Session 2- CHECK.

well. it's over. as is the weekend. it's so hard to believe that another session is over... I didn't get a cabin picture unfortunately this session, so you'll just meet my girls through different pictures (: Some people have been asking how my day "goes" so I'm going to try to explain that too!

This was the best picture I have of the girls. We had a lot of fun, and I miss them already!! It was very different from the last session... I had a "real" camp experience! (: (meaning, I went to activities instead of doing what my 1on1 wanted to do.) I got to sing for a lot of mail... thanks to those who sent it!!! (:
Carrie B- thanks for the picture!!!!! it's hanging up on my nightstand this week (:

me and Lindsay riding the horse

Cathy and Megan playing BINGO!

Game Show night

Road-Kill Rumble! (: relay...

Mike and Amy! (: cutest couple at camp- they've been dating for 10 years!!

with karen


"traffic-jam" in the ghetto (:

sunday morning we had Breeze Cafe- hot drinks, pastries, and open mike. people talked, read poems, and sang (: pretty cool!

Funniest Camper this session (: Rocky.... I think this picture sums it up- trouble :D jk.

me and rocky after the dance (: I was his date... well one of them (;
notice his hair... this is the only time all session he had gel in it (thank you ash for making sure he was all spiffed up (; )... the rest of camp rocky found that toothpaste and sunscreen work well to spike your hair... he's so cute and funny!


Karen, Rocky and I during Kangaroo Court (this was "spike-your-hair-with-sunscreen day"!)

Kangaroo Court... My fellow counselor Katie and I were charged with not brushing lindsay's teeth at night. then Heidi brought a complaint that I ripped her burrito at breakfast... (: it's a lot of fun. Campers make up charges against counselors and then we get brought to court. in which, we're ALWAYS guilty... as punishment, me and katie had to do jumpingjacks and hum the national anthem- simultaneously!


So. a normal day goes like this....
sometime between 7 and 8 you wake up and get everyone ready for the day...
9:00 breakfast.
10:00-12:00 morning rotation... would include sports and games, creative fun, or arts and crafts.
12:30 lunch
1:00-2:45 Rest hour
3:00-4:30 afternoon activities... usually the pool is open and arts and crafts or creative fun. there's always an alternative for the non-swimmers
5:30 Dinner
7:00-8:30 Evening Program... first night is a bonfire and the last night is a "dance". the other nights are whatever we decide to do.
10:00... approx. bedtime... depends... (:
11:00-12:00 counselor's bedtime (:
and you get up and do it all over again! it's an awesome time...
and now for my weekend (: just wanted to share a few pictures!
Abbey came to see me and brought Scott and Kyle! well... Kyle drove, so idk who brought who... but it was them 3. I've never been so happy to see people I know in all my life. This has definitely been the longest I've ever gone away from EVERYONE I know. so, that was awesome... started the afternoon off with Gayle's... delicious!!! then hit up Natural Bridge State Park...



Then there was a bit at the boardwalk and then we headed to pizza my heart... awesome! and I got a t-shirt :D slice of pizza + t-shirt = $5. deal!

Thanks for packing the travel iron for me mom (: it came in handy... having an ironed collar for today made me feel slightly normal... camp food, plastered-under-a-scarf-hair, wrinkly dresses, sleeping bags... it gets to you eventually. so something so simple was great (:

I did laundry yesterday but the dryer was way backed up and not working very well... so I decided I'd hang my sheets up to finish drying... but there is no where to hang sheets... so. I decided I could hang them on the ends of the beds that were propped up on the wall. problem- the legs were so nasty that I didn't want my sheets touching them. Solution:


Laugh if you wish, but it worked!!! (:

so... that was that. It was a great week and weekend... hard to tell abbey bye, but it was wonderful having them come!! I think I got way buff this week... pushing wheelchairs up the hills around here is rough! (: On an unimportant (to everyone else) side note- We found a scale finally... I gained back the 5 lbs I lost at AM time... yay! (; haha all the returning staff is talking about how they gained so much weight last year... (10+ lbs...) maybe I'll finally have some meat on my bones! haha we'll see. at least it should be muscle from pushing wheelchairs around all the time (: pretty thrilled... Next week is a dd (developmental disabilities) session with young adults. I'm really really excited for that! hope it goes well...
hope everything is going well at home... it's good to hear from everyone now and then!! (: have a blessed week!
Soli Deo Gloria!! Courtney "Blue Bell"

Week 2~~Session 1

Hello! (:
well... week one was enough to wear me out...




