Staff Week 2010

We had a great week at Parsons with my parents. The weather was great in the end, and we got in some good hikes and swims. Monica and Jack especially enjoyed playing with the Perkow girls and spending time with Nana and Grandpa (including frisbee and the guitar!)

Monica at Work

Here's a photo McNellis sent me of Monica pulling nails out of boards in the Silver Marmot Grill.

Anton told her she was a little trooper.

Monica asked, "What's a trooper?"

Saturday

Saturday Anton and Monica went up to camp for the day. Monica was excited about hiking and throwing rocks on the beach, but the weather did not cooperate. Instead, they apparently worked on the SMG renovation all day. Anton reported that Monica was a real trooper, helping out any way she could: pulling nails and hauling wood. I forgot to send the camera with them to take some pictures, but I imagine some will appear soon on Mike's Blog. Meanwhile, Jack and I stayed home and hosted lunch for some of my colleagues and their kids. I snapped one cute picture of Jill with Kate and Cinder.

Time Flies

Has it really been just a little over a month?

Summer Themes

We returned home about 14 hours before Anton and I had to be back at work. Nothing like cutting it close. It was a bit of a shock to be back, but I was glad to see everyone at JFK and I think it's going to be a great school year.

Mike has already had several reflections on this summer on his blog. Here are some themes that emerged in '09 for us Kramers:

1. Neighbors-- we enjoyed a rolling schedule of visiting doctors and families next door, often with kids who played with M&J. We particularly had fun with the Fellins and Dahlbergs and their generosity in taking us out on their skiboats. Monica spent almost every day on the Dahlberg's boat during their stay at camp.

2. Costco runs-- Thanks to a water shortage and several breakdowns of the dishwasher, we used a lot of paper plates etc in the dining hall. This meant a lot of runs to Costco, which I tried to help Ken out with when I could. Just call me the Costco Queen.

3. Reading-- I read 2-3 books per week and Monica maxed out on the Jefferson county summer reading program. A very literary summer!

4. Record heat-- I can honestly say I have never exerperience a 105 degree day at Cp until this year.

5. Workaholic-- For various reasons, Anton was pretty overloaded with his job as trading post manager and business manager, and rarely got out of the office to spend time with us, except for the weekends of course. This was the only bummer part of the summer.

6. Milestones-- Jack got into a big boy bed and is now done with sippie cups. Monica learned to tie her shoes, passed her swim test, and went backpacking for the first time.

7. AARP-- I don't know what the average age of our staff was, but let's just say we might need to start offering medicare and holding AARP meetings! Just kidding... We love you Jim, Bill, Pam etc!

8. Visitors-- we had a record number of friends visit us at camp this year, but strangely got out of going to a record number of weddings!

9. Daredevils-- Both kids really came out of their shells and interacted with the staff. Monica learned the name of every staff member. Jack became much more independent running all over camp and Monica set a personal record with a 15 foot pier jump on Saturday!

10. Hikes-- when Anton did get out of the office, we enjoyed doing more extensive exploring of camp this year including the dump road, arboretum, and a few other trail blazing routes.

-

Until later, Cp... Tremble With Fear!

Beautiful Night

Back in the Swing

The minute we got back to camp, Anton dropped me at the cabin to fend for myself, then he and the kids ran off to the ski boat for an afternoon of tubing. Hrumph!
I’ve been taking it easy this week and have been fortunate to have my mom here for help for a few days. I’m starting get back to normal. Last night while Mike tried to convince us how funny the show “Newsradio” is, Greg and I finished off four bags of popcorn. Okay, well maybe I only had two servings, but the point is my appetite is back at least.

While I was gone, camp was in full swing, of course. Various staff members have started calling Monica the program director. I guess she succeeding in making John and Joe clean the office last week and yesterday she personally escorted Max by the hand to the tower so he could “get to work.” She is earning her blue lacing. She also insisted that Anton take her pier jumping at beach bonanza even though it was cool and overcast.

Last week they had a second birthday party for Jack, complete with cupcakes, and an art gallery tour led by Monica:

On Thursday Dad K took Anton and the kids to see their property at Lake Cushman, but unfortunately it rained on them.

Beautiful blue skies and calm waters today. I can’t believe that in just four days the summer of ’09 will be coming to a close at Parsons.

Camp Hahobas!

We had a busy end of week 6 with a rush of visitors to Cp. The Martins were here to see campfire etc., then Andrew Bodien stopped by, and finally Anton's brother Greg and his family:

Saturday afternoon we decided we were ready to get out of camp for a few hours. So what better place to go than... ANOTHER scout camp! I have been wanting to see Camp Hahobas for years, as it is the "other" scout camp on Hood Canal, but one we rarely hear much about. So off we went...

It is quite an interesting camp. It's huge, and I do mean HUGE. It's probably a two mile walk from one end to the other. They have three lakes but this one is most heavily used:

Their campfire bowl is kind of randomly put in the middle of camp with no view or ambiance. Of course I am spoiled by Parsons, but then when you see their spectacular view of Hood Canal...

