June Review

This week I've just been thinking to myself "June is almost over, where did it go?" With that, I mark my summer being more than half way over. But it sure doesn't feel like that. I still have a lot planned for this summer. I've still got a lot to do before I go back to school this fall. I still have a lot of people to catch up with, I still have a lot to do. Plain and simple. And then I realize June ends today and I can't believe we're here already. So much has happened in the last month or two, and it just doesn't seem like I'm ready for summer to move at such a fast pace. Tomorrow July begins, and I have very high hopes. It's looking to be the best month of my summer, and I hope that's certainly true.

Last week was a very busy week for us in the kitchen. It was our largest group yet, and we're just really get the hang of things. This week is our last week through our first set of rotations. In other words, I'm doing the last of my different shifts this week. Thankfully, it will be a more relaxing week. It's called Camp StarBound, a group of students 8-18 who are here to practice their dance and show choir skills. This week the campers will not have any sort of disabilities, on of the two weeks that will happen this summer.There's about fifty girl campers and three boy campers, or so I here, which I guess makes sense since it's more of a dancing camp than anything. This week is also more laid back because they're doing most of their own programing, so they require less of us. There's no morning unit times and program staff only has to help with programing in the afternoon for a few hours. It'll be a nice week to prepare for another crazy week following this. I'm really looking forward to it.

After this week we'll begin to cycle through our shifts again, but this time it'll be a little bit different, we'll get to do more like modify our menus and be able to take more control of how the food is prepared and made. And after we cycle though our shifts again, we'll be on the last week. It seems so far away, but I know it'll creep up on us. So right now I'm looking forward to a wonderful July and another month with the friends I've made here before we depart (possibly forever) in August.


OH! And also, one last thought: yesterday on our time off we went in to town and stopped at McDonalds for lunch since we had gift cards and it was the strangest thing. We cook here with a lot o the food they have at McDonalds, so it was just weird to see cups, containers, water jugs, and other food supplies there that we see and use on a regular basis. Needless to say, a trip to McDonalds will never be the same.

All you need to know.

Here's some random facts, things that I've learned, or things that have happened while I've been in California:

First off, you should note I work on Eagle lake, which is close to Susanville, so when we 'head to town' we really mean we drive to Susanville, which is the equivalent to driving to Portage, WI back home, except there's literally NOTHING in between Camp Ronald and Susanville.

-Susanville used to be called Roopville [weird, I know.]

-There are two prisons in Susanville. And I have already visited one of them. [We had to get fingerprinted the first week for background checks.]

-For every happy meal sold in the northern Cali/nevada area, one cent is donated towards Camp Ronald McDonald.

-We're at about 5000 feet in altitude, so we have to adjust our cooking to account for the altitude sometimes, which is good practice.

-California has pinecones the size of my arm. Literally. I'm bringing home/shipping back pinecones. We have one already on our bookshelf downstairs from California, but now I'll have my own.

-Eagle Lake is the third largest lake in California, or so I've been told. The third deepest is Lake Almanor, where I have boated, sailed and camped the last two weekends.

-Northern California has the strangest weather in June. At one point in time it had hailed three out of the ten days. Some days it's 41 degrees and others, like today, it's in the 90's. 

-The mountain net door looks kinda big, kind of small, But once we climbed it, we found out you can't even see a lot of it from the ground. It keeps going. And going. And going.

Update!

I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd last updated. I mean, three days isn't a long time, but it is when you're waiting for an update, or you're used to be posting more often.

These past few days have been so busy I don't know where to begin. It was hard at first, thinking that We weren't as connected with this group as the last, which is still kind of true, but we're definitely getting to know this group a lot better. There's a lot of great campers and some that have been going to camp for years now, so it's been nice to see them around and watch how they interact with others.

