Singin' In The Rain (In The Lake) - Weekly Roundup 6

The final week of resident camp arrived. I was still living with Nemo and Phelps in Tall Timbers, except this week our program was Saddle, Paddle & Arrows, which is exactly as it sounds. I also had my lowest number of girls ever - 12. It made a nice change. I was a bit of a slacker when it came to keeping a record of the highlights - week 6 was when everyone was tired and just getting through the last days, so I found myself being quite lazy with this. Regardless, here are the highlights I do have:

• My kids were having their swimming time in the lake when it started to rain. Instead of getting grumpy or squealing and getting out of the lake (as I thought they would), they immediately and simultaneously started singing/shouting Singin' In The Rain.
• The girls were obsessed with my accent, which I'm kind of used to now. What I wasn't expecting was for one of my girls to turn around and say, "Tell me stories so I can listen to your accent". They also started using British words for things, in extremely over-the-top accents.
• I learned to make 'chevron' style friendship bracelets and felt very accomplished.
• The kids were a lot more cheerful this week (as well as being super sassy, which was 50% frustrating and 50% hilarious).
• I was writing a Bill of Rights with the girls when Judge walked over and told us to tell her some jokes. My girls immediately stepped up and told some, including gems like: Why did the toilet paper roll down the hill? To get to the bottom. They continued on this vein until Judge was sufficiently amused and left as randomly as she came.
• The National Guard brought their climbing wall over for us to use, and Pugs had a go at climbing it. As usual, hilarity ensued when she said, "The headlines will be: Old Woman Kills Herself On Portable Climbing Wall."
• Our staff skit was cool as it was completely improvised but people still loved it! We got loads of laughs and I heard one kid say that ours had been 'the best one yet'. A lot of staff also said they loved it, and seemed impressed when we told them it was improvised. We were very pleased with ourselves!
• Phelps and I were walking up to Tall Timbers and she was telling me about a big rustling sound she'd heard while walking up there at night; she attempted to demonstrate the noise by crashing into the ferns but immediately fell over. It was hilarious and I laughed until I couldn't breathe. Here is a picture of the squashed ferns at the site of Phelps' crash landing:

• I was sitting in the barn while my kids were having a riding lesson - Judge pointed a flashing light thing at me and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" at me. I immediately threw my phone.
• One of my kids, CJ, was trying to bring her paddleboard back after boating. It was not cooperating, and kept floating away from her and towards the centre of the lake. CJ immediately lunged after it, shouting, "NO. BAD PADDLEBOARD." and it inexplicably cracked me up.
• Judge was chasing Rica with a jug of ice. Rica retaliated by brandishing a broom.
• I had another successful overnight (what is happening to the world?). We went to the old yurt site, where I thought the ancient portaloo was a fridge. I was soon corrected and warned never to open it. I didn't need to be told twice. We made another dessert pizza (which was a hit, of course) but had a small catastrophe when Phelps managed to drop her flashlight into it. That night, I also had to say to one of my girls, "Don't poke me with a hard taco shell." and that's not even the weirdest command I've given this summer.
• The camp's 106th birthday was on the Wednesday of Week 6. Every month of the year got a birthday cake, and the April one was magnificent, thanks. We also sang Happy Birthday to all the months of the year, so we all got a bit of a birthday celebration!
• I was in the Anakoosh (health centre cabin, where nurse Hiccup lives), and I opened up the freezer to grab an ice pack for Nemo's bad ankle. Inside, among the ice packs and Ben & Jerry's, was a rubber chicken. I'm not kidding. I asked Hiccup about it and she couldn't provide an answer.
• I remembered something hilarious from session 2 - one of the girls was sick, so I took her and a buddy over to Hiccup. Only halfway there did I notice that Catie (the buddy) had one sneaker on and one riding boot on. I asked her about it through my tears of mirth, and she said, "Well, I couldn't find my other sneaker!" I refrained from asking why she didn't just put both of her riding boots on.
• I also remembered from session 1, when Omega drove us to the beach; my kids were asking how long it would take to get there literally every five minutes, so Omega threatened to deliberately take a wrong turn for every time they asked that question.
• Phelps had her birthday the day after camp birthday, so the girls and I decided to throw a little party for her with streamers and snacklets. I told the girls to go and distract her for five minutes so we could finish setting up; they promptly took Phelps to Hiccup, where she was forced to ice a minor bruise for five minutes. I laughed so hard when I found out. They also adorned her with many bead necklaces and like three crowns. Anton (our chef, who is Russian) also let me have a Boston cream pie to use as a birthday cake. Here's Phelps cutting her cake (my girls look so miserable in this photo):

• One of my kids threw bright pink paint on me. Enough said.
• A random girl (I think she was in London's unit) sat with me at dinner one evening and ate five corn on the cobs. I was amazed. Later, I tried to get her attention to make her clean up her plate, and said, "Excuse me? Excuse me? ... OY, SWEETCORN." and she actually responded. 
• On Saturday, we had our staff party after all the kids had gone. The food was Mediterranean themed (and delicious!), and everyone dolled up. It was nice - we were all in a good mood and got to chat about everything without the fear of campers overhearing. It was a lovely evening, and the staff closing campfire was nice too; we all shared memories from our summers and thanked each other for support and friendship.

We're now in the post-camp part of the summer, and I'm really looking forward to my New York trip! I'm staying in the cutest hotel in Manhattan, and my rooms and flights are all ready and sorted - I am so excited to explore the city, and to remember what civilisation is.