July.

It's already July 17th? How did that happen? I've been meaning to post since the beginning of this month, but clearly it caught up to me. So I'll start from the holiday weekend.

July 4th - this year the 4th fell on a Monday, so we had a 3-day weekend and worked the "Bash at the Beach" event on base on Monday evening. It was a fun time, the interns were in charge of the water play this year, which was fun as we got to see a lot of the kids we work with there with their families. I really love seeing the families come out and do things together, our only 'family' time at work is when the parents drop off their children & pick them up each day, so it's nice to see the families have time to do things together.

The only downfall to this year's event was that it was on Monday. Last year the 4th was on Sunday so we were able to watch the fireworks and hang out late on Sunday night while still having Monday off. Not that we were out too late or anything, but it was a bit of a bummer that we had to go to work the morning after the fireworks. But I'm glad it was on a Monday and not in the middle of the week. :)

Here's a picture of our Camp A group for this summer at the end of the event.

Work has been busy, typically I only go on the pool field trips with the day camp (every Wednesday & Friday), but this week the Tuesday/Thursday trips were to the beach. Per Camp Adventure policy we need a supervisor on any aquatics trips that are off-base, for extra supervision & such. I don't mind though, because this was my schedule for the week:

Monday - day at the centers... observations, paperwork & such

Tuesday - beach field trip with the 8-10 year olds

Wednesday - swimming pool trip with the entire camp

Thursday - beach field trip with the 5-7 year olds

Friday - swimming pool trip with the entire camp

Although my 'one-piece-tanline' isn't going away as I'd hoped & I'm a little behind on paperwork, I can't complain about that schedule! :)

This week has also been busy as I had some visitors to the keys! My sister Mary Anne & her husband Joe came to Key West for a week's vacation.

Sunday we went on the Fury's Ultimate Adventure, and the title describes it all. We went parasailing, jet skiing, swimming/inflatable rock climbing & snorkeling. It's pretty much an all encompassing trip for any water sports you'd

want to do in Key West.

Here's a picture of our view while parasailing.

The rest of the week was just as busy, I was able to spend a lot of time with them, show them around the island, do a few touristy things & enjoy a sunset cruise. Here is a picture of the dolphins that visited our boat during the sunset cruise. We joked that they must've escaped from Theater of the Sea or Sea World because they put on a little show for us :)

Mary Anne & Joe left last night & overall I think they had a nice relaxing week. As for me, I've got 4 more weeks here in Key West that will prove to keep me busy. We're planning our big 'dessertfest' for August 10th with a circus theme, so it'll be fun prepping & planning for that. Still no word on where/what's next come August 13th, but I'll keep you posted :)

Today's quote is from a book I received as a graduation gift from my roommate in Iowa. It has a positive quote for each day, I really do enjoy reading them. Some of them make you think or reflect while others just remind you to appreciate what you have. Here's one that'll get you thinking.

"Ideals can be like the stars; we never reach them, but like the mariners of the sea, we chart our course by them." -Carl Schurz

My thoughts- Sometimes it may seem like nothing will ever be ideal, or that we'll ever be able to accomplish anything. But we still need those ideals/goals to keep us going, to chart our course by them so we know we are on the right path & stick to it.

Hump Day.

The title says it all. Wednesdays = hump day. Sometimes it feels like the longest day of the week, but once you get past it you've only got 2 more days until the weekend. Some weeks it seems that knowing it's hump day makes it that much more difficult, just gotta make it through hump day and you're almost there. Almost.

Today is not only the hump day of the week, but the hump day of the summer. Exactly 6.5 weeks completed here in Key West, 6.5 more to go. Phew! I'd say things have been going well, I'm still waiting for things to slow down... it feels like I keep saying 'next week will be better because...' but then something else comes up, making that week just as long as the one before. Things have been gradually improving, but there's always something.

Looking back on how these past 6 weeks have gone, I'd say we've come a long way. I've been given a lot of additional responsibilities than what I'd originally anticipated, which has definitely kept me busy. Supervising day camp programs off site is a new experience that I'm definitely still working the kinks out with, but as things are going well, there's always room to improve.