We had the carnival night on Tuesday, which was again a big success. I got to see more of the campers and hang out with them some. Yesterday was movie night. They watched Wreck-it Ralph while we had our staff meeting. After the movie night, the counselors had a mid-week motivational meeting, so our staff had to be on night watch to make sure all the campers were fine while they slept. The staff members on my cluster of cabins ended up just watching a movie, since all the campers were fine.

Other then that, I've just kept pretty busy in the kitchen making breakfast and lunch for 100 campers and staff members. I've made lots of different foods: breakfast egg bake, pancakes, Muslie French toast, pancakes, breakfast sandwiches, grilled cheese, turkey burgers, kale chips, and much, much more. Needless to say, the menu here is awesome and I'm loving every moment of it. Not only do I get to cook great food, but eat great food, all summer long!

Weekend Trips and a New Camp Session

A lot has gone on in the past 48 hours, and I am way to tired than I should be to write about it, but I must force myself to write it out before I forget.

On Saturday after lunch we left to go camping at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Unfortunately, when we got there they were all out of camp sites. But we still got to walk around a little and see the park. It's BEAUtiful, by the way!

So we headed back towards camp and found a campsite on Lake Almanor. We set up a few tents and built a fire, typical camping stuff. We roasted hotdogs with onions over the fire in foil packs and scarfed down a ton of Oreos and peanut butter. We walked around the lake some and got to see the moon, which was SUPER big that night. The rest of the night we hung out around the campfire and talked mostly.

Then, when we got back it was back to the camp scene. This week is another session of Camp ReCreation and a whole new set of campers and counselors are ready for another good week.

Today I was able to attend their Mass. It was kinda fun and interesting to get to see how they do their services here. Lots of singing and maraca shaking. Some of the campers also got to act out the bible story being told, so that was fun.

Today we ended with a Hollywood trivia game show. The campers were asked a ton of questions about Disney and for the most part, were pretty good. There was a lot of fun and cheering.

This week I have a morning kitchen shift, so I get to cook breakfast and lunch, which has been wonderful. I love cooking, and this shift has the most cooking, so I'm excited. It makes it worth getting up before 6 am.

Add up everything I've done this past 24 hours, and I'm exhausted. But it's been totally worth it.

Friday Night

Today was another "last full day of camp." This week has flown by it doesn't even seem like it's been three days. Last night we had a talent show that everyone got to participate in, so that was fun. Everyone got to be in a skit or sing a song. Everyone loved it,  so it was wort it!

Today's evening activity was a formal dinner and dance. Everyone got all dressed up, the staff served the campers, and we ate in a decorated dinning hall. Afterwards everyone headed down to the amphitheater for an outdoor dance. I was a little worried about how it would go at first, but it ended up being really great. I got to dance with a few of the campers, and they all seemed to have a really good time. A lot of them really like to dance and some of them are pretty good. And of course, we danced to some classics like the Cha-Cha slide, The Macarena, The Chicken Dance, and The YMCA.

Tomorrow we'll have our 24 hours break. This weekend most of the food service interns have decided to go camping, so we're headed to Lassen Volcano National Park for the night. It's a local national park and one of California's active volcanos, so it should be fun. They have a ton of camping sites and sites to see, so it should be really neat. It was one of the places I wanted to go when I was looking at the area before I arrived, but I wasn't sure if anyone would want to go since it's over an hour's drive, but then again, so is a lot of things. So that's our plan so far, we'll see how that goes!

Weather Update

So living in Northern California, you'd think it'd be warm, nice, and sunny all the time, right? Wrong. We've had some pretty ridiculous weather the past week. Although, I can't say I wasn't warm because my boss Vicky warned us that weather here in June is crazy. Needless to say, it's been pretty chilly. It's still pretty sunny, but we haven't had waterfront the last two days because it's been to cold for the campers to play at the beach. And to top that, it's hailed, yes hailed, three out of the last ten days. Returning staff members said they didn't see hail once last year, and we've already had it three times. When I work up this morning and went outside, I was surprised by little slush piles the hail left behind all over camp. Not exactly what I thought I'd be seeing in the middle of June, but I guess that's the weather for ya...

