Catching up! Week 6: Work Crew & Week 7: HS

Sorry I haven't written in forever!! Week 6 I was on work crew which means I didn't have much time to get on my computer. Work crew is when 10 team members don't work with campers for the week. They do various jobs around camp and help in the kitchen. Every team member does it once during the summer and it can be a really fun week! My group was really awesome. We did a lot of hard work including mulching, digging dirt, painting, setting up for all the meals, setting up tables, delivering mail and laundry and cleaning the lodge. It's a lot of work and really tiring but you get to hang out with other team members for the week so it's really fun in the end.

This week (week 7) I'm back on high school. I really enjoy the high schoolers a lot and we only have 95 campers this week which is really small. I'm teaching an amazing small group this week and I find that high school small groups are SO much better than middle & elementary small groups because the high schoolers actually listen and participate.

Well, I have to run but I will try and update later!

lovelovelove-
Shannon

Mid-Summer Retreat & Week 5: Middle School

This weekend we had our mid-summer retreat!! We weren't allowed to have any visitors because they really wanted us to spend time with each other and really get a chance to sleep and rest. On saturday night we went roller skating at this totally stuck in the 80s roller rink. It was so much fun! True to our crazy nature we dressed up in 80s attire and we all wore 4 wheel skates which was even funnier because no one was very talented at skating in them! We also got a chance to spend time with our team small groups. My group has such a great time together. We went to subway for lunch, got starbucks, picked up an icecream cake and then met up with another small group at a team member's lake house. My friend Amanda on team lives right here in Fruitland Park so she took us to her lake house to swim in the pool and hang out. She has these 2 big sweet labs that ended up going swimming with us too! The dogs were too funny! We ended up spending the rest of the weekend relaxing by the pool and getting some naps in.

This week I'm back on middle school camp. I ended up gettting a cabin with my friend Julee again! We thought it was too funny that we got a cabin together again but we're so excited! Our cabin girls are really awesome and such sweet girls. I really have been lucky this summer with the cabin groups I got. I'm also teaching a small group this week which is another great group! One more thing I'm excited about is that I get to teach sailing this week for the 1st time ever. Lets hope I don't mess up!

Well I'm off to play with kids! Miss you all!!

lovelovelove-
Shannon

Week 4: Elementary Camp

This week I've had the unique opportunity to have a buddy on elementary camp. A buddy is a camper that needs a team member to stay with them all the time because they have some sort of mental or physical disability. My buddy's name is Diana and she's really awesome. She's a little mentally behind but she doesn't need too much help. She just really needs someone to guide her and make sure she does everything she is supposed to. She has become pretty attached to me because I spend most of the day with her. I get breaks while she is in small group. My friend Lianne also has a buddy on elementary. Her buddy Autumn is autistic and has been a bigger challenge. Lianne has been so amazing with her though. Autumn is a sweetheart and she just needs someone to be with her at all times. There are actually 5 buddies total at camp this week and it's been so cool to have the team to get to meet them. I just love Diana and have been very blessed to get to know her this week.

Today we did the olympics which was fun of course! I haven't done the olympics since week 2 because high school does the color wars. So we just got done with the olympics this morning and it went really well. No dunk tank for me this week. I actually don't teach any skills or activities because I spend my time with Diana.

Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well. This summer is our mid-summer retreat so we can't have visitors. We get to just chill and they plan some cool activities for us:) Talk to you all soon!

lovelovelove-
Shannon

Week 3: High School

Ok, so I'm finally going to write about week three! I'm with high schoolers this week for the first time!! And they are wonderful and I love them!! I was really nervous about working with them at first because they are a lot older but it's been amazing. When we're in the cabins at night I feel like I'm hanging with my friends. And get this: high schoolers love to sleep!!! It's such a nice break to not have to beg the campers to be quiet because they love to go to sleep at night. It's amazing! haha

Something cool that I've gotten to do this week is teach sign language and dance this week!! Dance I can totally handle because I was a dancer and I just love to dance but I know absolutely NO sign langauge! haha But there's only 2 kids in my skill and they both know sign language so it's really great. My dance kids are AWESOME! I'm teaching with my friend caitlin and it's been so so so fun! The kids are such good dancers and they are performing tonight!

Another cool thing that happened this week is our new slides opened at the pool! They are SO cool! There are two slides and they are super fun and fast!

I miss you all and hope to talk to you soon! Feel free to call and say hi! If I don't pick up, I promise to call back on my breaks:)

lovelovelove-
Shannon

Amazing week/weekend!

Week 2 was just amazing! I really miss the campers from this week!! I really had a great time and really used every ounce of energy I had to make sure they were having fun. So needless to say, I was exhausted this weekend!! I spent yesterday (saturday) with one of my new best friends here Sammy. We had a girl day which started with a big lunch at Moes followed by shopping at Target and Ross. And then we saw Sex and the City (AMAZING!) in the Villages. After the movie we ended up walking around the villages because they had a car show going on and it was just a really nice evening. When we got back to camp we had a little pool party with the team, watched 27 dresses in our fellowship hall and then ended up going to bed early which was amazing. I got a full 9 hours of sleep last night and it was WONDERFUL!! Tonight we will be cleaning the cabins and preparing for tomorrows campers. I'll let you know what camp I'm on later when I find out! Until next time....!!!

lovelovelove-
Shannon

Week Two!

I have middle schoolers again this week! And the kids this week are AMAZING. They are so well behaved and wonderful and sweet. I have a cabin with one of my new friends here Julee and she is such a sweet girl! Our girls in our cabin are so great and they are super quiet at bed time which is just the best thing ever! haha

So there's this little camper named Anna in my cabin and she sleeps right above me on the top bunk. Well this morning when she got off her bed she some how got her foot stuck underneath the bunk and the nail on her big toe almost came completely off. Like it was just sticking up straight in the air and blood everywhere. Yea, I know it's gross but I'm just telling you what I deal with on a daily basis:) So before breakfast had even started I had to take her to the health center and she ended up having to go the urgent health center out in town to get it taken off completely---poor girl! Anyways, just a quick story to tell you about some of the lovely camper injuries we deal with on a daily basis.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer! I love and miss you all!

lovelovelove-
Shannon

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

So today is thursday which is our big day of fun at camp! For middle school we had the olympics today! The kids got to compete in different games against each other and we even had an olympic village set up with water slides, music, face painting, snow cones and of course the dunk tank! I ended up getting in and of course all my campers enjoyed making sure I got dunked every time! We also had our ususal folk dancing tonight and we also had a pool carnival which was really fun. I think the campers are really enjoying their week.

I can't even tell you all how much I love being at camp. I wish the summer lasted forever. Of course the campers can drive me crazy but in the long run, there's no other place I would rather be. The team is so incredible and I just love them all so much. They are some of my best friends and I just love spending time with them.

Well I'm going to take the rest of my break to go take a shower and clean up before I go to worship with the kids. Talk to you all soon! Write me sometime:)

lovelovelove-
Shannon