Alright, it's what I know you've all been waiting for (at least from how many questions of "is it done yet?" that I've gotten from everyone. lol)...............THE CAMP HOPE VIDEO OF 2008!!!
Enjoy, people :-)
Friday, September 26, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Beware of The Boogey Man!
Thursday 7/31/08
A note from the boys at Bates Abode.....
To the amazing filth deciders of this camp, through the dust and darkness you are our lamp.
Your strict rules keep us in line
So that we might have a very good time.
We’re sorry that this doesn’t rhyme.
We apologize for any mess
The deeper filth we won’t confess
As you sift though all our junk
We are sorry if any of it stunk
Just don’t look under the bunk
Because you might find the boogieman and behind him a soda can
The mats on the floor may make you frown but it’s simple, don’t look down and keep checking all around
And now we have one more thing to say to warm your heart in every way
We love you dearly, we love you true
It doesn’t matter what you do.
Affectionately,
The Storm Troopers
...And now back to the Cabin Inspectors.
Bates Abode
The deciders of clean found your note on the door
The account that you gave was a prattling rave.
The in the doorknob was turned
And within it we learned
That the Bates Abode are
A tidy bunch by far.
Yet please do take note
That to do it by rote
Loose items on the top bunk
Are viewed as inspector “eye junk”
Pederson’s Pad ((Winner))
(Read to the cadence of hymn “O For a Thousand Tongues”)
Oh for a thousand tongues to sing
Your neat ‘n tidy ways
The glories of Pederson’s Pad
The triumphs of the place.
The sharpness of the cabin was
A spectacle to see
It heralded a model home for the Bates
And the Busbys.
Bates Bungalow
(Song to the tune of “Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole)
Unacceptable that’s what you are
From near and far.
That’s why cabin it’s incredible
That a group we see as flexible
Thinks that their stuff strewn
All over is funny
Busby’s Habitat
(Sung to the tune of “Someone’s In The Kitchen With Dina”)
Someone’s done the clean up at Busby’s
Campers done the straightening I kno-o-o-ow
Teen girls did a good job at Busby’s
All cleaned up and ready to go
A note from the boys at Bates Abode.....
To the amazing filth deciders of this camp, through the dust and darkness you are our lamp.
Your strict rules keep us in line
So that we might have a very good time.
We’re sorry that this doesn’t rhyme.
We apologize for any mess
The deeper filth we won’t confess
As you sift though all our junk
We are sorry if any of it stunk
Just don’t look under the bunk
Because you might find the boogieman and behind him a soda can
The mats on the floor may make you frown but it’s simple, don’t look down and keep checking all around
And now we have one more thing to say to warm your heart in every way
We love you dearly, we love you true
It doesn’t matter what you do.
Affectionately,
The Storm Troopers
...And now back to the Cabin Inspectors.
Bates Abode
The deciders of clean found your note on the door
The account that you gave was a prattling rave.
The in the doorknob was turned
And within it we learned
That the Bates Abode are
A tidy bunch by far.
Yet please do take note
That to do it by rote
Loose items on the top bunk
Are viewed as inspector “eye junk”
Pederson’s Pad ((Winner))
(Read to the cadence of hymn “O For a Thousand Tongues”)
Oh for a thousand tongues to sing
Your neat ‘n tidy ways
The glories of Pederson’s Pad
The triumphs of the place.
The sharpness of the cabin was
A spectacle to see
It heralded a model home for the Bates
And the Busbys.
Bates Bungalow
(Song to the tune of “Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole)
Unacceptable that’s what you are
From near and far.
That’s why cabin it’s incredible
That a group we see as flexible
Thinks that their stuff strewn
All over is funny
Busby’s Habitat
(Sung to the tune of “Someone’s In The Kitchen With Dina”)
Someone’s done the clean up at Busby’s
Campers done the straightening I kno-o-o-ow
Teen girls did a good job at Busby’s
All cleaned up and ready to go
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Don't Get Mad...Get Hi!
July 29 2008
-Tuesday-
I didn't sleep well at all during the night... Between the Shooting Stars keeping me awake, the fact that I didn't actually finally get to sleep until after midnight, and that I woke up at 3 in the morning with a sore throat, it was a rather fitful night. Amazingly though, I woke up shortly after the crack of dawn at 5:30 and was out breathing in the fresh cool morning air that I can only seem to find at Camp Hope.
Nobody was up, and I wasn't quite sure what to do with the 2 hours until wakeup call, so I walked up the little hill that's next to the volleyball court and sat on the rocks there as I had the year before. After about a half hour of nothing what so ever happening, I decided to take a walk up to Clover Field. It's hard to describe the feeling I got as I walked along that oh-so-familiar pathway...it felt like I'd lived here forever... Like I had never really left camp last summer. As I took in the scenery around me I wondered aloud, Just 3 and a half more days of camp? It seems so short, yet I'm only on day two! It's amazing how something can seem so short yet so long at the same time.
