Jello!

We didn't have the jello fight on the schedule, it was a last minute idea from S & A. None of the staff or campers were expecting it. We decided that instead of just announcing it, we would have to make a production out of it.

Last night, after the kids went to sleep, we snuck into the kitchen and borrowed one of the 6 foot tall pan racks. We wrapped it in big paper and then cut up a cardboard box to make flaps on the top of it. We made an address label, giant stamp (with post mark), and then put cones around it to prevent curious campers from attempting to "open" the "box".

This morning, S & A got to breakfast first and made a big production of being surprised. They shouted and threw their hands in the air and demanded to know what was going on. "Where is Camp Director?!?!?" I was standing outside listening for my cue.

I marched in, yelling at the top of my lungs, "What is going on in here?! Why are they calling for me? Do you know what is going on? What's going on??" I was power walking in between tables, asking all of the campers what was going on. They were all pointing to the giant box in the corner. When I finally got to it, I started shouting again, "what is this??? Why is it here?!?!?"

S suggested I open it and so I climbed on the chair that was behind it and dramatically pulled open the two flaps on the top. I looked inside and then looked up at all of the campers, my eyes wide. "S! You have to see this!"

S climbed onto the chair, looked inside, eyes wide, she yelled for A to come and look. Once all three of us were wide eyed and excited, we jumped down and all three started pacing and talking at once. "We need to get rid of it! What should we do?!" The campers (and staff) stared at us, completely silent and intent.

"We've got to get rid of it!" -me

"We've got to get rid of it!" -S

"We've got to get rid of it!" -A

All three of us dramatically headed to our table to "discuss" what to do. The campers were literally hanging off their chairs, waiting to hear more.

At that point, I went back into normal camp director mode and said, "okay, let's stand for morning prayer."

We nearly had a riot as campers realized they weren't going to find out what was inside the box. I told them we had to think about it. Maybe we'd never know what to do... or maybe we'd know by lunch.

At lunch, I told them we hadn't figured it out yet, but maybe they could help.

Prior to lunch, we'd filled the top opening with some random things, and so as I stood in front of the kids, I said, "well, let's look at some of the stuff inside."

A pair of rain boots, an umbrella, goggles... silence from the crowd. They were interested, confused, waiting for something more.

I "reached" deep down, "all the way to the bottom" and "found" a bucket of jello! "This whole box is filled with jello!!! How will we ever get rid of all of it?!?!?!?"

Silence to deafening noise in a split second.

"JELLO FIGHT! JELLO FIGHT! JELLO FIGHT! JELLO FIGHT! JELLO FIGHT!"

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders as I walked through the dining hall, bucket of jello held high. "I guess it's the only thing we can do!"

The actual jello fight was pretty much the same as always. Fun, silly, sticky. When it was over, we marched everyone down to the lake to jump in and wash off. Annual jello fight complete.