What I Did Last Summer...Part 1

I am home for a few hours, YAY!!! :) I have been keeping a journal of our camping adventure so far. I have lots of pictures, but left my camera up at camp, so I can't download anything right now. Those will come later. Let me just say that Camp Steiner is BEAUTIFUL! Hope you are all having a great summer. I will update more later when I have electricity and the internet, two things that I know I won't be taking for granted anytime soon. TTFN!!! :)

Monday, June 22

Well, we are just finishing up our first day at camp. I have been mildly surprised—things aren’t nearly as bad as I had imagined. Our cabin is getting to feel pretty cozy and homey. I still need to organize the kitchen, but since we don’t have running water yet, I can’t wash down the cupboards or counters so that’s going to have to wait for a few days.

The kids seem to be having fun. They have shoveled the snow leading up to our cabin, so we now have a path to walk through. They have also had fun building snow caves and having snowball fights. Yes, yesterday was the first day of summer, but when you are at 10,500 ft, the normal weather rules obviously don’t apply.

The staff has been working really hard today. They had to shovel snow off the tent platforms so they could get their tents set up. It looks like most of the tents are ready. They also had to shovel a path into the dining hall, plus begin work on their areas, getting everything ready for our first group of Scouts who will be here next Monday.

I have not been feeling very well today. It is pretty difficult to adjust to this altitude. I have been drinking a lot of water and giving myself breaks throughout the day. I need to start working on the Trading Post tomorrow and figure out what my responsibilities as Business Manager will entail.

I am still pretty nervous about keeping my little two from wandering off. Hunter is getting pretty comfortable with the layout here and we’ve already had to remind him a couple of times to stay with a buddy. Lexie loves to go up in the loft and color. Jordan is still stuck to his Nintendo DS—I can’t wait until the battery runs out!! ☺ Mikayla is out with her group right now getting things ready for next week. So far they have all done a great job at putting on their emergency packs whenever they leave the cabin. Hopefully that will soon develop into a habit! Even more, I hope that we will never have to use them, but I feel better knowing that they are prepared if they face an emergency.

The only wildlife we have seen today has been small critters. We saw a fox run up the side of a rock, a rabbit, and little squirrel-type things. That is actually fine with me. On the way up here yesterday, we saw a number of deer, which just about made Krissy jump out of the van. She was ready to go chase them down.

In a little while we will head out to the evening campfire, and then head back to our cabin for scripture study. We had fun last night “likening the scriptures unto ourselves.” We read about Lehi and how he led his family into the wilderness. We had a good time making fun of Doug for being a “visionary man” and leading us away from our home, our “wealth”, and our Wii. After a few tears, mostly from Lexie about the whole kybo situation, and the cold in our cabin—until we got the fire going, we were able to sleep. We all gathered in the main bedroom since we didn’t get the beds ready in the loft, and we thought that would help the kids be more comfortable for our first night. It worked. Everyone seems to have a positive attitude and we are excited for our upcoming adventures here in the Land of Steiner.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Well, we have made it to Friday. It has been a very productive week and we are almost ready to open up camp. My trading post is coming together well. We got our candy delivered today and have most of it out and ready to go. Bob Feldt, our maintenance guy, got the refrigerator running in there today, so we should be able to get our soda chilled. He also got the fridge in our cabin turned on as well as our hot water heater. Now, if we could just get the water to run, things would be GREAT! Hopefully we will have running water tomorrow.

On Wednesday night, I took the kids and we went down to East Fork of the Bear to see my dad. He is doing the maintenance down there. They DO have running water, so we were able to shower and get cleaned up. I can’t believe how much I have taken running water and electricity for granted! I still have a hard time not reaching for a light switch whenever I walk into a room. I wonder how long it will take for that little habit to go away.

It has been so great not to have to worry about meals. LaDawn is our camp cook and she does an amazing job. Our menu is on a 2-week rotation, so I’m sure we will get tired of the same things by the end of the summer, but I truly enjoy not having to stress about getting my kids fed, making sure they have well-rounded meals, making sure dinner is ready on time, etc. Plus there is always the added bonus of not even having to clean up the dishes after we eat. We just throw our stuff away, and head back to work.

The kids have really been amazing. Mikayla loves her group. She is going to be working in “Nature” for most of the summer. She is going to help teach the fishing merit badge. She has been getting her lesson plans ready and is really excited to get her fishing license. How weird is that? She is looking forward to having our first group of Scouts come in on Monday so she can be a Troop Friend. I’m not exactly sure what that will entail, but she will be partners with Tiffany and she is really excited about that. She has really made some good friends this week and is really positive about her experiences thus far.

Jordan has stuck pretty close by my side so far this week. He is always a little bit shy in new situations, and hasn’t really gotten to know anyone very well yet. He has been either helping me in the trading post or hanging out in the cabin. He has had the hardest time separating himself from “reality” so far. He has watched a few movies on my laptop or played his DS whenever he gets a chance. He has also been working on a puzzle and playing board games with the other kids. He and Lexie have spent quite a bit of time together.

Lexie has been pretty homesick. Wednesday, after we showered, we were driving home and she got pretty teary. She misses her fish, Henry, and her friends. She loves spending time in the trading post with my staff, Elora and Lysa. She really looks up to them. She keeps telling me she wants to be the cash and credit card girl. I keep telling her she can “HELP” me but I can’t let her just do it on her own. Between meals, LaDawn sets out a table we call the “Land of the Free”. That is just an area in the dining hall full of fruit, chips, pb & j, and any leftovers. Lexie has LOVED that. She has such a bottomless pit that it has been really great for me to send her into the land of the free whenever she complains about being hungry, which generally happens about every ten minutes.

