Week 6 and 7 at camp =]

It's been an awesome last 2 weeks at camp! Every week I say it's the best week yet, but it always seems to get better.
Week 6 was our teens and adults with cognitive disabilities week. I loved my group! I had 2 campers, who always made me laugh. J was so adorable, he loved to bounce around and had the cutest giggle you've ever heard! He loved sucking on his rubber ducky, so much that he fell asleep with it in his mouth, and he gave the biggest hugs. He was so cute, everyone wanted to steal him from me, and we all wanted to keep him! My other camper, J, had downs and had me read her Casper the Friendly Ghost every night before bed, haha. There was a boy in our group, C, who had stuffed animals that he literally took with him everywhere- in the pool,on the horse, on the ropes course. He also had me "hold" him at night before bed because he was afraid of zombies. So cute! There was also T in our group who had a really high voice and separated himself from our group most of the week. But on Friday morning, he came up to me and said "Thank you for everything. You taught me how to go canoeing. You taught me how to go fishing. You helped me have fun. Now it's Friday, it's the end of my journey." And gave me a hug and a kiss on the head like he always did. It was so adorable!
Week 7 was adults with cognitive disabilities. We had more campers than ever, and we lost 9 of our staff this week, leaving us with a 1:4 ratio of staff to campers- it was crazy! A lot of hard work, and not a lot of sleep or time to rest. But I had SO much fun this last week, it was amazing! We had a lot of returning campers who I'd already seen a lot of this summer. Like C, who liked me because I let him play apps on my ipod during rest time. This week, he discovered the Talking Tom app and literally spent hours talking to it, telling it how he liked to play Wii and Nintendo and Yoshi's island. It was so funny! Then there was D-pops, who always asked me to tickle him, sing Annie, and protect him from Cruela De Vil who he was so afraid of. And K, who loved having anyone within reach do the "spider" up his arm and tickle him. I had four campers this week; two of them were the sisters, super high functioning who's only disability seemed to be acting like drama queens to the extreme. They loved me one minute and hated me the next! They were hilarious though, they made me laugh all week long. They decided that my camp name (Wazowski) was too hard to say, so they called me Soko instead. Another camper in our group overheard this, and misheard it, so she started calling me Taco. By the end of the week, I had some campers calling me Costco. One of the sisters, V, cheered me on for everything I did. Even when I was just walking up a hill, she'd clap and say "Yay, Soko! Go Soko!". My other camper, C, had prader-willi, which is always fun, and she was dating another guy in our group who kept breaking up with her and getting back together with her, so I spent most of my time with her trying to stop the flow of waterworks. I wanted to beat the guy up! But not really, because I'm not allowed to do that. My other camper was S, the same camper I had 3 weeks ago who wrote the book that touched me so much; it was fun having him as my camper again this week. There was another guy in our group in his 30's and huge, like a lumberjack. On the first night, I read him a story and sung him a lullaby by request. Every day after that, he would come up to me sometime during the day and order a story and lullaby for that night like he was ordering a meal from McDonalds. So funny, so cute. I had such a great week with these amazing campers!
And finally, one last quick funny story. On Friday, I went to Salt Lake to see a late showing of HP 7 part 2 with the staff from camp and took a bus back to Provo on Saturday morning. I made the mistake of sitting next to a normal looking guy who ended up spending the whole hour telling me about his revelations. He told how it'd been "revealed" to him that the golden plates were hidden in temple square, that he was a leader sent in the last days to spread God's message, that he was the fastest runner in the world because God had made him that way, that me and him were brought together on the bus for a reason, and that people had tried to put him in a mental institution but God had protected him from them. Crazy man! Public transportation is always an adventure, haha.
3 weeks of camp to goooo!

Week 5 at Camp K: Kids week!

I had sooo much fun this week! We had the youngest batch of kids we've had yet and with a 3:1 ratio of campers to staff, I was lucky enough to have 3 campers this week! One of them was 14 year old K who only had slight autism, and this week I able to help her with several struggles that every teenage girl goes through. I was so proud of her this week; she told me on the first day of camp while we were setting goals that she's shy, and wanted to become more open at camp. She not only came out of her shell, she made so many new friends on her own and participated in every single activity! Then there was E, who was 13 with downs. She kind of spoke her own language, haha, but she was always laughing and would come and give me the sweetest hugs at the most random times! One time I was getting myself a bowl of cereal when someone wrapped their arms around my waist, and I turned around to find E there smiling up at me. Camp K appropriate: probably not. But so sweet! :) Then there was B, who had brain damage and rode around in a wheelchair though she could often walk short distances. She was nonverbal, but occasionally graced us with a big smile that warmed my heart every time I saw it. I absolutely loved my group of ladies this week! They were always making me laugh, and so patient with me while I helped B (my most physically demanding camper).
As usual, there were some great highlights of week 5 at camp! One of the girls in my group, H, was a wanderer that we were constantly chasing after, but we all loved her. Every night before bed, she would grab my hand and she'd take me outside so we could howl at the moon together, haha! We also had this cute little black boy, D, who walked up to the camp nurse one day, looked him straight in the eye (even though he was about a quarter of the nurse's size) and declared "You killed my father." I have no idea where that came from, but it was so funny I couldn't stop laughing! Then there was my camper, E, who was crying one day. When asked what was wrong, she pointed to the Michael Jackson shirt of the girl standing next to her and bawled "Michael Jackson's dead!" to which one of the other counselor's response was "Well, he's a legend." Then there was C, who loved me mostly because I let him play my ipod during nap time. At least five times a day, he came up to me and asked me what my name was. Every time, I was like "You know it, you tell me." and every single time, he somehow came up with a different name. "Um, Paul?"; "Rafiki?"; "Surgio?". Haha, not quite! Then I'd tell him my real name, but he never could remember it. Or the one camper, about 9 years old, who thought he was at boot camp and would often be found on the floor doing ridiculous amounts of push ups. I promise, that's not usually what we do at Camp K. It was pretty funny to watch though! Or the 2 little boys in our group who had crushes on me and loved to give me hugs and tell me I'm cute. Totally not appropriate, but still kind of cute =P I had so much fun with these kids this week, and they taught me so much! I can't wait for another week to start- teens with cognitive disabilities this week :) I love Camp K!

Me and K!

Me and C!

My group this week <3

My beautiful ladies!

Me and E!