As I look forward to the next 6 weeks, they'll definitely be busy, but I'm looking forward to what's next, whatever that may be. I've been steadily applying for jobs since arriving in Key West, about 2-3 per week. Haven't heard much yet, but hopefully something will work out to give me a full time position in the fall.

The quote I'm ending with tonight is a good one for me here in Key West. Sometimes with the long days and busy schedules it's hard to really get to know the girls I'm working with here. It's not a bad situation, but one that leaves room for improvement. Remembering this quote can remind us that the simple things matter most in friendships.

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." -Victor Borge

All at once.

The title to this one says it all... all at once. It seems that everything we'd been anticipating here in Key West happened at once.

1- Site visit from our Project Director (supervisor above me). She made her visit for 1 day here in Key West before heading on to Marathon to do their visit. She arrived Wednesday night (the 15th) & observed and had meetings on base on Thursday the 16th.

2- Accreditation visit from NAEYC for the CDC program. This visit is a huge deal, so that the center can earn their accreditation status. When we first arrived in Key West they informed us that the accreditation visit would happen before the end of July. Everyone was in full force to get things done for this visit. This visit also happened on Thursday the 16th. It was a 2-day visit so they came on the 17th too, thankfully only visiting the CDC though.

3- Midterm. As the summer moves towards our midterm week (the 'hump day' of the summer is June 29th) there are evaluations and additional paperwork to be done. Naturally Camp Adventure likes to have things done early, which means everything should be completed by the 24th, so it needs to be worked on starting the 15th so that the meetings, discussions & reflections can take place before the paperwork is due...

4- New staff. Finally! The school-age program has been hurting for more staff to cover ratios, finally the newest staff member hired can be in ratio full time as of the 15th, but it's still her first few days so she's learning, oh but she's been on vacation this week, returning Thursday.

5-As if that's not enough, in additional to the typical weekly tasks, Michelle got sick. I had to take a day to 'rest' on Friday the 17th. I visited urgent care, per their diagnosis I have an infection, but I'm not convinced it's a sinus infection. With a prescription nasal spray, an antibiotic & few days later I'm still feeling pretty exhausted and headaches come and go as they please...

Oh, & 1 more thing, one of my counselors here had to go home for a family emergency, so she left on Saturday and will return tomorrow afternoon.

I'm tired just typing all of this, let alone reliving these crazy days !! I'm thankful they're past me, for the most part. I swear there will never be a dull moment in Camp Adventure. I'm trying to play catch up with anything & everything, but there always seems to be something. Take last night for example... 2 of the counselors decided they were going to go snorkeling after work to finally use their new snorkel gear they'd purchased here. About an hour after their excursion began I got a phone call (which is never good...) One of the girls slipped on the rocks and cut open her knee. At first it wasn't something to worry about, but after I saw it & the girl consulted her parents & a few others, we decided to take her to the ER, and 2 hours later we left with a prescription and 4 stitches. That's what I get for planning to have a productive night.

Overall though, as hectic as things always seem to be, I think it's going pretty well. Definitely keeping me on my toes and testing my juggling abilities, but for tonight I think I'm coming out on top. Hopefully I'll agree with that statement tomorrow.

"None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm." -Henry David Thoreau

Prep.

Hard to believe I've already been in Key West for 4 weeks now. Time sure does fly. Although we've been here 4 weeks and have been full time with the children for 3 weeks, we're just getting started on Monday. For the past few weeks the counselors working with the school-age program have been spending their mornings at the child development center (CDC) and their afternoons with the after-school program. Starting Monday the full day summer camp will start. We've got the programming done and field trips ready, but it's going to be one rocky week. The CDC is up for their accreditation visit any day now, and the youth center is way understaffed. Technically there's only 4 people (including my staff) assigned to the 60 school-age summer camp kids. That's fine for ratios, until someone needs a break during their 8 hour shift. It looks like I'm going to be spending a lot more time in the classrooms than I did last year, but thankfully they have 1 additional MWR staff hired that will start later this week.So far things have been going well, here in Key West and at the 3 additional sites I'm supervising. As I said in the last post, it's a lot of work & keeping me on my toes, but time sure is flying, just 9 more weeks!

