Shooting Stars

To catch up from my last post...

Tuesday was good. There were a lot of big and good sand sculptures. Sessions and rec shift were good.

Wednesday was so relaxing! I slept in until lunch, did laundry, practice for talent show, ran on the beach and then volunteered in MidKids. It was interesting to see the behaviors that were similar to K2 kids and other ways they were different. A couple of the MidKid girls found out who I was at Sunday morning dodgeball and say hi and give me hugs all the time so when I showed up in their class they were super excited and have been even more attache to me since then. It's such a great feeling to have kids love you when you didn't really do anything. After session, Jill and I flipped and flopped forever about whether or not we should go to Moonshadows at the Astoria Aquatic Center. A 45minute drive (one way), $5, and not being able to swim because of my ears did not sound too inviting. But, we eventually decided to go and we were SO glad we did! We hung out with Mike, Mitch, and Bruce mostly. We had good conversations during the van rides. At the aquatic center we played volleyball, sat in the hot tub, and I watched everyone else go down the slide. On the way back we stopped at McDonalds for yummy good, milkshakes and fun times. I feel like I've gone on more "crazy college kid adventures" being here than when I'm at college. Mmmm it was a great night!

Thursday went well. At evening session, Bruce teaches about how we are supposed to be the Salt and Light. One of our kids shared how he has a bully at his school who makes fun of him for being a Christian but he still tries to love him by being nice and picking him for his team at games, etc. It was so touching and encouraging to hear from one of our kids. Our kids are really open this week and like to share personal stories that relate to the lesson. It's so great but hard at times because we have to cut them off for time's sake. Afterwards, I babysat for one of the girls in my class and her 3 younger siblings. We watched Balto (which has a lot of great lessons in it!) and then I told them a story about a Prince Chipmunk named Ferdinand on an adventure to find the Chocolate Acorn. When the parents came back I spoke with them for a bit about their week here, and their homeschooling experience. First, it was really neat to hear their appreciation for all the work we put in (especially on Thursdays). It was also cool to hear about their homeschooling and share part of my experience too. To end the night, a bunch of us went to Ecola State Park to see the meteor shower...unfortunately it was completely overcast and we knew this heading out but decided to still go! Regardless of the clouds, we had a good time. Jill, Mike, and I shared some good conversation as we watched the waves down below light up sporadically--we eventually realized it was from the lighthouse.

Today the sun came out! It was so warm and wonderful. I spent the afternoon on the beach with friends and then worked in the rec center. A lot of my kids were in there this week so I played games with them and the time went by really fast. Tonight's session was fun. We had water balloons, otter pops, stories, coloring and only two kids cry! My girls from back home got here after session and I showed them around a bit and then we went to the beach to watch the end of the sunset, moon setting and meteor shower. As my CB friends showed up it was a big group and eventually decided to go back up to Ecola Park. It was so amazing! Lots of stars and no lights around. We saw around 15 meteors. Some of us did star tripping too which was so funny and hilarious to watch! I could have stayed until 12:30 but the guys wanted to come back at 11 and get sleep so us girls decided to leave as well.

I'm skipping kid breakfast tomorrow so I can get some good sleep since I'll be spending my whole day off with Caytlin, Annie, Kelsey, and Brittney rather than napping. :)

I've had some good times the last few days. It's getting hard knowing that some events are our last with people. They start leaving in batches from this weekend on. :(