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