5 or 10 minutes later I headed back down the path again and bumped into Mr. Pederson and Matt who must have also decided that it was a lovely morning to take a walk. I said hi to them and then we continued on in our opposite paths. I took a little bit of a detour though the woods near the camp fire pit and noticed Bo sitting quietly by himself writing. I turned and headed back towards the path as I debated on weather or not I should interrupt. I guess I decided that I would because minutes later I slip-slided down the pine needle covered hill nearby the basket ball court. Once at the bottom I caught my balance and said hello to Bo...Him and I hung out and talked for a while. That was cool...Up until then I hadn't ever really talked to him in person, aside from asking him to sign my book last year. Then a bit later, but still before wakeup call, Zak, Dexter, Eric, Nick, and I were all hanging out around the dinning hall and went dink-happy. It's this insane game that I suspect either Zak or Dexter is to blame for, where you go nuts poking each other and with each poke you give you say "Dink!"...Needless to say once we got started we went all out and became rather loud...Which caused Pastor Harris to come over and tell us to be quiet until after wakeup call.
Before we got to eat our breakfast we had morning exercises. Those varied from day to day and were a lot of times somewhat goofy. We had finger exercise and Whinnie The Pooh rhymes one morning... which was one of the things I remembered from last year. Haha, a little weird but rather fun :-)
On other mornings we did anything from jumping jacks to running in place to even running backwards around the basket ball court! There were also push ups one morning, though thankfully they were optional...I couldn’t do a good push-up to save my life! Especially on concrete. Not surprising, I declined the offer of doing them and instead took pictures of the guys who decided they wanted to.
After that we all sat down around the edge of the basket ball court and listened to morning devotions, by Pastor Harris. Those always were good, and some mornings rather emotion stirring.
Then we were off to the dinning hall for breakfast! By 8:15 in the morning, I was good and ready for it too, since by that point I had been up for two hours and 45 minutes without anything but water.
Once we’d all finished eating we had cabin cleanup time, in which I had fun with every day by making signs or posing my stuffed dog with my Camp Hope signature cap on it’s head. I always tried to do something creative. My upper bunk was nearest to the door so I always wanted to do something new to welcome the Cabin Inspectors each day.
Following cabin cleanup, we had recreation time. Games! Yes! Those were fun...of course nothing beats free time to get to hang with your friends, but it was cool to get to do different sports and such. That morning we headed out to Clover Field for dodge ball. It's a camp hope favorite! I've never won a game of it in my life, but none the less, I enjoy playing. I have no idea why I like this game of heaving balls at my friends or having them throw 'em at me, but I do. Some things in life are unexplainable. Anyway, after a round or two of that, Ruben got us going on what he calls the "ultimate game of Camp Hope"... Super Mario Dodge Ball! I still don't quite understand the parallel between that and Super Mario, but hey, whatever. It’s a fun game! I like it better than regular dodge ball too. What is the difference between these two games that sound so similar? Well in this version when you get hit by the ball you sit down and have to try and tag other people who are running around. That being the case, if you’re still standing, you have twice as much to watch out for because not only do you have to dodge the three balls that are flying around the field but you also have to avoid those people sitting on the ground waiting to tag you. If you get hit by either the ball or people, you have to sit down too. It’s wild and crazy and mega fun! Well, more fun though if the grass wasn’t wet from the little drizzles of rain we got every now and then that morning. It’s much more enjoyable when you don’t have to sit on wet grass. Trust me.
Shortly after recreation was chapel, and Nick and I sat together again, much to the apparent dismay of Joy, Laurel, and Zak. I could tell they weren’t overly thrilled about the fact. Ergh. Some situations can be so annoying. Nick wants to sit by me and I don't mind it but my other friends can't stand it...so basically the choice is have Laurel, Zak, and Joy being annoyed or have Nick majorly bummed out because I tell him to go sit somewhere else. Of course with both choices, somebody is unhappy and it's pretty much my fault. *sigh* life and it's choices...
Anyway, the rest of the morning goes on with some free time following chapel, then lunch, personal Bible time, and then after all that a little bit of free time between Bible time and another round of recreation. At this point I found myself in the middle of one of the most fun games of Frisbee catch I think I've ever been involved in. So we've got me, Joy, Abby, Laurel, Nick, and Zak...and 4 of Nick's awesomely cool nylon collapsible Frisbees. What does that all add up to? Major fun!! Ohhh yeah! Part of what's so cool about these things is that you can fold them up and then when you throw them into the air they'll pop out...and when you throw 4 folded Frisbees into the air, you get a lot of popping sounds and round white discs floating around all over the place! Needless to say, I think we all had a great time. I even got to keep one of the Frisbees! Swaheet!
As we were tossing Frisbees all over the place, there came the call for recreation time. As we ran around collecting up the pieces of our game, I wondered aloud, "Hey, think they'll play Ultimate Frisbee? That would be cool!" ...and what do you know? They did! I've gotta say it was the largest game of Ultimate I think I've ever played. We had at least 34 people out on the playing field! It was pretty insane compared to the weekly games of Ultimate Frisbee I attend where if we have 20 people or more we divide into 3 teams. I had a blast though and actually managed to make several good catches. I'd say Lucy would get the most credit on my team though- she made nearly half my team's points with her end-zone catches! Yes, in the end my team won and I was quite happy about the fact.
