August 25th-27th,
2014
Our last Monday was
probably our best one yet. It was due to a combination of us counselors being
in a great mood since it’s our last week, making the most of our limited time
left with these kids, and our group this week! We have 42 registered, but only
38 today, so it was a great number for us! It’s also Harry Potter Week and I
LOVE Harry Potter :) We worked extra overtime on our posters and decorations
and it definitely paid off.
We started off with a
kiddo who was so unbelievably nervous and upset to be here. It was his first
time in Camp Adventure and he just returned from UK the day before, so mum
stayed at Camp for an hour and sat in the back. I was very surprised by how
well he did for the rest of the day though, even after she left! There were a
couple time where he would ask me to call his mum, but when I asked him to wait
five minutes and then come back if he still would like me too, he didn’t come
back :) which means he was having fun. He even shared a story with the whole
group today during Closing, which was such a pleasant surprise! Mum was sooo
happy when she came to pick him up and he was in a good mood.
We also had some of
our Weeks 1 and 2 kids return from other camps or holidays. One of my favorite
kiddos is 9-year-old Liam who is just adorable and a little charmer I might
add. He has a girlfriend in Wales apparently and went on a McDonalds date with
his girlfriend in Germany. Oh the love life of an elementary-aged kid…He made
me a loom band though to add to my collection. We are all very happy Liam is
back also because he sets a good example for the rest of the kids and loves
Camp.
Ella, Keira, and Abi
also returned. They were very sad at the end of Week 3 because they said they
couldn’t come back since they would be in France. While I am very happy that
they have returned, they did so because there Mom is in the hospital with Lyme
Disease, which is what you sometimes get from ticks :/ So hopefully she feels
much better soon! But we love having the girls back :)
Today, we made Harry
Potter glasses out of pipe cleaner during Rotating Activities and played lots
of high active games, thus meaning a lot of plasters (band-aids). My favorite
part of the day though was our Sorting Hat Ceremony. For those of you who are
not familiar with Harry Potter, every year there is a talking and magical hat
that decides which house each wizard or witch is in. So after slighting
changing the 4 house names (small group names), combining the oldest group with
the youngest group to make 4 groups, we called up each kiddo to the front to
take a seat. Ms. Mango placed the hat on each kiddo’s head and Ms. Honeydew
(pretending to be the talking hat), hid behind a curtain and would announce
which kiddo was in which house. It really was rather fun for everyone and we
had a lot of good laughs. It was also a great way to divvy the kids up into our
pre-made groups instead of just having each counselor read them off on a list.
We also had the kiddos
make owls today, also themed to Harry Potter, and stick them on paper bags.
Throughout the week, friends and counselors can leave positive notes in each
bag until the kids collect them at the end of the week!
Tuesday was a bit
rough and very long. We’ve told our kids over and over throughout the past 6
weeks to only scream if you’re hurt, in danger, or someone else is. Today, a
bunch of kids screamed bloodcurdling screams because of a dead bug…Everyone
lost their shit. Forgive my French, but it was necessary. It was so bad, I
couldn’t even talk over them, so I got up on the bench and blew Ms. Kiwi’s
whistle. That got their attention. What followed after was a long conversation
with them and sitting in complete silence for 3 minutes. Each time that someone
made a sound we started over. I laid the smack down. After that they were
brilliant for the rest of the day :) Well, with the exception of Rinzen…
We’ve always had
problems with Rinzen, although I wouldn’t call him an extreme case. But today
was his worst day. He refused to come inside after the activity was over,
despite the pouring rain. It took Ms. Kiwi and I 30 minutes to get him to come
inside. He was throwing a tantrum and completely glued to the bench. We tried
lifting him gently by the arms and I grabbed his legs so he wouldn’t drag them
and then kick right into the chest. Thank you, Rinzen. I almost went a whole
summer without being kicked, bitten, or slapped and you gave me another record.
So after finally getting him willingly inside, I filed an incident report and
gave mom a call. Fun stuff.
Although a stressful
day, a fun activity we did was potion making. We combined baking soda, glitter
(for color), and vinegar with the kids and they got to see the effect of the
three as it bubbled up. From there they added in other materials, such as
paint, leaves, mud, etc. Kids LOVE messing with randomly goopy things and
exploring their creativity.
Nevertheless, us
counselors were glad when the day was over and literally went home, ate dinner,
and went straight to bed lol.
On Wednesday, we had a
much better day. Rinzen was better behaved and kids seemed a bit mellower. We
made Butterbeer today, which isn’t beer, but a mixture of cream soda, caramel,
and whipped cream. It’s a popular drink from the Harry Potter books. Sounds
disgusting, right? It was actually delicious! Now British kids are not fans of
what they call “fizzy drinks,” they love their juice, but because cream soda
isn’t really that fizzy, a good ¾ of them loved it! We did limit them to a
small drink though cause that much sugar in any child is going to be a problem.
One of our girls even claimed that she felt “drunk” from it lol.
My favorite part of
the day was during the Closing when I heard a little kid’s voice coming from
the toilets. I walked down the hall, knocked on the door, cracked open the door
a bit and said, “Hi this is Ms. Cherry. Who is in here?” I hear a little
British voice reply, “Ms. Cherry…” And 5-year-old Elsie comes out from the
stall butt naked, pants hanging at her ankles, “Someone locked the other stall
door from the inside.” I almost died of laughter. I let her know that I’d look
at it later and she should come out soon so she wouldn’t miss Closing. It was
just so freaking funny. Love this kid.
I’m so excited and sad
for our last day tomorrow! I am guaranteed to cry during Closing I know it! I’ll
update about Friday after tomorrow of course. Until then, Cheers :)
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Sorting Hat Ceremony |
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One of my favorite kiddos, Liam :) |
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Our awesome poster, courtesy of myself and Holley :) |