Just have to say this

Not many people even know this blog exists, but I feel like I need to get something out.

Over the last 7 weeks, especially the most recent 2, the only thing that Sarah Palin has proved she is really good at is twisting words, winking at the camera, and having a decent sense of style.

And I've realized that all McCain has really proved is that he's more of a "more for me and none for you" kinda guy. His whole shtick with "growing the pie" is absurd. The man exhibits his lack of economic sense if he thinks that just making the "pie" bigger is good economics. When we have an equitable economic society and stop being so greedy, then it doesn't matter how big or small the pie is, there will be enough for everyone. I'd like to see McCain go tell people in a soup kitchen that "spreading the wealth" is a bad, bad idea.

Monday; June 21, 2008

Some brave souls who slept in tents woke this morning to a horse nibbling on their tents.

Most of the rest of us began the day with breakfast, including tasty bagels or toast to order (thanks Melissa!). Don’s toast was indeed the most special: multi-grain bread, crunchy peanut butter, and vanilla yogurt.

Asa and Max lead us all in morning devotions to help start the day off right.

3…2…1…BLAST OFF! The vans started making their first pick-up runs of the day around 8:20 a.m. and before we knew it, campers were arriving! Many were sleepy at first, especially Daniel, and some of the camp staff were a little sleepy too. Most everyone woke up and games were played while we waited for the rest of the campers to arrive.

Raggedy Butterfly showed up with her bunnies. Noah was the first rabbit to make an appearance and all the kids got a chance to pet him. Once the campers were all delivered, everyone piled into the church for the first opening session so Chrystie could review all the guidelines and codes of conduct for the week. And then they were off….

The first group in the Book Nook was a sweet but very crazy and large group of girls with Melissa and Jenny, who eventually named themselves the Honey Bees. Bella wanted their name to be the pink cupcakes, but lost out on that one. The next group were Steve and Will’s very stoic young men, followed by a whole bunch more girls with Sam and Emma, and a mixed group with Don and Cal.

Sharing the space with the technology station proved to be a challenge when it came to storytime and what seemed like 50 fans. The kids at the technology station were playing a really fun recycling game with some really fun noises that were best heard at full volume, or so they thought. I know that I can out-shout just about anyone (except maybe Rebecca), so reading to the kids wasn’t too much of a problem for me, but seemed to drown out Kati W. Not that you could have told by watching Kati – she plowed right on through all that noise determined to read her entire book! ‘Atta girl, Kati!

All the kids loved picking out books, even some of the *gasp* boys! Stevie was so excited to find Harry Potter books, but was disappointed that they were only supposed to take home 3 on the first day. So I promised I would hold the next three for him until the following day. I had a great, although slightly overwhelming time, with all of the groups as they rotated through prompted by Don’s chicken call (5 feet away, please). The kids also loved taking pictures with our cameras.

Derrick brought Sammi to camp so she could have some fun because she was unable to attend the leadership camp the week previous.

She had a great time telling anyone who would listen, and some who would not, about her 10 Transformers and all her different video games. Sammi also had a blast sneaking up on me, grabbing my waist, and scaring the living daylights out of me!

Lunch was organized chaos as always, with Kati W. almost having a minor meltdown when she realized all the PB&J sandwiches were gone. But once again, Chrystie saved the day and gave Kati her sandwich. The night before, Don was helping to clean up and prepare for the next day by making lemonade. But sometime after adding the powder and water, his adult ADD kicked in and he put the pitcher in the fridge…which left Rebecca hacking with a plastic mixing spoon through a solidified version of pink lemonade drink mix at lunch. His lemonade making privileges were quickly revoked and he was properly ashamed.

Then like a great tide going out, all the campers were gone for the day, though our ears still rang from all their laughter and yelling. Jay had thoroughly enjoyed the day so much that he decided to get dehydrated. The appropriate amount of fussing was had and the moms of the camp got him watered, cooled, and napped.

At our post-camp meeting the vultures, er, I mean, teenagers descended on the leftover Skittles and M&Ms. Afternoon assignments were handed out, including the re-grouping of all the campers into 5 groups (kudos to Melissa and Sam). I spent the better part of 2 hours making approximately 9 dozen cookies for Tuesday’s lunch. Back away from the cookies.

