Day camp success once more.
It started off with a trip to the local care center to deliver suncatchers we had made earlier in the summer. It was a fun little field trip and I know the residents love seeing the kids. A great experience all around.
It was Olympics theme the rest of day and so we had Olympic rings for snack. [Donuts with appropriate colored sprinkles.] Like we had every time before, a scavenger hunt followed to find the three fruit of the spirit we would focus on that day. Today they were love, self-control, and patience. We talked about each and all shared people to whom we show love in some way or another. One camper said, “My brother, my sister, my mom, my dad, my two cats, and ALL OF YOU.” For sweet.
We played a couple rounds of My Grandma’s Big Fat Toe [always a day camp favorite] and a couple games of pew battleship. [I just learned about this one. Played in the sanctuary, it requires everyone to be stealthy and quiet. For that, it was awesome.] Soon enough, it was lunch time and following that was time for the opening ceremony.
That’s right. This ROG Olympic Games had an opening ceremony. We all spread around the yard area, I played inspirational techno music, and we ran the wrapping-paper-tissue-paper torch to each other other. Artistic and creative running was encouraged and embraced. We had slow-motion, jumps, twirls, and ninja dives. Best opening ceremonies ever.
Olympic games continued, crazy style. There was the shower-cap-catch – a favorite by far – which involved covering a team member’s head with shaving cream and throwing fruit loops on it. The team with the most fruit loops stuck on the shaving cream head at the end of two minutes won the round. There were water games. Sit on the water balloon, fill the water bottle that’s held on your teammate’s head, cup relays and more. Gosh, it was fun.
It was a great day with great kids. It truly is bittersweet. Day camp days are exhausting and time-consuming but I feel my heart is rewarded ten-fold when the day is over. It’s so fun to hang out with these campers. I love them to pieces.
One of the campers, dear Matthew, a soon-to-be-kindergartner, has been staying with his grandparents [who are members of the church] since this past February. His parents are in a military branch and some intensive training was required; so Matthew and his younger brother came to stay in MN. The entire congregation has fallen in love with Matthew; he works the crowd during the sharing of the peace and is always super helpful on noisy coin Sundays. I’ve fallen in love with him … and today was the last time I’ll see him. His mom picked him up and they’ll be moving to a southern state tomorrow. I’m so glad he was able to come to day camp and I gave him a big hug as he left. I’ll miss that kid.
I’ll miss all of these kids and the summer chances to hang out with them.
there's no place like gnome. 
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