This past weekend (Memorial Day) we took a group trip up to Bahia Honda state park, it's about 40 minutes north of here on Big Pine Key. It was a nice relaxing trip, and also got a little work done as I did a risk management check of the site as the day camp will be heading there in July.

This weekend I didn't do much. Friday night I went out with a few of the girls at work, we went to this amazing sushi restaurant called Ambrosia. It was a little pricey, but soo good. I'll eat sushi every now & then, but I'm not too brave when it comes to trying new types. This group, though, were regulars at this restaurant. So I decided to have blind faith in their ordering, and ate what their favorites were. None of the sushi I tried on Friday were any I'd had before, but I loved them all. Now if I only knew what we ordered! Here's a picture of one of the platters (there were 7 of us), so good!!

I felt a little under the weather on Saturday so I stayed in and caught up on my sleep, Sunday was spent going to Church in the morning and wandering around the island. I'm definitely keeping my weekends low key, but it's necessary as the work days are long and the weeks even longer. I'm continuing the job search for August, as I find the time/energy but there doesn't seem to be much out there right now. Hopefully within the next month more jobs will be posted with August starting dates. Only time will tell :)

I'm going to end this post with another Dr Seuss quote. This is one that I cut out to decorate the 2nd classroom at the youth center (the picture is kind of hard to see, but it's below) I think it's a fun one & great for the kids!

"Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you!" -Dr. Seuss

Summertime

As you may be able to tell from my lack of posts since March, it's been a busy 2 months for me. I've done a lot of traveling & working and finished my research paper to earn my Master's :) I can officially add "M.A." after my name!!

As far as this summer goes, I am spending one last summer with Camp Adventure working in Key West. This will be my 6th program with Camp Adventure, my 5th summer, and my 4th time on an island. I can't really complain with those numbers :) I'm excited to be back in Key West, to have a familiar program with familiar faces, and although a lot has changed here in the last year, it's good for the program to have some consistency with the summer interns.

This summer will be a little different in a few other aspects though. Although I am still living and working in Key West, I will also be supervising the Gulf Region programs for Camp Adventure. This includes Key West & 3 other day camp programs - Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee, New Orleans Navy Base in Louisiana and City of Marathon Parks & Rec in the Keys. I will be the direct supervisor helping with their programming, risk management, staffing, etc. for each of the day camps there. Each site has a director that I will mainly be in contact with. Unfortunately due to time & money constraints I won't be able to do site visits to each program, but I'm excited to work with directors and have that little something to keep me on my toes ;)

Each program starts at a different time, which is nice for me as it spreads out the paperwork & responsibilities, but it'll also keep me very busy for a good few weeks. Last weekend the Arnold staff arrived & completed their orientation so their first day of camp is this week. The New Orleans staff arrived this weekend, so they'll have orientation this week and will start camp the next week. And then the Marathon staff arrives next weekend, to have their orientation week and then the first week of camp after that, which is also the first week of summer camp here in Key West. So I have a very busy few weeks ahead of me working out the kinks with programming and new staff getting used to the Camp Adventure program, but I have some great directors that I think will do a great job.

As all of this work will inevitably be piling up quickly, I took this 3 day Memorial Day weekend to relax a little. Spent both Saturday & Sunday on the beach, working on my freckles, and took the day Monday to catch up on work & relax. Just what I needed to get charged up for the summer.

I'm really looking forward to this summer and know the next 11 weeks will fly right on by, hopefully having a happy ending with a good job in August :) only time will tell!

I chose one of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes to start off this summer, which was coincidentally (or not) one of the decorations in the classrooms when I returned this month. I think it's very fitting for me right now :)

"You have brains in your head and feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..." -Dr. Seuss; Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Spring Break.

This year for spring break 3 of my friends here decided to take a big trip. Initially we were going to drive to Dallas, then to New Orleans & back up to Iowa through Memphis. But after realizing how much time we'd have in each place, we decidedto go to New Orleans for 5 days & spend a night in Memphis on our way back.

