Day 1 – July 2nd, 2016
Today I arrived at Family Camp #2 as I have done every year for the past 20 years, or my entire life, if you’d like to think of it that way. I drove up here earlier than my family this year, as there were complications at home that would result in us being 3-4 hours late. Family camp is a highlight of my year, and as such, I refuse to miss a moment. I picked up my cousin Brook(e) and we headed out. The whole ride we Jammed to the RENT soundtrack, other countries national anthems, and of course, Irish Pub Rock! Despite leaving early, we still weren’t the first in our family to show up. There are a lot of us that come!
Nana:
As herself
Uncles:
Todd, Troy, Randy, Chris.
Aunts:
Lisa, Tami (My mother), Tylene, and Tiffani, Chris Ann.
Cousins:
Lissa + Husband Zak and two kids, Lawson, Lexa, Brianna, Brook(e), Braden, Briar, J (Myself), Jessica, Nathan, Randy, Rylan, Ronan, Raiden, Tiffani, Michael, Chelsa.
Plus the families that we bring with us and the friends that we adopted into our ground year after year. We are a big part of this camp.
Not a lot happened today, mostly unpacking and greeting, so I headed to bed early to start my next day anew.
Sleep: 5h 8min
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Day 2 – July 3rd, 2016
It’s the first full day of family camp, and it happens to be Sunday. I dressed up in one of my suits, and now everyone knows me as the guy in the suit, even after I took it off. Around 1pm we took Uncle Randy’s boat out to go knee boarding! Turns out, I’m rubbish at knee boarding! The first moment I grabbed the rope, my board flipped and I crashed into the water. Second try! Same thing. Third try! I got up for about 8 seconds, hit a wake, and fell again. The last time I tried I actually did quite well! Got strapped in fast, caught maJor air, and Braden (who was on the other rope) fell off before me. I am happy with this, so I returned back to the boat.
Braden, Brylee, and I went out to Walmart for fish food. But ended up buying this shampoo which is worth $4 minimum and was being sold for $1. We got 6 of them. We then proceeded to get ice cream at this place called The Viking. Cute little shop with AMAZING ice cream. Also, Brylee paid so that made it even better. No, I did not guilt her, she offered when she told us about the place, long before the bill. Thanks, Brylee! Eating all these completely unnecessary calories! But it was so good! Well worth it. We all return back to camp and play 3 games of Splendor, I won them all 🙂
Sleep: 4h 27min
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Day 3 – July 4th, 2016
COFFEE CAKE! I could easily Just end my day here; it was that good. This place makes the best coffee cake I have ever had! I didn’t have much time for breakfast today, so I showed up, sat down, filled a cup with coffee cake, grabbed a milk and left. A few hours slipped by where I’m sure something interesting happened, but it isn’t present in my mind. LUNCH! The food here is Just so good. Chicken Enchiladas and Cheesy Biscuits! I had 5 servings. Stop your Judging, I can feel it from here! After I ate, I held my cousin’s 2nd child “Ester”. She is 1-year-old and adorable. However, the tiny human puked on me after a while… Not so adorable anymore. I went zip lining, ran, and reached a new height for my vertical Jump! It was a fairly active day. Each year we have this thing, by we I mean Braden, Brylee, and I, where e all sit around a camp fire and talk ‘til the wee hours of the early morning. If the sun is coming up, we tend to wrap up and go to bed. These conversations are deep, 100% truthful, and never leave our group. It’s our once a year tradition. The first night it happened was the night we met Brylee, and we’ve been doing it ever since. It was scheduled for tonight, so instead of eating dinner, I had two croutons and took a nap. It was a glorious nap! One of those naps where you actually take your shoes off! I woke up 7 minutes before chapel, but the nice thing about camp is that nobody cares what you look like. I woke up and within 2 minutes, I was out the door back in public.
He spoke about 4 reasons why being a Christian has it perks, or the 4 reasons you would want to accept Jesus into your life. Powerful stuff. I really had to use the loo, so as soon as the service was over I went in to use a urinal. Something odd happened there. A little kid of about 4-5 years old stands at the urinal next to me. Breaking Bro Code by the way. He looks over at… me and says “Woooooow” as little kids do. I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment or if I should be creeped out that a small child is looking at me when I’m peeing. Tiny humans scare me sometimes.
It was time for fireworks, as it is the 4th of July! We took a bunch of cars out to a beach and watched them the fireworks glow. The fireworks are great as they explode into light, but the drunk people are the ones to watch! One guy was so drunk that he walked out to his car and tried to put his key in the lock. After struggling for about 2 full minutes, he unzips his pants and starts urinating on the concrete, not more than 6 feet away from all of us. He waddles back into the bar and gets hit by the door…twice. He was so wasted. I then proceeded to go to a different part of the parking lot, where I found something I should not have found. Drunk people were getting very… friendly under the stairs. As I return back to the cars, the first drunk guy comes back and apologizes to each of us, individually, all down the line. I couldn’t make out most of his words, but there was a sorry in there somewhere.
