For those of you who don't know about Merri-Mac, which is most of the people back home, the oldest girls at camp are the SunnySide girls. They get all the special privileges of being the oldest. Not only do the Tweedles, and the rest of camp look up to them, they get to be tribal leaders, they get a day all to themselves, that their counselors plan, they get to raid trapo most nights, and get a later bed time.
But many times those privileges come with a price, and they figured that out last night.
However... The Sunny Side DAY took place first!
The girls had been trying their hardest to listen in on conversations, read posters, be smart and think about when they had planned the trip. So they figured that it would be Monday. So Sunday night, all the counselors for SunnySide and Cloud Nine sat on the SunnySide porch and conversed while the girls were hanging out in the cabin. Blythe brought up the fact that we could not reverse the fact that they already knew it was the next day. So what if we threw them for a loop?
The original plan was to let the girls sleep in, stick an alarm clock in the middle of the room and when one of them would have to get up, they would see a poster telling them to brush their teeth, do their chores and meet us at The Mark by nine thirty. But they anticipated instead of participated... so we decided to change things up.
It was Hannah who came up with the idea, but the girls still needed devotional time and entertainment... So we divided. Becca, Hannah and I went back up to the cabin and started putting things together, and met up with the group later. The following morning, everything was in place. The girls woke up, clearly disappointed that it was early, they were up, and it was not the day of the SunnySide Trip.
Hehe.
We had them do their chores, and when it was getting close to the breakfast bell ringing we told them that we would finish up the chores, "just make it to breakfast on time!" We said, and finished sweeping. From there, Becca and I placed the last clue in the TeePee, and went up to meet the other girls at The Mark.
As we sat looking at the beautiful scene in front of us, with the sun still rising over the mountains, the fog lifting, we laughed, and we talked about all of their reactions, and Becca, Hannah and I explained the clues that we gave.
When the girls arrived for breakfast, they sang the prayer song, and Hannah split. They prayed, and instead of counselors being there to bring them their breakfast, we were all gone. So the Counselors In Training brought out three separate cards in little envelopes. The first one reading, "Where metal clashes (and Lindsey Lohan fought herself)."
Off to fencing. From Fencing they got a clue that said, "Where's Katniss at?"
From Archery, there was a clue about "post" and "don't wake the Tweedles though."
From Trapo, they got a note that said, "cabin inspector gives you minus .5 for the wrong Toilet Paper. With lines connecting the T and P (and forming a TeePee). But by the time the girls got there, the note was gone.
The next note was supposed to lead them to the counselors ring by saying, "one drum, three chiefs this is it." And at the council ring they were supposed to find a note that said, "Meet me at the Mark, Meet Me at the Mark, Meet me at the Mark."
(It's clever because whenever someone says "meet me outside," the whole lunch room says, "meet me outside, meet me outside, meet me outside," So it makes sense.)
But they never made it to the tee pee because they didn't find the note there, and apparently it was not obvious enough to know for sure that the tee pee was where they were supposed to find the next note. So thanks to my coco, Becca, and her little notes on the back, they figured out that we might be at the Mark, so they made a trip up there and when we heard one of our girls obnoxious voices echoing through the woods, we hid behind the mark. We heard them climb up onto the stage, and they screamed for us, to see if we were there, that is when we ran out and surprised them!
We had Chick-fil-a for breakfast, and keeping everything a secret, we told them to go back to the cabins and get their bathing suit on.
From there we decided to surprise them for a tubing trip, which even though we all put on sunscreen, most of us got a pretty good burn. We then came back to the cabin, showered, and went out to take pictures with the girls, with each other and the girls took cabin pictures, Tweedle pictures, best friend pictures, tribe pictures and so on. It was a good time! We then got a nice break from camp food and went out to a restaurant.
When we came back, we knew that Dream's cabins would have spent the day raiding us, we just were not aware of how bad we had been raided until we walked into Tucker Inn (the dining hall). When we walked into Tucker Inn, we found the girls mattresses stacked on a table, and wrapped in saran wrap to the table. On top of the saran wrapped mattresses, was peanut butter, jelly, honey and who knows what else. Between the wooden bars that hold up the roof, the sheets were tied to each pole, and each other, hanging in the dining hall. It was pretty funny, until the girls had to carry them up to the top of the hill. (We are the last cabin at the top).
I walked into the SunnySide cabin to see how badly they had been raided, mattresses were missing, of course, there was string and saran wrap everywhere. The porch was covered in weird notes written out and chalk. One of the girls ran up to me, "Cloud Nine is worse!" So I booked it up the mountain and when I got to the top, I saw the whole porch covered chalked in notes. When I opened up the door, the girls had already started cleaning up, but there were still little notes from the dreams in girls. I walked into the bathroom to see a trash bag taped to the floor and walls, with sand from the volleyball courts, and sitting in the sand was a beach chair and a kayak...
