Hello Laura dearest.
Hope all is splendid in your wonderful world across the continents. And I miss you more and more everyday.
I arrived at the camp at around 7:30 to go run into Vista, as to my surprise, all the campers were alive! And they had apparently been so since 5:00am ish. Which must have been fantastic for Winnie and Porkchop. There was a huge thunderstorm, seeing as that would be something you did not know because you are very far away from home currently so they pretty much all woke up and didn't go back to sleep after that. Anyways, we got there and Krutch and I bailed from the cabin and went into Ducks, were she is staying and took all the 150 balloons we had blown up and carried them in sleeping bags over our shoulders (Santa style) and shoved them in Minioc's cabin. So basically her birthday was celebrated with being attacked by balloons, having the camp sing to her, and a large banner in the dinning hall. That's always good.
I went back in the cabin and was given many hugs then we all made our way to the flag pole to raise the flag. However there was no flag raising because the flag had become severely tangled and they have decided to now just leave it up there. We did play Ambush before we sang though, so that was very fun. Then off to breakfast which was a lovely french toast. I for one, don't enjoy french toast. But camp food is just plain awesome, so I ate it and it was mildly okay. Tori actually stayed in Chapel after breakfast. This was most likely because she was sitting beside LT, the one she "loves." However she also loves T-KO, Justin Bieber and Zukko, so I don't know how well this will work. She's a little boy-crazy. Like if I tell her to do something, it's a flat out "No!" But if any of those three ask her the same thing, she takes off running. It's cute. We keep watching Ice Age videos in Chapel which is entertaining because we're following the journey of Scratch ( The nut obsessed squirrel like thing ) Lots of laughs to be had.
Since today is Monday, we had our first day with Skills. Victoria's skills are Sports & Games, Crafts, Outdoor Survival & Drama. I am constantly amazed at that kid. On the first day, Kructh and I were just sitting there with our mouths hanging open watching her pour herself a glass of water. But she's great, she can play basketball really well and run and sing. It's the funniest and cutest thing to hear her sing. She sang me some JB today and the whole cabin listened in. We just played Octopus in Sports&Games but she was sweet! She was actually doing so well it was crazy, unlike myself. Because I suck. Everyone was all like "Temp! You out aggaaaaiiinn?" I just sit there like 'yup.' It's funny. All the campers know my name now.
Crafts was a nice break because she was worn out from Octopus she didn't want to make anything though. Instead she glued googly eyes to her hand and made it talk by moving her thumbs. Then she was off in her own little world. I always found that fascinating how disabled kids can so easily slip into another mindset, it's like a whole new place and scene no one is familiar with. It's so cool to watch. She did run away when my back was turned, so that was scary. Kozbee and I were looking all over, but we found her in the cabin so that was okay. She was just tired. I'm actually really worried that she'll leave when I'm not looking and they'll all freak out ad I'll be held responsible, even though it's not my fault, I could have prevented it. I'm hoping it wont, so I'm sure it will good. On the plus side, I made a name tag magnet! Well not really, because it is not done. But I am in the process of making it. Once I started making it, Tori realized she wanted to make one too, but alas, the whistle blew and we were on our way to the next skill.
The next skill being Outdoor Survival. It was slightly rainy, so we didn't do anything too intense today. We played the name game, talked about the 5 things need for survival. Refer to the later posts if you need refreshing. Tori didn't want to walk at first, but being who I am, I convinced her otherwise and she actually really enjoyed it. We just walked though, it was nothing crazy. We just go around pointing out things that are cool. You know what's cool? How awesome the campers are with her. Like they include her and talk to her and ask her questions. She feels important, it's good. Even though she doesn't respond properly or even completely not respond, they still engage her. It's sweet to see.