We return to camp with the intent of heading to Fire Talk, but Brylee canceled last minute. Well, not canceled, shifted. It was always on a Thursday before because we always leave on Friday, but the timing was bad this year. However, I guess we’re going to do it anyway. I watched my cousin play a game for a little while, and then decided to hit the hay. By hitting the hay I do not mean sleep, I mean sit in a lawn chair and tell you the stories of my day. Drunk people, tiny humans, lot of food, and explosions. It was a fairly eventful day. But that drunk guy won’t remember a moment of it.
Sleep: 5h 8min
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Day 4 – July 5th, 2016
Today I was in the Teen class, as I still am technically a teen, at least for a few more months. Then I’ll really be old. I’m guessing this is like adult training? Anyway, we got to ask the teacher some questions, and he had some pretty hilarious answers. I know his brother, so it was interesting seeing his perspective of the past opposed to his brothers.
At these campgrounds, they use a ton of wooden pallets to build a maze! We had a water fight in the maze today. I got a small power water gun and a bottle, and tied a plastic tube to both ends for instant refills! It was Adults vs. Kids, but all the adults thought I was a kid, and all the kids thought I was an adult. So I got soaked! However, I started to acquire a team with the kids I had met earlier that week. One I taught how to play a table game, one I convinced to go zip lining, and one I versed in Carpet Ball, etc. I had 8 little minions following in my path, and we wrecked everyone! I got them to team up against my Aunt Tiffany and we soaked her. However, she has no sense of direction, so she could never find out how to get to us in order to shoot back. It was great! I did have an enemy, though, Kirk. He was always in the primal place to shoot me and run. Since it’s maze, you can shoot through the walls and get away with it. You Just can’t get around to them fast enough because they’re already long gone. He got me eight times. EIGHT TIMES! After it was all done and over we decided to head back, but noticed the pool was open. They had opened it 30 minutes early because they knew that we were already going to be wet. So nice of them.
First order of business, diving board! I went straight for the flip, and the water felt so refreshing! Then me and two of my cousins, Braden, and Brianna, all helped another cousin, Raiden, to swim out in deeper water. That was followed by a game of basketball in the pool. Raiden is young and can’t shoot and swim at the same time, so I helped him as we versed Brianna! We won because we’re that awesome. I return back to shower and head right to the zip line!
I have gone nearly every day now, and that’s because I have the opposite of acrophobia. I honestly Love being up high. Heights are something amazing, and being able to leap off them is so much fun. It’s so freeing! I met Anna and Ellen up there. They were the staff working the zip line, but I hope I run into them again. They seem like really cool people. Then again, first impressions kind of sucked. *Runs across half the camp and up 60 steps, out of breath, sweaty* “Hey strangers, how is your day going? We’ve got Anna and Elaine?” (Name tags) Nope! It’s was Ellen, and apparently, I can’t read today. I pronounced her name wrong straight off the bat! Not ideal when first meeting new people. They’re cool, though, I like them. I run full frontal off the edge and leap towards the ground! Then got caught and rode it to the end. That feeling when you first go flying off a building… It’s unlike any other.
I had a choice to make. Was I an adult that would go to the banquet and eat fancy food in a suit? Or was I a teenager that ate pizza, soda and played carpet ball? I wanted the banquet because I Love wearing my suits, but I went with pizza, because that is where all my friends had gone. Boy, am I glad I did. The meal was Just another meal, but then we had a mobile scavenger hunt. The highlight of my week! We downloaded an app called Goose Chase and found the IRBC hunt. It would give us a title and a description, and we would have to take a photo or a video of us doing that thing. Often it was Just a title and the description was “Be Creative”. We had some AMAZING and very clever shots! They turned out so well! There were 5 teams, 12-15 people per team. You know what place we came in? 5th… But there is a reason to it. First of all, we had 10 really good photos and videos. However, you automatically get 400 points Just for doing something, so the other teams had boring basic shots but did 25-30 of them. Creativity got you extra points, though! Which would have been great, but they messed up the scoring so NONE of our bonus points went through. Only our team… I think Jason Just has a vendetta against the Bleekers. We’ve been coming here forever. As I said, this is my 20th year, but the family was going before I was born. So, I’m a little lire as to if it actually messed up, or if Jason deleted our bonus points. Because he had final say, but we talked to other people that were scoring and they all said we got a lot of bonus points. But none of them counted. Honestly, I don’t even care. It was so much fun! After you submit your photo or video, it saves to your camera roll, so I got all the footage except the last video. We submitted it in late, barely, but still late, so it didn’t go through. No submit, so save. It was such a good video, though! The clue was “I can’t believe we all fit in here – Be creative” We fit 13 people into a 4 person car, and then videoed all of us opening the doors and running out of it, like a clown car. It was so good! We actually had to do it twice, because the first one got messed up. And if you’ve ever fit 13 people into a small enclosed space, you would know how hot it gets! It’s an 88f* day, with all this body heat inside a closed car, after we were all running around the entire camp, and so every single person was sweating hard; but we still did it! Sadly, it never counted. However, I do know the camera guy personally, so I’m going to send in our best photos to see if they’ll make it into the slideshow!