After that we went back down to the basket ball court for another Ultimate sport....Ultimate Basket ball! Which is basically Ultimate Frisbee and Basketball all mashed together. It was fun! I forget if my team won or not though. Aw well, I guess it's "not weather you win or loose but how you play the game."
From our Ultimate games, we went back down to camp for a little free time and then we were all off to dinner! Ah yes, another delicious meal from our wonderful cooks. That is one of the things I really enjoy here, because the food is terrific. Not to mention a meal is always 10 times better when you're with your friends! I enjoy being a girl here at dinner...they always follow the "ladies first" rule, which is very much to my advantage there. Now if it was tallest to shortest.... let's just say I'd be waiting in line for a while! I'm glad that isn't the rule!
So shortly after all of that we were off to chapel once more! There was more chapel services this year than last, I can tell you that much. 3 Chapel times per day. Wow. They always had something worth wile to say though, of course. The sermons were really very good, although occasionally my mind kept wandering back to events of the day.
Once chapel let out, we all headed to the church's basement for a nice surprise from Pastor Harris- we all got Camp Hope t-shirts! How cool is that!? I love having souvaneers to bring home from a fun time! Last year I had my pinewood derby car that I made, but I liked this more because I can wear it. So we all headed down and they had us line up according to height. Nothing like knowing just how short I am! I mean, I knew I wasn't exactly the tallest person around, but man...3rd shortest person out of nearly 40 teenagers!? Come on! Maybe I need to sleep on the rack at night. haha. Of course, if I really wanna make myself feel like a midget, I can go on with that piece of knowledge and then stand next to Zak who's the tallest person in the entire camp at like 6 foot 3 or something. Oh well, at least I wasn't the all out absolute shortest.
Soon as we got our t-shirts, Beth and a few others were stationed to write our initials on the tags so that we don't get our shirts mixed up. Once that was done, I was sent up stairs, where I waited for Joy & Laurel and my other friends who were stuck farther back in line because they're taller than me. Hey, I guess there are some advantages to being the short one! So I sat down on a pew near the door to wait for everyone and shortly later who comes up stairs? None other than Nick DeRu. So we start talking and he mentions the fact that the whole week he hasn't seen my left eye and proceeds to push aside my hair...Which turned out to have been a mistake because Zak was right behind him and looked as though he wanted to slug the dude. Zak told him to back off and I was later informed that he had a serious little chat with Nick on the issue.
After that, we put our new t-shirts and Bibles and such back in our cabins and headed out to Fun 'n Stuff for a game of Pictionary. Yet another of the fun things I remembered from last summer... And come to think of it, this was the first time since then that I had played the game! Wow. It was a load of fun...I was the first person to draw for my team, and of course I was quite enthusiastic to jump on stage in front of every one and attempt drawing a picture while having a sweatshirt over my face. No, I'm not being sarcastic- it was fun!! I loved it, even if nobody did guess what in the world I was trying to draw (And hey, I'd like to know how many of you can draw a illustration for "elbow room" blindfolded and have anybody guess what it is). Really, just in general I loved every minute I got up on that wooden stage in front of everybody during the week. Introductions, Pictionary, Silly Songs Night, the skits...awesome. I just totally enjoy the opportunity to get on stage in front of a whole roomful of friends and just make people laugh by goofing off and being me. In fact, I had fun getting people to laugh even when I wasn't on stage! When it was Lucy's turn to be on stage and pick a card, Ruben held the cards out to her and told her "pick a card, any card!"...As soon as she grabbed a card, I couldn't resist the temptation, therefore I suddenly shouted out "NOT THAT ONE!!!" Nearly everyone in the room seemed to laugh at that :-) Man, I love doing stuff like that. Kinda reminds me of the time I was at McDonalds with some friends and I got a kick out of watching the confused expression on the worker when I ordered a "diet water"...
But that's another story...
Anyway.
Snack time that evening was great...well, as usual. I mean really, how can you go wrong with awesome friends and ice cream, cookies, grapes, and popcorn? Nothing like getting on a late night sugar high with some of your best friends!
Me, Joy, Dexter, and Bo were the very last campers in the dinning hall and probably the most insane as well. Anybody walking by I'm sure must have wondered what the heck we were laughing so hard about, and who knows what the cooks must have been thinking as they cleaned the kitchen, unnoticed by the 4 of us who were in hysterics over our newest invention.
"Hi-Ware!"
How did this come about? Well...you see, Dexter is mostly the one to blame... I had him sign my signature book and all he wrote was "Hi from me to you", then he proceeded to write "hi" on my hand, the bottom of my cup, and on the handle of my plastic fork. As I looked at the fork, a funny thought struck me... "Hmm... it's Hi-Ware! Kinda like Glad-Ware, I guess." Then one of the guys (I forget if it was Bo or Dex) suddenly piped up with "Don't get mad- get hi!" Yeah, gotta love our updated version of the Glad-Ware slogan, huh? After that was said, we couldn't stop laughing! Even after the four of us had to split up and head to our cabins for devotions, Joy and I were still totally cracking up.
"NOT THAT ONE!!!"
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Sauerkraut, Bibles & Dead Birds...Oh My!
