Home from Camp

I am very, very glad to announce I made it home from camp without any major catastrophes!! :D yeah!!!

LaCrosse Cabin 2007

(Back Row) Miss Jessica (me), Valerie, Steph, Katherine, Miss Jenny

(Front Row) Esther, Stephanie, & Raven

From the beginning:

Karissa and I got to camp prior to Jenny's group, and we weren't sure we would be in the same cabin together. Word came that one of their vehicles had blown 2 tires!! :O Thankfully no one was hurt. The camp director gave Karissa and me the back part of the LaCrosse cabin and said, when Jenny's group got in, they would go to the front part of the cabin. Each cabin is divided in half - 5 bunks and one twin bed on each side. There's a door inside that connects the two sides (which is nice to open and use as a cross breeze when using box fans).

The "group" finally arrived. Everyone started unpacking on Jenny's side, and Karissa and I were waiting for them to get settled. Three of the six girls trickled over, so we wouldn't be all by ourselves. I thought, oh, this is fine -- 3 juniors, plus Karissa and myself - that's not bad. Then a girl I use to go to college with (Tina) came in with her little boy. Here the camp told her and her husband there were no more family cabins so she came in our cabin with their son, and her husband went to the junior boy's cabin. Karissa was on STACC force (can't remember what the acronym stands for - sorry), and Jenny's church also brought several STACC force members. These are teens who serve and clean during junior week and it pays half their bill for senior week when they come back as campers. One STACC member ventured over with Tina so now what am I up to?? My side had 3 juniors, 2 STACC members, 1 mom, 1 baby, a play pen and myself! (I was just missing the partridge and the pear tree!!). After the beds were made we headed out for some fresh, non-cabin air!! :D When we got back -- I had 3 more girls from Illinois!! :O :O I was VERY shocked!! All , can I repeat, ALL but ONE mattress was being used!! The final count, 4 juniors, 2 STACC members, 1 mom, 1 baby, a play pen, 2 pre-counselor teens, and myself!! Jenny's side .... 3 juniors, 2 STACC members and herself!! Wow! How did I come with one and end up with a quadzillion, Jenny came with a quadzillion and ended up with less than a 1/2 of what I had!! ?? ;) ha ha

First night, I was up 3 times saying, "ssshhhhhhh", and once out to the bath house finding girls that were taking too long getting ready for bed. Almost midnight-- yeah, time for some shut eye!! I never heard them come in. (I'm a sound sleeper if I didn't mention that in earlier posts!) I made an observations. I would be a very bad counselor in the sense kids could sneak around and I'd never hear them -- I'd be a very "good" counselor in the sense kids could sneak around and I'd never hear anything!! ;) ha ha

After that night I told Mrs. Jones, that was my first clue that camp is not about me. I'm use to when I go to bed, I go to bed! No getting up for anyone else - etc. This was definitely different for me.

Our cabin worked very hard to clean up for our "inspection." It's hard to keep dirt out when you're cabin is surrounded by it, but we did our best! And the second day it paid off!! We were voted the cleanest cabin. Actually we tied for first -- but that was still awesome. This year, they had two guys judge the girls' cabins, and two ladies judge the boys'. That was probably so there'd be no partiality goin' on!!

Wednesday our group went horseback riding. (You'll have to wait on those pictures -- I was too busy concentrating to snap Kodak moments! I'll bum some off of someone else though.) When I was a child and went to camp I had bad things happen to me every time. One story I failed to share with you earlier was my horseback riding experience. I had never ridden a horse before, so I was able to go first with a handful of other kids to pick my horse before the "experienced riders". My friend (Rachel) said she'd ride on the horse with me. I was so excited b/c I didn't want to be on one by myself (I didn't even drive go-carts that great)! The owner spent so much time explaining to me and Rachel why we couldn't go together, that by the time she was done ALL but one of the horses were taken!! :O I was left with this GINORMOUS creature! It was so large, I practically did the splits just trying to get my foot up in the stirrup!! (Ok, maybe a slight dramatization - but not by much!) The workers literally had to throw me up on the back of this horse. The back of this guy was so huge my legs didn't rest on either side, they just kinda stuck straight out!! When they tried adjusting the stirrups they went to smallest notch possible, but it was no use, the stirrups dangled just below my tennis shoes. They looked at me and said, just do the best you can! :O WHAT!?!?!? WAIT!!!! Get back here!!! GET ME OFF OF HERE!!!!!

