Young Life camp stories...

I was talking with Aly tonight and she wanted to go to a camp with some of her friends in March, which led me to telling some stories from Young Life camp. Two immediately popped to mind

1. We were settling into the cabin and decided to go as a group (counselors too) to the boys cabin to say "hi." Well, no one was there so we began snooping a bit in their things. One girl picked up a shirt from our guys and his underwear fell out of the shirt. Giggling ensued. We noticed the size on the tag...more giggling. So we decided to cut off the tag and keep it. Well, we then figured out a great way to meet guys was to ask for their underwear tags and we carried around scissors to help cut them off. A contest between the girls, now divided into teams, began and I think the other team won if memory serves corretly by collecting over 140 tags.

2. We were lead out to the field in our prospective teams. (Our team was Malibu and we seemed to be the hippie team, lead by our sponsors, as opposed to the other teams boisterous shouting and yelling. I think all the teams were named after beaches.) Anywho, we made it to the football field and it was divided into four sections and was wet (not sure if this was intentional, but it worked). Each team was given several bags of marshmallows. The goal of the contest was to keep all the marshmallows off your section of the field by throwing them onto another teams field. When the contest began, the field lights were turned out (I seem to remember strobe lights, but can't be sure) and we began throwing marshmallows, dry ones at first, but it got gooey and messy quite quickly. Many were smashed into opposing teams hair and such. It was so much fun, I can't remember who won.

Here's the bit: Start with the first letter of your first name, and have all answers start with that letter also.

1. What is your name: Heather
2. A four letter word:
3. A boy's name: Henry
4. A girl's name: Holly
5. An occupation: horticulturalist
6. A color: Heather :)
7. Something you wear: hi-tops
8. A food: habenero
9. Something found in the bathroom: hairspray
10. A place: Helsinki
11. A reason for being late: Held up in traffic
12. Something you shout: "Hell!"
13. A movie title: "Holes"
14. Something you drink: Hot tea/coffee
15. A musical group: Hotel Tokio (per Aly)
16. An animal: Hell-cat
17. A street name: Havana
18. A type of car: Hyundai
19. A song title: "Hotel California"
20. A verb: hefted

and Aly's too lazy to post on her page so...

1. What is your name: Aly
2. A four letter word: Anon
3. A boy's name: Alex
4. A girl's name: Alix
5. An occupation: Anthropologist
6. A color: Auburn
7. Something you wear: A ring
8. A food: Apple
9. Something found in the bathroom: Almay [make-up]
10. A place: Atlantis =D
11. A reason for being late: Awoke way too late
12. Something you shout: "'Ayo!"
13. A movie title: "Attonement"
14. Something you drink: Apple juice
15. A musical group: All-American Rejects
16. An animal: DrAnteater
17. A street name: Arapahoe RD
18. A type of car: Altima
19. A song title: "Alleluia" [Bach motet IV]
20. A verb: Alight

Back from Flagstaff...

Yesterday we (Aly, Mike and I) went to Flagstaff for her regionals for choir. The bus was packed and Mike and I had to share a seat (Those seats are a lot smaller than I remember!) for the three hours there and back. We had to be at the school at 545am and returned at 1130pm. What a long day. We didn't get to see Aly do her performances, as we were watching the kids' stuff; however, at the end of the day, we all crammed in a small room and watched the ensemble choirs perform. They were outstanding. I really enjoy when the judge "critiques" them as she always explains, very pleasantly, how they can improve their performances. She has them do some drills, or re-sing it (gearing her comments to all the kids, not just the ones performing) and then has them re-perform the selected area to show the improvement. Very fun to listen to.

At one point on the return trip, Mike and I were talking about sharing a blanket to make the trip more "enjoyable", but, lo and behold, two students from the other school beat us to the punch. Now these two students were quite friendly on the way up to Flagstaff, and now they'd be on a darkened bus. We quickly informed the mother, who was also a chaperone, and the blanket was removed. Awww!

So today, we are recovering from the cramped quarters of the trip and lack of sleep. I think I'm going to grade some, but I just recently posted grades, so I can leave some for later this week and watch the Superbowl and play my new game (bought with a gift card). It has some really fun games, but the best is the namesake “Pirate game show”. There are three bonus games: first is “Crows Nest Bonus” in which you try to make your way to the mast and earn money by choosing pirates chests; if you choose one with money you climb, but choosing the wrong chest ends the game. Second is the “Poop deck” which you play a game like Let’s Make a Deal, so you can “deal” or choose a new curtain. Third is “Walk-y the Plank-y” which is extra spins, which you earn any winnings; you might also get a skull and crossbones which brings your character closet to the end of the plank. When you reach the end and fall off, the bonus game ends. Two other fun games are one based off of King Kong and another that has bugs. Well off to the games…