Archive for December, 2012

Ask Me More about Camp

Saturday, December 22nd, 2012

Raise your hand if this sounds familiar…
Your child comes to you and says, for what seems like the billionth time, “Ask me more about camp.” It’s now December and you’ve heard some of the stories so many times that you can actually recite them along with her.  You wonder what odd but amusing little story your little one has managed to scour from the back of her mind that somehow involves the solitary five minutes of summer camp about which you haven’t yet heard.  While you’re doing this, your child only grows more impatient, “Go ahead.  Ask me,” this time becoming so excited that she hops up and down a couple of times and appears to be choreographing her own little “ask me more about camp” dance, which somewhat tops the bemusement of the time she sang for you to ask.

You can’t resist her enthusiasm because you think it’s great to see her this excited about anything other than the latest episode of iCarly, so you cave and wait for her mile-a-minute relay of some cute story about that time she held hands with six friends and they all jumped off the water trampoline and made a really big splash, which was really funny because it made so many waves that it almost tipped over a paddleboarder nearby…No, really it was SO funny!  Or the time they went on the nature walk, and it started raining, and they were trying to hurry back to camp, but they slipped in the mud…THAT was the funniest! You’re still trying to get the stains out of the shirt she was wearing that day, but you get an image in your head, having seen the photographs of your child and her friends covered in mud the camp posted on its website, and knew from the ear-to-ear grin that she was obviously having the time of her life, and you have to chuckle because, yes, it’s funny.

Your child starts a new story about a soccer game and how her friend had really wanted to score a goal all summer at camp but really wasn’t that good at soccer, so she blocked another player so the friend could try to score. And you realize that even though you might get asked to quiz her about camp a few hundred more times before the line turns into “I can’t wait to go back!” you don’t mind because you realize that hearing about little moments like this is nice. Not only did your child just have the time of her life, her enthusiasm in sharing her experiences with you adds great value to your decision to send her to camp because not only is she having fun but she’s learning valuable life lessons.

And Now for a Holiday Olympic “Break”…

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

1, 3, 5, 6! WE WANT OLYMPICS!

It is the point of the summer when Olympics is the only thing that you can think about. Who do you think is going to be Captain? Who do you think is going to be General? Sing Leader? Lieutenant? Everyone is discussing their favorite breaks from the years in the past, and talking about how they would want Olympics to break this year. If you’re in upper camp you’ve probably told all the juniors and inters that you actually know the break because you “overheard” David and Allison talking. Then you will probably tell them about your ideal break, convincing them that it is going to happen this way.

1, 3, 5,6! WE WANT OLYMPICS!

You’ve now limited your list to the times and locations of when it could possibly break out. You now start to look around for any clues to what the break might be, (even though the “clues” you think you’ve noticed have been there forever). Any change you notice in camp must be a part of the break. Was that bench here two days ago? I don’t know… must be Olympics! David never stands over there…it has to be for Olympics!

1, 3, 5, 6! WE WANT OLYMPICS!

We can’t even take it anymore! Please just break Olympics! Everyone is already doing Olympic cheers; outfits are already picked out for the first day; people are wearing one blue and one white bracelet to immediately rip off the bracelet of their opposing team once they finally find out which team they are on. We’ve all narrowed down that tonight is the night (since it didn’t happen all the other times we predicted.) It has to be breaking tonight!

1! 3! 5! 6! WE WANT OLYMPICS! 1! 3! 5! 6! WE WANT OLYMPICS!

And finally the moment is here! It’s Olympics! The floor starts to shake. Everyone is jumping and screaming, some even crying! It’s the best break yet! You rush to find the paper to reveal the team you’re on and rip that other bracelet off! You run over to congratulate the captains! Generals are announced, and then sing leaders, and lieutenants! Finally, the best part of the summer is here!

Hayley M.