my 2nd of July parade...

Last week my counselors shined. They were so creative all week long. I was left with a really hard decision of who should get the gift card for the most creative programming idea. In the end, I sort of played it safe and rewarded the entire staff with a 2nd of July parade for which I purchased $25 worth of parade candy.

I told my staff to think of all of the 2nd of July parades they had ever, ever attended. And then I asked them to rank them from best to worst and to please put the parade we were about to experience at the very top of your 2nd of July parade list.

We all went outside, I made them sing "You're a grand old flag" and then five decorated golf carts came through the crowd throwing candy at everyone. And then they circled back for one more chance to throw their candy at their friends.

It was silly, fun, and a pretty decent camp parade. I suppose this was a nod to Mt. Carmel's parades and Flathead's parades. It felt necessary and was a great kick off to our extended weekend off.

our weekend in St. Louis

Rory and I spent the holiday weekend in St. Louis, visiting my Uncle Mark and Aunt Jane. We also got to spend a whole day with my cousins Yang Yang, Nancy and baby Zoe. We ate non-stop on this trip and shared lots and lots of really good conversations. The kind of conversations that even while you're having them you're thinking, this is a good conversation. :)

On Sunday Yang Yang took us out for Dim Sum and it was a feast. Chinese appetizers just kept coming to our table and it was fantastic. I like this style of eating...it is very social.

We went out on Friday night too, and when Rory opened his fortune cookie he was informed:

We are now calling our baby, "short stranger."

The whole weekend made for a great vacation. The time in the car with Rory was especially sweet...we travel well together and seem to have some of our most meaningful conversations while flying down the open road. (or as was the case yesterday, not so open road, but rather filled with frantic americans all trying to get home after the holiday weekend. We'll probably avoid travel on the 5th of July from here on out...)

Happy 4th of July weekend!

Rory's mom sent this picture to me back in November and I've been hanging onto it ever since for this day. Sorry it's not any bigger, but if you look closer, this is all people. It's astounding to me. The picture was taken in 1918 with 18,000 men at Camp Dodge in Iowa.

I remember when I studied abroad in India, I was so nervous about what India would be like, and how I'd relate to that country. But on the airplane ride there I sat next to a tiny woman who was kind in her smile and persistant in her desire to communicate, even though we didn't share a single word of the same language. She was sweet and sort of changed my outlook as we landed in her homeland. After that airplane ride I could relax because I realized that I would get to know India, one person at a time. India became less of a place for me, and much more a people.

I love this picture, then, because it's the best representative of our country. We the people. And especially this picture showing many, many men and women who chose to defend our liberty and fight for our independence. One person at a time decides to take pride in our homeland and many more decide to fight for our freedoms. We are a blessed people.

So happy 4th of July everybody! I hope you're celebrating with some great people today.

mother theresa

life at camp

I realized I haven't written a whole lot about camp lately, which is funny, because it is basically my life right now. We are in the middle of our fourth week already...which is crazy and amazing that it has gone by so quickly and so smoothly.

The staff is fantastic and I am so pleased by how well they love and care for our campers. But last week it was obvious they were losing their steam. As a whole, we were missing the spontaneous, wacky, excitable staff that I hired.

So I threw out a challenge to them at our meeting on Friday and again on Sunday. I told them I wanted fresh programming, clever ideas and funny stories all week long. I held a carrot in front of them in the form of a $25 gift card to any place of their choosing from my very own personal money. And that the gift card would go to the staff person who comes up with the most unique/clever/imaginative program of the week.

The past two days I have come into work to find notes on my desk from counselors telling me of their plans. One cabin, tonight, is having a dance party on the platform of a tent that has no tent on it. Half of the campers have agreed to create a strobe light out of all of their flashlights, and everyone else will dance. I love this idea.

One site is making origami animals and hanging them from the trees. This whole site has rallied behind this idea and today I had the site coordinator frantically looking for more online patterns for these kids because they are so excited to make more.

I've heard whispers of other ideas too. One group is leading underwater basket weaving...literally underwater, in the pool. The best part is that the campers know of the challenge too, so they are trying to think of more and more creative things to do as well. It's getting really fun...and it's only Tuesday night! I'll report back on Friday with the best ideas from the week.