This is Cabin 2. The sweetest 1:1 cabin in up-town.
It's hard to believe the week is over... and another is here in a few hours.


This is Sam... the sweetest camper ever! we had the bomb together... pretty much did our own thing all week! it was great...

Our favorite thing to do... sit on the ground. He makes the most awesome sounds... I mean, if you thought I made noises sometimes... Just wait till I get home... (:

sitting in our cabin before bedtime... Kar is the other camper in the picture. oh and that's Sam on the floor. oh and the towel on the heater... a fire-hazard I know. But, Sam's favorite thing to do in the morning (besides makin some noise in the bathroom) is to run his fingers down the grate and make an awesome racket! well, on of the other 1:1 counselors, Kit, absolutely hated the noise the first several mornings so I taped Kar's towel to it. problem solved. (: I know, I'm a genious. what else can I say? kit was happy. He even said thankyou... major points! haha


Sam's favorite toy... (:

A stab at organization... at least it felt like home- organized chaos...


Sam played the piano during the dance so... I wrote a letter, read a book, and sipped my tea (: relaxing...

now... you don't know Sam of course. but I showed these pictures to Ben and Charlie Pie a second ago and we laughed for a long time... I even cried. so yeah... enjoy (:


you see? I had a fun week (:

now... a few times things got rough... Gel, the assistant director, and charlie pie wrote me notes from Sam around camp... it was sweet (:




It was the sweetest thing ever... really. you wouldn't understand probably, but it made my day! and really... every time this week when I was at the point that I couldn't go on, someone sent me a sweet text letting me know they were praying and verses and whatnot... if you did, thank you!!! it was a good week, with lots of challenges, very patience-evoking, and a lot of fun!
now, a new week is here. me and Katie Faz. have 5 girls... I can't wait.

They gave us girls all roses for Monday night... that afternoon they had a luau at the pool (Gel gave me 4 hours off!!!! so I got sleep and relaxation for the evening!) and then they dressed the campers all up for dinner and their dance. Dinner was chicken and rice with low lights and the tables all re-arranged. it was a lot of fun. so here's my rose (:


oh and it was a grand weekend... last night I did my laundry... Mom, just to let you know... all that laundry warnings finally did come and haunt me... but hey, whats white fuz from my towel all over my blue dress and black shorts in the grand scheme of camp life? ah nothing... (: Today, Theresa (camp nurse in her 50's or 60's I'm guessing from KS city) and the southern Courtney from TX and I went shopping... Explored Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond, Felton, and Scott's Valley. I got a sweet vase and then Courtney and I bought flowers to split for our cabins. so it's pretty sweet (:


well, it's getting late and I have a lot to get finished before 10am tomorrow... have a good week (:
Soli Deo Gloria!
Your Blue Bell
(oh perhaps that's something else... I'm blue bell around here now... (: thanks to Charlie Pie. camp with three Courtney counselors calls for desperate measures. so... that's me! love it...)
oh... and not to beg for mail (; but...
Courtney Boone
16403 Highway 9
Boulder Creek, CA 95006-9696

well. I'm off to look at facebook pictures with pie and Ben... then bedtime (: (:

Camp Harmon!!

