Photoessay #54 - Naomi returns to camp

My youngest daughter is a Counselor-In-Training at the local girl scout camp (where her older sister also works as a Unit Leader). Because of the many extra snow make up days at school, she had to go after the first session had already begun. She fretted about this quite a bit.

"I'll be the only one who doesn't know what to do!"
"You'll be fine"
"I'll be nervous and confused"
"In a few minutes, you will know exactly what's happening"
"I'll have to go around and say 'I'm confused! Help!"
"Don't worry, it will be easy"
"Everybody else will know where to go but ME!"
etc etc

We went out to the camp directly after her last final direct from the high school. It's a fair ways away (35 miles), beautiful drive in the Snohomish Valley, beautiful valley with woods and green open land. The developers are starting to get to it but plenty of pretty rustic spots out that way.

The camp is near a small town, one entrance is in the back parking lot of a local but well-known expanded produce place. After a few false starts figuring out where she should be, we found her unit, the other 5 CITs and the director. They were busy on a project painting flower pots in front of the building in the right of the photograph. You can see one of her fellow campers giving her a warm welcome.

"Nemo's here" she shouts
"Good to see you finally made it" says the director handing her a flower pot.

That was it, Naomi was in.

Actually the girls are in and out throughout the summer. This week, Naomi is working as an intern counselor in an "Owl Prowl" unit which does things at night (perfect for this hot week). Ilana is supervising an arts unit, she has 3 counselors and 28 campers to keep track of. Naomi says "we really aren't staff and we really aren't campers, we're SCAMPERS"

The photo at the bottom was when I picked her up at the high school. School is over, camp begins. Within an hour or so, love those transitions.