So yesterday I was Kitch Girl, which means I had a lot more jobs then the other girls. First off, I got up at the crazy early hour of 6:30 so to be ready to head into the kitch (en) by 7 (I was actually gonna wait to roll outta bed till 6:50, but my body betrayed me and woke itself up at 6:25, and I decided to spare my roommates from being awakened by my alarm and just got up). In the kitch it was just me, Jessica (a new recruit who tagged along with me so she could see how to do Saturday morning set up. Saturday mornings are different from other days because it’s just a come when you come meal for the last day of camp) Aunt Suz (the head cook and most amazing and patient woman in the whole UP) and Tyler Nutt, my kitchen boy (that means that we both get the day off together).
After breakfast the other girls went with Aunt Ruthann to do some major end of the week house cleaning to prep for JV camp coming later that day, while I got to hang around the kitch and get stuff ready for lunch and cut lots of onions and tomatoes for the sandwhich bar. Believe it or not onions is one of my fav veggies to cut, I think it’s fun when the stinging of the eyes starts and trying to keep cutting onion after onion long after my eyes are burning and crying till I finally have to jump out of my stool and run into the big walk in cooler (rumor has it that standing in the cooler makes the stinging go away, sometimes it works for me). But this time, my eyes barely even stung…it was a shame. (for real though, I really do like cutting onions, I’m not joking! :-)
Around 11 I was banished from the kitch to go change into my bright green staff shirt and join Brittany and Elyse as we greeted the JV campers who were beginning to arrive. I had SO much fun doing that! Of the girls who were coming, I knew about 85% of them from Girls camp, and about 60% of them I knew really well due to having them in my cabin or on my team or in my class during sometime in Girls camp. I spent most of my time “greeting” by yelling names and running and hugging all those beautiful girls and catching up with them as we waited for the bus to arrive.
Finally, after too long of waiting, the cry “they’re hear!!” rang out from the baseball field and we all ran to meet the two busses holding the last of the JV campers (JV is boys and girls ages 13 to 15). My brother Nick was on one of the busses and he greeted me with a heartfelt “here” as he threw the box of things I’d asked to be sent up for me in my face. Haha, I missed him too (don’t worry, I grabbed him and gave him as proper a hug a 14 year old boy will accept from his older sister. :-)
After that came lunch and a lot of action and excitement. It’s so good to have an official camp up here finally!
Back in the kitch I spent a lot of time at the kitchen boy sink, where Tyler washed all the larger dishes used in the kitch and I dried and put away. All too soon it was time to start preparing for dinner. Me and Elyse made pudding cups…170 of them. They turned out pretty good despite Elyse not knowing how thick pudding should be and me exploding chocolate pudding all over the counter after my baggy popped.
After dinner and clean up, I had about 20 minutes before I had to report for T.P. (Trading Post, the place campers flock to and fill up on candy and ice cream). I spent my short free time soaking my feet and “reading” (though I discovered it’s hard to read with your eyes closed :-)
In Trading Post with me were Jenna and Aunt Sam helping to take orders, and Michael and Jeremy scooping the ice cream. Aunt Sam is the one in charge of keeping the T.P. stocked and running, and it’s so much fun when she joins us in there, she really helps to keep the mood light and fun even when everything is chaos. (fun fact: we have a notebook where we keep the staff tabs in the TP, and this year when listing out our names, rather then the normal “Ashley Padgett” Aunt Sam gave us all funny nick names by playing on our names, mine is Flashley Padgshly :-)
(p.s. Aunt Sam just walked in as I was typing and commented that we did a really great job cleaning up after TP, I told her it better be clean because we ended up spending an hour in there! lol, actually, we only spent about 5 minutes cleaning (more then enough time for that small space, then me and Jenna and Michael got to talking and we talked for a good long time…it was good :-)
THEN...for devos that night, we drew M&M’s to pick prayer partners (probably my number one FAVORITE devo that we do, we are randomly placed into groups of 2 or 3 and go off somewhere and just talk bout things we need prayer for and pray for one another). I drew a red M&M and was excited to find that Elyse drew the other. I was partnered with Elyse and Jenna last year one time, so it was good to be with her again. Also, Elyse was one of the girls I didn’t know quite as well as I knew the others, so I was so glad to be able to have some time to get to know her better.
