An Interesting Night :)

I can't help but post these pics ASAP!
 The girls made these awesome streamer headbands and sashes for Clara and me. They also made a poster for us. According to the sashes I am Ms. Princess and Clara is Ms. Cutie. The headbands say "Good luck the rest of the week".

We also saw a Tarantula outside the kitchen this evening!

...It's been a while!

     I'm BACK! I know it has been sooo long since my last update, but honestly I was having too much fun relaxing and not being on a computer during my month off in August that I didn't take the time to update. "But its OCTOBER NOW!" you say. Yes, an entire month has gone by since August, and I sincerely apologize.
Ok. On to a brief update:
    We are currently in our third week of the first session of ACE (Alternative Classroom Experience) here at Pfeifer Camp. This session I am in one of the two girl cabins with my co-counselor Clara. Clara hails from Indiana and is pretty awesome. We have had our ups and downs with our girls so far. (They are a gossipy group). But we love them all the same. We have had a couple very successful camp-outs the last two weeks, and the girls are so excited for the one this week because they are determined to cook dinner for Ms. Clara and me.
    They are having fun in the cabin too and have decorated our cabin- dubbing it the Rockstar Cabin! There are streamers everywhere and the girls have decorated shiny stars and drew pictures as themselves as Rockstars! They even came up with Rockstar names. There costumes in the pictures contain a lot of color and spikey hair!
      As for how I am feeling this session; I have to admit that I am having a pretty darn good time. I am so happy that I decided to come back for a second year and am blessed that I have two other returners to lean on as well in Heather and Mike. They are two great people and I have enjoyed the time we have spent together so far this year.
    A thought that has really helped to sustain and motivate me throughout the first month here is that I KNOW I am really making a difference in the life of a kid. I know I could be so many other places and do that as well, but to have this beautiful environment, an inspiring returning staff and administration, and a program that works really helps to keep me grounded and helps me get through the tough times.
   In my next blog I will put some pictures up of our awesome cabin and let y'all know how our third week went!
Loves!
for.the.kids

Honor Camp!

Sanford will never let us forget that "it will take a year to really get the program". After a wonderful week with our Honor Campers, I really feel like I am getting it. I feel like all of the hard work throughout the year (the sleepless nights, helping kids come up with consequences, building fires in the rain...) really paid off because I had so much fun with these girls. Although they had not all come to ACE, they were really the example of how Pfeifer Kids are to be. As you may have experienced, seeing groups of about 60 kids coming toward you can be daunting, but everywhere we went people commented on how respectful our kids were. We aren't loud and rowdy; we use "sir" and "mam", and we give others the priority when in public spaces. It changes people's perspective. Another thing that is so wonderful about our groups of kids is that we are a "rainbow". When you look at our group you don't just see a bunch of white kids or a bunch of black kids. You see all colors together. And we all get along and love each other. It's a strange sight for some people I think. For us though it's just another day with the people we care about and enjoy being around.

Ms. Heather with our garbage in the bread bags. :)

  During Honor Camp we got to do some awesome things: Here are some of the pictures in chronological order:

First, we went to downtown Little Rock and did a scavenger hunt. After the hunt, we sat down to eat some lunch.... after lunch we went to the movie Soul Surfer. It was a really inspiring movie and stimulated some good conversations. After the movie we went bowling. It was a great day and ended with a pizza party!

On Tuesday morning we loaded up early and went to Mountain View, AR to visit Blanchard Springs Caverns. We toured Dripstone Trail. It was truly beautiful. In my last post I said we were going to Mystic Caves, but I was mistaken. Blanchard Springs is a national treasure, so we really got to see something spectacular. I took the pictures below during our tour.

The "Battleship"

The "Opera Balcony"

A huge pile of bat poop. Really old bat poop that is.

After Blanchard Springs we went to downtown Mountain View which was just a cute little area to shop around. After walking around the city in the heat of the day, we all boarded the buses and went to  Country Time Dining. At Country Time Dining we had some local talent perform for us during our dining experience. After we stuffed our selves full, we went back to camp and crashed in our nice and squeaky bunk beds...
The next morning we woke up early again and hopped on the bus to Hot Springs, AR. First, we stopped off at the Alligator Farm!It was also a Petting Zoo, so that made me happy... and the kids loved it as well!

He thinks it's feeding time. Yikes!

A baby!

