to all day long. And today they are feeling a teeny bit better, but they still look very gross. I am extremely unhappy with this situation. :( :( :(

More Pics and A List

Gold Rush!

I really like this poster

List time!

1. Gold Rush happened, as you can see from the above photos. Last summer it got cancelled due to weather and I was completely ok with that. This summer, I enjoyed myself. I was in the final Shoot-Out, and although I only lasted until about 30 seconds in, Jacque and I had a great duel and killed each other. Then I got to just lie on the grass for another 5 minutes until the Shoot-Out was over. It was a good spot to watch from, provided I didn't get stepped on.

2. I am picking up Explorers on Friday in Philly! I am so excited! More on that when it happens.

3. Today is Hershey, which means I am on my day off. I had to wake up with the girls and make sure they made it on the bus, but after that I went straight back to bed at 8:30 and slept until almost 11, when I put my laundry in.

4. I talked to my family last night, including my two very favorite boys in the whole world and they completely made my day! Kameron talked and laughed into the phone and Kaelan told me all about his bike and said I needed to come home and see him ride it. It made me homesick for them.

5. JCSD is in full-throttle planning mode. I think it is going to be amazing this summer. I'm excited.

6. Visiting Day went by in a blur of sun and wayyyy too many cookies from the cookie tent. Ok, I only ate 5 this summer, but the fact that I ate pretty continuously up to that point makes it more serious. And yes, I once again got sunburned...see the picture of Drew and I if you really want to see the evidence. But all my girls were good and no one cried too hard and I didn't get ambushed by any parents.

7. Male Beauty was fun. No pictures this summer yet again--except of us GLs dressed like the guys. We decided that it would be fun to dress up like the male staff that was our Male Beauty. Mine was Drew--I wore a button to campaign for him with my girls, and we won!--and I just basically borrowed everything he had, including his socks, shoes, and watch. I also wore his crazy wig to make it a little bit more clear who I was supposed to be. I think I more looked like Ronald McDonald in the wig, but oh well.

8. In the land of my job, I have been handling more and more friendship issues. They haven't been too overwhelming for me--or maybe I'm actually getting better at this?? Perhaps. But I never used to know what to say to these kids, and now I feel as though it is getting so much easier and working better. Bob Ditter is amazing. It could also be that I have been here for 4 summers and have learned a thing or two along the way.

Picture Catch-Up!

Bill and Anita--Anita was Bill for Male Beauty judging Drew and myself--I was Drew for Male Beauty Judging, but this was afterwards when I was cold. (And yes, he is still wearing makeup. Lovely, Drew!)

All the GLs in our judging attire

Dressed like superheros for filming the JCSD break

Aquarama!!

Frustration

I was so upset with myself today. I had zero patience, right out of the box. It wasn't like it evolved to this point...I just woke up without a shred of patience in my body. My entire body, if you can imagine. I knew early on that I was going to have to change my attitude or I was going to have a rough day. And the rough day part lasted pretty much all morning, but then Heather D and I played a sweet game of lawn tennis and my mood improved. I still needed to be more patient with my girls, though. And I did not snap at any one of them--but I could feel that the potential was there. I definitely didn't d0 much playing and joking around with them today. I hated being like that. Was it a sleep issue? I don't know. I do know that the Visiting Day clean-up got to me and my counselors came through like champions. At least tonight I get to go to bed early.

Books and Cubby Cleaning

I came to camp with the usual amount of books--6 that I hadn't started yet. And normally by this point I am buying more because I have already finished them. At least in past summers that has been the case. Currently, I am still working on book number 2. What does that mean?? Either I'm really not into the Tom Robbins book I am reading--Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates--or I don't have as much time to read as I normally do. That could be because on OD at night I am generally with the kids or dealing with an issue and then too tired, and in the mornings I haven't been getting my consistant adirondack chair time. Bummer.

We are cleaning for Visiting Day--which is on Saturday, can you believe it?? Not me. I'm feeling way too relaxed for it already to be Visiting Day. Anyway, I spent all morning in 15 helping with cubbies because they only had one counselor, only to walk into 14 and be blown away by the fact that even though they have 2 counselors, nothing was done. I have to do all the cubbies in the back still. 12 looks amazing, I won't even worry. But why do I always have one bunk every summer that stress me out about cleaning? Riddle me that...

I saw the new Harry Potter last night. I will give it a thumb to the side--which means neither up nor down. I liked it...I think. There were awkward parts, like with Ginny Weasely, and the ending sucked big time. That is all I will say. I need to reread the books when I get home. Brush up on my Potter and reestablish my liking for the series.