Drama was the last skill of the day and we play the name again, in which I dominated, no big deal. And Tori completely played with us. I am actually really surprised, I have only given away my name once. And no one has heard, so that was all good. We were playing a game, and I got out so I said "Aww
And after skill 4 of course there is a wonderful thing called lunch. For lunch we had Hamburgers. When kitchen staff writes what we're having on the board, they always find an interesting way to write it. Like today it was a picture of a pig, and then a burger with a + and a picture of a frying pan. The fries were good. Very tasty indeed. We had peaches for dessert. And as Willow Springs tradition goes, we all got mail at lunch. Reanna sent me one. But on the front she wrote HALDON. So everyone was insanely confused. I had to sing a song to get it so 'small town girl' was the one. Inside there was a letter inclosed with a bag of iced tea powder because Reanna is amazing. However, the letter did say my name and one of my campers knows it now, but she's cool, she wont tell anyone. So now I have 3 campers who know. That one (Katia) Colleen (Family friend) & Jazzy who had said my name so many times it's not even funny.
After lunch we had cabin time, so the campers just learned their memory verses. After that we plays Curly Larry and Mo. Which is somewhat hard to explain, but I'll try my best. So you sit down in a line of three people and each one has one of the names above. So all these different lines are in a circle. Basically one name is called and whoever that person is, they need to get up, run around the circle go through a bridge the other two have made for them and grab a ball in the middle of a circle. So that was fun to play. Free time came next. Tori got tuck and then we went kayaking. She had a blast. We went out to the dock and she jumped off a few times. Then we went back in and entered the swimming area. She took her swim test and passed. She's a really good swimmer. And I don't mean good for a person with downs, I mean a good 11 year old swimmer. She had fun in the water and went out to the iceberg. She managed to climb one side. I didn't go out with her. We had an air horn drill, like for a missing person. But that didn't take too long and soon we were back in the water. She stayed there for the whole remainder of free time and was the last to leave. Having to get Zukko to hold her hand and walk her out. He's good. Like I may have mentioned, his name is Robbie and I'm going to be spending all of next week with on the Missions.
After free time we had cabin time which was a continued memory verse learning and people changing out of their wet stuff. We also took a cabin picture. I'll be sure to show you later. We decided to all dress up in our PJ's for dinner. Dinner which was a picture of a dude with a staff surrounded by sheep. And an image of Pi. (3.14) Shepard's pie, if you didn't catch that. And cupcakes for dessert to celebrate Minioc being awesome. After dinner, we had Chapel again which was nice because Winnie was with Tori so I had a little break. It's awesome that the counsellors are being so sweet with helping out top, because it's a lot of work for me. I think she's getting more independent though. Or at least I'm hoping. Anyways, I see improvement from yesterday. After Chapel we played a game which can basically be described as all the counsellors go hide and the campers find them. The counsellors that cant be found have to make it into a circle without being caught. So everyone hid but me, because I was with Tori. I had not problem with that though.
When the game concluded, we went to go to campfire with was awesome. They did the doctor's office skit and the amazing caterpillar one. Remind of these and they will be acted out for you. We sang some songs, Kozbee spoke, and Vista returned to our cabin of awesome. I then serenaded all of the campers with my singing of Disney music. I find whenever I am at camp, I usually end up singing for people. It's unavoidable. They were pleased though. We made unwritten book bracelets. Also known as a string with a black bead, a red bead, and white bead, a yellow bead. I will sum up the meaning in this song. You ready? I'm going to sing for you! "My heart was dark with sin *points to black* Until my Saviour came in. His precious blood *points to red* I know, washed me white as snow *points to white* And in God's word I am told I'll walk the streets of gold. *Points to yellow* The wonderful, wonderful day, God washed my sin away." The end. I hope you enjoyed it.
We ended off devos with a Bruce Almighty prayer. Which was new to me, but it was the coolest thing. To sum it up, everyone in the room starts to pray at the exact same time and they're just all praying out loud over top of each other so no one feels alone or worried and then those who have nothing to say can listen in to what others are saying. After devos finished, everyone hopped into bed and we came around and said good night. But not really, because we just talk to them all. They were all trying to figure out my name because I made the mistake of bringing my Grad sweater so they found my name. Well, they thought they found my name. They think I am Natalie Chan. Which I am clearly not. I find it quite humorous because they are convinced that Natalie is my name. Either Natalie or Debbie they think. I just laugh and deny everything. I might tell some of them at the end of the week though. Just because. But I do really want to keep it a secret.
I don't know if I'll be blogging tomorrow because I am trying my very hardest to get a bed for myself in one of the staff cabins. So we will see where that goes. Either way, enjoy yourself wherever you are.
Love you lots.
