I thought I’d write out what I did this week so you all have a better idea of just what it is I do. Please forgive me if this gets ridiculously long, I’m not making you read it so you can just stop if you get bored.
Saturday
12:59:59 – everyone is in the Fellowship Center (FC) for the week 8 meeting. Assignments are given and there is a time of prayer and quiet reflection in preparation for the week.
2:15ish – Families start to arrive we are lining the road and cheering and jumping as they pull up. I am on a team that greets the families as they pull up and explain to them that we would like to valet their car and put their stuff in their rooms while the get registered. Several families are very surprised:
“Well, I guess you can…we have a lot of stuff packed into the back. You know maybe we will just get it.”
“Sir, we would really love to serve you in this way. We have seen it all when it comes to packing.”
“Okay, if you want to.”
“We’d LOVE to.”
4:30 – I headed over to the Giraffes building for an open house. About two families show up to look around and see where their kids under 2 years will be during Family Huddle and speaker sessions.
5:30-5:45 – I change into my Funtastic Olympics theme night clothes. And head over to the FC to prepare for dinner.
6:00 – dinner starts and I am ropping. Ropping is a combination of Hopping and Running. Hoppers sit at tables and interact with families, they make sure that everyone at their table has everything they need, they pour drinks, serve salad, cut up kids chicken among other jobs. Runners bring out the food and once everyone has a plate they walk the floor making sure that pitchers are full and getting things for Hoppers. Roppers serve drinks and salad at their table until the prayer after which they run plates until everyone has one then they sit back with their tables and hop. This is probably not the best explanation but it really is poetry in motion to see it all work.
7:00ish — I help with the conehead games, which I am not going to explain right now, but they have something to do with cones and not much to do with heads. Conehead games are for the high school age kids in High Tide.
9:00-10:00 – Pop3. Pop3 is where you get a chance to win free pop, get popcorn and can play games with your Pop, hence pop3. I think I played some games with some kids…I don’t exactly remember, I might have helped with the popcorn.
10:00-10:30 – clean up pop3.
11:00 – TAPS (Terminating All Power Sources (time to sleep))
Sunday
8:45 – show up for breakfast at 9:00
9:30-10:00 — clean up breakfast
10:00- 12:00 – go to the Giraffes Building where we play, change diapers, and go for a walk.
12:30 – Lunch, I am ropping again and help cut up a kid’s HUGE piece of fried chicken.
After lunch – I help clean up and set the tables for Pop3 Sun night. Then I helped make thousands of cookies (I’m not exaggerating!) and head up to the Rec field where we set up for that night’s Wild West Roundup.
5:00-5:45 head back to my room to westernize myself and spend some time in the Word.
6:00 – I help out at the archery range which is open during the meal
6:30 – I eat with a family that has two little boys. We talk for awhile then I head back to the archery range.
7:15 – Archery closes for the calf roundup where Butterball and Fireball get chased by the kids to see if the boys or girls can get all the flags off the cows the fastest. After the roundup I play with some kids during the praise and worship time and also during the square dance which I was able to do the two weeks before.
9:00 — Pop3. I operate the popper which sits at the entry to the dining room where pop3 is held. It comes from the game Trouble and if anyone pops a 3 they win a free pop (or soda or coke or soda pop…)
10:00- 10:30 – clean up
11:00 – TAPS
Basically all the rest of the days have the same schedule except that breakfast is at 8:00 and Cove Kids starts at 8:30 so there is a special table for the cove kids girls where we eat fast then go to our buildings.
Monday
The kids were all tired and grumpy when they came in on Monday. One was happy and played very well we took all the kids for a ride in our six-seater stroller, while one took a nap. Several fell asleep on the walk too. Mondays are nice because I have halftime which is an hour long Bible study/prayer time with some of the other girls on staff between 1:00 and 2:00. We set the dining room for the banquet night and finished early so I got a break at 4:30. 5:00 I was able to have a quiet time and then was at the Giraffes by 5:45 for the kids to be dropped off while their parents went to the banquet night. Yes, we had to feed the kids. How, you may be asking yourself, do they feed 8 kids under the age of 2? Well we have an amazing table with built in seats that we use to feed the kiddos in shifts. Pretty nifty eh?
feeding four kids at once, this was before the cute little fellow on the end threw his food on the floor...
Monday night is staff night, which means that nothing is going on with the campers, so all the staff gather for worship and encouraging words before bed.
Tuesday
Looks like Monday without halftime and staff night. We set up for the Blast From the Past Bash (60s, 70s and 80s). At the end of dinner we play the Match Game and Cookie Monster shows up for a bit. After dinner the parents have an evening session so at 7:30 I’m back with the kids until 9:00. We go for a walk and watch the sunset while eating animal crackers and holding our blankets. Tuesdays I help with in the snack shop for Pop3, where, this week I was serving up ice-cream. TAPS is at 11:10.
Les Mix-n-Rob and me at the Blast from the Past night. She was my room mate this week. 
Wednesday
Same schedule as Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday is another Adult Banquet night so set the dining room for that. I get off an hour before I need to be with the cove kids again so get in my devotions. We feed the kids again they are all tired. Once again we go for a walk. At 9:15 is the Talent Show campers sign up to sing, dance, whistle, hula-hoop or whatever they may be talented in. This is always a fun night to watch it lasted until 10:40 this week.
All the children on a walk with Mur Mur Mermaid and me.
Thursday
The last full day of family camp. Once again a similar schedule to the rest of the week. After setting up the dining room for the Stars and Stripes night I collected all the small non-battery operated toys from all the Cove Kids Buildings and ran them through the dishwasher. I had a short break to change into my awesome red, white and blue outfit then go back to the dining room for dinner where I served coffee. After all the tables I was covering had plenty of coffee I ate in 10 minutes and went to the Rec field to help with patriot games. I cannot explain this game now but it involved a lot of running and water balloons. Once we had picked up all the little pieces from the water balloons off the field we headed to the Tabernacle for Family Share Night. This is a very encouraging night as people share what God has done in their lives the past week and how they are planning to change when they return home. After several people shared we watched the week 8 video. Then all the staff went on stage and we sang a song. Cove Kids girls only stayed for a few minutes of Pop3 so we could get started on cleaning the buildings. I wash all the big toys with bleach water and vacuum and other things to make the place ready for week 9! When everything is done all the Cove Kids girls meet and tell stories about their week, anything funny that happened. The meeting ended about 12:10 so we all made a bee line to bed after that.
Friday
All the Families must be gone by 10:00 on Friday, some pay for the staff to clean their cottage and they must be out by 9:00. After a complimentary breakfast served on Styrofoam all the summer staff get into cleaning teams and split up to clean all the cottages, condos and Hotel rooms. If a family already cleaned the house we still have to go in and make sure it is clean and usually clean it a bit anyway. Lunch is the weeks left overs and we get right back to work. Today we didn’t finish cleaning until around 4:00. Then we had our weekly end-of-the-week meeting where we watched the completed week 8 video and had a little share time. At 4:30 Free Time began…
This is how the last week looked for me. Every week is different depending on what building I’m in or if I’m on work Crew. But at least you get an idea of how things work here, if you haven’t fallen asleep yet. I’m sorry for poor grammar in this post or any incoherent sentences. I love you all!
But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. Brethren, pray for us.
1 Thessalonians 5:12-25
