I had my first real day off Tuesday (last week, my day off was abreviated by an overnight trip with the CILTs on the preceding evening.) We went to Sequoia National Park and saw the biggest trees in the world. They were really big.
My kids are really into me right now. I'm not sure what I did to deserve this... they bought three cakes for me the other day by paying a counselor who was going into town. But they can still be punks.
All the CILTs together put together an awesome haunted house last week for Halloween Day. It was really cool. I feel like a proud father.
Uggs at summer camp
Well, having fifteen-year-olds is both a really cool thing, and not a really cool thing. The group of 25 kids that I'm in charge have an awesome amount of energy and creativity, but sometimes they are such tools. We went on an overnight trip on Tuesday night and they moaned and groaned about everthing - tools. But then I put them in charge of making a haunted house for the younger kids and they totally got into it - cool. And then they reverted to being tools by acting like five-year-olds at the lake. And then they were back to being cool again at campfire.
At that campfire the program was for counselor mud wrestling. We filled a kiddie pool with six bags of topsoil and water and had counselors dressed as funny characters go at it. I went at it with the eight CILT guys and "won". It was fun. And there's still dirt in my hair.
At the overnight I mentioned we had the most car trouble ever. It was awesome. We were driving off-road and as we tried to drive back we got one of the vans stuck on a berm. Everyone got out and pushed... anyways, nothing worked and we had to get pulled out by some guy who had a pickup truck. In the process of trying to move the van we blew one of the tires on another car, so we had to change that tire. And then on our way out we lost part of a bumper and had to stick that back on, at which point we realize that the bumper of another van was busted and prevented the rear door from opening.... But like I said it was awesome.
More later.
At that campfire the program was for counselor mud wrestling. We filled a kiddie pool with six bags of topsoil and water and had counselors dressed as funny characters go at it. I went at it with the eight CILT guys and "won". It was fun. And there's still dirt in my hair.
At the overnight I mentioned we had the most car trouble ever. It was awesome. We were driving off-road and as we tried to drive back we got one of the vans stuck on a berm. Everyone got out and pushed... anyways, nothing worked and we had to get pulled out by some guy who had a pickup truck. In the process of trying to move the van we blew one of the tires on another car, so we had to change that tire. And then on our way out we lost part of a bumper and had to stick that back on, at which point we realize that the bumper of another van was busted and prevented the rear door from opening.... But like I said it was awesome.
More later.
water water everywhere
So it rained all day yesterday. It's mid-June and it's raining. Such a bummer. It was cold too. Camp is a great place to be when it's sunny and hot out, but it's no fun at all when it gets rainy.
All this rain has been part of a really wet season in the Sierras as a result, all of the local creeks and rivers are too high. Normally the staff takes afternoons off at the waterfalls, waterslides, and pools in the area. So that's been a bummer. We've been told that Yosemite's annual rainfall is at 187% of normal. So the rivers and waterfalls in the park are raging. (Rafting down the Merced, another popular day-off option is also out of the question for at least another month.) Half Dome is still covered in a few feet of snow, so that's another day-off that will have to wait until some time in July.
The kids finally show up tomorrow (Sunday). It'll be great to have them here, but it's going to be absolute insanity.
All this rain has been part of a really wet season in the Sierras as a result, all of the local creeks and rivers are too high. Normally the staff takes afternoons off at the waterfalls, waterslides, and pools in the area. So that's been a bummer. We've been told that Yosemite's annual rainfall is at 187% of normal. So the rivers and waterfalls in the park are raging. (Rafting down the Merced, another popular day-off option is also out of the question for at least another month.) Half Dome is still covered in a few feet of snow, so that's another day-off that will have to wait until some time in July.
The kids finally show up tomorrow (Sunday). It'll be great to have them here, but it's going to be absolute insanity.
a million things going on
Staff training has been underway for just a few days now, but so much has been going on. The biggest happening is that I've been crowned C.I.L.T. trainer. This means I'm in charge of the Campers In Leadership Training, 26 fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds upon whom I must instill the values of responsibility and leadership, while keeping them from getting in trouble and hooking up. It should be a handful.
Camp life has been good. I went wakeboarding the other day. Also, the camp just got a new banana boat (two long tubes side-by-side that can pull eight people behind a ski boat) so we tried that out too and flipped it and whatnot.
The weather's been really nice, the food's been pretty good too. There's only one computer working, so all of staff has to share a dial-up connection (the reason for the poorly-structured, brief entry). Tonight is a huge party on the Bass Lake Queen, a paddle boat that will hold all of staff. It should be tons of fun.
Camp life has been good. I went wakeboarding the other day. Also, the camp just got a new banana boat (two long tubes side-by-side that can pull eight people behind a ski boat) so we tried that out too and flipped it and whatnot.
The weather's been really nice, the food's been pretty good too. There's only one computer working, so all of staff has to share a dial-up connection (the reason for the poorly-structured, brief entry). Tonight is a huge party on the Bass Lake Queen, a paddle boat that will hold all of staff. It should be tons of fun.
back to camp
I got a huge group hug from old friends as soon as I rolled in to camp yesterday. It feels great to be back. It's been really wet recently, so there are tons of mosquitoes right now.
I'm excited. There are a lot of familiar faces and a lot of great new people. I have yet to pick a new book to read. I'm considering one that's titled something like "A Rock and a Hard Place." It's about a guy who got his arm caught while climbing alone... it sounds goodish. Maybe not literary enough. Though at camp I don't think I have to live up to any standards in my reading selections
I'm excited. There are a lot of familiar faces and a lot of great new people. I have yet to pick a new book to read. I'm considering one that's titled something like "A Rock and a Hard Place." It's about a guy who got his arm caught while climbing alone... it sounds goodish. Maybe not literary enough. Though at camp I don't think I have to live up to any standards in my reading selections
a Blog is born
I'm heading to camp today. And I guess this will be my attempt to keep track of my summer for those "on the outside." Maybe you're thinking, "Aaron, you've finally sold out. Blogs are for losers." This may be the case, but the principle of having a blog for camp seemed to make sense during the last frantic hours of packing. I can only say that I hope I don't lose any points in your book for doing this.
I can't say what exactly I'm going to write here. And I can't say if this will actually work, because I'd guess most blogs start off with high hopes but end up being forgotten. So without committing to anything, I'm going to try to keep this going. My apologies if it doesn't work. Sadly, camp's got two dial-up connections for 60+ college-aged staff members. The lines for the compy are often REALLY long...
Hopefully I haven't doomed this thing to failure from the outset.
As I mentioned, I'm driving up to camp today (Friday, June 10th). I'll be up in the mountains for nine weeks. I'll be here:
Skylake
37976 Road 222
Wishon, CA 93669
or, if you like, www.skylakeyosemite.com
or, 559-642-9271
Thats it for now. Be good.
I can't say what exactly I'm going to write here. And I can't say if this will actually work, because I'd guess most blogs start off with high hopes but end up being forgotten. So without committing to anything, I'm going to try to keep this going. My apologies if it doesn't work. Sadly, camp's got two dial-up connections for 60+ college-aged staff members. The lines for the compy are often REALLY long...
Hopefully I haven't doomed this thing to failure from the outset.
As I mentioned, I'm driving up to camp today (Friday, June 10th). I'll be up in the mountains for nine weeks. I'll be here:
Skylake
37976 Road 222
Wishon, CA 93669
or, if you like, www.skylakeyosemite.com
or, 559-642-9271
Thats it for now. Be good.
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