Thankfully the counselors sections were not touched, but that didn't mean that we didn't have to help clean up. So we started taking the sand out of the cabin, and the kayak. In the meantime, one of my coco's had to use the bathroom, and while we are carrying the kayak we hear a scream come from one of the stalls. "There's saran wrap on the toilet!" She yells, "It's all over my dress!" The coco that was helping me move the kayak drop it, rush to the stall, and start laughing as we see our friend starring at the toilet. So we clean that up, and when she sits down again we hear, "there's vaseline on the seat as well!" We once again drop the kayak in a fit of laughter.
After we cleaned up the bathroom one of our Cloud Nine girls came in, "where are all of my shoes?" The girl behind her answered, "the fire dock." If you don't know what the fire dock is, it is a cement block in the middle of lake Doris. And I mean right in the middle of the lake. So we had to wake up a life guard, which we found out we would have to do in the morning.
We told the girls that we would respond with grace, and maturity, "don't worry about cabin checks, get your beds back together, we will get your shoes in the morning, for now lets clean up as much as possible and lets try to be in bed before midnight."
And that was the raid... and SunnySide trip. Altogether it was a really good day.
Aside from that, I have been at camp 22 days, and each day is going faster than the other. Although we have almost the same schedule every day, there is something different about every day. Whether it is losing at "What are the odds," or getting to talk to an old friend and getting to pray with him on the phone.
God keeps working, and my coco's and I are all listening for his voice everyday, and when we are not sure about what God is telling us to do, we pray about it together. We are leading each other daily, and building each other up. Many times it feels like we are failing, like when a camper goes home early, or you just can't seem to keep up on another day. However, every now and then (at least once a day) the coco's and I gather in a meeting and we all tell each other how we are doing, and be honest about everything that is going on. There have been some really tender moments with my coco's and the girls that I work with. It has been inspiring, and although i am putting deodorant on at least three times a day, and I still smell bad at the end of the day... Camp is great and it is going by so quickly!
One thing that we did realize together, was the first week we were really into getting to sit down during free time and get into the word. However, last week we just kind of started passing out during free time. We would get more and more exhausted no matter how much or how little sleep we got, but this week we started off together in prayer, praying for one another, and leading each other with little encouraging bible verses. Getting into the word has been a crucial part of staying energized and focused as a part of this job. I'm just glad we learned that this last week and not by week eight.
Until Next Time!
-Becca
But many times those privileges come with a price, and they figured that out last night.
However... The Sunny Side DAY took place first!
The girls had been trying their hardest to listen in on conversations, read posters, be smart and think about when they had planned the trip. So they figured that it would be Monday. So Sunday night, all the counselors for SunnySide and Cloud Nine sat on the SunnySide porch and conversed while the girls were hanging out in the cabin. Blythe brought up the fact that we could not reverse the fact that they already knew it was the next day. So what if we threw them for a loop?
The original plan was to let the girls sleep in, stick an alarm clock in the middle of the room and when one of them would have to get up, they would see a poster telling them to brush their teeth, do their chores and meet us at The Mark by nine thirty. But they anticipated instead of participated... so we decided to change things up.
It was Hannah who came up with the idea, but the girls still needed devotional time and entertainment... So we divided. Becca, Hannah and I went back up to the cabin and started putting things together, and met up with the group later. The following morning, everything was in place. The girls woke up, clearly disappointed that it was early, they were up, and it was not the day of the SunnySide Trip.
Hehe.
We had them do their chores, and when it was getting close to the breakfast bell ringing we told them that we would finish up the chores, "just make it to breakfast on time!" We said, and finished sweeping. From there, Becca and I placed the last clue in the TeePee, and went up to meet the other girls at The Mark.
As we sat looking at the beautiful scene in front of us, with the sun still rising over the mountains, the fog lifting, we laughed, and we talked about all of their reactions, and Becca, Hannah and I explained the clues that we gave.
When the girls arrived for breakfast, they sang the prayer song, and Hannah split. They prayed, and instead of counselors being there to bring them their breakfast, we were all gone. So the Counselors In Training brought out three separate cards in little envelopes. The first one reading, "Where metal clashes (and Lindsey Lohan fought herself)."
Off to fencing. From Fencing they got a clue that said, "Where's Katniss at?"
From Archery, there was a clue about "post" and "don't wake the Tweedles though."
From Trapo, they got a note that said, "cabin inspector gives you minus .5 for the wrong Toilet Paper. With lines connecting the T and P (and forming a TeePee). But by the time the girls got there, the note was gone.