Happy Campers

The campers this week are all great. They may have disabilities but most of them are really smart. Here's a little bit about them:

Maria (left) is a helper, so almost always wants to help do something wether it's dishes or sweeping, but we usually can't let her help to much otherwise she won't leave to go to her activity.

Marissa (left) LOVES chocolate chip pancakes, and she can tell you anything about any disney movie. She's also got a stuffed dog named Kelly which she loves very much and likes to carry around so he can have fun too.

Jordan (in the brown hat) can't speak, but he doesn't have to. He's full of smiles and is great a giving hugs. He's a favorite this week for sure.

Douglas (middle) is the funniest in my oppinion. He lets you know if he doesn't like something and loved splashing people at the waterfront yesterday.

Darth (brighter blue jacket and hat) is really enthusiastic, anytime we sing a song or cheer for an activity, his voice can always be heard.

Nick loves to play his saxophone and tell jokes. He's always sining or chanting and loves to dance. You can count on him for a laugh.













Shamus is very hyperactive. His counselor has to be with him constantly because he runs off and would jump into the fire pit or lake without even thinking twice. He's a bundle of joy and energy and just likes to have fun!

Tommy loves fishing. He played the go fish game at the carnival seriously like twenty times. 

Patrick is very organized. He helps people put their dishes away, and makes sure they stack their trays and bowls in the right pile. He's a camper this week, but he's coming back in August to volunteer with another camp.

Stewart is really smart. He's really good at math, and if you were to tell him your full birthday, he could tell you what day of the week you were born. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

Catch Up

The last few days have been very long, busy, and rewarding. Last night we had a carnival for the campers, which was a big success. There were carnival games like ring toss, go fish, and face paint, as well as other fun activities like a photo booth, ice cream bar and prize table. Throughout the night there was also a lot of dancing and we ended with the Cha-Cha slide, The Macarena, and The Chicken Dance. Here are some pictures from last night's activities:

Ping-pong Toss

 Go Fish

Ping-pong Toss

 Splat

 Photo Booth

 Ping-pong Toss

 Photo Booth

 Dance Party

Camp ReCreation

Today was another first day of camp.

Camp ReCreation is a camp of mostly adults with disabilities, although there is a camper as young as twelve. Disabilities range from sight, mobility, and mental development. They are a rowdy group with lots of character, I'm looking forward to watching them throughout the week. 

Each camper is paired up with a counselor, who gives them full attention and help 24 hours a day. Today we got to meet the other counselors and get to know some of them before the campers arrived today.

It was a hectic day in the kitchen, and we had help from three different program areas helping at one time. Lots of people coming in and out, since we started later than we usually will. But in the end we got everything done on time and it was fine, but we were a little worried at first. This week I'll work a split shift, so I'll work 8-11 and then 3-close. Since I had a cooking shift last week, I'll be doing more dishes and random prep work rather than cooking the main courses. Today's been good, but long, and I'm looking forward to falling asleep tonight. So with that, goodnight! 

Let's Climb a Mountain

Yesterday was good. I know I keep saying that, and it is true every time, but yesterday was exceptionally good. It was the last day for our first group of campers, so it was sad to see them go. Luckily, while we were cleaning up the kitchen we ran outside to say goodbye one last time, just before they got onto the buses.

After that, we were done, and were on break for 24 hours. What does one do with a 24 hour break? Lots of things, possibly. But we wanted to make the most of our 24 hours this weekend. We headed into town first to eat and stop at Walmart. Then we made our way back to camp, and went on a hike. But this wasn't any ordinary hike, it was a hike up the Mountain next to camp. Yup, we hiked a mountain yesterday, Me and my friends Ali and Zac. Don't worry, we were thoroughly prepared. We had lots of water, food, and sunscreen as well as a radio that someone back at camp had on incase we needed help.

