Visitors

On Friday, my brother, his wife, their dog and my BF all came to camp to visit. We sat outside, grilling, talking, laughing, relaxing and then we had a campfire. I adore my brother and he is most definitely the funnest person I know, so it was great to have him visit.

Yesterday was a mandatory staff inservice and I had my brother do a speech at the end of the training. He spoke about professionalism and gave them three pointers for camp and for real life-

1. Make you job fun: some day you will be doing your job year round, so innovate, be creative and make it fun.
2. Always be having an awesome day: no one wants to be around a negative person. Leave your problems at the door and be positive. You will get ahead faster if you are likable and easy to be around.
3. Make your boss's life easier- If your boss could do everything, he/she wouldn't need you. Your job is to make them look good- do that and you will eventually be the boss.

My brother is a great speaker, funny, easygoing and it was great to have him at camp.

Earlier in the week, I had some other visitors- my best friend X, her dad and my baby nieces! I felt like a little kid at Christmas before they arrived!!

During the first week of my first summer, X came to camp. She and I stayed up late the first night trying to figure out a system for scheduling activities. She was there when my boss snapped at me for the first time. It was awkward, surprising, totally unprofessional, and the foreshadowing to my crazy camp journey. She is one of the few people who saw camp my first year, who has seen it every year and who truly understands what I've been doing all these years.

She has visited every year, and every time she is here, she has been part of memorable camp experiences- making tiny little envelopes for the elf, building an enormous owl costume, researching trailers after the flood. More importantly, she is the one who I have called to vent, share stories and stay sane while at camp. She has followed each summer as her own personal soap opera.

I wasn't sure if she would be able to make it out this summer due to the adorable, but time-sucking infants she is currently rearing. Why did I doubt? She and her dad made the drive and I was SOOOOO happy to spend the day with them and the babies.

We walked around camp, dipped their feet in the sand and the lake for the first time (as expected, the reasonable one liked it and my god daughter was VERY dramatic and unhappy with the newness of it). We took their photos in front of the mud pit, drove around on he golf cart and showed the babies the bulldogs.

It was a wonderful day- not just because I got to see my best friend and babies that I love, but just the simple act of being able to be unavailable for the whole day was kind of amazing. Camp is organized, well run, and able to run without me. It hasn't always been that way and I was fully aware of how amazing it was to be able to snuggle babies without worrying about camp.

I don't want camp to end, but I miss my life at home. I miss being able to see the babies regularly and so the end of the summer is bittersweet. Check out these adorable babies-