The next note was supposed to lead them to the counselors ring by saying, "one drum, three chiefs this is it." And at the council ring they were supposed to find a note that said, "Meet me at the Mark, Meet Me at the Mark, Meet me at the Mark."
(It's clever because whenever someone says "meet me outside," the whole lunch room says, "meet me outside, meet me outside, meet me outside," So it makes sense.)
But they never made it to the tee pee because they didn't find the note there, and apparently it was not obvious enough to know for sure that the tee pee was where they were supposed to find the next note. So thanks to my coco, Becca, and her little notes on the back, they figured out that we might be at the Mark, so they made a trip up there and when we heard one of our girls obnoxious voices echoing through the woods, we hid behind the mark. We heard them climb up onto the stage, and they screamed for us, to see if we were there, that is when we ran out and surprised them!
We had Chick-fil-a for breakfast, and keeping everything a secret, we told them to go back to the cabins and get their bathing suit on.
From there we decided to surprise them for a tubing trip, which even though we all put on sunscreen, most of us got a pretty good burn. We then came back to the cabin, showered, and went out to take pictures with the girls, with each other and the girls took cabin pictures, Tweedle pictures, best friend pictures, tribe pictures and so on. It was a good time! We then got a nice break from camp food and went out to a restaurant.
When we came back, we knew that Dream's cabins would have spent the day raiding us, we just were not aware of how bad we had been raided until we walked into Tucker Inn (the dining hall). When we walked into Tucker Inn, we found the girls mattresses stacked on a table, and wrapped in saran wrap to the table. On top of the saran wrapped mattresses, was peanut butter, jelly, honey and who knows what else. Between the wooden bars that hold up the roof, the sheets were tied to each pole, and each other, hanging in the dining hall. It was pretty funny, until the girls had to carry them up to the top of the hill. (We are the last cabin at the top).
I walked into the SunnySide cabin to see how badly they had been raided, mattresses were missing, of course, there was string and saran wrap everywhere. The porch was covered in weird notes written out and chalk. One of the girls ran up to me, "Cloud Nine is worse!" So I booked it up the mountain and when I got to the top, I saw the whole porch covered chalked in notes. When I opened up the door, the girls had already started cleaning up, but there were still little notes from the dreams in girls. I walked into the bathroom to see a trash bag taped to the floor and walls, with sand from the volleyball courts, and sitting in the sand was a beach chair and a kayak...
Thankfully the counselors sections were not touched, but that didn't mean that we didn't have to help clean up. So we started taking the sand out of the cabin, and the kayak. In the meantime, one of my coco's had to use the bathroom, and while we are carrying the kayak we hear a scream come from one of the stalls. "There's saran wrap on the toilet!" She yells, "It's all over my dress!" The coco that was helping me move the kayak drop it, rush to the stall, and start laughing as we see our friend starring at the toilet. So we clean that up, and when she sits down again we hear, "there's vaseline on the seat as well!" We once again drop the kayak in a fit of laughter.
After we cleaned up the bathroom one of our Cloud Nine girls came in, "where are all of my shoes?" The girl behind her answered, "the fire dock." If you don't know what the fire dock is, it is a cement block in the middle of lake Doris. And I mean right in the middle of the lake. So we had to wake up a life guard, which we found out we would have to do in the morning.
We told the girls that we would respond with grace, and maturity, "don't worry about cabin checks, get your beds back together, we will get your shoes in the morning, for now lets clean up as much as possible and lets try to be in bed before midnight."
And that was the raid... and SunnySide trip. Altogether it was a really good day.
Aside from that, I have been at camp 22 days, and each day is going faster than the other. Although we have almost the same schedule every day, there is something different about every day. Whether it is losing at "What are the odds," or getting to talk to an old friend and getting to pray with him on the phone.
God keeps working, and my coco's and I are all listening for his voice everyday, and when we are not sure about what God is telling us to do, we pray about it together. We are leading each other daily, and building each other up. Many times it feels like we are failing, like when a camper goes home early, or you just can't seem to keep up on another day. However, every now and then (at least once a day) the coco's and I gather in a meeting and we all tell each other how we are doing, and be honest about everything that is going on. There have been some really tender moments with my coco's and the girls that I work with. It has been inspiring, and although i am putting deodorant on at least three times a day, and I still smell bad at the end of the day... Camp is great and it is going by so quickly!
One thing that we did realize together, was the first week we were really into getting to sit down during free time and get into the word. However, last week we just kind of started passing out during free time. We would get more and more exhausted no matter how much or how little sleep we got, but this week we started off together in prayer, praying for one another, and leading each other with little encouraging bible verses. Getting into the word has been a crucial part of staying energized and focused as a part of this job. I'm just glad we learned that this last week and not by week eight.
Until Next Time!
-Becca
No comments:
Post a Comment