Now, if you're from the area and you saw pictures of the mountain we climbed, you probably wouldn't be too impressed, since it's not the largest mountain around, but it's still pretty big, and it took us over 5 and a half hours to climb up and down it. And a lot of the reason it took so long was because we didn't hike on a trail, but instead made our own. We literally just walked across the road and began climbing. There were a lot of bushes and large rocks that stood in our way, but we somehow managed to get round them (or crawl through or over them). We mad it to the top in about 2 1/2 hours, but it took 3 to get down, since it was getting dark and we wanted to be safe. And we made it, without any major complications. We look like we've been attacked by cats from all the scratches we got from the bushes, but no broken arms or legs (thankfully!)

But all that hiking was definitely worth it. We got to see California from a BEAUTIFUL view, that our pictures can't do justice. Here are some shots from the hike:

Starfish

Today was a ball of many different emotions, all good of course.

It was the last full day of camp for these kids and we've all grown to know and love each other. The kids really opened up these last two days and it's impacted us all more than they realize. 

Tonight we had a talent show and campfire. At campfire we all got popsicle sticks and went around, said our favorite part of the week, and tossed the stick in to the fire. It was a great time to hear all the campers speak about how much they loved the week, what they learned, and how they all grew closer to each other. They refer to each other as one big family and they're glad they have each other. It was a very emotional night for a lot of them too, which is typical for the last night at camp. 

It was also emotional because of two things that were done after campfire. First, "Oh, the places you'll go" was read to the campers. It's a Dr. Seuss book about the journey of life and it really spoke to a lot of the kids here. Then Stew (the camp leader) told a story about starfish that goes something like this: 

"A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.

 

She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”

 

The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied,

 

“Well, I made a difference to that one!”"

It was another good reminder that everything we do really does make a difference, even if it seems little. We all got starfish beads, which are now tied onto all our name necklaces to remind ourselves of the difference we're making.

Big Day

Today was a very good day.

Since I work in the kitchen it's hard to feel like you're getting to really know the campers since you don't spend as much time with them, but today I realize I've made a bigger impact on them than I thought I originally had. There are a couple of girls I got to sit down and chat with for awhile, and it seems like I've known them for years, but it's only been a few days. I love that they can come up to be and chat like we're best friends. Plus, tonight was Casino night at Camp Ronald, so we spent the night playing cards and dice and it was another good change to get to sit down and chat with the kids.

Today was also fun in the kitchen, since the week has progressed, our work load has slowed down since we aren't preparing for the week, but it'll pick up soon when we really get ready for next week. I got to sit down and learn how to put in a food order online through Sysco today, so now I know how to order more food if I need to.

And once again, I had a great time at our staff meeting tonight. We have one every night and we're often all really tired, but when we sit down and talk about our day we always laugh a lot and I'm reminded again why I love camp and how I can't take this for granted. I'm thankful for my team this summer, a LOT. We like to laugh a lot, and everyone's really funny, so that makes my job more enjoyable.

Today was also just another reminder of why camp is so important to campers. There's a lot of campers here this week dealing with a lot back home and for them to come to camp means the world to them. They get a lot out of these weeks here and I've been so blessed to get to work with these campers this week, they really are near and dear to my heart and I'll definitely miss them, but I'm glad to see who else will be coming in the weeks ahead.

June 12th 2013

I kept debating on whether or not to post anything about yesterday. It felt like just another day, but then I remember how significant each day is to the campers here. So what may feel like just another day at camp to me, really still means the world to these children. It's something I have to keep remembering.

As far as what I did, it really as a lot of what I"ve done before. I helped with lunch and cooked dinner: Asian stir fry, rice, and egg rolls. The hardest part of yesterday was trying to work on our food order for next week. It's hardest for me because I don't know exactly how much we need and how many come in each box, so I had to keep asking questions, but we're getting through it. Thankfully yesterday was a slower day inthe kitchen, so we weren't as rushed as Tuesday night, which was pretty hectic.

