Gone Camping

Wow, it's been almost 2 weeks since I last posted! It has been a busy 2 weeks. Last week was my church Girl's Camp and I am the craft director so I was busy preparing the week before last and busy teaching (in a big old barn) last week. It was a wonderful week, I love teaching at Girl's Camp every year. Not that I don't enjoy when the girls are there in my classes but I think my favorite part of camp is when I'm in the barn alone and can hear the girls outside, chattering, running and laughing and having fun. That is what life is supposed to be like for girls between the ages of 12and18. That is the life I remember as a teenager. Things are so different now and girls seem to live a less carefree life.

Another cool thing about Girl's Camp is the certification program they have. It is a 4 year program where they learn to do different camping skills and build upon the previous year each time. That builds their confidence as well as teaching them a lot of skills. I remember when I finished the 4 years when I was a girl (oh, so many, many years ago) feeling like I could take on the world. After all, I could catch a fish, prepare it and cook it over a fire that I had built without matches!

This year was the year of the storms. The 4th year girls came up on Monday and learned some advanced skills before the other girls came up on Tuesday. We had a flag ceremony Tuesday about noon and then took pictures for them to use on the scrapbook pages they would make on Thursday. Before we had finished taking all of the group pictures, someone got word that a bad storm was coming so we gathered all the girls in the barn. I don't know how many cows this farm used to support but that is one huge barn! There were about 75 girls there as well as around 4o adult leaders. We weren't even crowded, that is how big the barn is.

I'm not sure how it would have survived a tornado but with the 70-80 MPH straightline winds we had that day it was just fine. I felt safe while the rain was pelting and the lightening was flashing like crazy. After a couple of hours the storm lifted and we could go out to assess the damange. Lots of tents were blown down and several were ripped beyond repair. Of course, there were lots of wet sleeping bags and clothes and some ruined food but overall, things were good. We were able to do some of the certification requirements in the barn so we didn't get too far off schedule.

Wednesday we made birdhouses for our craft and many of the girls came to enjoy their craft time. I always have some beads out for the girls who aren't interested in the other crafts so there were some girls who created necklaces, bracelets and earrings.

Wednesday night was skit night so the girls were excited about putting on their skits. We always invite their families to come watch the skits so there was another 100 or so people there for that. Well, guess what happened - another storm! This time there weren't the high winds expected but lots of rain and lightening. We were actually able to fit everyone into the loft of the barn and had plenty of room to do the skits up there. We had to stop a few times because the rain was pounding so hard that we couldn't hear the skits but the youth leaders (the 16 and 17 year old girls) would lead the rest of us in songs and games during those times. By 9:00 the skits were over and I was just trying to decide if I should wait for the rain to let up a little more or if I should go ahead and go home.

That is when I realized - I had left my car windows down! I knew it had rained VERY hard for over 2 hours but didn't find out till later that it had rained 5 inches! I ran out to the car and it was really wet. I had a sweatshirt I had brought because it sometimes gets chilly at night so I put that on the seat as I hopped in. I soaked up the water that was in the panel on the armrest that has the ELECTRONIC controls for the windows and door locks and hoped that they hadn't shorted out or anything. Luckily they worked so I got the windows rolled up. By the time I got home my jeans were totally soaked. It took 2 long, hot days for the seats to dry out!

So, that is what I've been up to. It was a busy couple of weeks but fun ones too. I guess some of you are wondering about the drawing for blog candy that I had planned to do last Monday. I had 6 correct answers to the question about the wedding invitations. Nikki and I both liked the lower right invitation the best. Travis liked the upper left one the best. Sooooooo, the winner is: Quon! Congratulations, Quon, I will get your stamp set to you right away.