Boating with the Boys

Thursday was the day of the eagerly anticipated boat trip. For the older campers, it was a surprise trip to the Grand River ferry. I went on the trip to Crystal Lake in the Grand Haven area with the younger campers including Matt and Cody from our Cabin.

Sadly, Bob was still too sick to go on the trip. He said he felt fine, but his pale face and exhausted look said otherwise. I was later told he spent the day sitting in an even more slouched position than normal on the deck by the water to pretend he was on a boat. 

     
Instead of one of my own campers, I switched with another counselor and got to spend the day with Sha guan, an 8-year-old with Autism. He mostly repeats what you say, but he will answer some questions. I quickly discovered that he loved ice cream as “ice cream truck” was one of his most popular phrases.  He was sporting shorts and a cut off that were way too big for him because they were actually his counselors (all of his own clothes were dirty) so he looked pretty funny.

When we first got on the boat, Sha guan only wanted to sit inside at first, but we eventually were able to coax him into sitting in the back to look at the water.

After we were off the boat, we sang songs for the Coast Guard people who were there. This was Sha guan’s shining moment. He went to the middle of the circle and sang while constantly spinning in circles. After that, the Coast Guard showed us what they do. We went to the harbor and watched a  helicopter rescue demonstration

On Friday morning, we found out that all three of the counselors from another guy’s cabin were sick with the same stomach flu that Bob had. I helped them out in the morning and we ended up dividing their campers among the other cabins so they could rest. For us, we got Matt B, Bodie, and Danny, three more wheelchairs.
      

Most of our campers were excited for doing the swing. While I was helping Matt W put his harness on, he told me that he liked to critique restaurants’ food for their health and taste. I wondered which restaurant had the best healthy food and he answered with McDonald’s so I do not know if I would trust his judgment on restaurants.

Bob continued to surprise us with his ability to be sensitive given his normal, mischievous nature. I asked him if he wanted to join the cabin in the art room and he responded, “why the hell not?” but then when he got there he colored a rainbow that he was very proud of.

I once again got to be the archer for the council fire which I was happy about because it was the first outdoor one, which is much more special than the indoor ones, in my opinion.

As a birthday gift, we let Cody play the part of the golden eagle. This was the first time a camper was able to play a part in council fire. The golden eagle is covered in black paint so this was the perfect role for him not to be recognized and  therefore envied by other campers. During practice, he missed his cue and we were not sure what to expect, but he ended up doing a great job in the actual event, making it a great way to end the week.