This was my first time in New Orleans and I really loved it. Parts of the city reminded me a lot of Key West, just on a larger scale. The city has such a cool feel and tons of character (plus great food!) We had a ton of fun exploring & touring and relaxing in the Big Easy :)

The trip got off to a bit of a rocky start, the 19 hour drive to New Orleans brought us through a snow storm in Missouri that we got stuck in for a while, dinner at Cracker Barrel (a first for the other 3) and a huge thunderstorm in Mississippi. Needless to say we were happy when we finally made it to our hotel in New Orleans.

We spent our first day browsing the city, since this was the first visit for all 4 of us we wanted to scope out what we'd be interested in seeing.

Overall we did a lot of walking, but a lot of sight seeing too. We took a tour of the city that also brought us through

the lower 9th ward and the areas most affected by Hurricane Katrina. Our tour guide was very grateful for the many volunteers that have visited to help in the rebuilding. The picture to the left is where the levy broke. Before the hurricane the levy was 2 ft shorter and there were houses right up against the levy wall. Over 12 ft of water ended up in this area. There were a lot of houses being built or remodeled, including a few larger scale projects. But there were also a lot of houses that still need work, and many properties for sale. I can't imagine being in the city right after the storm.

We also took a Bayou tour while in New Orleans, which was definitely a must. It was a lot of fun to see the 'stereotypical' Louisiana. We learned a lot about the wildlife, and also learned that people don't live on the bayou like the movies would lead you to believe. We saw a ton of gators & turtles and even some birds. At the end of the tour the tour guide passed around a baby gator that they rescued & will release back into the wild. To the right is the 4 of us with the gator: Anna, Kristine, me & Jazelle. :)

The day we went on the bayou tour (if you didn't guess) was also St. Patrick's day. It was a lot of fun to see the city prepare. We arrived just a week after the big Mardi Gras, and if you hadn't known you never would've guessed. Everything was spick & span with tons of decorations for St Patrick's day already. Now I know that the measly St Patrick's day festivities were nothing compared to Mardi Gras in the Big Easy, but it sure was a lot of fun! There were people everywhere and there was even a parade.

Overall I had a great time in New Orleans, I'm not sure that it's a city for me, but it was fun to visit :)

Our next stop on the way back to Iowa was to see Memphis, Tennessee and Graceland. This way we could break up the long drive home and do a little sight seeing. Graceland was fun, but I was honestly a little 'Elvis-ed' out by the end of it. We toured the house, the property (the picture to the right is the entrance gate), multiple award showcases and then additional exhibits focused on different aspects of his career (acting, live shows, awards, etc.) We ate at a diner with his favorie foods, grilled peanut butter & banana was a favorite.

We were able to explore Memphis a little too, which is a really fun town with a lot of jazz inspiration. There was some kind of special event on Beale street that night so we walked around & listened to the locals playing their music and watched the tourists dance :) We also stopped by to see the Lorraine Hotel where MLK was shot and saw the memorial museum for that.

Overall it was a lot of fun packed into one week. I'm really glad we made the trip to New Orleans & Memphis, 2 cities that I've always wanted to see but never made the trip. It was fun to see 2 classic southern cities with unique characters. I'd definitely recommend visiting both :)

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year" -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Lent.

It's so easy sometimes to get caught in the hype of giving something up for lent. Often we forget what the real meaning to giving something up...

Here is something that a friend posted online this week that I wanted to share. Rather than simply giving up that favorite dessert, give up something you really struggle with. And challenge yourself to become a better person this Lent.

Give up complaining - focus on gratitude.

Give up harsh judgements - think kindly.

Give up worry - trust Divine Providence.

Give up discouragement - be full of hope.

Give up bitterness - turn to forgiveness.

Give up hatred - return good for evil.

Give up anger - be more patient.

Give up pettiness - become mature.

Give up gloom - enjoy the beauty around you.

Give up jealousy - pray for trust.

Give up gossip - control your tongue.

Give up sin - turn to virtue.

Give up giving up - hang in there.

Regardless of your faith, you can take these next 40 days to focus on you and become a better version of yourself that will last.

"To change and to change for the better are two different things." -Proverb