Dinner was a pleasant affair of tasty spaghetti. Cal was so excited about the brownies and ice cream for dessert that in his frenzy, he bit clear through his plastic spoon. Thus ended the first day of camp.

Other highlights: getting a kiss from Morning Star and Cody’s smile.

Hau Kola Learning Camp, Makasan Elementary, part 1

Sunday; June 20, 2008

This year’s drive down seemed to fly by. Maybe it was the fact that I got to listen to “A Prairie Home Companion” and an audio book, or maybe it was that this year I wasn’t pulling a 16 foot trailer through sand. Either way, I got to camp around 3:30 in the afternoon and much to my delight everyone was there!

After some quick introductions, we unloaded the Star Lab into the Guild Hall and I threw most of my stuff from the giant Suburban into the room where I would be sleeping. I was very excited to see the progress made on the guest bedrooms from last year. Bunk beds with real mattresses are several steps up from sleeping on air mattress (that always lose air) right on the sub-floor.

We then unloaded the van that had the boxes of books for the Book Nook. About 9 of us lined up and did a fireman’s brigade line to get the boxes inside the church. Some of the boxes were heavier than others and an interesting warning system was devised at the front of the line to alert persons further on to the approximate weight of the box. Gone were descriptors such as “heavy,” “medium,” or “light.” Instead phrases such as “middle aged man” or “just a baby” were issued. Unfortunately, the ever so creative descriptions died about half-way down the line and the bland old “heavy” or “light” were still the order of the day. Cal certainly seemed to have a good time with the setting up of the Book Nook. In the unloading line, I passed boxes to him and much to his disappointment I refused to throw the boxes to him despite much urging. Then we discovered that the boxes were all taped shut, but never fear – Jenny to the rescue! She retrieved a steak knife from the kitchen which Cal used with wild abandon to open the boxes. Steve also produced a pocket knife with quite possibly the world’s smallest blade. Eventually all the boxes were unpacked and the Book Nook was ready for business the next day. If only we’d known to save the board books for the next week….

Then I had a chance to get myself unpacked and somewhat settled in before we took off on our next adventure – passing out flyers for camp. And any time is an adventure with Doug at the wheel. I have now learned that Doug is not afraid of several things while behind of the wheel of a minivan such as going really fast down dirt roads, going really fast over cattle guards, going really fast over hidden potholes, and the prospect of running over large dogs (more on that to come). Our van visited some pretty far flung houses, and I was also very encouraged to see some nicer houses that people were making an effort to take care of. While in the van my attention was split between listening to Doug fill Kati in on the history of the area and the math nerds in the back. Driving through one neighborhood, we were all very saddened to see a dog that had had a bad encounter with a porcupine.

Emma and Tunde definitely win best handing-out-flyers story. They went up to a house and as they were telling the woman at the door about camp a baby in a diaper toddled over. The baby began to fart and grunt every few seconds, and everyone was trying to ignore her until it was no longer possible, when they all just looked down at her and laughed.

By the time everyone got back we were all pretty hungry and were still waiting on the Chadron run to return with the rest of the food for dinner. Though we didn’t eat until almost 8 p.m., we did have some wonderful company: Mallory, a former camper, her husband and 3 young children. Steve was also surprised to find that Doug had (unintentionally) stolen his cup. Then just to make things crystal clear he wrote, “STEVE NOT DUG” on his new cup.

When dinner was over Rebecca proceeded to work on a project for the coming week. This project involved Skittles and M&Ms, which are like a siren song to all teenagers who all rushed over to “help.” One Rebecca-command later, everyone was properly terrified and backed away quickly. They found solace in a calm and peaceful game called “Screaming Ninjas,” of which Hannah won round #1. Then the heavens opened and everyone was ecstatic to learn that we were in the presence of greatness for Lo! Kati is one of the creators of Screaming Ninjas! All hastened to give her much praise and laud.

The group then moved on to evening reflections and covenant statements.

My favorite memory of the evening (and one of the whole week) was Emma resolutely chewing the chocolate right in Don’s face. Ahhhhh, life is sweet!

Other highlights for the day: Julia and Hannah made Don a tipi to go with his Don-doll! Now he and Brison can stay warm and dry!

I created this super cool tag cloud in wordle.com today. It's from one of my favorite stories called "The Nightingale and the Rose" by Oscar Wilde. Check it out