A Hot Hot Week!

If you didn't know.... it was 105 degrees on Monday with a heat index of 115! It was just plain HOT. On Tuesday we were actually told not to play outside (not even in the shade) because of the heat. Luckily, we got the rain we needed so badly on Wednesday, so things cooled down a bit. Unfortunately, we didn't get to campout that night because of the rain. Some of the girls were kind of disappointed, but we had a fun time in the cabin that evening playing card games and such. A group of about five or six of the girls even staged a "fake wedding". My stuffed dog Arf was the stand in groom for Justin Beiber. He was a bit upset to be compared to Beiber, but he got over it. Carissa was the minister and I got to be Camera-woman and Co-Maid of Honor. It was by far the least expensive and quick weddings I have ever been a part of. ;)
Anyway, we had a really fun week. I don't think I mentioned, but we only had 19 girls total this week, so we split up into two cabins and we had co-counselors instead of just one counselor per group. It was so nice having Carissa as my co-counselor. Even though our girls were not too much of a handful, it definitely took away some of the stress of having a cabin of 10 girls!
 Next week is HONOR CAMP and officially our last week of having campers. We found out today during Staff Meeting that we are exploring Little Rock and it's surrounding area. It will include going to places like Magic Springs and the Arkansas Alligator Farm (although the website is not so cool, it is supposed to be very cool). We will also get to do a scavenger hunt downtown and go to the Mystic Caverns. For these kids from so many backgrounds and economic levels, this experience is going to be great. I feel so blessed to be a part of it!
   If I am not too exhausted I will try to update y'all about it whenever I can!

Week 4: A Good Start.... A Hectic Ending

    This past week I had the youngest girls group and by the end of the week they were quite the handful. We were having sooo much fun at the start of the week, but with hot weather, a lack of sleep, and 9 emotional 9-11 year olds, something is bound to hit the fan at some point. For us it began about Thursday afternoon when Aliyah threatened to cast a spell on another camper.....and something about a frog. I wasn't actually there because it was my six hour break (Mehgan accused me of lying to her when I told her that my girls were awesome. I don't take it back though, because they were awesome until then). Anyway, I came back to them cleaning the bathroom because it was their chore for the day, and Alyssa comes up to me claiming her life has been threatened by Aliyah. Why she made such a big deal about a silly/weird threat is beyond me especially because Aliyah is about as big around as a twig. Either way, Alyssa continued with it this morning saying she wasn't coming back to camp because she had been threatened. I have a feeling that although she had an awesome time ( I will tell you about an awesome moment she had in a bit) the only thing she will tell her mom is that her life was threatened by a little white girl. :)
    Anyway, back to this little camper Aliyah. Apparently, during arts & crafts she started crying when she had to write a thank-you note to a Kiwanis member for paying for her and the other campers to come. I have a feeling she has a lot of stuff done for her at home and that she is not asked to do too much difficult stuff at home. She told me she lies to her teacher about not being able to do her homework all the time. She is quite the character. Whenever I would shhh the group, I swear 9 times out of 10 she would take that exact moment to break into song (in strange pitches) or start telling a story. Her need for attention is the worst I've seen since I have worked here. I wrote on her evaluation that she is the perfect candidate for the ACE program we have. I just hope I don't have her as a camper next year! (Oh, PS. I am coming back next year for a second year. So if you want to hangout with me....come check out Little Rock!)
   So about Alyssa. She told me as soon as she got to the group on Monday that she was a little upset about being at camp because she knew she was missing some fun stuff at home during the 4th. I told her that I understood why she was kind of sad, but that we had some awesome things planned. And we did in fact have tons planned. All throughout the day Sanford and the other staff that didn't have cabins were cooking tons of corn, hamburgers, hotdogs and pork & beans. We also had tons of watermelon and at the end of the evening after our fireworks show we had chocolate cake and ice cream! (I would like to note though that we ate this cake way too late and the girls were tossing and turning in bed because they had so much sugar!) The support staff also planned a great event: WATER OLYMPICS! My girls rocked it by the way! We worked so well together and had such a great time. The last event was my personal favorite which was when I got to stick my face in a whipped cream pie looking for bubble gum and blowing a bubble before the other group counselors. I was first by the way. I'm just sayin'... we rocked it. I didn't find out until staff meeting this afternoon, but my girls actually beat all the other groups. Yes, that's right... the YOUNGEST GIRLS group won the Water Olympics. Ok....back to Alyssa; we got back to the cabin that night and we were doing a version of "Highs and Lows" (good things and not so good things about the day) and she said she had a little announcement to make. She said that at first she was really sad that she had to come to camp instead of being at home, but that now she was so glad she came because she felt like she has met 8 sisters and that she already sees Ms. Adrienne and (CIT) Ms. Kayla as her mothers. Precious right?

 Alright, that's enough for now. It was a long week, but a successful one at that. Next week is our last week of summer camp and I have the middle age group of girls, which is the 11 & 12 year olds. I am so excited to have this age group, and I will have to update you next we