Remember Brylee and Owen? Well, they left camp today and that’s sad. They’re coming back on Thursday afternoon, but that means they both miss all of Wednesday. As soon as they left, Braden went Frisbee Golfing and I realized something. Normally, I make a bunch of friends on the first day, but I guess I was lazy this year. I had hardly spoken to the staff, I had no other friends, and so I Just started walking and figured I would Just let life take me somewhere. I took me to meet Briar (Another cousin) on my way to Jensen (The main building/hangout place). We went to play basketball, which I am totally rubbish at, but it was actually a lot of fun! It wasn’t real basketball, though. It was where you take a shot, and if you make it, you get a point value from where you were standing. If you didn’t make it, the other person had to get it. Where they finally caught it is where they had to shoot from. It was quite entertaining. But then it started to storm badly enough that the staff actually came out and told us to go inside. We didn’t though, well not at that time anyway. Eventually, we got wet enough that we decided to go in.
Have you ever played Dutch Blitz? I hadn’t until tonight. But let’s go back to that later. Last week I went to Nevada, IA, to attend a church where I know some friends. However, I happen to be there the one week out of the year where almost all the teens are gone away on a mission’s trip. Bad timing on my part, but I had no way to know that. I mostly Just hung out with Rachel and then went home. However, I arrive at camp, and who do I find but The Amber Worley! One of my friends that I was trying to visit at church last week! She’s here with her whole family, and they were playing Dutch Blitz. Never having seen this game, I decided to stick around and learn. After viewing two games, Skyler (Amber’s Brother?) had me play half of his game. There are two parts and it’s hard to multitask them both, but with two players, it’s pretty easy. We won so fast. Next game the same. Then he had me play both sides, taking over his entire hand. I did alright, very good for my first time. But then I lost so hard. Beginners Luck ran out and I was horrible. However, now I know how to play, so I’m going to teach it to my family.
Normally I wouldn’t play any video games at camp, I mean, duh, it’s camp. But Braden was playing this game that is actually mine, and it’s interesting to watch his strategies in the game. So after watching him for a while, I went to bed. Normally I would write things as they were happening, but I’m actually writing this day tomorrow, which is today? Does that make sense? He’s actually playing it again now. But I’m not really paying attention, I Just want to write.
Sleep: 5h 9min
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Day 5 – July 6th, 2016
I like cheerios.
Lunch has an amazing side and dessert! Cheesy potatoes and Pumpkin Bars! MMMM SO GOOD!!!
My cousin Tiffani camp today, she is pregnant with her first child, and had a gender reveal after lunch. I had heard about this baby many months ago, and I guessed male straight away. I was correct. She had a Piñata with the colour of the gender of the baby inside. We all were to take a swing. Now, I am one of the stronger ones there, so I was one of the last. However, right before I was about to swing, my Nana comes over and says, “Don’t hit it too hard, I want to have a turn after you so don’t break it.” — Well, that Just ruins it, now doesn’t it? I hit it and tried to make it look realistic, but I didn’t use half the power I have. She didn’t tell anyone else to do that, but I guess I’m one of the stronger ones. Then after Nana, Nathan went up, and he is another strong one, but with no direction, he got to hit as hard as he could, and obviously broke it down. Nana should have gone first, but oh well I guess. I wasn’t supposed to be the one to hit it down. Now Braden is playing the Escapists next to me again. I’m kind of watching, but I’ve actually been typing up all of my Journaling from yesterday and today. Welcome back, we’re alive again!
Jet Skiing didn’t go as well as I was expecting. I was out for about 3 minutes, and it would never go above 28mph! I considered going back in to see if something was wrong when it made a horrible noise. After that it wouldn’t go above 5mph, and if I used the gas at all it would sound really bad. So I floated back in without using any gas, and it took about 7-9 minutes? I only had a 20-minute slot, so more than half my time was wasted. Braden was also out on the other one, and he saw what was going on so he pulled back in. I hopped on his Jet Ski and we set back out. I’ve never ridden on a Jet Ski with 2 people, but I will tell you now, it’s terrifying, for the passenger anyway. I almost flew off so many times, and we got up to 59mph with the both of us. He took too sharp of a turn and it almost flipped, but we managed to leap off instead. We swam back to it and got back on, nearly flipping it again in the process. Then I drove and he rode, and it is Just way easier to drive than ride. He didn’t have as strong of a grip I guess… I got up near 40mph and realized no one was holding on anymore. He was a good 20 feet back. Whoops. Regardless, this is the gayest experience I’ve had all week. Yes, that is the real way to use that term. We rode back into shore and Emma, the Life Guard on duty, tells me that my Jet Ski had a bunch of reefs in the motor, pointing to the massive pile of lake sludge and seaweed. However, it was back out again by the time we returned. Apparently, that happens all the time.