Wednesday 7/30/08
Pederson's Pad
Your creativity continued - oh my, what a change... From previous years when things were so strange! Yesterday, impressive... Today not too bad - as a full couse meal was prepared in your pad. Your names were displayed on the end of each rack so we know who you are... Nick, Matt, Ben, Eric, & Zack. Even Mr. Pederson's name was to be found - on the bunk down low - low down by the ground.
Bates Abode
The place was not too bad - two days in a row! BUT...The smell in the air made us hurry & go. Not sure what it was... We didn't find out... Some used socks? Your favorite shoes? Some old sauerkraut? Yes, it was quite neat, though we’ve not much else to tell... Oh unless we remember that overwhelming smell! Should you one day decide to let some fresh air in... It just may qualify your team for a win!
Bates Bungalow
The garbage was empty - you surely caught on- you must’ve got started right after dawn. Your Bibles were open and laid on each bunk -- with some dogs and a pachyderm but nary a sunk. “Cleanliness is next to godliness” you say... Yes it did show - in your cabin so clean the whole place was aglow. Neat as a pin - your sin all confessed - the judges today were really impressed.
Busby’s Habitat
This place was quite nice - many Bibles were out - the bunks for your sleeping had left little doubt - that mom gave instructions before you left home, “Keep the place clean or you’ll be sleeping alone!” The “who bird” was laying in the same place on the bed - we were beginning to wonder if the poor thing were dead.And then it was heard... You couldn’t miss it of course... The Bible itself being read by a horse!
You all did so good - your folks would be proud - but one cabin alone must be proclaimed aloud... As the cabin to which all the rest bowed. Around the world the inspectors did go and no place was found that could beat Bates Bungalow!!
Pederson's Pad
Your creativity continued - oh my, what a change... From previous years when things were so strange! Yesterday, impressive... Today not too bad - as a full couse meal was prepared in your pad. Your names were displayed on the end of each rack so we know who you are... Nick, Matt, Ben, Eric, & Zack. Even Mr. Pederson's name was to be found - on the bunk down low - low down by the ground.
Bates Abode
The place was not too bad - two days in a row! BUT...The smell in the air made us hurry & go. Not sure what it was... We didn't find out... Some used socks? Your favorite shoes? Some old sauerkraut? Yes, it was quite neat, though we’ve not much else to tell... Oh unless we remember that overwhelming smell! Should you one day decide to let some fresh air in... It just may qualify your team for a win!
Bates Bungalow
The garbage was empty - you surely caught on- you must’ve got started right after dawn. Your Bibles were open and laid on each bunk -- with some dogs and a pachyderm but nary a sunk. “Cleanliness is next to godliness” you say... Yes it did show - in your cabin so clean the whole place was aglow. Neat as a pin - your sin all confessed - the judges today were really impressed.
Busby’s Habitat
This place was quite nice - many Bibles were out - the bunks for your sleeping had left little doubt - that mom gave instructions before you left home, “Keep the place clean or you’ll be sleeping alone!” The “who bird” was laying in the same place on the bed - we were beginning to wonder if the poor thing were dead.And then it was heard... You couldn’t miss it of course... The Bible itself being read by a horse!
You all did so good - your folks would be proud - but one cabin alone must be proclaimed aloud... As the cabin to which all the rest bowed. Around the world the inspectors did go and no place was found that could beat Bates Bungalow!!
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Sleeping With Swords
Cabin Inspector's Note #1
Tuesday 7/29/08
Stop #1 was at "Pederson's Pad" - As we entered the door things didn't look half bad! Are you this neat at home the inspectors wondered aloud...or, is this merely for show at Camp Hope- because you've been encouraged by a crowd? An assortment of blades was arrayed on one bed - surely any lions or bears visiting here will quickly be dead! Oh no, what is this, out side on a post? Raja, the tiger, acting as a host. He sort of looks tame and hopefully won't bite or this cabin of boys may be eaten tonight! Overall your group did very, very well - this is a story you must take home... Your mother's to tell!
Bates Abode was the next stop today...where we discovered quite an impressive spiritual display. Each bunk had a Bible and a flashlight as well...Why were they there? We thought we could tell! They must stay up late reading the word - taking to heart all they have heard - applying the truth to mind and soul - surely this is the boys commendable goal! Well we could stay here but it's time to go --- On to the girl's cabins and...
Bates Bungalow. Wow, what a difference in a cabin like this - so much more 'stuff'... Clothes bags galore... stashed & stowed so neat on the floor. Girls live here - that is so clear. Hey there's an elephant and a dog neat on a bed... The dog has a hat pulled down on it's head... And then there is a soccer moose! Or is it a soccer mouse? No! No! It's got to be a soccer pooch whose been on the go - looks like he's come from Green Bay and is taking a nap for the rest of the day. All in all you did quite well... Next time empty your garbage and it will be really swell!
Busby's Habitat ... Now where is it at? Look up to the heavens - yes, up to the sky and keep climbing the stairs 'till you're up very high. There is a big crowd in this cabin - that's clear! An owl got in - it's resting on a bed - oh, wow. Oh, wow - a horse did too - boy he looks well fed! So many fans has this "upper room" got... So close to the sun it must get really hot. You have done remarkably well cleaning your space. For best overall you made a very good case!
