And tell the broken there is healing
And mercy in the father's hand
Treehouse III, June 15-21, 2008
Wilderness was the best possible way to start my summer at Lakeshore. It was a dream come true. My eight girls in Tent A were all spectacular and I love everything about wilderness. Becca, Brianna, Morgan, Mariah, Tennison, Mary Ann, Kari, Hannah. There were only some eighteen campers, Megan Jones had Tent D, and Swifty had the boys in C, and B was empty because of the wasp nest. I don't know how to do this without going one day at a time.
Sunday they all arrived and we got them messy--cereal eating contests and painting with their feet. Tent A named ourselves the Great Eight before we realized there were nine of us and added a parenthetical Plus One. We played "Dude Just Got Bit by a Snake!--Oh No, He's Just Chillin'." The Oaks won pretty much everything. It was a short but lovely day, though after bedtime one tiny camper wailed and howled and screamed, sure a wasp had stung him on the eye, though none had, and in fact he had just been poked by a little pebble on his pillow.
Monday was low ropes and let's face it, my girls rocked. Though it took them forever to get across the lava river with their very specific magic carpet square shoes, they tackled Jordan's Crossing with what can only be described as mad skills, and Tennison earned no less than 14 life points for a back-bend board-holding move that defied the laws of physics.
Tuesday at the rock wall I braided more hair than I thought it was possible to braid between breakfast and lunch. The total for the week reached 13 heads and 26 French braids. They loved me.
Wednesday was the traditional wilderness canoe trip on the Buffalo. I braided two heads on the way through the wind from the open windows in the AC-free Lakeshore school bus, and took on my canoe sweet Mary Ann, but also Lily, who belongs to the man who owns Flatwoods Canoe and who was completely mad (hatter-style), lied several times to me about her age, never listened, couldn't steer, pretended to cry, and ran us into the shore every mile or so. Well, that was stressful. But Mary Ann and I made it through like troopers and on the way back I slept sitting on the floor of the bus with my head on the seat. I don't know how no one ever thinks of that. It's the most comfortable bus-sleeping position there is.
On Thursday morning we had the service project, lining the new path up to wilderness with rocks, and let me tell you, the kids loved it. They freaking ate it up. Moving rocks from the creek, digging rocks out of the ground, carrying piles of rocks in their shirts, getting covered in mud and grossness and risking poison-everything in the woods and being awesome wild children. It was truly a sight to behold, especially when they formed their own assembly line from the creek to the path. Coty, sometimes known as the greatest camper of all time, carried huge huge rocks stretching out his little shirt and I think he defied the laws of physics too. I really don't remember what we did the rest of the day Thursday. That's what I get for waiting so long to write about my adventures. I forget important details. Let this be a lesson to you all.
Friday was mud volleyball and Eva beach. After breakfast we carted ourselves down the hill to the mud volleyball court, which contains no volleyball and only sometimes even a net. Once we were sufficiently disgusting and 100% covered in goopy goo mud, we slopped and slid up to main camp to scare senior high and then "cleaned" off in the lake, as per tradition. On the drive to Eva beach I got to sit in the front seat, because counselors do and I was one. (My warm fuzzy bag was labeled "Sara 'Not a Camper' Stephens" just to be sure.) At Eva beach I stayed on shore while Danielle and Swifty took the kids out in shifts for tubing and skiing and such things. Mostly we played Uno until four-thirty or so, when a huge group of senior citizens enswarmed the pavilion, claiming they had it reserved at four. Though we evacuated to the picnic tables, it just wasn't the same, so soon we all piled back into the van and headed back to main camp for dinner, which was, of course, delicious. At worship that night we followed a string through the woods in near total darkness and sang Grace Like Rain, among other things. A bunch of them cried, but then, it was Friday night.Treehouse III, June 15-21, 2008
Wilderness was the best possible way to start my summer at Lakeshore. It was a dream come true. My eight girls in Tent A were all spectacular and I love everything about wilderness. Becca, Brianna, Morgan, Mariah, Tennison, Mary Ann, Kari, Hannah. There were only some eighteen campers, Megan Jones had Tent D, and Swifty had the boys in C, and B was empty because of the wasp nest. I don't know how to do this without going one day at a time.
Sunday they all arrived and we got them messy--cereal eating contests and painting with their feet. Tent A named ourselves the Great Eight before we realized there were nine of us and added a parenthetical Plus One. We played "Dude Just Got Bit by a Snake!--Oh No, He's Just Chillin'." The Oaks won pretty much everything. It was a short but lovely day, though after bedtime one tiny camper wailed and howled and screamed, sure a wasp had stung him on the eye, though none had, and in fact he had just been poked by a little pebble on his pillow.
Monday was low ropes and let's face it, my girls rocked. Though it took them forever to get across the lava river with their very specific magic carpet square shoes, they tackled Jordan's Crossing with what can only be described as mad skills, and Tennison earned no less than 14 life points for a back-bend board-holding move that defied the laws of physics.
Tuesday at the rock wall I braided more hair than I thought it was possible to braid between breakfast and lunch. The total for the week reached 13 heads and 26 French braids. They loved me.
Wednesday was the traditional wilderness canoe trip on the Buffalo. I braided two heads on the way through the wind from the open windows in the AC-free Lakeshore school bus, and took on my canoe sweet Mary Ann, but also Lily, who belongs to the man who owns Flatwoods Canoe and who was completely mad (hatter-style), lied several times to me about her age, never listened, couldn't steer, pretended to cry, and ran us into the shore every mile or so. Well, that was stressful. But Mary Ann and I made it through like troopers and on the way back I slept sitting on the floor of the bus with my head on the seat. I don't know how no one ever thinks of that. It's the most comfortable bus-sleeping position there is.
On Thursday morning we had the service project, lining the new path up to wilderness with rocks, and let me tell you, the kids loved it. They freaking ate it up. Moving rocks from the creek, digging rocks out of the ground, carrying piles of rocks in their shirts, getting covered in mud and grossness and risking poison-everything in the woods and being awesome wild children. It was truly a sight to behold, especially when they formed their own assembly line from the creek to the path. Coty, sometimes known as the greatest camper of all time, carried huge huge rocks stretching out his little shirt and I think he defied the laws of physics too. I really don't remember what we did the rest of the day Thursday. That's what I get for waiting so long to write about my adventures. I forget important details. Let this be a lesson to you all.
Saturday was simple. Breakfast, packing up, singing, M&Ms, goodbyes. And I went home.
also to remember, and perhaps to expand upon later: eric noise, summer shakespeare, captain planet, coty voice, becca, mama gudische, hill ease, cement pond worship, white sheets worship, leaves, tree sketch, college story, moon pie
