The rest of the summer...

I said at the end of last week that I would update this past weekend on the rest of my summer, but time slipped away from me as I was spending time with my step-siblings. It had been three months since I last saw them. Life took over my blog, and I'm totally okay with that. :-) I've thought and thought about how I'm going to do this and the best way seems like the way I did it while I was still at camp Update week-by-week. Here we go...

Week 4: Day Camp in Clearwater, MN. Rejoice Lutheran Church.
Day camp is our program where we go into another town. We're assigned to a church and we spend 5 hours a day with the kids. Do bible study, worship, arts and crafts, and play games. Lots of games. This week was one of my favorite weeks. I was with Kris and Eric, and honestly can't imagine being on a better team. We all meshed really well, which was surprising. I don't, or have I ever, spent a lot of time with guys. I just don't have a lot of guy friends. So I was forced (for lack of a better term, because I didn't feel like I was forced) to spend a whole week with these guys. It was weird at first, I won't lie. By day two we learned how each other operated. We had a lot of laughs, and generally just got to know each other better. The kids were really awesome, too. A lot of them were really young. Pre-school to Kindergarten age. We had a couple who were older, but they were all really well behaved. We had about 20 kids. After we were done with day camp we were able to go back to our host home, relax for a couple hours, and plan for the next day. Our host family was great, too. We all got our own room (I would have had my own, anyway), and they provided breakfast for us every morning, which was awesome. I could go on and on about the great things that happened this particular week, but I'll have to stop here for now.

Week 5: Andy's Gang. 5th and 6th graders.
This week was really awesome, too. I had 8 girls in my cabin, and they were really great. This particular week I was in one of the cabins furthest away from everything. We had to use a bathroom that could have been growing a tree right in the middle of it. We had to walk up a bunch of stairs, over a couple hills, and through the woods to get to our cabin. We had to make that trek more times then I liked to throughout the day. I wanted to complain about it so bad, but my campers weren't. They were just so awesome that way. Once one did, I said "It's okay. Go ahead. I've been complaining inside my head every time I have to walked up these blasted stairs. Let's have a complaining session right now, and then figure out a way to minimize our trips up and down here for the rest of the week." They took it and ran. I thanked them so much for the their willingness to cooperate that week. We shared a lot of laughs, and created some lasting memories. I was weary of this week, too. It was my first week coming back to counseling after my nightmare that was week two. I just didn't want a repeat. I'm grateful it wasn't. This was my biggest growing week, too. My style of counseling changed, through my learning. Choosing your battles was the biggest thing I learned this week and for the rest of the summer. It helped me a lot, and allowed me to have a lot more fun. This was also the week of adding injury on top of injury. By the end of the week I was covered in bruises, scrapes, cuts, and a lot of incredible memories. On Friday after the campers left, I looked down at my legs and cringed. I looked like I was beaten up. I wore long pants the rest of the day, did my hair, and put on make-up. I just needed to feel like a girl for a little while.

Week 6: Half blast (4th and 5th graders) and maintenance.
Half blast is designed for campers who aren't quite ready for a full week of camp. They come on Sunday and leave on Tuesday. This week was a challenge for me because I didn't have a very good attitude about it. It's such a short time, and you just don't get to know your campers at all. They leave right around the time that you would normally start building those bonds with your campers.I also had a lot of other things going on that week that were a distraction (hate saying that). While I was on maintenance after my campers left we pulled a lot of weeds down by the beach, and painted the storm shelter. It looked so cool! I had a lot of great hang out time with my fellow counselors at night, too.

Week 7: Andy's Gang. 5th and 6th graders.
I worked all the weekend before this doing a family camp, so I was exhausted. I didn't have a break at all. Working from 7:30 AM to 11:00 PM ...I was drained. I was not in the mood to deal with 9 kids for another hole week. It had been my second week with no break on the weekend at all. I was bitter at the beginning, but ended up having a great week in the end. I had a few homesick campers, one who slept walked right out of the cabin into another one. That was quite possibly the scariest thing I've ever experienced. It was emotionally and physically draining like any other week, but I got over my pity party and told myself "This is these girls only week here. Quit your complaining and do this for them. Once I did I had a lot of fun. It was a good last week of counseling.

Week 8: Day Camp in Hutchinson, MN. Faith/Christ the King Lutheran Church.
I was on a day camp with Annie and Eli. Annie was my best friend at camp, and Eli was one of the first people I met. He picked me up from the airport with one of my APD's. We had a great week, overall...atleast after we were done with the kids for the day. We had 39 kids. We should have had another person with us. The kids were all high energy. For everyone it was as if there were two. Awesome. We made some great memories, though. We had some great adventures. It was a good last week in MN, even if it was stressful during the day. It was so good to get to spend my last week at camp with Annie, too. We shared so many this summer, and I'm so glad I had her to confide in. It was definitely a special thing to spend my last days in Minnesota with her. My heart is aching right now just writing about this.

I may write about the time in between if I'm feeling ambitious. Pictures will come, too. :-)