Off to the trail we went. The only other thing I remember is going down such a steep hill I leaned back so far my head was practically touching the horse's rump!! I was too scared to sit up -- afraid I'd throw off the weight balance and I get tossed off over the front of his nose!!

Ok, so with that history behind me, I am now entering the carrel of the SAME place that experience took place. This time however, things have changed. You don't just get tossed up on a horse and go. Oh, no! Now, they make it more interactive for the young riders. You "get" to go over, pick out your horse, walk up on the "LEFT" side, pet it, put her hand UNDER their neck, unhook them from the post, WALK THEM OVER to some steps, stop them, jump up on their left side, and then learn how to control them as a group.

HA HA HA H HA H AH HA HA

About this time, I could be seen trying to find the fastest way out of there!! Well, not really. Being Co-Counselor, as I was named, I had to show these girls not weakness but braveness. So I just went up to the first horse I saw. Well, he was sideways (smart horse actually), so you couldn't get up to his left side. I tried -- but he started thumping his hooves, and I thought -- ok, maybe this one is pms-ing.....N E X T please! Walked up to "Dan" the only other available four legged creature. I was strong enough to pet it, but could NOT bring myself to put my hand under his chin to unhook him. One camper at the same time was having trouble with a horse, and she looked how I felt. A worker FINALLY went over and helped her. I finally got guts from somewhere, unhooked the horse, and tried guiding him to the steps, but he didn't want any part of it. His front hooves went up a little, and I thought, you know, if he starts to buck I'm out of here. I know I complain about being "round" but this isn't my idea of being flattened out!!

I finally get on top of the horse, and everything was fine. Learning how to use the reins, and what not. I was more concerned with trying to remember how you're suppose to sit in a saddle. I do NOT remember hurting SOOOOOOO much when I was a kid. I was so incredibly uncomfortable. All I could remember was to relax, and I thought, it'd be a LOT easier to relax if it didn't hurt so bad. I felt bones I don't think I've EVER felt before!! As we were guiding our animals around the carrel all of a sudden "Dan" decides to relieve his 1,000 gallon bladder. I thought I was gonna have to get some waders or a life jacket before too long!! Of course, little girls -- pretty soon the entire carrel had erupted in laughter. It was funny. After mine was through, another started, and then another, and then another. Funny thing -- we laughed just as hard the last time as the first. There's just something about hearing a "power hose" from an animal that is just funny. And hey!! Their moms probably always said - "Before you go out on a trail you better be sure to go b/c we're not going to stop and wait for you to finish your business!!!" ha ha

After all business was taken care of and all 8 of use "knew what we were doing" it was off to the trail. My "Dan" loved getting me into brush, and trees. My left leg was so scraped up. He just would not regard my commands. At one point we were up higher than the other horses, and my leg was really taking a beating (culottes of course), so I looked over the edge and saw we weren't ON the trail. The trail was a very narrow ditch, and we were on the VERY NARROW edge. One slip and Dan would be on top of me!! I was moving the reins to the right so he would get into the little ditch like EVERY other horse!! You want to know what he did?? He stayed up on the ledge with his head turned sideways!! Finally the ground leveled. I looked down at something, and when I looked up * pugh slap bung pah * I was getting whacked in the face with large bristled pine branches!! I thought for sure they'd stop but man, they didn't. So now my leg and my face were banged up. Thankfully, I had on sunglasses so my eyes weren't hurt! I said, NEXT TIME YELL LOW BRANCHES A LITTLE LOUDER FOR THOSE OF US IN BACK!!!

Other than horseback fiding, the only other adventure was trying to bring myself to jump in the pea soup green lake . . . but I couldn't. Just dabbled my legs in it, one day and that was good enough for me.

I told my mom, "You know, when you're young you can't wait for swim time, and game time b/c you get to be with your friends and you get to have fun. But you know you're getting old when you can't wait for those times b/c you know your campers will all be out of the cabin and you can get in a quick nap!!!" :) ha ha It's sad, but very true! Just got in one nap all that week - so by the last night, I was VERY exhausted!!

So much fun though. I'm sure more stories will appear. Just wanted to give you Chapter 1 of this novel. ;)