High Time For A Detour (Aug 25)

• Band camp was pretty good this year. Our group of girls is fantastic and are really starting to come together, as a team and a performing ensemble. On Monday, I did have to talk to them about sitting out, but after that, we didn't have many problems that weren't actual injuries. Amazing - when you're clear with your expectations, the kids know what they can and can't do. Also, Anna and I were reminded why we spent most of our breaks in the hammocks last year :) On Tuesday, we had a big booboo though - Miss Monica fell during dance work and the evil ground hurt her ankle. Not sure on her prognosis for the season, but it will definitely take a while to heal :( Anna wrote and helped me write some great choreography throughout the week. I can't wait to put our costumes and all of our different equipment on the field, and see the reaction of the audience and judges :) Thursday, everyone was having issues and we had a relatively unproductive sectional - Anna and I were squabbling, the girls were have memorization trouble and I couldn't tell my left hand from my right. Luckily, it quickly turned from stressful to silly and we vowed not to do it again. Maybe we can blame the drumline - they were eating sassafras leaves all day. That night, the staff did a great skit ("The Candy Shop") and we got a standing ovation, lots of shouts and plenty of high-fives. On Friday, we had several breakdowns/almost-breakdowns - you could tell it was the end of the week. And many of Anna's and my frustrations from the week peaked that day. We were definitely ready for staff time at a local restaurant (...and bar) during the Senior Campfire that night. Anna and I (and others) tried some new drinks and everyone had a pretty good time. I think Lauren was excited to see that side of me :P Saturday brought humidity and more frustration but we made it to and through the Parent Performance without any major issues. Overall, it was a good week that went by really fast. I was sad to not feel like I had more time with everyone, but if it had felt any longer I may have tried to run away.
• Anna accidentally forgot to turn onto Russell Rd. when we were leaving camp, so we ended up turning around at the Happy Mohawk Canoe Livery down the road. Only, when we pulled in, we both kinda looked at each other and said we wanted to go canoeing. So we parked, got out, checked the prices, pondered a bit, decided we'd rather float down the river on tubes but didn't want to spend the predicted 3 hours that it would take. As an alternative, we chose to take the scenic route back to Kalamazoo, go through Grand Haven and stop by Lake Michigan. We did just that and it turned into a mini-road trip! We stopped where we wanted to, ate yummy food, walked the pier, waded in the lake, bought fruit from the side of the road and watched the sun set out of our window. And we didn't talk about guard at ALL...well, almost. (Mostly when we mentioned it, it was just to say how we couldn't believe that we weren't talking about it. Which kind of ruins it, but we were proud of ourselves nonetheless.) It was a fabulous way to go home.