Hunter has made a LOT of new friends. He prefers to spend his time with his idol, Mary, who is the Aquatics Director. He begs me every morning to let him go help her. He has been a real trooper, too. He has been shoveling snow, carrying wood, playing games with the staff, and anything else they ask him to do. They have nicknamed him “Kamikaze” because he is not afraid to jump in and do whatever needs to be done. He is having a blast! I’m a little worried about how he is going to do this weekend when the staff goes home. Luckily they will all be back on Monday and he can hang out with his new buddies again.

Overall, we are definitely enjoying this experience. We have seen so many wild animals in the 5 days we have been here. The other night, we saw a moose and numerous deer. In fact, there was a doe and twin fawns that walked right in front of our van as we were driving through the mountains. If I could figure out some way to keep the moths and spiders out of my cabin, things would be just about perfect. Oh well, we are invading their space, so I guess we will have to continue sharing.

Sunday, June 26, 2009

We just got back from Church. We went to all 3 meetings and felt like we were imposters. I’m not sure what the deal is, but didn’t get an overly warm welcome. Maybe next week will be better! ☺

Yesterday ended up being my toughest day at camp so far. I had to run down to Kamas to get some change for the trading post. I was so tired I had a really hard time driving. When we got back to the cabin, we found about 4 inches of standing water in half of our cabin. (The cabin tilts to one side, which I never considered a blessing until the whole “water incident”.) Luckily, we didn’t lose very much—just one library book. However, since we don’t have electricity, there is no way to dry out the carpet, we just have to wait. Sigh! The kids and I did hike around Scout Lake together. It was really pretty and the only hard part was hiking over boulder fields. It was great to see a little bit more of camp.

Doug and Mikayla ran down to Salt Lake yesterday and were able to go home and take a shower. Unfortunately, our water STILL isn’t working, so I took Jordan, Lexie, and Hunter up to the Dining Hall. I warmed some water on the stove and was able to bathe them. I just couldn’t bring myself to get in their FILTHY water after they were through so I went yet another night filling gross and yucky. Unfortunately, when Doug and Kay got home, I lost it. I was so tired and overwhelmed by then that I just cried myself to sleep.

This morning, I felt much better when I woke up. We went down to East Fork where I was able to shower and actually do my hair before we went to Church. I haven’t felt like myself for a whole week now. It was good to be back!! ☺
Today Doug is going to hang out with the kids while I take a nap. (Yes, I do hear strains of the Hallelujah Chorus in the background!) Then later, he will make tinfoil dinners over a campfire. It will sure be nice to have LaDawn back on duty tomorrow.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Well, we had our first group of boys come into camp yesterday. They sure make things noisier around here! ☺ We have done quite the booming business at the trading post so far. We have sold lots of candy and soda, plus the things required for the merit badges. We are only about half full this week because of the 4th of July, so it’s kind of nice to break things in gradually.

Tomorrow, we have the National Accreditation Team coming in. Doug has been pretty stressed to make sure and get everything ready so we can get accredited. He has been down in Salt Lake most of the day working on his paperwork. I hate it when he drives down in his Scout truck because it is soooo falling apart. I never know if he is being held up because he just has a lot to do or because he broke down…again!

Mikayla is having fun with her troop. She is a troop friend to a Polynesian group—I believe they are Samoan. They invited her and Tiffany to dinner last night—they were having lamb. Their Bishop comes up every day with food for the following day. They are having some pretty nice meals!!!

Jordan and Lexie continue to spend most of their time with me in the trading post. LaDawn has been letting them borrow her portable DVD player, so they have been watching lots of movies. I now have a generator at the trading post so we are able to keep the computer and DVD player charged—so they can each watch the movie of their choice. The generator is actually for my credit card machine, but I figure, why let all those extra plugs go to waste?!?

Hunter stills prefers spending time with his little posse. He eats with them at every meal and spends as much time with them as I will allow them. He was so wiped out this morning that he just couldn’t get up in time for breakfast. We tried and tried to wake him up at 7:00, but we didn’t actually see him until about 10:00. He just runs all day long! The outdoor skills group is building him a fort in the woods. He is pretty excited about it and keeps bugging him about when they are going to get it done. Logan Bullough told me today that they picked out a perfect spot for it. That should keep my little man occupied for a while.

We finally got the water to our cabin working yesterday. We have all showered now. Ahhh! In fact, Jordan and Lexie both showered last night before they went to bed and again tonight. This is the first time I can ever remember Jordan ASKING to shower. I usually have to force/bribe him. I wonder how long it will take us to take running water, indoor plumbing, and electricity for granted again.

Jordan and I hiked down to the archery area today. To get there, you have to go down what is called “Cardiac Hill”. Getting down wasn’t so bad. However, getting back up…WOW!!! We had to stop a couple of times to take a breather. Jordan is a little bit worried because next week when his troop comes up, he will be doing the archery merit badge and having to make that hike a couple of times a day. I think it would be great if we could go up and down it a few times just for some exercise. Speaking of which, I brought a scale up here with us. Depending on which area of my tilting cabin floor I place it, I have lost anywhere from 10 to 40 pounds in the last 10 days. Hmmm, maybe I can market a new diet plan, “The Camp Steiner Tilting Cabin Floor Diet Plan, lose 27 pounds in one day, with no ill effects.” Sounds like a winner!!!!