The camp this week is a camp for kids with heart transplants and heart defects. I am a "cabin buddy" to cabin 24, a group of 12 & 13 year old boys. They are precious!
So my day started off at 10:00 A.M. The waterfront staff had "T-Rescue" training with canoes and kayaks in the lake. Boy was the water cold! After our hour session we headed to the tree house for our first staff meeting. We will have a meeting like this every Sunday. We received our schedules for the week, as well as talked about certain things to remember for the day and week. The adrenaline began pumping right then and there!
After our meeting, I headed to the dining hall, where I met some of the campers for the first time. I had a great conversation with two boys, they were going into 3rd and 4th grade. I traded my sunshine silly band with one of them in exchange for a kangaroo. These little boys literally had silly bands up to their elbows!
Next we ate lunch with our cabins. One of the boys wanted to try my "veggie nuggets" and exclaimed that "they taste just like chicken!". Might I add that a group of 7, 12 & 13 year old boys can eat, A LOT. I hardly had a chance to eat because I was running to get the boys seconds and thirds on food! We had chicken fingers (veggie nuggets for me), mac n cheese, some sort of green bean and carrot melody, and an optional salad. I ate 4 veggie nuggets and about a cup of salad. I was starving until dinner!
After lunch we headed to the gym to play ice breakers. Surprisingly, that takes a lot of energy.
Soon after the ice breakers, I headed back to my room to change back into my bathings suit (a routine I'm sure I will have down to milliseconds by the end of the summer). I headed on down to the pool to do the swim tests on all the campers and camp volunteers. Some, okay many, of these kids can't really swim well. Another staffer, JoAnna, started helping the kids who couldn't swim very well, or only wanted to walk, across the pool. I soon followed. It was so neat to hold these children in my arms and talk to them for the length of the pool. The kids were all comparing the size of their scars as well. Most have a vertical scar running from a little below the collar bone to under their breast line. Some also have 3 or 4 dimple looking marks between their bellies and chest. The scars almost look like belly buttons (sorry John). The kids would say "her scar is cooler than mine". It was so cute!
After the swimming test we headed to our cabins that we are cabin buddies with. We made "goal bracelets" with every cabin. The cabin had one goal together, and then a bead for their personal goals. After making the bracelets we headed to dinner. We had spaghetti , garlic bread, green beans and of course salad. We have a salad bar at every meal, I am in heaven! We then headed to "Turtle Cove" where we had "Opening Ceremony" and a bonfire. It was so much fun, the kids had a blast!
There were a few "first timers" who were hesitant about camp at lunch, but by Closing Ceremony they were running around and laughing with their newly made friends.
Although the boys in my cabin can eat and eat, they are still very small. They are 12 & 13 years old but look anywhere from 8-10 years old. Although they are small, they aren't as fragile as everyone thinks they are. They can run and play just like normal kids. There are 17 nurses on staff, nurse practitioners as well as a pediatric cardiologist on staff.
Today was definitely an amazing day, and I can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store.
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