Summer Camp stories?

I didn’t really know what to blog about today, because my day was sincerely boring…and I didn’t have anything planned. So, I guess, I’m going to go ahead and share some camp stories with y’all, if you don’t mind. Every summer I go to this Girl Scout Camp called Sky High Ranch and ride/take care of the horses. Last summer I was a Wrangler-In-Training, meaning that I was working in the barn (taking care of the horses) and also learning how to run a unit of younger campers. Anyway, as you can probably imagine, some pretty crazy things go on there….

Well, my first one is actually from another year….but I’ve mentioned it briefly before: MATTRESS SLIDING!!! We decided one night to take some of the mattress off the bunks and slide down the cabin stairs on them…which, actually, not only were the counselors okay with, THEY JOINED IN!!! It’s so much fun—like a water slide without any water!! We also had some pretty epic water fights that year….

But on to my most recent memories….The first two weeks were boring at times because we had to go through the handbook. But we also got to do all of the activities! Though, there was one afternoon when our counselors were really tired and didn’t feel like doing equipment with us. So, Squirt, one of the counselors (yeah, we all have aliases. Mine was Luna) set up her laptop and put on Finding Nemo. We were told to have paper out and write about Nemo’s mentor or something in case the directors came, but really….we didn’t do anything. That same evening, the “All Camp” activity was CIT Hunt, so all of us dressed up really funny and hid for the other campers to find us…unfortunately, I don’t have the picture because one of the other counselors took it and hasn’t sent it yet….

We spent one morning playing Capture the Flag for an hour and a half, which was loads and loads of fun. But since I'm pretty fast, I was kind of a target of the other team I cut my leg on the log their bandana was hidden behind. And then I totally biffed it--I cut my arm, shoulder, knee, and bruised my knees pretty bad too. The sad thing was that NEITHER team won!!! We were left with a few people from my team trying to get the bandana and a few people from the other team trying to guard it, and everyone else in jail….so we ended up surrendering! Wow….most fun I’ve EVER had playing capture the flag! Okay, and….well, this is a long story, and you kind of had to be there. But during training, one of my fellow CITs said that if you see a bear, “you take your shirt off.” Really, she meant you take off your jacket or something to make yourself bigger, but she made it sound like you were supposed to flash the bear, which became a running joke…

Also, we were there on the 4th of July, after our 4 day break, and we had to help with the carnival. I was at the water balloons station, and mostly it wasn’t that exciting. But, then all of the CIT/WITs and counselors started throwing water balloons and eggs and pudding at each other, and also we got to throw pies at the program staff. We all got pretty soaking wet, and one of my friends got hit right on the top of the head with over 6 water balloons. It was fun when it started….but then it started to get cold, because that’s what happens in the mountains of Colorado….So we were really freezing, and had to go up and take showers…..

I have a bunch of stories, but I’ll end with one that isn’t particularly funny, but was just really crazy. Us WITS had to go on a horse overnight with one of the older groups of campers so that we could help with their tack and the feeding and everything. We had to walk there, which was annoying since everyone else got to ride. It was also really cold that night for some reason. Anyway………TWO OF THE HORSES GOT OUT!!!!!!! Granted, it’s a really old pasture, and the two horses were the really stubborn and kind of crazy ones. We started to run after them, but then the counselors told us to stay because they couldn’t let us get lost or injured or anything. The riding staff caught them eventually, but then they got out AGAIN that night!!! Luckily, they just went down to the barn, so it worked out fine in the end, and now kind of is something to laugh about, though it was really quite a traumatic experience at the time. Well….I guess, let me know if you enjoyed that, because I have a lot more funny camp stories!

Also, I got this youtube message today, and it made me really happy, so I thought I'd share:
Hi Kat!
My Name is Eric,i'm from Rwanda and i live in Sweden.I just want to thank u for ur initiative,it means a lot to the people of Rwanda.The most amazing thing about ur project is that u managed to mobilise people as young as 14 years. Yourself were 1 year hen the genocide took place.Ur project brings hope that u may succedd were ur parents failed.
May god bless u Kate,and once again thank u,deeply thank,we mean it.

So....until tomorrow! Cheers! DFTBA!