We bundled up and grabbed a blanket and hurried to Randys Dock (the best spot for prayer partners) after a skunk scare (which turned out to just be our shadows in a bucket) we settled in and started talking. We talked about so much, I’m so glad I was partnered with her again, it was so good. We went out around 11:00 and were told we could have an hour, at 11:56 we decided we should finally start actually praying for each other. :-D Time goes so fast when God is working! After we prayed I still had to get back to the kitch and do Kitch Girl clean up, but I didn’t care that I was gonna be up so late, I could sleep in the next morning and I if there's one thing I’m learning this year it’s to put things like sleep and work aside when God is doing something more important…I can always catch a nap some other time.
Anyways, I raced through Kitch Girl duty, basically wiping everything down with disinfectant and straightening and washing the last of the dishes. Poor Tyler had to mop around me (something that he’d normally be able to do after I was done) and I had to scoot around the wet, but clean floor on towels and my bare feet. Tyler said that he was beginning to wonder if I was even coming in, but he understood after I told him I was out with his sister for the past hour :-)
I got done with Kitch Girl around 1:30 and I decided that I’d rather sleep in as long as possible the next morning, so I took a shower then rather than the morning. Then, off to sleep I went, with my alarm clock turned resolutely off!
MORNING! DAY OFF!
Wake up, girls chattering, preparing for Sunday Best, cries of “it’s cold!” and “have you seen my…?” I roll over and go back to sleep. Wake up again…it’s after breakfast, girls barging in the dorm grabbing Bibles for morning chapel, more chatter and giggling. I roll over again and continue to snooze. 11:00, Tyler wanted to leave by 11:30 so I should probably get up…roll over again for a final 15 minutes of sleep…get up, get pretty (you can always tell who’s the day off girl because she’s the only one who has time do her hair and make-up properly and wear nicer clothes :-)
At 11:30 Tyler was ready and I only needed to run to the kitch for a “breakfast” of cookies and milk and a piece of left over coffee cake I had to beg off of Thelma.
We didn’t do much today, we drove into Marquette (even with the use of a GPS we still managed to get a little lost). We made our stop at Wal-Mart (Tyler teased me for taking 10 minutes to pick out the right kind of socks, but hey! There were a lot of choices!) and I ran into one of my girls campers from my cabin last year! Tessa lives in the area up here, it was so good to see her even though we didn’t really have time to sit and chat, at least I got a hug. :-)
After that we ran to Target so Tyler could get his hot sauce (the guys staff table goes through that stuff like it was water!) then there was a debate in the parking lot over where we would eat…Tyler wouldn't pick and I refused to even though he said I was the girl so I had to :-P I wouldn't unlock the car door until he picked one of the 5 places I listed. We finally decided on Audrey’s Pizza, it was not a mistake. :-D
We got to the pizza place and walked up to the sign reading “please wait to be seated” and were greeted by two of the cutest hostesses I have ever had the pleasure of being seated by. Two little girls, both about 10 years old, came around from behind the counter with menus and silverware and graciously asked would we be dining in? And would we like a booth or a table? Right this way please, your server will be with you presently. Yes sir, we are in a little old small town in the UP.
After we ate the best pizza in the world (I got leftovers waiting for me in the cooler!) we walked around the old town and down by the water a little bit, then back to the car and after a stop in at Good Will it was back home to camp.
It’s been a good, chill day off, just the way I like it. and I still have all the time after dinner to hang out, so I might track down my brother or some of my old girls campers and catch up. Or, I see many little games of Ninja going on around camp, so I am tempted to join in on a few of those…we shall see.
Whoo-ee this is a long one!! but I got the time today, so it is what it is :-D
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