"Maintenance, are you on the radio, maintenance?"
"This is maintenance, go ahead.""This is Cabin 18. We have a toilet that is overflowing and making some strange noises..."
"The time has come," the Walrus said, "to talk of many things..."
What a week it has been! I am so sorry that i have been awful at keeping you guys up-to-date on the goings on of Cabin 18 and H-Ville. Don't worry though, I have been keeping a list this week of all the things I want to talk about. SO, get ready for a ridiculously long blog about summer camp. :)
Charlie and others.
Charlie was at camp this week! Actually, a lot of my girls from last summer were here this week- more than other weeks so far. (Or maybe more of them this week remembered me/actually talked to me.) Anyway, she came up to me at the waterslides on Sunday and said, "Isn't your name Haley?" I look at her and say, "Yes, ma'am." And she goes, "Weren't you in Rockwall last summer?" And I say, "Yes. Weren't you in my cabin?" And she nods and I say, "Isn't your name Chalie?" and she smiles and nods. Then its her turn to go down the slide, so that' the end of that conversation. But she was excited to be back at camp and be in Sky 2 this summer. I wonder if she still had to look at the moon each night...
I saw other old campers too, one of which was in Rockwall again this summer and asked me a million times WHY I wasn't. "Why aren't you in Rockwall?" "Because they put me in H-Hut." "But I WANT you to be in Rockwall..." She's cute. Her name is also Haley, so she enjoys saying, "Hey HA-LEY." In which I respond, "Hey, HA-LEY." And we go back and forth calling each other Haley until one of us gets tired.
I saw other girls this week, but didn't get to talk to a lot of them. I love seeing old campers though. :) It makes me HAPPY.
"The Eyes of Texas are upon you," that is the song they sing so well...
(I'm pretty sure you will only get this section if you are an LHSer or have heard me talk about LHS parties...)
Every Wednesday is "Longhorn Wednesday" for the less-than-ten of us summer staff who dig Texas. This is tradition started last summer by Justin (G-Dub) so I thought we should carry it over in '09. (I mean, LSU has Tiger Tuesday, so I think Longhorn Wednesday is legit.) So anyway, I enjoy yelling Texas related things across Oakhaven (the dining hall) at Catherine durring meals, or at Brack or Briar when I see them around camp on Wednesdays. Only problem is, this summer the Aggies have decided the Wednesdays should be, "Whoopin' Wednesday." This seriously classhes.
Needless to say, the few of us in burnt orange are stinkin' outnumbered.
So last Wednesday during lunch the aggies decide they are going to sing the ENTIRE aggie war hymn or fight song or whatever it is they call it. I'm out on the porch checking the mail, and I come back in and see all of them on one side of Oakhaven with their arms around each other swaying back and forth. I walk in on the part where they are yelling, "the eyes of Texas are upon you, that is the song they sing so well..." So naturally my brain is like, "OH, SINGERS PARTY!"
Walking back to my table, I chime in and start singing, "...upon you, that is the song they sing so well- makes you so mad..." and right about here my brain goes, "HALEY. You are at CAMP!" and I stop singing. (But sing the rest in my head and miss LHS terribly, of course.) My thoughts at this moment:
1. "It probably isn't smart for me to sing the LHS version in a room where the ratio is about 25:1 aggies/Longhorns. "
2. "The LHS version is definitely NOT Sky-rated."
3. "..and it definitely not as fun when you're the only one singing it."
4. "I do NOT understand why every Wednesday has to turn into an A&M pep rally. Is this necessary?"
And they do it again at the end of Pow Wow (Sky 1 & 2 combined time after lunch). But I got a kick out of it because when they finished all of the LSU staff (and others, aka, ME) started chanting, "Tiger bait! Tiger bait!" over and over, and then I joined in with Tyler's chants of, "Win a game! Win a game!"
I mean, whatevs. I just stand there with my Horns up. They can do what they want. :)
"H-Hut or Lewisville, are you on the radio, H-Hut or Lewisville?"
"This is H-Ville, go ahead."
"Has the flapping flamingo fallen?"
"Yes, sir. It has."
Awkward Camper Quote of the week:
Situation: Camper 1 is holding her arm out while she and
Camper 2 examine all of the freckles and moles on it.
Camper 1: "My mom has a lot of moles too."
Camper 2: "Dude, I know. I've seen her back."
Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about- Sisterly Love.