All in all y'all did real grand but one cabin stood out in Camp Hope Land. There was one cabin that was "a cut above". So neat and so clean... As "sharp" as could be... Pederson's Pad is tops for Tuesdee!
Tuesday 7/29/08
Stop #1 was at "Pederson's Pad" - As we entered the door things didn't look half bad! Are you this neat at home the inspectors wondered aloud...or, is this merely for show at Camp Hope- because you've been encouraged by a crowd? An assortment of blades was arrayed on one bed - surely any lions or bears visiting here will quickly be dead! Oh no, what is this, out side on a post? Raja, the tiger, acting as a host. He sort of looks tame and hopefully won't bite or this cabin of boys may be eaten tonight! Overall your group did very, very well - this is a story you must take home... Your mother's to tell!
Bates Abode was the next stop today...where we discovered quite an impressive spiritual display. Each bunk had a Bible and a flashlight as well...Why were they there? We thought we could tell! They must stay up late reading the word - taking to heart all they have heard - applying the truth to mind and soul - surely this is the boys commendable goal! Well we could stay here but it's time to go --- On to the girl's cabins and...
Bates Bungalow. Wow, what a difference in a cabin like this - so much more 'stuff'... Clothes bags galore... stashed & stowed so neat on the floor. Girls live here - that is so clear. Hey there's an elephant and a dog neat on a bed... The dog has a hat pulled down on it's head... And then there is a soccer moose! Or is it a soccer mouse? No! No! It's got to be a soccer pooch whose been on the go - looks like he's come from Green Bay and is taking a nap for the rest of the day. All in all you did quite well... Next time empty your garbage and it will be really swell!
Busby's Habitat ... Now where is it at? Look up to the heavens - yes, up to the sky and keep climbing the stairs 'till you're up very high. There is a big crowd in this cabin - that's clear! An owl got in - it's resting on a bed - oh, wow. Oh, wow - a horse did too - boy he looks well fed! So many fans has this "upper room" got... So close to the sun it must get really hot. You have done remarkably well cleaning your space. For best overall you made a very good case!
All in all y'all did real grand but one cabin stood out in Camp Hope Land. There was one cabin that was "a cut above". So neat and so clean... As "sharp" as could be... Pederson's Pad is tops for Tuesdee!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Volley Balls & Team Name Calls
July 28 2008
-Monday-
I can't possibly begin to describe how completely and totally excited I was for the 28th of July. I had every thing ready...my bags packed, cameras ready to go (yeah, all three of them! haha), and I was so very hyper with the anticipation of the week to come.
At last the glorious morning of the 28th arrived...and I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, as some people would say. I had two alarm clocks set- one on my watch and the other on my clock radio, and guess what? Neither of them went! I woke up to the sun coming in my window and the numbers 5:30 AM on my clock. Needless to say that sent my flying out of bed in seconds! My original intent was to be out of bed by 5:00 so that I had time to eat & shower before I left to meet my ride. Lucky for me, I had leftover frozen yogurt from dinner at Costco two nights before, so once showered, I threw my luggage in the car and snatched my cold breakfast out of the freezer to eat on the way. Good thing I don't get car sick!
After a 5 minute drive to downtown Clarkston, mom hugged me and bid me adieu and I was on my way with Laurel to Pullman to meet up with Ruben! The 45 minute drive was rather fun since we talked the whole entire way...or as much as we could in between my mouthfuls of frozen yogurt (which by this point was becoming more of a weird chocolaty-vanilla-y soup stuff).
Once at the Harris's place, I was enthusiastically greeted by my favorite 7 year old...Emily!! Yes, I can never forget the adorable oldest daughter of Ruben Harris. We hung out there for a bit more than half an hour. While I was there I got a wonderful surprise- Lindy & Lucy Butler showed up! I was totally not expecting that, and what made it better was that they ended up riding to camp with us. What fun! Before setting out on the road, we all stood in the Harris's front yard and sang Happy Birthday to Lucy, who had just on that day turned 19. Going to Camp Hope, what a great thing to do to celebrate a birthday!
Not including the 45 minute drive to Pullman, it was a 6 hour road trip to camp. For a good share of it, it was really pretty quiet, since everyone was rather tired from getting up early. My travel mates were Laurel, Lindy, Lucy, Mr. & Mrs. Buzby, and Ruben had the wheel. Considering how long the drive really was, it went by incredibly fast, to tell the truth. We had a lot of fun... dancing in our seats (or as much as you could when you're strapped into the vehicle) to the tune of the Gummy Bear song, posing in the sunlit spotlight of the stone coliseum when we made a side stop at the Grand Coolie Dam’s view point, and looking at all the hundreds of photos on Lucy’s laptop...oh, and of course the snack stop near Spokane. It’s always a joy running through a grocery store with friends grabbing off the shelves whatever sounds good at the moment to eat. After that stop we returned to the car with two boxes of Ritz Bitz, a can of sour cream & onion Pringles, a Pepsi, a Mountain Dew, two sandwiches (or “sammiches” as Lucy got us calling them), and a few other things of which I can’t recall.
