Day (22)

We got so much cleaning done yesterday that all we had to do was support runs, water drops, make the event bracelets, bag t-shirts and a few other random things. Not a whole lot went on today, did some inventory calculating and then Chris and Carlos showed up around lunch time which was really exciting-i like to say they were coming home :) I went back to see Jared for his support run that afternoon, they had been haulin' so they had actually been waiting on us for 45 minutes even though we were 30 minutes early. we had a nalgene chugging contest with jared and some people from his group, Jared won with a time of 13 seconds...impressive!

Day (21)

Hiking Day one! Even though everyone is leaving for the week, I get really excited watching how the groups interact this morning especially. Some are excited, some are nervous, there's tons of chaos but still the organization to keep things flowing. Its a more calming morning- it seems like for once other people are more frantic than Mary Walker and I are. I was also pretty excited to get to drop a group off today, I love getting to see them off. I dropped Jared's group, "Seal Team 17" off at Dickey's Gap-the route "Space jam"- and got to do a few other car pick ups later on that really helped break up all the cleaning mom and i cleaned both new staff bath houses when we got back; more gross in the girls bathroom if you can believe it...it was fun to get to have that last little bit of time with my mom before she left, even if i was really tired and not that much fun to talk to. mom stayed for lunch and then had to head home :( The rest of the day was pretty quiet, i was glad to have Becky and baby Moki on support this week, i haven't gotten to play with a little kid for so long and they bring so much joy to everyone.

Day (20)

I'm so excited for today because my mom is coming up to trail to help Malker and I in the kitchen; she's never really been to Trail which i've always hated that my parents haven't experienced it but i'm really glad to get to show her everything that goes on, especially during the retreat. Mom got here around 10:00 when we were taking our group photo on the porch and i got to show her around for a few minutes before we had to start the Individual foods. Mom really liked getting to see all the kids come to me and get everything ready to go out on the trail tomorrow! She was big help to me when it came to restocking and making all of the support bins for each group-usually i do them by myself and they take a pretty long time. I think i was most excited for mom to see the skits and to do the walk to the outdoor chapel that night; it's always a favorite spot and is just exciting to share with someone.

Day (19)

Well, Pink eye again. Fantastic! Otherwise, today is retreat day one so I had to figure out what to do about my eye before I would be too busy. Got an appointment somewhere in Abingdon but when i got there, it was where the tornado's had come through and there wasn't anything left of it. I found somewhere else thankfully and got medicine, maybe it'll work this time...got back in time for Meet and Greet, Longs Chapel from Waynesville was our first group in, I always love seeing their excitement to be here-Jared would be hiking with them this week; Zack has real hiking shoes this year and we're hoping he wont cut his foot with an axe this time. Thankfully evrything is going pretty smoothly today with preparation, for the first night dinner- Chicken Parm! We remembered eggplant this time for the vegetarians, which i actually ate instead of the chicken..i've gotten really sick of eating what we've been cooking. After dinner was worship and first night group meetings like usual, the support team met with the BCP's for the week to go over what we would be doing this week- we have two little kids staying at the property which is a little different. AmyBith brought her 4 year old son Mario who is a little wild to say the least and Becky and her 1 year old son Moki. we had our usual staff meeting later after everyone was in bed; we had a really good discussion on how we were working together as a staff and our dynamics. We need to take the time to seek each other out individually because right now there are groups within our team but we can get to the point where we really do have 13 best friends! We all felt really good about the talk and how it would cause our leadership to grow.

Day (18)

Junior Staff Day! Most of our JStaff were already here on the layover, but two more came, Mary-Holland and Jonathan. We had our usual lasagna dinner and instead of having worship at the wooden church, we went up to the lookout and got there just in time for a beautiful sunset! We came back from the lookout and played extreme 4-square...the new rules being, if you get out in the 1st square, you have to "Move it Like Bernie" all the way around the lodge, the second square you had to do "star jumps", the 3rd square you had to "scream like a banshee" and the Kings square you had to run a suicide like a Monkey-sound effects included. We got pretty into it..and pretty worn out after playing for two hours, so we voted on watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding...slept though the entire thing. After that nap I was pretty energized so patrick, ashley and I stayed up and watched a movie while a bunch of people went to the Adirondack for awhile. Stayed up way too late but it was fun since we don't always have a lot of time to hang out!

Day (17)

Everyone left today bright and early, as groups had some really long drives back to Florida. KayLee left today with St. Pete- we were sad to see her go but also excited to see what we could do and would do on our own next event. We cleaned our assigned areas with the junior staff and helped put all the boxes from the US food order up; good thing we had so many people, 215 boxes takes a long time to put away! The JStaff left with Michael and MJ to go to Pirates Paradise...it sounds mean, but to us this was heaven. To just have 3 hours or so by ourselves, just the staff and not have to work was amazing. We all stood on the porch and yelled and screamed once they had left and a lot of us went to take naps. Patrick and I set up our hammocks in the yard (the Boone crew knows whats up) and jack just passed out in the middle of the lodge on a mattress. I was dreading them coming back because this was my first moment of relaxing, and with just the staff again-the next retreat starts tomorrow so it was the first and last time for awhile :(

Day (16)

Happy Git Back Day!! Got up nice and early to start on the legendary cinnamon Rolls for when the first group arrives back at the property! We had been missing the staff so much, especially not seeing them on support at all. Even though we ended up spending almost 15 hours straight in the kitchen, it was back to being cheerful and excited as we got to hear about different groups' weeks and the funny stories within them. Everyone went to play the Wiffle ball game at Weaver Field after lunch-while we cooked dinner. I definitely am having a hard time with things like that, i'm missing getting to play with everyone, group games, 4-square and just actually getting to sit down and eat dinner with everyone. I did enjoy seeing the second time group skits, Noah's was definitely the best with a whole song about Harry Potter to the tune of "Like a G6"; starting off with "Gimme them chocolate frogs...every flavor beans, i've got my permission slip...i'm going to Hogsmeade! ohhh yeah, Hufflepuff say whats up.." Winnnnner. Had our staff meeting later on and told stories of the week to each other :)