Yeeeeeeehawwwwwwww

It’s been a busy week here at camp, and I like it!

We had a family weekend last weekend, which meant I was off from Sunday afternoon through Tuesday morning, in order to get my time off. That was a little odd, but it was cool. I went grocery shopping and cleaned the place on Monday, then chilled out with NCIS season 1 on DVD. Before I knew it, I was back at work on Tuesday.

Every day here is different than the day before. Iraq was a little like that, but we had a fairly repetitive schedule over there. It wasn’t bad at all, but still, every Monday was poker, Tuesday was 8 ball and stuff like that. Here, we might be sitting in the office on a rainy, snowy, sleety day like today. But tomorrow we’ll come in to the office an hour late, since we’ve got families coming into camp, and we’ll actually start in the theater to do some skit rehearsal.

I know routine will settle in a bit during summer camp, but when you factor in over 120 campers, plus all the counselors and volunteers to match up, even if you’re running the same schedule week after week, it’s going to be different every time. In that case, routine is the thing that gives you a fighting chance.

Anyway, it’s cool. I’ve had lots of you asking how you can help with the camp. Also had lots of you ask questions about programming, as in do you really run camp during the non-summer months?

Yes, we run stuff all year. It’s a bit different during the off season as it’s family based activity. But it’s 9 or so weekends each during the fall and spring. And we always need volunteers. Especially guys. We get 4 female volunteers for every 1 male volunteer. During the family weekends that’s never a problem as a family can have any gender volunteer. During the summer though… big problem. So guys, if you’ve got a week of vacation you can spare, or a company who will give you some time off to do good things, and are 19 and older, send in your volunteer application today!

As far as costumes and clothing, great response there, too. You guys are amazing! I won’t tell you what to send, but instead to be mindful that we are a latex-free camp, so any sort of masks and such are going right back out the camp gates. We just can’t take the risk with our camper’s health that way. And also remember that the cheap Halloween costumes are just that – cheap. They get one wearing and then wind up being torn, tattered and ripped, so they wind up in the trash fairly quickly. Not a problem though, if it’s a cool costume.

My aunt and I were talking and she said a co-worker of hers has clothes from his parents, which means they’re coming out of the Way Back Machine. Vintage clothes, like funky bell bottoms and crazy vests are awesome. Just whatever you think a kid, or counselor, would like dressing up in is what we’re looking for.

So yeah, that’s it for now. It’s time for me to go to bed because tomorrow is Friday and that means another family weekend is coming in. Lots of fun to be had all around as we get “Back in the Saddle Again.”