June 3, 2008

This morning for Turn 1 our cabin went to boating and fishing. We all started fishing first and caught lots of fish which brought many smiles to the campers. It is also called the Catch, Kiss, and Release Marina so there were lots of pictures taken with both campers and counselors puckered up kissing the fish. After they all caught their share of fish I took three of the campers out on the lake in a paddle boat. The campers all sat Indian Style and helped move the boat by turning the foot petals with their hands! There were two huge fountains that I steered us under and made for a few good laughs and excitement as well as a small water fall that we went and checked out.

For Turn 2 our cabin went to Adventure which consisted of a 55 foot tower they could climb and a 30 foot swing. It was so inspiring to see two of the campers climb all the way to the top pulling themselves up with only their arms. They all loved the swing where they were pulled up and able to release the cord and swing from 30 feet in the air. One camper got a pretty nice size splinter in his thumb so I had to take him to the Body Shop during lunch. After many failed attempts to get it out they decided to use Ethyl Chloride to numb it locally and cut it out which was pretty neat to watch and play with the Ethyl Chloride myself.

NASCARanival was tonight which consisted of a lot of different activity areas such as a dunking booth and games. Kevin Harvick’s pit crew brought a real NASCAR in and did demonstrations of replacing four whole tires which was a big hit with all the campers. They also had two hot air balloons but due to the weather the campers weren’t able to go for a ride in them. They compromised by setting one up in the gym horizontally and partially inflated (filled the entire gym) and allowed everyone to walk inside of the balloon.

The kids really started to let their guard down today and had a blast. I joked with one of the campers that tomorrow was the last day (although it wasn’t) and his reply was “no way man I have another whole day of fun with you tomorrow.” Another camper stirred my emotions simply by describing how this was the best part of his summer because he’s doing more than just sitting at home watching TV.