Hours later we appeared to have time-warped back to the old Wild West ages as we rode into the little touristy town of Winthrop. We were all very happy to be there, for that meant only a very short while until we reached the camp. Just a few miles later, oh joy of all joys! It was 2:00 and we made it! The very first person we came across was Pastor Steve Harris who informed us where we would be sleeping. At first I was a little disappointed to hear that I wasn’t upstairs again like last year, but I soon got over it when I learned who my cabin mates would be- Joy, Abby, Raeshelle, Beth, Michaela, Jessica, Elizabeth, Carolyn, and two new girls of whom I didn’t know, Susie and Ellen.
I dumped my stuff off in the cabin, claimed an upper bunk, and rushed off to the volleyball court where the funnest game of volley ball of the entire week was currently taking place. It was girls against guys and the girls were dying...to make things more fair the guys decided not to use their hands. That was quite amusing! Haha. Lots of kicking and head-butting the ball was going on on there side of the net! Eventually nobody even cared what the rules to the game were, just so long as the ball got to the other side of the net. By the end of it all we were throwing it and kicking it under the net and everything else! Oh how happy a time... being crazy with friends whom you’ve not seen in a year. Such a joyfully fun reunion!
Not too long after that we were all called down to the little chapel for introductions. After the "Alexander incident" of last year, they changed how the intro's were done so that there wasn't much chance of me messing up yet another camper's name. Ok, ok, so that might not have been why Ruben changed how we did it, but hey, you never know! Haha, but man, I'm still laughing at myself for introducing Zak as Alexander last year...by far the most embarrassing moment of my life, yet had I a chance to go back in time and do it over again I wouldn’t change it for anything. Anyway, this year in the intro’s we had to write our names and other details about ourselves on 3x5 cards and throw them into a pile. Then we would all take turns drawing out a card and introducing the person on it by using those details...no memorization required! How nice.
That evening after chapel, we had Fun 'n Stuff and we got to come up with our team names. Yet again it turned out I came up with my team's name...Cool! The Camp Hope cabin-team names are as follows:
Younger Teen Girls- The CIA (Campers In Action)
Younger Teen Guys- The Undecideds (they couldn't agree on a team name, apparently...though I heard that Power Rangers & The Magical Pink Unicorns were a few of their suggestions)
Older Teen Girls- Shooting Stars
Older Teen Guys- The Storm Troopers
Once everyone had decided upon their team names, we were off on the whirlwind adventure of the first game of the first night! Like last year, it was a scavenger hunt through our luggage where we had to find something for every letter of the alphabet. It was played out slightly different than last years though... Last year when we got all our stuff we had to go on stage and advertise it and the winners were determined upon who had the best stuff and who did the best advertising of their items. This year the winners were picked by who could find each thing in their bag the fastest and by how good the item was. I asked Ruben why he changed it...he laughed and said "Well your team would have an unfair advantage if they had you as an advertiser again!"
I don't remember for sure of everyone's places, but I'm thinking that in the end the Shooting Stars won, followed by the CIA, Undecideds, and the Storm Troopers.
After Fun 'n Stuff we all put our things back into the cabins and headed off for snack time. That was (as was always) a great time. We ate ice cream, cookies, and grapes and weren't required to sit with our cabin group like we are at normal meals, which is cool. Joy and I grabbed a couple seats and sat across from Zak, Bo, and Nick. It was funny to think that these people had identities outside of the internet... All year all I had really known them as were just words on a computer screen. It was absolutely awesome to get to see them in real life! Joy was totally fun, Zak was undoubtedly the most hilarious person in the entire camp, and Bo is always nice to get to talk to. As for Nick, I never really talked to him at all until this year, but now he at least knows my name isn’t Pippin. LOL!
By the time the day was over, I was plenty tired out but didn’t end up getting to sleep until after 12:30 that night. We stayed up and talked for a while and then after lights out we were kept awake for a bit longer because the Shooting Stars were still shooting about the upper portion of the cabin with the lights on and making some racket moving around chairs for some odd reason. It was more than once I saw Elizabeth reach up to bang on the ceiling and tell them to try and let us go to sleep! Oh well. We did all eventually drop off into our dreams for the night though.
“Basically it’s only out of bounds if the volleyball goes outside of this continent.”
-Monday-
I can't possibly begin to describe how completely and totally excited I was for the 28th of July. I had every thing ready...my bags packed, cameras ready to go (yeah, all three of them! haha), and I was so very hyper with the anticipation of the week to come.
At last the glorious morning of the 28th arrived...and I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, as some people would say. I had two alarm clocks set- one on my watch and the other on my clock radio, and guess what? Neither of them went! I woke up to the sun coming in my window and the numbers 5:30 AM on my clock. Needless to say that sent my flying out of bed in seconds! My original intent was to be out of bed by 5:00 so that I had time to eat & shower before I left to meet my ride. Lucky for me, I had leftover frozen yogurt from dinner at Costco two nights before, so once showered, I threw my luggage in the car and snatched my cold breakfast out of the freezer to eat on the way. Good thing I don't get car sick!
After a 5 minute drive to downtown Clarkston, mom hugged me and bid me adieu and I was on my way with Laurel to Pullman to meet up with Ruben! The 45 minute drive was rather fun since we talked the whole entire way...or as much as we could in between my mouthfuls of frozen yogurt (which by this point was becoming more of a weird chocolaty-vanilla-y soup stuff).