However, I am going Jet Skiing again tomorrow with Brylee, so maybe I’ll get mine for free since my Jet Ski was broken. If not, oh well. But I assume they’ll do that. They are generally pretty good about making things work out. Speaking of, I’m supposed to acquire $12 from Brylee’s mother so I can sign us up at the same time. Brylee won’t be back until 2:30pm, and all the slots will be filled if she waits that long. So if I sign her up, we have a guarantee.
I’ve Just extracted the $12 from her mother.
What is up with people that can clearly see your name, but still spell it wrong? I was speaking with her mother on Facebook where it very clearly shows that my name is “J Bolton”, but she stilled messaged me with the intro “Hi Jay”… My name is not Jay, it has never been Jay and it never will be Jay. It’s J, that’s it. No more letters, no more hassle. End. Final. Done.
Hmm, I Just remembered I have plans on Tuesday… That means that when I get home on Friday, I’m going to sleep until my plans. I am so beyond tired, and I honestly should be sleeping now. But I don’t really feel…….. Braden Just came over here and is now spooning me and licking my neck. One moment while I rid him.
I’m back.
I have a very weird family. I thought we got close enough on those Jet Skis, but apparently, he really wanted to see what I’m doing and I happen to be typing whilst laying on a bed, so it free game to come up and read. Good thing this a public Journal and not my top secret, oh so private Journal that I don’t actually possess. I prefer telling stories. This allows me to do that, and still remember all of my interesting past life events. I actually Journaled every day last year at camp, but that’s Just on my computer. I should upload those in one post, as I am actually now curious as to what all I did last year. I guess that wasn’t so much of storytelling, though. Likely wouldn’t even be interesting to anyone other than me, but it’s a part of me and this blog is not only about stories for you, but also about learning who I am, too.
Sleep: 5h 24min
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Day 6 – July 7, 2016
A few days ago, one of the pastors was speaking about “What is the first thing you think tell yourself when you first wake up?” A lot of people said “I have to pee”, “I need a shower” or “Shut up you stupid alarm.” But there is a thought I hadn’t had in a long time this morning. My first thought this morning was “Am I going to die, or can I go back to sleep?” -Well, that’s an interesting thought, J. Why did you think of that? – Glad you asked. There was a very bad storm last night, and it took out a large branch and made a lot of noise all night long. Or so I’m told, I sleep heavy. Anyway, the fire alarm went off in the barn. (The building I reside in when I’m here.) So it is 6:36am, less than an hour before my alarm, and this noise comes blaring into my room. I woke up enough to start getting out of bed, but as you know I smell exceptionally well. I didn’t smell any smoke or burning, so I got back into bed. Mother went outside to check it out and eventually the alarm stopped, but I was already back asleep. It’s now morning and I’m still alive, not a singed hair on my head.
I headed out to breakfast, but before I can eat I have to sign Brylee and I up for Jet Skis. You can’t sign up until the day of, so at the start of breakfast is the earliest I can go. However, I was wrong. The office opens an hour before breakfast, and every slot was filled. Worley family took two slots, Bleeker family took two slots (Not me, but someone in the family), and the Noack family took two more. Six slots all went to people I know. However, they did offer me my money back since my ride yesterday broke. So it’s all back to being happy. Brylee, however, will be quite upset.
Brylee was upset, but she got over it. They had a teen event where we would take tennis balls and try to knock down bottles without getting noticed or tagged by the other team. First time crossing enemy bounds, Braden tries to Juke a guy and he rolls his ankle. That’s game over, and we went back to the nurse’s station. Which was actually really cool because we know the nurse so well that we call her Grandma. I hadn’t been hurt enough to go in there in the past 4-5 years, so it was really interesting to see all of the inside again. She lives back there and it’s like a full-on flat!
Soon we will begin Fire Talk, and if you were paying any attention earlier, you would know that I can’t share any details on that. It’s is 100% private and nothing ever leaves that group. So I guess this entry is ending quickly today. I’ll be up for at least another 6 hours, or I may not sleep at all. But I do know this, I won’t be awake enough to survive well in modern day society tomorrow. It was a good week, even though it went by in the blink of an eye. But it was worth the flight back up here. It always is.
Sleep: 3h 4min