Surprise!

Instead of a story about a chicken, I've come with camp pictures!  Here they are:

There's Emily on the first day of camp.

The lake.

I was in a camp daze, so how was I supposed to know I was taking a picture of rocks?

Disco!

The canoes and Kate, our cabin leader.

The changing rooms.

All the girls in my cabin had a spigot shower.  What fun!

Blond Emily, one of the girls in my cabin.

Emily and Emily.

The theme was Crazy Crazy, so the day we got stewards, the tables were upside down.

Emily in the bathroom.

Lattice braid on short Emily.

The view from Disco, the main lodge.

A blue sharpie.

The Memory Tree.  We hiked up on the overnight.

Boat Rules.

Kate made us a cake to frost and sprinkle and eat.

Left to right: Lauren, who wasn't actually posing for the camera, Emily and Maggie.

I messed up my face.  Oh well.  I actually look kinda cool.  Oh, and left to right: Tashia, Casey, Lauren, Emily, Emily, Emily, Maggie, Johanna and the renowned Professor Cool.

My piece of cake!  It really was delicious.

We went tallest to shortest.  See, I'm not short.

At the Craft Shelter.

Emily, aka Katniss.

Birthdays at camp are fun.

The last campfire... with no fire yet.

Sinead!  Sinead the British counselor!

The last sunrise at camp.

Camp!

I'm home from camp.  I had a great time!  Let me tell you all about it...

Monday:  Got there and took a swim test in the afternoon, then we all went and ate dinner in Disco.  I went to my cabin and found out it was amazing.  Nothing like the cabins and beds at Bosco.  The other girls (nine including me and Emily) talked till like, one in the morning.  We also had Mass.  Monday was good.

Tuesday:  We woke up and went to breakfast at Disco.  I didn't do TNT Tower because we didn't have enough time, but it was fun to watch.  Low ropes was amazing.  All the other girls were supportive and trusting.  Low ropes is a whole bunch of friendship stuff.  We were all totally exhausted that night so we fell asleep right away.

Wednesday:  The first half of the day went normally.  After lunch we headed up to the chapel for The Feast of the Assumption, then we went to lower Disco porch and grabbed crates and tarps and things for the overnight.  We headed over to the canoes and loaded them up with our gear and overnight things.  By then Emily and I were pros at paddling (I always rode in back).  One of the girls from our lodge (not cabin) rode princess with us over to Pete's Hollow.  We had foil dinners (I had a bunko) and S'mores (I didn't have any).

Thursday:  Morning came and I didn't have S'mornings.  We had lunch (slightly insipid and dry bagels.  They actually weren't that bad) then headed back with a different princess from our cabin.  I can't really remember what else happened on Thursday.  That was a very confusing day.

Friday:  The last day!  Where did the week go?  In the morning we did free crafts at the amazing Hami Craft Shelter (it had a Honey Bucket) and archery at the archery range.  I counted down the meals from lunch on:  Three meals, two meals, one meal.  In between those meals we all went to Mass and spread out our sleeping bags on the tarp on the beach.

Saturday:  We went home!  Goodbye Hamilton, I'll miss you dearly.  Oh, but Rosey and Sara!  Who could possibly be happier?  Me or them?  Unless I'm wrong, no one.  We were both overflowing with joy.

Well, those are the days of camp.  I have a lot more to tell, but this post already took me two days.  I'll write more on Tuesday or Wednesday.  It felt great to blog and I missed you all!

I'm off to Camp!

Goodbye my friends!  I'll write about my experience and post some pictures on Saturday, perhaps Sunday.  Now my final parting:  Toodles!

My Last Blog Post

Don't worry, I'm not quitting my blog, just going to camp for five days.  I'll be really busy tomorrow, and besides, I hardly ever blog on Sunday, so this is my last true post.  I'll say goodbye on Monday.
I've got everything but my notebook and pencil packed away.  I just cleared my camera of pictures so I can have a clean SD card for camp.  I'll be sure and take lots of pictures!
Selfish me.  There I was, wondering how I would survive without Rosey, and my poor dog had to suffer in silence!  But it's okay now.  I told her that I would slip a prayer in at mealtimes when we said the blessing if she would think about me once in a while.  I'm going to bring a picture of her and some hair of hers so I can be near her all the time.
Well, this is my last full post for a week (well, a little less than a week), so I hope you all enjoy it.  Bye.

I Have Begun the Countdown of Camp

The official countdown of camp began as of this morning.  It would have started sooner, but I had a cold and I didn't want it to ruin camp, so I've been busy with that, but now it's time to really think about camp!
I've still got to pack, but I'm doing that today.  My dear brother Chris gave me a beautiful backpack (it's a CamelBak) that I'm going to take with me.  I'm truly going to be the coolest girl there.
I aslo have to say goodbye to my pets... and Rosey.  Five whole days in the woods without my companion!  Sure, Emily will be there, but who's always with me on those adventures?  Who's always there to stop and hug me when I need one?  Who's always there to explore new territory with me?  Who's the one who listens to my stupid jokes and likes them?  Who's always the one who's just plain there for me?  Rosey!  These are virtually all the photos of Rosey I have on my computer.

Chris took this one.  Isn't she beautiful?  That's my girl.

Nosy Rosey.

See my face of delight?  Also note her blurry expression of love.

We go together.  We just do.

That day was fun.

Being Rosey.

Also being Rosey.

She's eating grass.

She's eating grass here, too.

I'm tickling her with a horsetail.  We have so much fun together.

Silly dog.  She's watching Sara.

I love that look.

That day was also fun.

What a perfect paw.  Never take these things for granted.

Doggie... what am I supposed to do?  I'll have a whole new place to explore, but no one to explore it with!  Well, I'll have a whole cabin-full of kids to explore it with, but no Rosey!  No fellow adventurer and companion!  No Rosey... I have one weekend to be with my sweet puppy. Then I'll be torn away from her ever so viciously and thrown into a bus where I'll be taken to far away Duvall.  It's not fair.  It's life.

Camp!

I'm going to Hamilton Monday!  I'm taking the bus from St. Joseph's Church in Chehalis with my friend Emily Wills.  It's going to be wonderful.

I'm hoping to get a little better at archery.  I first discovered my love for archery last year at Bosco.  I was pretty nervous at first, and I only got four arrows, so I didn't really have a chance to loosen up and have a lot of fun, although I was the only one who didn't need an arm guard.  I felt pretty special.  

Unlike Bosco, Hamilton has a lake.  Lake versus pool... hmm... which is better?  It's going to be so nice to have a lake.  I really hope it's hot, but not too hot.  The pool at Don Bosco... oh, and the girls' poolroom there - ick!  That brings back bad memories.  The toilets were always getting clogged and it had horrible drainage, poor squeegee.  And then the changing rooms/bathrooms!  Picture it in your mind:  A toilet, a plunger, a backpack and a tweenager (or a younger girl) in a closet sized room.  No, not a walk-in closet, just a closet.  You set your backpack down, you struggle to take your clothes off and put them in your backpack, you change into your swimsuit, you put your shoes back on and you're done!  Now that wasn't so hard, was it?  Try really doing it.

Enough of my rambling about the nightmarish poolroom.  I've poured out all my thoughts about camp, and now I'm ready to finish this post, so I'll blog again tomorrow (probably).