Well, here I am! Up to the GORGEOUS Santa Cruz mountains, down highway 9, through the front gates, around the pool, the caretaker's house, the pillbox, past the basketball hoops and the bathrooms, past a few cabins, the lodge, the arts/crafts and creative fun building, around the camp director's house and here I am... Staff lounge, computer two. So boring, I apologize. It was a crazy few days as we got to know each other and had orientation. I got here Friday around 2:00 and June (the director) and another counselor (Donna from NJ) met me at the baggage claim. We ran into sports authority and Jamba juice and picked up one of the camp nurses, Theresa. then it was back to camp for dinner. There, we got to meet all the other counselors. which, was scary. It brought back some crazy memories from two summers ago, fourth of July, Stan state fireworks. If you don't know what I refer to... ask Abbey! (: Saturday morning started orientation and working through the biggest staff manual I've ever seen. Saturday night we had "KnockOut"... not the basketball kind. it was a relay race of sorts with all different sorts of things. We divided into 3 teams- orange, blue, and green. Of course, we had to differentiate by painting our face... Knockout used to be a camp activity, but it got nixed this year because of tight budget- you may see why. The first relay was a jeopardy type thing. If you got your question wrong, you had to eat a marshmallow with ketchup. Thankfully, I didn't have to eat one!! Then we had to pass a cup with a hole in the bottom of it, over our heads, with water in it, back to the end of the line and fill a pitcher up. Yeah, orange totally ruled. Then... there's this song they sing here at camp... I don't remember how it goes. But as they sing it, you get whip creamed... yum? not.

But it was a good time. I am not sure that a shower has ever felt so good before in all my life. The next morning, my hands still smelled like... heated whip cream... but thankfully it didn't last too long! (:

This is me and Donna... the one who met me at the airport. She's from Jersey.


another knockout game... paint the counselor. This one didn't get cut... I'm sure I'll get painted this summer... can't wait! (:

Sunday night was a break from routine... Santa Cruz!!! We had a picnic at the Twin Lakes Beach. I had no idea a beach around here could be so crowded... but it was a good time... I forgot what salt water tasted like... sure missed it!

Remind me when I am utterly exhausted... think I cannot go on... and when I say I'm not getting paid enough for the hard work... and when I can't sleep because my campers aren't... and when all is going wrong, remind me that I got paid to go to the beach! (:

Tuesday morning was CPR training... and since I am already certified, I got to sleep in until 9!!!! so... I took advantage of the time and had breakfast in bed (a delicious homemade choc muffin, hot tea, and a banana) along with my Bible. Perfect... (You can remind me that I got paid to do homework and have breakfast in bed that day too... :D)
Yesterday after we were finished and "off-duty" for the "weekend", I jumped in with Hippi Courtney and went to Scott's Valley. That was pretty sweet to get off the compound for a while and do some shopping... chips, salsa, tea, basket to put shower stuff in, mesh bag, plastic bags, tissues, stain spray, softener for laundry, and on... the guy looked at me and was like... looks like you just got off work! (: it felt so good to be somewhere besides camp. Today I got to run up to the Mountain Store like a half mile up the road and get some chocolate and tea! (: it was awesome... I talked to Josh a while and did laundry... between the episodes of no water due to them hitting the main line up the road a ways. got my homework completely finished... so yeah! Life at camp... it's great. oh and mother... I know you'd have a fit, but just thought I'd tell you... laundry consisted of throwing everything in the wash... pjs, sheets, towels, dresses, sweatshirts, yep, everything! (; nothing seems to have been affected... hehe

My bed for the week... so organized (: for once in my life...


I never understood the statement "comfort food" but I think I've discovered mine... (: By this afternoon... I was in desperate need of tea and chocolate...


Tomorrow, I get my first camper. I have a one-on-one this session which I am really excited about! the people who don't have 1on1's have 4 campers each! which sounds like a lot my first week! so we'll see how it goes! His name is Sam and he's in his 20's I think! so yeah! pretty excited to get started!
Please pray that I will be strong... spiritually and mentally. Sleep is looking like it'll be non-existent. Returnee Courtney, I discovered last night, is a Christian too which was so exciting!!! she's definitely my favorite counselor I think... good work ethic, hard working, and just sweet! a lot like me- we need our personal time! (: so it was good to talk to her for a while... this is her 4th year here, so she had lots of advice in our no-church summers!

thanks for holding out to the end (: just wanted to update everyone with what's happening around here! Please pray! and if you want... here's my address:
16403 Highway 9
Boulder Creek, CA 95006-9696
I have to sing to get my mail... so be considerate (;
soli deo gloria!!
Courtney