Once at the Harris's place, I was enthusiastically greeted by my favorite 7 year old...Emily!! Yes, I can never forget the adorable oldest daughter of Ruben Harris. We hung out there for a bit more than half an hour. While I was there I got a wonderful surprise- Lindy & Lucy Butler showed up! I was totally not expecting that, and what made it better was that they ended up riding to camp with us. What fun! Before setting out on the road, we all stood in the Harris's front yard and sang Happy Birthday to Lucy, who had just on that day turned 19. Going to Camp Hope, what a great thing to do to celebrate a birthday!
Not including the 45 minute drive to Pullman, it was a 6 hour road trip to camp. For a good share of it, it was really pretty quiet, since everyone was rather tired from getting up early. My travel mates were Laurel, Lindy, Lucy, Mr. & Mrs. Buzby, and Ruben had the wheel. Considering how long the drive really was, it went by incredibly fast, to tell the truth. We had a lot of fun... dancing in our seats (or as much as you could when you're strapped into the vehicle) to the tune of the Gummy Bear song, posing in the sunlit spotlight of the stone coliseum when we made a side stop at the Grand Coolie Dam’s view point, and looking at all the hundreds of photos on Lucy’s laptop...oh, and of course the snack stop near Spokane. It’s always a joy running through a grocery store with friends grabbing off the shelves whatever sounds good at the moment to eat. After that stop we returned to the car with two boxes of Ritz Bitz, a can of sour cream & onion Pringles, a Pepsi, a Mountain Dew, two sandwiches (or “sammiches” as Lucy got us calling them), and a few other things of which I can’t recall.
Hours later we appeared to have time-warped back to the old Wild West ages as we rode into the little touristy town of Winthrop. We were all very happy to be there, for that meant only a very short while until we reached the camp. Just a few miles later, oh joy of all joys! It was 2:00 and we made it! The very first person we came across was Pastor Steve Harris who informed us where we would be sleeping. At first I was a little disappointed to hear that I wasn’t upstairs again like last year, but I soon got over it when I learned who my cabin mates would be- Joy, Abby, Raeshelle, Beth, Michaela, Jessica, Elizabeth, Carolyn, and two new girls of whom I didn’t know, Susie and Ellen.
I dumped my stuff off in the cabin, claimed an upper bunk, and rushed off to the volleyball court where the funnest game of volley ball of the entire week was currently taking place. It was girls against guys and the girls were dying...to make things more fair the guys decided not to use their hands. That was quite amusing! Haha. Lots of kicking and head-butting the ball was going on on there side of the net! Eventually nobody even cared what the rules to the game were, just so long as the ball got to the other side of the net. By the end of it all we were throwing it and kicking it under the net and everything else! Oh how happy a time... being crazy with friends whom you’ve not seen in a year. Such a joyfully fun reunion!
Not too long after that we were all called down to the little chapel for introductions. After the "Alexander incident" of last year, they changed how the intro's were done so that there wasn't much chance of me messing up yet another camper's name. Ok, ok, so that might not have been why Ruben changed how we did it, but hey, you never know! Haha, but man, I'm still laughing at myself for introducing Zak as Alexander last year...by far the most embarrassing moment of my life, yet had I a chance to go back in time and do it over again I wouldn’t change it for anything. Anyway, this year in the intro’s we had to write our names and other details about ourselves on 3x5 cards and throw them into a pile. Then we would all take turns drawing out a card and introducing the person on it by using those details...no memorization required! How nice.
That evening after chapel, we had Fun 'n Stuff and we got to come up with our team names. Yet again it turned out I came up with my team's name...Cool! The Camp Hope cabin-team names are as follows:
Younger Teen Girls- The CIA (Campers In Action)
Younger Teen Guys- The Undecideds (they couldn't agree on a team name, apparently...though I heard that Power Rangers & The Magical Pink Unicorns were a few of their suggestions)
Older Teen Girls- Shooting Stars
Older Teen Guys- The Storm Troopers
Once everyone had decided upon their team names, we were off on the whirlwind adventure of the first game of the first night! Like last year, it was a scavenger hunt through our luggage where we had to find something for every letter of the alphabet. It was played out slightly different than last years though... Last year when we got all our stuff we had to go on stage and advertise it and the winners were determined upon who had the best stuff and who did the best advertising of their items. This year the winners were picked by who could find each thing in their bag the fastest and by how good the item was. I asked Ruben why he changed it...he laughed and said "Well your team would have an unfair advantage if they had you as an advertiser again!"
I don't remember for sure of everyone's places, but I'm thinking that in the end the Shooting Stars won, followed by the CIA, Undecideds, and the Storm Troopers.
After Fun 'n Stuff we all put our things back into the cabins and headed off for snack time. That was (as was always) a great time. We ate ice cream, cookies, and grapes and weren't required to sit with our cabin group like we are at normal meals, which is cool. Joy and I grabbed a couple seats and sat across from Zak, Bo, and Nick. It was funny to think that these people had identities outside of the internet... All year all I had really known them as were just words on a computer screen. It was absolutely awesome to get to see them in real life! Joy was totally fun, Zak was undoubtedly the most hilarious person in the entire camp, and Bo is always nice to get to talk to. As for Nick, I never really talked to him at all until this year, but now he at least knows my name isn’t Pippin. LOL!