I was so in awe. Keep in mind that I LOVE Hood Canal and have never seen it from anywhere close to this angle. I stared for 10 minutes. You can see Lilliwaup and Hoodsport and I assumed the Olympic mountains, but couldn't be sure because it was cloudy. So I found this picture online:

This is their view on a clear day from their beach property.

Wow-ee wow-wow.

-

And this leads me to my Kramer-scout-camp-visitation report:

Negatives:

-You've got to be kidding me! They have this kind of view and don't even use it! Unbelievable!

-There is no dining hall. They have a kitchen next to an open air tin roofed structure with picnic tables.

-There is no central lodge or historical sites (that we saw) even though the camp has been around since the 30's.

-I can't say much about the program because I didn't witness it, but it seems to lack a certain amount of energy and tradition. (Again, we are spoiled.)

Positives:

-Beautiful, huge property with lots of potential

-They offer shotgun, high ropes, civics, and other things that not all camps (including Parsons) offer

-Property is surrounded by state forest so they don't risk development creeping in

-From what we heard, it seems the camp is making a turnaround and is trying to improve their reputation and recruit more troops

-

I decided at the conclusion of the trip to make it a goal to visit every scout camp in western Washington and Oregon. So far I have been to three: Parsons, Pioneer, and Hahobas (Brinkley doesn't count because I haven't been there since the Pigott renovation). It's really the perfect day trip to make as a family or stop along the way of an overnight road trip. Also it's interesting as a former program director to see how how different camps run. When I told Anton I wanted to tackle the list of camps I asked if he thought I was nuts. He said something like "It's awesome. How many women would be excited about visiting even one Boy Scout camp, let alone ten!"

Beach Bonanza!

Now that Monica is a swimmer she can jump off the pier, and what better time for her first pier dive than Thursday night's Beach Bonanza!

"Ready Dad?"

"That was awesome! Now let's do the high platform!"

"I love Camp Parsons!"

Dump Road Hike

It doesn't sound very glamorous by the name, but yesterday we ventured a family hike during free time in which we went: up the dump road, along the trail above Spencer Creek, over the creek, down through the clearcut to Rangers and back to camp. It is a beautiful hike and there are many trees there that are old-growth or close to it. To get a sense of the scale of these beauties, check out Monica standing next to one (first picture). It was a bit cooler yesterday but still sunny.

Future Business Manager

Hyas Kloshe to Monica... a SWIMMER!

Yesterday Monica finally got to take her swim test. She has been aching to do it all summer, but we told her she had to practice a LOT. Even then Anton and I didn't think she would pass. We were hoping she'd at least make beginner (finish half of the test) and get half of her buddy tag colored. Here she is going down the ramp with Dad as her buddy:

1, 2, 3 Jump!

75 yards of a front stroke, 25 yards of backstroke, and floating on your back:

Almost done:

After finishing the test, the beach crew asked Anton to demonstrate the trudgen, an archaic stroke that's really only used for sea rescues. Once a beach director, always a beach director!

Meanwhile, Monica celebrates and passed as a swimmer! BOTH red and blue on my tag, please, Dad!

Week 5 Randoms

Ken's baby goats have gotten so big since summer began:

"I'll show YOU how to drive the tractor!"


Reading with dad:

Monica was extatic to have her friends Eva and Sophia here for a visit:

Watercolor painting: (no, they don't smell bad, that's the face Jack makes when I tell him to smile)

This is what Cinder has been up to all summer:

Welcome to our campfire, Curtiss!

Heat Exhaustion

Well we've progressed from a heat wave to heat exhaustion around here, as many of you are experiencing too. The Seattle record high was broken yesterday and I imagine Brinnon's was as well (if Brinnon even keeps records). Our high yesterday at the end of the pier was 103. Now I've spent a lot of time at camp and 1/3 of the summers in my lifetime I've been here for 9 weeks. But yesterday was honestly the hottest day I've ever experienced here. I spent most of the day driving back and forth to the Sequim Costco picking up more supplies for camp. We are using all paper/plastic products in the dining hall because our dishwasher is broken and even if it wasn't we don't have enough water in the wells to run it. When I got back from Costco with thousands of paper plates and got out of my air conditioned car, it was like I was back in Phoenix which I once visited in July (a very bad idea). I quickly changed and took the kids down to the beach. My mom had been up for two days helping with the kids (thanks Mom!) and had to get home despite the heat. While it was great to go for a swim, it's pretty much the first time I've ever complained about Hood Canal being too warm. The top layer of water was like a hottub, and the next layer under that wasn't much better. I finally did a pencil dive down as far as I could go and managed to get to the colder water, but of course the minute I got there I had to go back up. We were at central beach during the staff swim, which we've been having every night at 5:00. Nothing ever changes: staff still horsing around in the water and playing king-of-the-float. Monica amazed me once again, this time by swimming ALL the way to the swim float with no help. She is also finally mastering a backfloat. As soon as she gets her backstroke down, she can attempt the BSA swim test. Only supposed to be 90 today (only, geez...) but we'll probably still be in the water as much as possible.

Sunday Flag Ceremony

"Camp attention! Kramer family: forward march.

Prepare to raise the colors.

Camp hand salute.

Colorguard dismissed!