After the Alligator Farm, we got to go to MAGIC SPRINGS!!!! It was such a hot day that we spent a ton of time in the water park area. Then, even after we changed into our clothes to go on the roller-coaster rides, we went on the ride that gets you soaking wet! Here are a couple pictures!

The view from the top of the water slide.

teehehehe. Heather was freaked out on this ride! :)

So after all of the Magic Springs festivities we hopped back on the bus, stopped off at the restaurant "Ryan's", then went back to camp.
On Thursday we just got to relax by spending the entire day... BACK AT CAMP! First, we got to have breakfast in bed, then we got to just do whatever we wanted to. We went swimming, played tons of games, and got to go crawfish hunting. We got the highest score in crawfish hunting this summer by getting 178 points! Granted, the number was so high because there were two girls groups... but even if it were divided by 2, we still got 98 points each! It was awesome! At the end of the night we had the most awesome dance party ever! The kids (and counselors) had soooo much fun!
   On Friday we woke up and got ready to depart camp :( Before we all left though, we had a wonderful breakfast and everyone's parents got to join. All of the AmeriCorps members were recognized for their service (this includes me), and then they announced who the new CITs (Counselor's In Training) would be next year. It was so great to see how excited they got. I am stoked to work with them next year.
   Alright, that is just about it! I am now visiting my wonderful friend's in Portland, and will be headed up north back home before heading to Montana until I have to be back to Little Rock.

Love to all,

for.the.kids

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

Summer Camp!

This is Jr.

The turtle got bored of me taking pictures of him, so he turned around and started walking away

We have successfully concluded two weeks of Summer Camp and we are having tons of fun here at Pfeifer Camp. Every day is a new adventure as we participate in Arts & Crafts, swimming, craw fish hunting, camp out, cookout, and various other experiences. For the past two weeks I have been a "floater". This means that I have not actually had a group of campers yet, but that I get to "float" around from group to group. On the first week this assignment of floater was intentional...the second week I was recovering from strep throat though and became a floater by default once I felt better. Needless to say though, now I should have a group of campers for the next three weeks until Honor Camp. In fact, today my group of 11 girls arrived today ready for adventure. I have the oldest girls group, which means they are going into 7th, 8th or 9th grade this next fall. The group of girls are AWESOME so far and I am excited for us to get to know each other.

We caught three catfish while craw fish hunting.

Here are some random pictures from the last few weeks. I can't post pictures with campers in them on-line, so that is why I don't have many pictures from summer camp as of now. These are pictures from Summer Staff Training.

Well Hello little Craw Fish

The rest of the trip

Our supplies.

 Here are a few pics of our time spent mountain biking at Clinton Lake.

Once we arrived we picked our our campsite and got right on the trails.

Emily may or may not have flew off of her bike into this small creek.

The trails were muddy and quite difficult at times, but we sure did have a good time. And we both always have a good time getting dirty and gross, so even though we were walking our bikes along the trails half the time, we still had fun. As a side note, my bike was especially fun to ride. It was borrowed from Emily's roommate and I can't say that it has been well taken care of. Don't get me wrong...I appreciated it... but the rusty chain, the inability to change gears out of the lowest gear, and squeaky breaks made my experience a challenge at times. This is all on top of the fact that the conditions of the trail were less than desirable because of all the mud. Next time I go mountain biking though I expect it will be a bit easier. 

 On the second day we found a nice little beach spot where we got to hang out and relax. As a bonus we also got to wash the mud off :)

Once back to the campsite we did many fun things, like making Spam Mac N Cheese, playing frisbee and travel scrabble.

I successfully ruined this pair of pants. 

Rough N Tough bikers right?

We even proceeded to play Banana Grams style.

mmmmm. You're jealous. You just don't know it yet.

First Stop... Mt. Magazine

   Happy one-week off from Pfeifer to me- and I am off on an adventure. An adventure that will mostly happen in Lawrence, Kansas while visiting my "Adventure-Buddy" Emily/Ticon....but for the first night it was spent at Mt. Magazine. After a scenic route along Highway 10 heading west, I arrived at about 4:45 and set up camp at site 2 at the campground. After making a nice meal of Annie's Mac & White Cheddar cheese and canned turkey I headed off for a short hike along the North Rim Trail. It was recommended by the lady at the Visitor's Center, so I figured I'd check it out. There were a couple good view points of the Ozarks and it was a pretty moderate hike. After finishing up there I headed back to my site and sat down to have a drink and read a book.