We ended the night with a campfire and night hike, where the kids were lead out on our hiking path where they were involved in a fairy tale adventure of the Great Captain Jack who was on an adventure in search for Princess Pat. They enjoyed everyone being dressed up and in character.

At our staff meeting we got to hear more funny stories of how the campers loved the hike, and I was reminded why I love my job so much. The kids really take to heart everything we do, and brining joy to them is what makes my job so special (:

Tuesday

This will just be a quick update, but an update nonetheless:

Today was good, I guess I don't have a lot to say about it. We have internet again, and all things seem to be up and running.

OH! Yesterday I forgot to mention, It has hailed for the last two days in a row. And I guess that's not very common, either. It's just so weird to see balls of ice coming out of the sky in the middle of June, but I guess that's the weather for ya. Their first time they were small, but the second time they were probably about the size of a dime to a nickel, so still small, but not really.

Everything else seems to be going well too. I'm getting used to working all afternoon to make dinner by (basically) myself and it's been a good time to learn more about quantity foods.

My high light of today was getting to pet our camp dogs with one of the little girls here. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but it is in this case because the first day of camp this was the girl that was TERRIFIED of the dogs and didn't want anything to do with them. But tonight she really opened up and sat down and petted the dogs for awhile with me and the director. Pretty neat to see.

June 10th

Yesterday the internet was out. We were told we wouldn't have internet for two or three days. Fortunately this morning on my break, when I checked, the internet was down. Here's my post that was supposed to be up yesterday:

"Today was good, overall. Very long, very busy, very eye opening. I got up just before breakfast and headed over to the flag pole to sing morning songs with the campers before eating breakfast. After breakfast, I got to sit in on one of the counseling sessions for some of the girls here. It was a good way to get to know some of the girls and hear their stories. To see their real feeling and not just the happy smiles they put on each day.

Starting at eleven I started working in the kitchen for the day and didn’t’ get done till about seven thirty. I got to help put away the first big Sysco order that we got in.

The afternoon was spent prepping dinner. We made homemade breaded chicken tenders, cheesy broccoli, and three seed bread with butter and honey, all of which I made by myself (100 servings worth). Plus I also prepared other kitchen supplies such as beverages and salad bar materials, so today was definitely productive.

After dinner we played KNOCKOUT with the campers. We were split into teams by cabin and played a ton of relay games. We ended the night with a campfire, some skits, and a few songs."

FIRST DAY OF CAMP!

FIRST DAY OF CAMP!

Yes, today was officially the first day of camp! The buses full of campers rolled in about 2:30 this afternoon and it hasn’t slowed down since. I got to cook dinner for the group tonight, and survived, so I’d call that a success. Similar to Sky Lodge, the first day of camp is shirt day at camp, and this year the staff T-shirts are my favorite color: red. And this weekend we got our lanyards with our keys, sunscreen lip balm, and CPR mask. So, we are all official. This first week I have the third shift on our rotating schedule, so I don’t officially start work until eleven o’clock. But we still have to be up at eight each morning to help lead songs at the flag pole, so I’ll still have to

get up semi-early.

Today work was pretty typical as far as the kitchen goes. As I said before, I made dinner, and we prepped more food for tomorrow. Fortunately for us, we have a really good and hard working team, so we got done early this afternoon and weren’t stressed out the entire time. I’m looking forward to working with my team this summer, we all get along so far and I’m excited to see how our friendships continue to grow.

One of the biggest differences between working on staff at Sky Lodge and working on staff at Camp Ronald, is that at Camp Ronald we have staff meetings every night, whereas the Sky Lodge staff meetings are only once a week. It will be interesting to see if we get sick of staff meetings as the summer goes on, but so far everyone seems to enjoy them. It’s a time for us to each go around and describe how our day was, what happened, and what we have to look forward to tomorrow. So with that, I’ll see you tomorrow!

Dressed in our staff shirts, and ready to GO!!!