Our girls this week were amazing. They were so much fun and were all about H-Ville and sisterhood. All of the girls in our cabin except one came with a friend/s. Seeing this on your paperwork as a counselor worries you because your cabin is already divided before they even get there. Friday night at campfire though, none of our girls were sitting with the people they came with. It was so neat to see them all mesh this week and get to know each other. By the end of the week it was hard to tell who they had come with, because you just saw this big group of H-Hut walking, not a bunch of little groups.
They loved being H-Ville with Lewisville. They thought it was so fun to have sisters and do camp together. They rocked cheers like "Hey Ladies" and "Ain't we great in Cabin 38!" (18 and 20 = 38...) and also cheered for and served their brothers. PS- my new favorite H-Ville to Tuskegee cheer is "Levert! Levert! Everybody clap your hands!" (Levert is a counselor in Tuskegee and it has been decided that his name fits perfectly into the cha-cha slide...)
On Wednesday, we woke all of them up early, blindfolded them (NUGIs, much?) and took them to the Skywaii dock for a sisterhood breakfast. We painted their faces, made bracelets and talked to them about what it means to be a Godly woman and a sister in Christ. You guys, it was awesome. Ask me about it, I'll tell you. :) PLUS, I got to walk around all day with my initials, HV, painted on my face. Jealous?
That's What's Up
Has been the phrase of choice this summer. Corn dog day? That's what's up. Staff discount at Cafe Sky. That's what's up. I did a backflip off the trapeze. That's what's up. I met Jesus at camp this summer. That's what's up. Anyway, here's the section for all of the other stories that aren't big enough for their own section:
- THE INFERNO. Also known as summer in Texas. This week has for sure been the hottest yet. Our girls didn't really complain though, which was AWESOME. They are such stars. But after the Rockwall on Wednesday, we had to take 4 to the nurse because the rocks were so hot that they BURNED THEIR HANDS when they climbed the wall. They legit had BURNS. How awful is that? They are working on doing something about this, but what can you do? You can't spray down the rockwall with water because then they wouldn't be able to climb becasue it would be slippery. BURNS, you guys. And then there were those days this week when you walked outside and couldn't breathe it was so hot. LOVE IT.
- "GET IN THE WATER!" (The Notebook, anyone?)
You guys, I hate Sky Lake. I seriously get so stressed out when we have lake activities and I have to get in. I don't know why I am like this this summer, because I didn't mind last summer. But oh man, I really hate it. I mean, whatever, I haven't died from swimming in it yet. :) BUT I would like to point out that I have a swimsuit that has white down the sides and the lining on the inside is white and after I wear it in the lake it is BROWN. And I have to wash it like four times before it is white agian...
- "I love you more than the sun and the stars that I taught how to shine..."
Have I talked about this before? About how, at camp, I look up at the sky and CAN'T BREATHE because there are so many stars. I love it. I could look at them for hours. I have always loved stars and stuff like that, but at camp it is way cool because we are in the middle of nowhere and you can see EVERYTHING. How COOL is it that God created that? Infinite little white things in the sky that are all different. Different sizes; some are bright, some not so much; some are farther away, some are closer; some of them don't even exist anymore, but because they were so far away their light is still traveling toward us and we can still see them. Last week (session 3) I got to have a sweet conversation with a camper about this. I LOVE IT. God is SO BIG. And so CREATIVE. And so BEAUTIFUL. and INTRICATE.
- "You make all things glorious, and I am Yours."
This song came on at girls night on Tuesday. And I know that I have heard it a million times, but something about it slapped me in the face on Tuesday. "You make all things glorious, and I AM YOURS." This is kind of what I talked to the girls about at breakfast on Wednesday, but also something I need to remember as I head back to "the real world" in a week. (Crazy that camp is almost over for me!) We are constantly being attacked with movies and TV and magazines and other people that try to tell us who we are and who we need to be. We struggle with (and especially these campers as they are about to go into middle school) the ideas that we are not pretty enough or smart enough or good enough or worth it. But you guys, we are CREATED by the same Creator that CREATED THE UNIVERSE. The stars that I just talked about were created by the same One who made us. Scripture tells us all kinds of things about who we are and what we were created to be. (ASK ME. I'LL TELL YOU.)
It is such a struggle to be here in a world that tries to tell us what we should be and how we should get there and all this other stuff that we have to measure up to and be like and so on. I feel like this has been a theme over the last couple months- we talked about it at Disciple Now with our girls, and I have even had some talks with friends at school about it. ...I was going somewhere with this on this blog, but I have lost it. I think I wrote some about it on my other blog when I wrote about Disciple Now. Check it out here, look it up under March 3, 2009.
