Day 3 in Mississippi was Day 1 of actual camp in the sense of scheduled activities with our groups. Up until now things were just kind of ice breakers and such. Monday morning came quickly and I was so ready for it. Maybe I just love working with kids and being outside or maybe it's because I have never really gone to summer camp, but I was full of enthusiasm from Day 1 to the end. I never took a day off the waterway, I rarely took my rotation break, and I never slept during 'rest-time' (although that could be due to my bed acting as the location of the Stratego board/ongoing tournament.)
From Monday to Friday I set my alarm for 6:30. I like to have some time in the morning to wake up and get my day going before going into the plans set out. Kids needed to be up by 7:15 and this gave me enough time to get up, shower, get a cup of coffee, and sit for a bit before kicking into the day. By 7:45 we were all out the door, and in front of the flag. Here we all would sing "Rise and Shine", say the pledge of allegiance and then be dismissed, one group at a time, to go to the dining hall for breakfast. Dismissal order was based on "straightest and quietest". We lost this the first two days, but nailed it the rest of the week. My kids were incredible at being perfectly in line.
Breakfast was nothing terribly special. It rotated every-other-day between Rice Krispies and Pancakes. After breakfast, we headed back to SWAMP, cleaned up, and headed to the pavilion for mass. Every day this was the morning routine, and so every day from Sunday (mass in town) to Friday, I went to mass. It was strange, but never felt off-putting. Actually, the first day I was a eucharistic minister. Definitely strange.
After mass we would line up at the bell tower in our groups, be paired with another team, and be dismissed to one of three rotations. We had Catholic Corner, where kids would learn something or do some sort of activity that reinforced the reading from mass (it was never really religious and was always engaging), Arts & Crafts, where kids could decorate pillow cases, sun catchers, duct tape flowers, frisbees, or make pot holders, and Rec, which was with Miss Holly and was some different competition setting the partnered groups against each other.
We had Rec first and we played Steal the Bacon against the Hamburger Helpers of the Future. I learned after this day that having Rec first is the way to go. Having Rec last is almost unhealthy. It would get so hot, that even at 10 am, after 5 minutes your shirt was wet from sweat. So, even though you would think that Catholic Corner would be the station counselors would want to take off most, it turned out that people would fight over having Rec off just to save energy/have to shower one less time a day.
At Catholic Corner we tried to guess closest to the number of drops of water you could fit on the face of a penny, and then talked about some benefits of water and light. Finally, in Arts and Crafts, I decided to decorate a pillow case. Since we had bought our pillows in MS we had no pillow cases on them. This seemed to be the smartest way to spend that time.
After the three rotations it was back to the dorms to wash up and then lunch. After lunch was 'rest time'. At this point the kids had been up and active for about 6 hours and it was also the hottest part of the day. So, we would stay in the dorms. The point was to recoupperate and stay out of the sun. Most of the kids would just run around or play some of the games we had grabbed for them. After seeing myself and another counselor play Stratego, they all wanted to play. Because we played on my bed initially, this is where the board/battles would be every day at 'rest time' the entire week. This meant I never got to nap. I probably would not have anyway, but now I had no choice. It was cool to see 9-11 year old kids want to play strategic/logic based games like this and Chess. I had little interest in thinking games when I was that age. I really loved that they were so passionate about playing these.
After 'rest time' we got into our swim suits and loaded into the school bus. It was time to go to the waterway. This place was awesome. I had been warned that it was gross, murky water and that we should suck it up because the kids love it and we can't just sit on the beach all week. I think the waterway ended up being one of my favorite things that week. I was in from the time we got there until it was time to go. Yeah the water was gross, and the ground was oddly squishy, but I didn't care. The kids had to pass a swim test to get to go out to the deeper area and that is how most of that first day was spent.
We returned from the waterway and all showered because everyone felt especially gross coming out of that water. After showers it was dinner time. Dinner tonight was tacos. They were delicious. Then, Miss Patti and Sergio took the kids to Field A while we, the counselors, were informed we had 45 minutes to plan out and rehearse an hour of skits to perform later that night for all of the kids. And by later that night, I mean in 45 minutes. A little more notice may have been helpful, but we pulled it off.
Skit night was awesome. The first skit was our very own rendition of American Idol with everyone singing a song using their name. We had four performances - all intentionally awful- with extra critical judges. The kids liked it.
Other skits included some 1 minute challenges, a strange J. C. Penny skit, and ATM skit, a mock rendition of Poop Deck which was quoted for most of the week, and then the invisible arms skit. If you have ever seen the Invisible Arms skit on Whose Line is it anyway, we stole it from them. Essentially, you have one counselor sit at a table, and he or she is getting all ready for a date. But, another counselor, positioned behind them, acts as their arms. The arms cannot see anything, and so brushing your hair, teeth, putting on shaving cream, eating, and drinking get very messy, very fast. This is how we ended skit night and they were dying of laughter. I was the arms and despite not seeing a thing, I could hear the reactions and knew it was a success. If you doubt me, check out the picture below of the end result.
Tonight was my group's tent night. We left first from the pavilion and got our things and headed out into the woods. the 5 boys and myself tried as best we could to get comfortable, but when it is 80 degrees outside, you are all sleeping side by side in a tent, and there are bugs all over, it's not easy. I awoke at sunrise (roughly 530am) and was wide awake until it was time to get them up at 7 am. It was not a great night of sleep. I broke a sweat just trying to spread my blanket out over the little mattress they put in the tent. I pulled 3 ticks off of me, and had to fight off a giant grasshopper to keep it from getting in the tent. Regardless, it was a lot of fun. The boys were so silly and we all walked back, still tired but all having had a good time.
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