"What do you want to be when you grow up, do you want to be a monkey? Ok, you can be a monkey if you want to, that's ok".
Week one. I have one word for it. HOT!!! Oh goodness, hot.
Enough about the weather though (well there will be a little more about the weather actually...), let's talk about my first camper of the summer... The Mona Lisa.
It was a week of a lot of challenge, but a lot of ease and great moments too. Let's start with the challenges. I think the problem wasn't Mona Lisa at all. I think it was ridiculously hot, and the fact that she is 14. Really, I wasn't feeling into much of anything beyond sitting in the shade and chilling either, so how on earth could I expect her to be?! There were some challenges around motivating her to just stand up and move around, let alone to walk across camp to meet up with her group. So maybe I will take back the word "challenges" and replace it with "general camp feeling this week". Because really, were all in the same boat!
Now for the good stuff. Mona Lisa and I had TONS of fun this week! We canoed (actually, I canoed, she sat there like a princess ;), we made some tie-dye bandannas, we did puzzles, we "hiked", we had picnics with our group, and best of all went swimming. This last point is best for a big reason.... Last year I could not motivate Lorena to walk past the benches in the water, which essentially just get her feet and up to her knees wet. This week was far to steamy to let that slide this year, and coming into this week I had told Mamma and Poppa Mona Lisa that my goal was to get her all the way in the water. Monday we made it to the benches. Tuesday we did the same. Wednesday, however, marked the start of a new day for Mona Lisa and swimming. "Can she dump the purple bucket on your head, can she?". Hmmm, I thought. "Yes, she can. BUT! If you pour the bucket on my head, IIIIII get to pour it on yours, too". "No you aren't". "Ok well pour it on my head and let's see what happens". *Mona Lisa pours large bucket of water on Christine's head*. "Look at you, you're all soaking wet!" says ML. *Christine fills and pours large bucket of water over Mona Lisa's head. "Look at YOU! You're all soaking wet!". And so commenced the best time ML has ever had in the water at camp. She soooo enjoyed "bucketing" all the people around her, and she loved having the bucket of water poured over her too.
Thursday morning, ML came in repeating something very important that she would get if she played in the water the same as she did on Wednesday. "What are you going to get if you go swimming today? Are you going to get a Dilly Bar at Grandpa's house, are you? Yes you arrrre!".. And so, we had a repeat of Wednesday's fun in the water. And I predict that evening she had quite the chocolate mess all over her face!
Friday was a rainy day, but it didn't really stop us from enjoying ourselves. We took a canoe ride with Kylie and "What's Closed Today?", but when were just 5 minutes away from the Specialty side of camp we heard a loud boom of thunder. Then it started POURING ("How many raindrops James, count them"..... "6...6 MILLION RAIN DROPS!). We spent a short while at Specialty, then made our way back. For the rest of the day, all ML could talk about was why her clothes were all wet.... "Did Christine make you ride in the rainy canoe? Yeah. You're a funny lady Christine, sometimes you are funny and skinny, aren't you? I'm going to tell daddy that"..
I was very proud of Mona Lisa this week. She stretched her own boundaries just a bit, enough to challenge her but still make her feel safe. She opened herself up to quite a lot of people this week too, which is another big thing for her (she tends to become very shy and silent when meeting new people. This week she actually answered and joked with new people, counselors in particular). She'll be back in August, and I welcome it wholeheartedly.
Kudos' of the Week:
1. To Kylie who kept her cool when James threw here favourite sunglasses off her face and to the bottom of the lake. Further kudos to Vanessa who kept her own cool when Rachel played mirror and did the same to her own sunglasses, too.
2. To Vanessa, Kim, Katherine (and I'll add me because she got my nose really good and that spit landed square on my cheek!) for handling an interesting set of behaviours Friday afternoon before "Sign It"'s early pick up.
3. To Alicia for being the only person who Pizza and Fries loves (besides Akon and Eminem)
4. To Daniel for making it through his first week of paid HH alive!
5. HH'ers at indoor camps this week without the same support we had at Chippewa. We're looking forward to seeing you next week :)
Next week: The Logo Expert
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