I think that's about all for tonight. I'm going to try to get pictures up before I head back to camp tomorrow, so check in the "others" section for a link to that. If I don't get around to it, I'll put them all up at the end of camp.
This week is RODEO CAMP, which I am pumped about if you couldn't tell from my previous posts. It will be the hottest week yet, but I'm still excited. We have fewer girls which is fun and I will get to perfect my roping skills. If any of you are still sending letters (out of the three of you I have recieved letters from this summer) don't send any after Wednesday, because I probably won't get them.
Last week at Sky. Up next, Austin, summer classes, "a real job" and my return to "the real world." More on this topic in my next post. :)
Have a great week, friends!
Charlie and others.
Charlie was at camp this week! Actually, a lot of my girls from last summer were here this week- more than other weeks so far. (Or maybe more of them this week remembered me/actually talked to me.) Anyway, she came up to me at the waterslides on Sunday and said, "Isn't your name Haley?" I look at her and say, "Yes, ma'am." And she goes, "Weren't you in Rockwall last summer?" And I say, "Yes. Weren't you in my cabin?" And she nods and I say, "Isn't your name Chalie?" and she smiles and nods. Then its her turn to go down the slide, so that' the end of that conversation. But she was excited to be back at camp and be in Sky 2 this summer. I wonder if she still had to look at the moon each night...
I saw other old campers too, one of which was in Rockwall again this summer and asked me a million times WHY I wasn't. "Why aren't you in Rockwall?" "Because they put me in H-Hut." "But I WANT you to be in Rockwall..." She's cute. Her name is also Haley, so she enjoys saying, "Hey HA-LEY." In which I respond, "Hey, HA-LEY." And we go back and forth calling each other Haley until one of us gets tired.
I saw other girls this week, but didn't get to talk to a lot of them. I love seeing old campers though. :) It makes me HAPPY.
"The Eyes of Texas are upon you," that is the song they sing so well...
(I'm pretty sure you will only get this section if you are an LHSer or have heard me talk about LHS parties...)
Every Wednesday is "Longhorn Wednesday" for the less-than-ten of us summer staff who dig Texas. This is tradition started last summer by Justin (G-Dub) so I thought we should carry it over in '09. (I mean, LSU has Tiger Tuesday, so I think Longhorn Wednesday is legit.) So anyway, I enjoy yelling Texas related things across Oakhaven (the dining hall) at Catherine durring meals, or at Brack or Briar when I see them around camp on Wednesdays. Only problem is, this summer the Aggies have decided the Wednesdays should be, "Whoopin' Wednesday." This seriously classhes.
Needless to say, the few of us in burnt orange are stinkin' outnumbered.
So last Wednesday during lunch the aggies decide they are going to sing the ENTIRE aggie war hymn or fight song or whatever it is they call it. I'm out on the porch checking the mail, and I come back in and see all of them on one side of Oakhaven with their arms around each other swaying back and forth. I walk in on the part where they are yelling, "the eyes of Texas are upon you, that is the song they sing so well..." So naturally my brain is like, "OH, SINGERS PARTY!"
Walking back to my table, I chime in and start singing, "...upon you, that is the song they sing so well- makes you so mad..." and right about here my brain goes, "HALEY. You are at CAMP!" and I stop singing. (But sing the rest in my head and miss LHS terribly, of course.) My thoughts at this moment:
1. "It probably isn't smart for me to sing the LHS version in a room where the ratio is about 25:1 aggies/Longhorns. "
2. "The LHS version is definitely NOT Sky-rated."
3. "..and it definitely not as fun when you're the only one singing it."
4. "I do NOT understand why every Wednesday has to turn into an A&M pep rally. Is this necessary?"
And they do it again at the end of Pow Wow (Sky 1 & 2 combined time after lunch). But I got a kick out of it because when they finished all of the LSU staff (and others, aka, ME) started chanting, "Tiger bait! Tiger bait!" over and over, and then I joined in with Tyler's chants of, "Win a game! Win a game!"
I mean, whatevs. I just stand there with my Horns up. They can do what they want. :)
"H-Hut or Lewisville, are you on the radio, H-Hut or Lewisville?""This is H-Ville, go ahead."
"Has the flapping flamingo fallen?"
"Yes, sir. It has."
"Hey, H-Ville! Look what I got!"
