OK, OK, settle down! I know what you are thinking! “You are such a Judgey McJudgerson!” I know. I admit it. But that was my first impression. And yes, yes, we all know that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. And this was apparently true. Cuz within a few minutes I was totally seeing beyond the eccentric “book cover”. I pretty much was over it as soon as Will stepped up and offered to help us move all our bags into our rooms. All 3 counselors proceeded to grab luggage, sleeping bags and pillows. Shawn reached into the trunk for the 95 lb hockey bag.

“Ummm. That one is gonna be really heavy. I am not sure you are gonna wanna hump that one up stairs” I explained to Shawn rather sheepishly.

“Oh really! Why? What did you pack in here? Your entire encyclopedia?” If he only knew! Shawn smiled and then hauled out the bag. “Wow. It really does feel like your entire set!” With that, he hiked the strap over his shoulder and proceeded toward the building without even missing a beat! I really liked this guy now. I think to myself that we are gonna be besties!

“Follow us you guys. We will take you to your rooms on the girls floor and you can get settled.” Caroline called to us over her shoulder. I gave the kids a thumbs up, threw my son on my hip, and off we went. 

http://homeschool-scrapbook.blogspot.com

We stomped up the stairs to the third floor. I could tell that by the end of the session I was gonna be in great shape. My thighs were burning already but the counselors did not appear fazed at all! We stepped out of the stairwell and into the hallway. Again, first impression was that the place was a pit! A majority of the hallway was covered in piles of dirty, muddy and smelly clothing, wet bathing suits and shoes. It looked like the rooms had vomited out all this stinking debris into the hallway. And there was a smell too. It smelled of feet! It was pretty impressive for the “girls floor”. There were a couple of counselors attempting to sort through some of the piles. I saw one counselor asleep in a bottom bunk seemingly completely oblivious to the mayhem surrounding her.

“Don’t worry.” Will stopped to tell me. “We will get this all cleaned up by tomorrow.” He waved his hand around to indicate the mess. “Most of the counselors have gone into the city for their day off. When they get back and get their new room assignment we will get all this reorganized.”

We had 2 rooms next door to each other on the 3rd floor. The girls would have one room and my son and I would share the other. When my husband came to visit, my son could sleep on a little travel mattress on the floor. 

Our rooms were a stark contrast to what was going on in the hallway. They were pristine. The built in pine bunk beds had the mattresses stripped. The industrial carpet was vacuumed. The six pine shelves on the wall were empty and inviting. Beside each pine bunk was a small locked drawer for your valuables. Along the far wall were 6 sturdy hooks perfect for hanging wet bathing suits and towels. On the door was a “Welcome Nurse” sign that had obviously been made in Arts ‘n Crafts by someone with considerable talent.

On the one wall was a single window with a 6 inch window sill. The sill, turns out, is a great place for stashing all the cool rocks, pine cones and various forest treasures a kid can find. The window is open, so a beautiful breeze is blowing in and keeping the “feet” smell down in here. I walk to the window, with my son on my hip, and take him to have a peek out. The view from the third floor was absolutely stunning. You can see the roof of a little gazebo peeking out from the midst of the surrounding forest. You can look out past the pine, oak, and maple trees and see the lake. You can see a couple of counselors are using their day off to windsurf. 

My daughters run to the window, clutch the sill, look out and say “Wow!” All I can add, with an unadulterated smile on my face is “Coooool!” Maybe it’s all gonna be OK after all?!