By the time the day was over, I was plenty tired out but didn’t end up getting to sleep until after 12:30 that night. We stayed up and talked for a while and then after lights out we were kept awake for a bit longer because the Shooting Stars were still shooting about the upper portion of the cabin with the lights on and making some racket moving around chairs for some odd reason. It was more than once I saw Elizabeth reach up to bang on the ceiling and tell them to try and let us go to sleep! Oh well. We did all eventually drop off into our dreams for the night though.
“Basically it’s only out of bounds if the volleyball goes outside of this continent.”
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
The Time...Where IS it!?!?
Despite the fact that I've had to work on school projects during my "vacation week", I've been having a pretty good time lately and making some really fun memories for my summer of 2008!
On Monday night me and my brother and several friends got together and played Ultimate Frisbee out in the biggest storm of the year. We didn't plan that the weather would be so crazy for our game, it just sorta happend that way. I'm sure whoever lives accross the street from Walker Field though must have thought we were insane for being outside when we were. About halfway though our game, we got about 35-40 mph winds, thunder, and lightning! I've never been able to make a frisbee stick to my face without hanging onto it before...that was an, er, interesting experience! LOL! I wish I coulda had my camera with me to get a photo of that. It was pretty much THE best game of Ultimate ever. I later learned that we were in pretty much one of the most dangerous positions we could have been in --- all of us standing around next to big metal polls in the middle of a wide open field with huge forks of lightning cracking above our heads. It was AWESOME =D
This morning was also a lot of fun... I went and met up with a bunch of my home school buddies at one of our local parks and we had a big water fight! That was great- especially considering the fact that it was between 95 and 100 degrees out there. Yeah, by the end of the 2 hours that we were up there, everybody was pretty wet. We were up there from 10:00 am to noon and it took me until 5:00 to finally dry off completely. Haha. Give a bunch of teenagers 20-some bottles fulla tap water (with free refills in the bathroom) and things can get pretty wild!
Then there are some other random little things throughout the week... Rocking out to Stellar Kart music in the Hoffmann's van with Nathanael, Katie, and Laurel while we waited for Mr. & Mrs. Hoffmann. Oh, and laughing my head off at Nathanael and Laurel trying to hold down Katie's hands as she tried to honk the horn at every single person who passed by our rather noisy vehicle! And I've been working on learning a great new Christian song on my guitar- it's called "Even When" by Seven Places. Hopefully I will have it down before camp and maybe I can play it for you guys =) I guess we'll see.
Oh Camp Hope! I cannot believe it's so soon! I can hardly believe I've known you all for a year already. It's hard to explain... I feel like I've known some of you my whole life yet at the same time it's like we just met last week. I'm getting so very excited for camp though! Last night I tossed and turned for like 45 minutes after I went to bed and the whole time I was fantasizing about what it's gonna be like to meet you all again in person. I'm just so excited!! No, you can't talk me down off this high =)
On Monday night me and my brother and several friends got together and played Ultimate Frisbee out in the biggest storm of the year. We didn't plan that the weather would be so crazy for our game, it just sorta happend that way. I'm sure whoever lives accross the street from Walker Field though must have thought we were insane for being outside when we were. About halfway though our game, we got about 35-40 mph winds, thunder, and lightning! I've never been able to make a frisbee stick to my face without hanging onto it before...that was an, er, interesting experience! LOL! I wish I coulda had my camera with me to get a photo of that. It was pretty much THE best game of Ultimate ever. I later learned that we were in pretty much one of the most dangerous positions we could have been in --- all of us standing around next to big metal polls in the middle of a wide open field with huge forks of lightning cracking above our heads. It was AWESOME =D
This morning was also a lot of fun... I went and met up with a bunch of my home school buddies at one of our local parks and we had a big water fight! That was great- especially considering the fact that it was between 95 and 100 degrees out there. Yeah, by the end of the 2 hours that we were up there, everybody was pretty wet. We were up there from 10:00 am to noon and it took me until 5:00 to finally dry off completely. Haha. Give a bunch of teenagers 20-some bottles fulla tap water (with free refills in the bathroom) and things can get pretty wild!
Then there are some other random little things throughout the week... Rocking out to Stellar Kart music in the Hoffmann's van with Nathanael, Katie, and Laurel while we waited for Mr. & Mrs. Hoffmann. Oh, and laughing my head off at Nathanael and Laurel trying to hold down Katie's hands as she tried to honk the horn at every single person who passed by our rather noisy vehicle! And I've been working on learning a great new Christian song on my guitar- it's called "Even When" by Seven Places. Hopefully I will have it down before camp and maybe I can play it for you guys =) I guess we'll see.
Oh Camp Hope! I cannot believe it's so soon! I can hardly believe I've known you all for a year already. It's hard to explain... I feel like I've known some of you my whole life yet at the same time it's like we just met last week. I'm getting so very excited for camp though! Last night I tossed and turned for like 45 minutes after I went to bed and the whole time I was fantasizing about what it's gonna be like to meet you all again in person. I'm just so excited!! No, you can't talk me down off this high =)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