Apparently all week there had been plans in the works for a massive raid between Jolo and/or The Loft and H-Ville. (Counselors plan raids before they actually happen just so that nothing gets too crazy or dangerous or whatever. Campers have no idea though.) So anyway, Friday morning we are walking out of breakfast and I see Kaity talking to Tyler (from Jolo). She comes up to me and goes, "Okay, we are supposed to steal Jolo's flag." and I'm all, "Wait, what?" So I go talk to Tyler and he's like, "Just do it, I'll radio you later." I send H-Ville down to the dock (for jetskis and torpedo, ya dig?) with Whitney and Kaity and head over to waterslides. I'm thinking, "How am I supposed to steal this flag without their campers seeing me and KILLING me in the process." But I get it and head down to the dock. It was pretty sweet, because as I appear from behind the lifejacket shed, I yell, "Hey, H-Ville! Look what I got!" I'm waving it around in the air and they all turn and look at me from the dock and go CRAZY. It was pretty fun, not gonna lie.
But now they have to get it back, of course. So we stage this whole thing where The Loft (Jolo's sister cabin) steals it back from H-Ville (the Ville of H-Ville, to be more specific) and leaves us this note that says, "[other stuff]... you stole our brothers' flag, and now you have to pay. Meet us on the field after Pow Wow..." or something like that. WELL, OUR brothers (Tuskegee) are LEGIT and decided that they were going to help us out and fill up SIX HUNDRED (600, seriously?) water balloons for us. They couldn't carry them up to the field so we ended up having it on the road in front of our cabins. So we stage this HUGE battle between H-Ville/Tuskegee and Jolo/Loft and somehow Big House gets involved? My brain was like, "Why is Big House here?" But anyway, it was basically amazing. No pictures, because my camera was full at the time, but trust me. It was sweet. And the kids loved it. The girls all said we won because we had more ammo than they did. I don't think anyone "won" or that it really matters. The kids all loved it and that's whats up. :)
Apparently all week there had been plans in the works for a massive raid between Jolo and/or The Loft and H-Ville. (Counselors plan raids before they actually happen just so that nothing gets too crazy or dangerous or whatever. Campers have no idea though.) So anyway, Friday morning we are walking out of breakfast and I see Kaity talking to Tyler (from Jolo). She comes up to me and goes, "Okay, we are supposed to steal Jolo's flag." and I'm all, "Wait, what?" So I go talk to Tyler and he's like, "Just do it, I'll radio you later." I send H-Ville down to the dock (for jetskis and torpedo, ya dig?) with Whitney and Kaity and head over to waterslides. I'm thinking, "How am I supposed to steal this flag without their campers seeing me and KILLING me in the process." But I get it and head down to the dock. It was pretty sweet, because as I appear from behind the lifejacket shed, I yell, "Hey, H-Ville! Look what I got!" I'm waving it around in the air and they all turn and look at me from the dock and go CRAZY. It was pretty fun, not gonna lie.
But now they have to get it back, of course. So we stage this whole thing where The Loft (Jolo's sister cabin) steals it back from H-Ville (the Ville of H-Ville, to be more specific) and leaves us this note that says, "[other stuff]... you stole our brothers' flag, and now you have to pay. Meet us on the field after Pow Wow..." or something like that. WELL, OUR brothers (Tuskegee) are LEGIT and decided that they were going to help us out and fill up SIX HUNDRED (600, seriously?) water balloons for us. They couldn't carry them up to the field so we ended up having it on the road in front of our cabins. So we stage this HUGE battle between H-Ville/Tuskegee and Jolo/Loft and somehow Big House gets involved? My brain was like, "Why is Big House here?" But anyway, it was basically amazing. No pictures, because my camera was full at the time, but trust me. It was sweet. And the kids loved it. The girls all said we won because we had more ammo than they did. I don't think anyone "won" or that it really matters. The kids all loved it and that's whats up. :)
Awkward Camper Quote of the week:Situation: Camper 1 is holding her arm out while she and
Camper 2 examine all of the freckles and moles on it.
Camper 1: "My mom has a lot of moles too."
Camper 2: "Dude, I know. I've seen her back."
Our girls this week were amazing. They were so much fun and were all about H-Ville and sisterhood. All of the girls in our cabin except one came with a friend/s. Seeing this on your paperwork as a counselor worries you because your cabin is already divided before they even get there. Friday night at campfire though, none of our girls were sitting with the people they came with. It was so neat to see them all mesh this week and get to know each other. By the end of the week it was hard to tell who they had come with, because you just saw this big group of H-Hut walking, not a bunch of little groups.
They loved being H-Ville with Lewisville. They thought it was so fun to have sisters and do camp together. They rocked cheers like "Hey Ladies" and "Ain't we great in Cabin 38!" (18 and 20 = 38...) and also cheered for and served their brothers. PS- my new favorite H-Ville to Tuskegee cheer is "Levert! Levert! Everybody clap your hands!" (Levert is a counselor in Tuskegee and it has been decided that his name fits perfectly into the cha-cha slide...)