Learning

I have the day off today, and I was sitting here waiting for everyone else to get ready so we can go out for b'fast at the Trackside and I started to think about the past couple days and what has been happening. I also realized I haven't been updating this thing as often as I should, but I am going to try harder. Anyway, yesterday I woke up early and because we didn't have morning meeting I was able to sit in the adirondack chairs and read so much of my book. It was absolutely amazing. One of my very favorite places on camp! And then the day began...it was Aquarama, which is almost one of my very favorite days. It's chill and I love to run around and go on the water rides with my girls. Except today was not going to be that kind of day at all. One of my counselors was moved from the bunk and for a while there it was looking like she would go home. I was very upset because she could be a great camp person if she was in the right place here--a healthy, safe place for her, which Bunk 15 was not. I won't go into reasons on here, but suffice it to say that I was upset and Marjori told me I could go hide out for the morning. So I rode around on the golf cart with Drew and then hung out in his office until lunch. After lunch I was feeling a little bit better and I was able to play with some of my girls before jumping back into the fray with the counselor again. I felt like I was standing underneath the other shoe about to drop on my head all afternoon--and then she said she was staying! That put me in a great mood and my Bunk 14 girls made it even better. I have decided that they are the ones that cheer me up when I'm feeling like I don't know why I come back to do this job. Don't get me wrong, it's amazing and unique and worth it and all those colorful adjectives, but it is also extremely HARD sometimes. I realized yesterday that I had lost sight of what they tell us in Leadership week--when you feel like you can't do it anymore, go play with the girls that you love, who don't have drama going on all the time, and who love you back and are excited to have you around. I got to do that yesterday with Bunk 14 and it made my entire week. They made me a bracelet, they wrote the best campaign song to get Drew for Male Beauty, and we had fun. After that I was sufficiently ready to go back into 15 and be their counselor for the evening. I sat in there and we read a chapter of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and they went to bed. I was there until almost 11:20, when their other counselors got back.

Looking back on yesterday, I think I learned--or relearned, I guess, which I think I am constantly doing in my life--that I need to ask for help and not be bothered that I can't do everything, that I need to focus on the girls who don't need something every second just as much as the high-maintenance ones, and that I really and truly love Bryn Mawr! Ok, the last one I didn't really need to relearn, but it is definitely in my thoughts.

I wish my entire family could come here and see just how special this place is. It is hard for those looking in to understand--you need to experience it, to meet everyone here. I was interviewed for the Poplar Post by one of my former campers from the past 2 summers the other day, and she asked if I was going to stay until I got my Angel. That will be next summer, summer number 5 for me. And I said of course I would, but after yesterday, I know there is no way I couldn't come back. My time at Bryn Mawr is far from over, and that also makes me happy.

A Meh Day

Meh as in, 'How's your day?' 'Meh', with a shoulder shrug.

I felt very...tired today. Tired and not very mentally or physically present, which is tough because to be successful here you need to be both very much mentally and physically present. And yet, I feel that everyone here gets this way once in a while. The trick is not to have it happen more often than it doesn't. And I can say that this is the only time I have felt like this. I have had hard days, oh my yes, but wanting to cry and not have a conversation or having a tough time with my girls is not the same as just not really feeling it. And I was not really feeling it today. I took a nap and then felt almost sick, so that wasn't the answer.

I went to archery with some of my kids today and really enjoyed that activity. I was actually pretty good at it! I could hit a bull's-eye from 30 feet back and I was pretty consistant with hitting the target in the same spot. I even hit 3 arrows in one spot at one point. I felt very Robin Hood-esque.

Tonight is my night off, and I am making the most of it by watching a good movie and relaxing. Early bed is also on the agenda.

Plastic Bubble

So my trick knee has been giving me fits for the past couple days. Nothing too bad--just swelling at odd moments and some pain that makes me stop walking and make funny pain faces. I have been icing it like whoa and trying not to aggravate it too much. Last night, it hurt so bad and I couldn't figure out why, until we had a mother of a thunderstorm and I knew why: pressure! My knee gives me fits when it gets cold out or we have a huge change in pressure and last night was a doozy. People's ears were popping and getting sore, and my knee hurt. So Charlotte gave me something for the pain, something Canadian and something that I found out contains Codeine. And we all know what that does to a person...I was almost loopy sitting on OD last night and when I finally went to bed at 11 I pretty much passed out and don't remember waking up until this morning. At least it was late sleep. And the important thing was that my knee didn't hurt! Then this morning I rammed my knee on the breakfast table and that about sent me through the roof. I held my breathe and writhed in my seat for a few seconds. And THEN at lunch I hit my shin on the bench at our lunch table and now have a large raised bump on my shin bone. What does that signify? Drew and Heather both told me I need to be in a plastic bubble. Like I haven't heard that before.