   The next morning I broke down camp around 8:30 after a breakfast of oatmeal and a banana and decided to do a quick jaunt up the trail that leads to the HIGHEST POINT IN ARKANSAS at 2,753 feet. It only took me about 20 minutes to hike and was only about 160 feet more for me to hike up to the highest point. After the hike I headed further northwest to Kansas!

Things I saw last week.

Sunday: Rat Snake It was probably about 4 1/2 feet long. I am still waiting to see a snake that just scares the poo out of me. I was warned that this one was coming up by Dre. I have yet to just stumble upon one myself.
Monday: Fireflies. Yes, this is the first time I have seen lightning bugs. It was majestic. Well, besides the fact that the general atmosphere of the moment was frustration/defiance/chaos because Lawson thought that he could run away from camp and to his home because he didn't want to be at camp anymore. It was camp out night and he was supposed to be finishing the little amount of homework he had, and he was upset and thought the solution was probably to run away. Lets just say he didn't get very far. Anyway, the bugs were beautiful. Good story right?
Tuesday: Bullsnake. This website I linked doesn't actually have Arkansas as a state it is in...but Buddy said it was a Bullsnake, so I am going to agree with him because he has lived here all his life, he wears his hair in a pony tail, wears cutoff jean shorts, and flannel. I don't think anyone should disagree with anything Mr. Buddy says. He's legit Arkansas. By the way, I didn't find this one either. The Kitchen Director Ms. Mary did, then Mr. Buddy was holding it behind the kitchen which is on the way to the staff lounge where I was headed. SO, once again, I am still waiting to be scared out of my wits by one that I find. (But I think I'd be fine not finding one).
   Also on Tuesday I saw a Tarantula . It was a beautiful and furry creature. I had seen one in September on the classroom porch, but I actually petted this one. It was sitting next to the pathway to cabin 4 where some boys were setting up tube tents to sleep in that night. Right next to it was also a teeny-tiny snail. It was so small it could have fit inside the diameter of a dime.
   June bugs have also really started to come out as well. I have mostly seen them careening into the lights on the porch of the classroom at night and then littering the porch the next morning. Sad, but true. They are huge and loud, but pretty cool I suppose.
  I still hear and see tons of frogs around camp and have picked 4 tics off of kids this last week and found one on Hercules'(Director's Dog) ear. They are really coming out strong!
   Here are a couple other random notes. One of my boys in math group said that the scar I have on my elbow looks like a piece of meat attached to my elbow. I told him that I got it snowboarding though, and he thought I was much cooler. Then I told him to do his work or it was going to be homework. :)
   Another couple of the boys were trying to guess my age and they thought I looked more like 19 or 20, so that made me feel good.
   Lawson (the one I wrote about wanting to run away) told me on Wednesday during our last math group that he wanted more work to be able to show his family how smart he has gotten. It went something like this: "I want more adding sheets so I can show my mom how smart I got because I wasn't smart before I got here.
    That is exactly what I am here for.

for.the.kids

Field Trip!

   On Thursday we got to go to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, then the Little Rock County Courthouse. Between walking to the Game and Fish Commission and the Courthouse we had a nice picnic along the waterfront in downtown Little Rock. It was so great because the kids got to participate in a Mock Trial put on by law students. It was so much fun watching them be the Jury and get to make a guilty or not-guilty decision. They voted "not guilty" by the way. There wasn't any proof beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant "Sydney" was guilty in their eyes. They then got to have a snack of Capri Sun and cookies. On top of the adrenaline they were feeling, the sugary snacks didn't help the rest of the night. They got a bit exhausted, and a little cranky by the time they were back to camp. 

   

It was a stormy night

 then a stormy day....

 and another stormy day.

 We had a garden...

 but it continued to pour...

 and that picnic table was not in the woods last time we saw it.

 Thanks for the rain boots mom... this stream was not here a few days ago.

Welcome to Pfeifer Camp. Interestingly, we don't have "running" water.

