So...kind of a lot of stuff has happened since last post:
-second youth camp week
-encampment
-family camp 2
-Jordan's graduation party (and getting to see Arielle for the first time since her wedding back in December)
-family camp 3
-Jessica heading back to college
So let's take this topic by topic and just do a basic rundown type thing, starting with...
...Second Youth Camp Week
Oh my goodness. So the first week I had five little angelic girls. Sure, we had our moments, but they were good little campers. For the second youth camp, I had 9 kiddos, and we had our issues. It was a lot of fun, but let's just say that communication, being kind with our words, not crying, not missing our mommies, and being encouraging were some main themes. It was honestly rather overwhelming, especially that one night I was trying to do one-on-ones with them and we kept on getting interrupted with medical issues, homesickness, and fighting. I am so thankful for Vanessa, the counselor in the other room n our cabin. She's pretty cool :) And Wednesday afternoon, LauraBeth came back to camp after a missions trip, and she co-counseled with me until I left Friday morning for encampment. She's pretty cool too, and a lot more experienced than I am, so it was great to have a second person there. Coincidentally, I think I got the closest to this cabin of girls (as opposed to youth camp one)...we had great conversations and games and activities. Okay...let's move right on to...
...Encampment!
I left camp Friday morning, and Maj M and I drove out to Scotia. We arrived sometime around 2 pm, and I sorta moved my stuff in, met the two other cadet med staffers, had dinner, listened to a presentation on handling conflict, and hung out and rested. Saturday, the inflights arrived! For inprocessing, we pretty much stood at our little station and asked the cadets about their medical information. We had paperwork for all of them, but we still wanted to be able to put a face to a name and double check everything.
For the rest of the week, we pretty much did your standard encampment schedule: classes, drill, tours, mealtimes, drill and general knowledge inspections, sleeping, showering, etc. The med staff pretty much took care of sick people, and followed flights around to be on hand should the need for a medic arise. We did have some legit sick people, but a lot of it was heat related (passing out, headaches, dehydration, nausea-- those symptoms mean you need to drink more water, rest, and get in a cool place, folks!) The rest of the encampment staff was great. I was impressed with how flexible the flight staff was with us-- "Hey flight commander, this cadet is going to lay down...be back later!" "Okay, sounds good!" And they made definite efforts to hydrate their cadets and keep them cool. And they were concerned for their cadets and would check up on them during their off time and stuff, which was sweet of them.
Probably the most interesting happening was the epic thunderstorm. It had to happen Tuesday night (I think it was Tuesday), because that was the night I was wiped out, exhausted, and crashing. "Evacuate...we're going to the dining hall!" Oh great. So we evacuated our tents and cabins and were transported down to the dining hall where we stood around getting organized for a couple hours, and then slept (with sleep being a general term here). But hey, you know, it was interesting experience, and I didn't die and (bonus points) nobody else did either!
It was really cool having Hosanna there too. I mean, we've gone to a couple CAP activities together, but it was just really nice having her there for a long activity with me. It was just cool to share it with her. And speaking of her...she has the distinction of being the encampment honor cadet, out of 210 inlight cadets!
Moving right along, we shall next explore (*scrolls up to see what it is I'm talking about next*) aha, family camp 2! Yep, the families came, had a good time, and left. (I'm getting good with being concise, yes?)
Jordan's grad party was awesome...food, volleyball, friends...good times! The reason this paragraph is short is cause I have picture that should go in here, but seeing as I'm excessively lazy this afternoon, I shall create another post in the near future with photographs and so forth.
Family Camp 3 was last week. It was during this week that I began to ponder the deep issues. Being at camp does that to ya...you start thinking and wondering about the important stuff. You know, you see or hear something that gets the ol' noggin humming, and you think about it and ponder it. Let me explain by asking you the question I've been churning over: why is it that mothers talk to their small children in third person? Consider this sentence, overheard at the pond: "Mommy's not going to take you on the boat because Mommy's afraid the boat will tip over!" And I'm standing there thinking, why? Why the third person? Does Mommy think her child will forget who she is halfway through the sentence and sit there going, "who in the world is this woman talking to me??" And then it gets worse when Mommy starts using the child's name too: "Mommy doesn't want to take Austin on the boat, because Mommy's afraid the boat will tip over...does Austin want to go swimming instead?" Because you know, children can't understand personal pronouns!
And then there's volleyball: "Hit the ball! Yeah...hit it! Hit it!!" Like...what do they think I'm planning to do with it? Eat it? Yeah, I eat volleyballs all the time and have to be reminded to hit them. Am I overthinking this?
This week is our last family camp, and the end of the summer camp season. We have a staff outing to Darien Lake this weekend, which Annetta and I might be attending. Jessica left this morning to head back to college. Daddy and Josh are driving her down. They're stopping at Kevin's home for a couple days and then Daddy and Josh are coming back.
There. Whew. Life update! With no pictures at all! I told you I was lazy this afternoon. Wait...I have one picture for you. This is me with Vanessa (on the left) and Joanna. The three of us are roommates for family camp (cause we obviously don't sleep in the cabins with the families), and they're great...I'm going to miss them! https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/s720x720/309077_396072157126879_2042847328_n.jpg
On that happy note, I hope that everyone is having a great summer! The End.
4 comments:
First, I wasn't sure if you knew what to do with a volleyball since you were just standing there. So to be the encouraging older friend that I am, I gave you some helpful pointers. :)
Second, this Vanessa girl has pointy ears. That makes her a Vulcan and THAT makes her cool. ;D
Thanks for the wonderful post!!! It's nice to hear all about what you've been up to, even though I just talked to you recently =) Yep, I've wondered the same thing about moms talking to their kids like that. ("Mommy doesn't want a cracker, because Mommy isn't hungry." "It makes Mommy sad when you hurt Johnny like that".....) I could go on and on about that, but I won't. And we need to get together sometime after you're home again!! Ya know, maybe eat doughnuts from the Super Duper or something :D
Thanks for the great update Erika, I have been hoping to hear about your activities. And we all overthink things sometimes, you're normal! Glad things are going so well. Will be waiting for the pictures!
Erika, you're hilarious. Just thought I'd mention that. Particularly the rationale/reasoning part, which is kind of how some of my thoughts go as well. It is comforting (?) to know that someone else has those same questions. Or maybe it's scary. Anyway, thanks for the update!!!
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