I love my teeth!

Meet my co-counselor, JaMicheal.  ;]  This is the type of fun we have.

Two weeks of camp left!  Yikes!

Sneaky Games We Play at Camp

Time for some slightly sarcastic horn blowing: my co-counselor and I are the best EVER.  ;]

This summer we've had our fair share of interesting campers, to say the least.  Because of our large and sometimes unwieldy group, we spent a lot of time brainstorming games that would keep our kids entertained and (for our own benefit) a bit quieter.  I think our games are pretty awesome.  Here are just a few of the gems we've come up with:

Magic Trash
I actually played this when I was in the 4th grade.  The teacher (or camp counselor) picks out a piece of "magic" trash.  Then the kids pick up as much trash as they can, and show it to the teacher before they toss it.  At the end of the game (a.k.a. when all of the trash is picked up), the kid who picked up the magic trash is the winner of some prize.  At camp it's normally an "icey pop."

Dead Fish
This game has two winners: best swimmer and best dead fish.  When the counselor says swim, you move around the room like a fish.  Here's the kicker: fish can't talk!  See, we're very sneaky with our quiet games.  When the counselor says "dead fish," you drop to the floor as quickly as possible and act like a deceased fish.  Brilliant game if you ask me.  We had one kid who pretended to be those fish who latch onto sharks--genius.

Pretend to be Asleep
Very self-explanatory.  You'd be amazed at how long we can keep this game up.

Serious Face
All credit for this one goes to my co.  He comes up with these ridiculous stories and songs off the top of his head, so he decided to turn it into a game.  He pulls out his craziest song (and sometimes a dance, too!), and the kid who can keep a "serious face" the longest is the winner.  

So really, all of these games are tricks for getting the kids to sit quietly for a few minutes and give us a bit of a breather.  I don't want you to think that we do this all day; we spend our fair share of time playing TV Tag and Hide-and-Go-Peek (yes, peek, not seek).  These games just help us keep our sanity on those days that we feel like it's 110 degrees outside and our brains are slowly shutting down. 

Anybody have any "tricky" games they like to play with their campers/students/children/random street kids?  :]

The Joys of Technology

I love all of my technology, especially my computer.  This lovely Viao enables my new Pinterest addiction, along with all of the blogs I try to keep up with. 

BUT (and this is a big "but" as they like to say at camp) sometimes I hate my technology, like when it gets a nasty virus.  

The Geek Squad guy chuckled when he saw the virus I'd acquired and proclaimed, "Oh, this is a fun one."  Joy. 

Anyways, Oopie the laptop is back with me tonight, and here are some beautiful pictures from my life to make up from my absence from the Blogger scene.

Last week was Riverbend and it was great! We saw The Beach Boys--with John Stamos!

Sunset before seeing Casting Crowns @ Riverbend.

Last Thursday we took our day camp kids to a nature center...it was beautiful!

I could live in a little cabin by a lake.

Insane storm that Michaela and I got stuck in.  Our "smart move" turned into "getting soaked."

A few hours before my computer went comatose...enjoying a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

A camper asked me today, "Ms. Abby, what's wrong with your feet?" And no, my legs aren't hairy. That's the photo effect.

Jon and Michaela's garden is INSANE.  Jon picked 16 cucumbers today, and yesterday they picked 10.

See?  Cucumbers galore.

I am a very nice counselor. The candy is my proof.  ;]

This cracked me up. The small print reads: Agent Secrets Revealed Inside.

Well guys, it's good to be back.  Does anyone else have insane gardens right now?  Or maybe insane computer issues?

Life's Better in the Water

Man, that 3-day weekend was exactly what the doctor ordered.  I was completely exhausted and worn out last week, emotionally and physically.  Hanging out with my buddies in Alabama was perfect.  We spent all three days in the water and it was glooooorious!  ;]  

And now I'm definitely waterlogged. 

Of course I didn't take any pictures to document my trip, but I did get this one of the AL welcome sign on Friday:


And this one of my wonderful, relaxing morning at Starbucks:

Now it's back to camp and "real life" until my trip to NY over the 4th of July.  Camp can be a lot of fun, but MAN it's getting hot.  This is what I saw when I got in my car at 4:00 this afternoon:

YIKES!  Stay cool, everyone!

Whoop whoop!

I made it!

Camp starts tomorrow...I'll see ya'll from the other side!