:)

Two Weeks Down, Two to Go

Third graders are crazy. Did you know that?
They run away, they do anything to get out of going to class, and they make themselves throw-up to get attention.
Luckily, we get four weeks to be with them and try to work on the 8 or so years that they have developed these behaviors.
It sure has been great though working as a rover this session. I get to know all of the kids in the classroom and teach a math group and reading group. In reading group we are reading Sammy Keyes and The Hotel Thief. The girls are always asking to read more for homework... although when it gets to the end of the day and they have a lot of other homework, they rethink it :) They are the second highest reading group at camp though, so it is fun working on different skills. We talked about Figurative Language last week and learned about Similes and Metaphors. Next week we will talk about onomatopoeias and idioms. My math group is another story. They are one of the lowest groups and are not excited about math in any sense of the word. I told them that I was going to make our math group "fun" and they had no idea how I could do it. I'm not sure how I can do it either, but I'm trying to think of anything I can. :) They are a precious group of kids though, and I just hope I can help them like math a little bit more than before. Next week we are going to work on Place Value. I have a cool NBA worksheet that I hope they will enjoy.
Speaking of next week, we get to go on a Field Trip to the Pulaski County Courthouse. It should be a lot of fun/ pretty hectic for all of us adults involved. Anyway, the kids have been doing computer research about courts during the week. Using computers at camp is a part of a grant that we received from Hole-in-the-Wall. The kids have really enjoyed it, and it is great introducing them to using a computer. Although I am much more in favor of spending time in the outdoors, it is extremely important for them to be introduced to technology because it will benefit them in the future when they need to write papers on the computer and research for school. And it's only one hour out of the whole week.
 Well, we've got some hard work ahead of us with these kids. We all recognize though that with the kids that are the tough ones, we get the chance to make the most difference. We sat in staff meeting yesterday afternoon and came up with some really cool and creative ways to help certain kids we have right now. It was inspiring and I am excited for the next couple weeks.

for.the.kids

The past month...

Sorry it has been so long! I would like to say that things have just been so crazy, but it doesn't actually feel like it. It just feels like I didn't really want to be on the computer when I had so many other better offers. :) I think any of you could understand that! hehe.

   Anywho, I have finally taken the time to upload my pictures from my camera to my new laptop (so much quicker and easier than my old one!), so I thought I would share them with you. They are in no particular order, but I think they kind of highlight some of the things I have been up to the last month or so.

So we planted a garden. It was quite the adventure because those of us that had to get the stuff and plant it hadn't necessarily planted a garden before
          :)
Anyway, it turned out great and is currently getting watered constantly because it hasn't stopped raining for a couple of days! We've got things growing like yellow, red, and green peppers, watermelon, cantelope, eggplant, cabbage, tomatoes, and potatoes (there are many more, but I can't think of them right now).

We also had a sleepover a couple weekends ago. It was for any kids that had been through the program already and graduated. They came to camp on Friday night, then left on Saturday evening.

It was so much fun because the girls knew how to act and they were just there to have fun. The weather was great as well. Our girls did fun things like go on a Nature Hike, drew on the sidewalk with chalk, played tons of games, and did Mud Facials (hence the picture of me below- one of the girls drew the mustache and soul patch on me). I would love to put some pictures up of the girls, but its a safety thing.

All of the kids seemed to have a wonderful time and I think that it was a good chance for us counselors to see what the summer months with kids has to offer.

Lastly, all of us staff went to the MidSouth AEE (Association of Experiential Educators) Conference in Pottsboro, TX. It was an adventure to say the least. About a mile into Texas we blew a tire, then when we got to the campsite we set up camp- only to take it all down the next morning because of a possible tornado, then we got to meet former President Bill Clinton at the Dedication of his birthplace home as a National Historic Site.

Anyway, the pic above to the right is of some of the group, including our two Program Directors. To the left below is a picture of the workshop we led at the conference, and the one to the right is of our nice little fire at our campsite...that we eventually had to leave. Oh, by the way, after we left our campsite we proceeded to move to cabin 5A, then to 5B, then to some other building where we all just slept on the floor in one big room.... THEN the next morning we packed up again and moved to cabin 2A where we finally got bunks. The slightly awkward part was that we all (guys & girls) had to share the same bathroom. Shower time in the morning was quite interesting. ;) What a great segway into the picture to the left! The showers we took occurred at about 3:00am because we needed to leave to make it the Bill Clinton event. Although we were tired, we all had a great time serving at the event- and meeting Former President Clinton was definitely a bonus we did not expect. We really got to hear about the things he accomplished during his two terms. Yes, he has his "warts" as Mr. Sanford would say; but he really did and continues to do some great things for this country and our world (esp. Haiti). During this ceremony he was also named a "Honorary Ranger" by the National Park Service.The whole experience was pretty great and makes me even more honored to be serving our country through AmeriCorps.
   Well, thats about it for the recap of the past month. Love you all and thanks for letting me share my adventures with you! Keep praying for us!

for.the.kids