On Wednesday, we woke all of them up early, blindfolded them (NUGIs, much?) and took them to the Skywaii dock for a sisterhood breakfast. We painted their faces, made bracelets and talked to them about what it means to be a Godly woman and a sister in Christ. You guys, it was awesome. Ask me about it, I'll tell you. :) PLUS, I got to walk around all day with my initials, HV, painted on my face. Jealous?
That's What's Up
Has been the phrase of choice this summer. Corn dog day? That's what's up. Staff discount at Cafe Sky. That's what's up. I did a backflip off the trapeze. That's what's up. I met Jesus at camp this summer. That's what's up. Anyway, here's the section for all of the other stories that aren't big enough for their own section:
- THE INFERNO. Also known as summer in Texas. This week has for sure been the hottest yet. Our girls didn't really complain though, which was AWESOME. They are such stars. But after the Rockwall on Wednesday, we had to take 4 to the nurse because the rocks were so hot that they BURNED THEIR HANDS when they climbed the wall. They legit had BURNS. How awful is that? They are working on doing something about this, but what can you do? You can't spray down the rockwall with water because then they wouldn't be able to climb becasue it would be slippery. BURNS, you guys. And then there were those days this week when you walked outside and couldn't breathe it was so hot. LOVE IT.
- "GET IN THE WATER!" (The Notebook, anyone?)
You guys, I hate Sky Lake. I seriously get so stressed out when we have lake activities and I have to get in. I don't know why I am like this this summer, because I didn't mind last summer. But oh man, I really hate it. I mean, whatever, I haven't died from swimming in it yet. :) BUT I would like to point out that I have a swimsuit that has white down the sides and the lining on the inside is white and after I wear it in the lake it is BROWN. And I have to wash it like four times before it is white agian...
- "I love you more than the sun and the stars that I taught how to shine..."
Have I talked about this before? About how, at camp, I look up at the sky and CAN'T BREATHE because there are so many stars. I love it. I could look at them for hours. I have always loved stars and stuff like that, but at camp it is way cool because we are in the middle of nowhere and you can see EVERYTHING. How COOL is it that God created that? Infinite little white things in the sky that are all different. Different sizes; some are bright, some not so much; some are farther away, some are closer; some of them don't even exist anymore, but because they were so far away their light is still traveling toward us and we can still see them. Last week (session 3) I got to have a sweet conversation with a camper about this. I LOVE IT. God is SO BIG. And so CREATIVE. And so BEAUTIFUL. and INTRICATE.
- "You make all things glorious, and I am Yours."
This song came on at girls night on Tuesday. And I know that I have heard it a million times, but something about it slapped me in the face on Tuesday. "You make all things glorious, and I AM YOURS." This is kind of what I talked to the girls about at breakfast on Wednesday, but also something I need to remember as I head back to "the real world" in a week. (Crazy that camp is almost over for me!) We are constantly being attacked with movies and TV and magazines and other people that try to tell us who we are and who we need to be. We struggle with (and especially these campers as they are about to go into middle school) the ideas that we are not pretty enough or smart enough or good enough or worth it. But you guys, we are CREATED by the same Creator that CREATED THE UNIVERSE. The stars that I just talked about were created by the same One who made us. Scripture tells us all kinds of things about who we are and what we were created to be. (ASK ME. I'LL TELL YOU.)
It is such a struggle to be here in a world that tries to tell us what we should be and how we should get there and all this other stuff that we have to measure up to and be like and so on. I feel like this has been a theme over the last couple months- we talked about it at Disciple Now with our girls, and I have even had some talks with friends at school about it. ...I was going somewhere with this on this blog, but I have lost it. I think I wrote some about it on my other blog when I wrote about Disciple Now. Check it out here, look it up under March 3, 2009.
I think that's about all for tonight. I'm going to try to get pictures up before I head back to camp tomorrow, so check in the "others" section for a link to that. If I don't get around to it, I'll put them all up at the end of camp.
This week is RODEO CAMP, which I am pumped about if you couldn't tell from my previous posts. It will be the hottest week yet, but I'm still excited. We have fewer girls which is fun and I will get to perfect my roping skills. If any of you are still sending letters (out of the three of you I have recieved letters from this summer) don't send any after Wednesday, because I probably won't get them.
Last week at Sky. Up next, Austin, summer classes, "a real job" and my return to "the real world." More on this topic in my next post. :)
Have a great week, friends!
