Welcome to Blue Mountain Camp!(aka BMC) This camp is run by the Easter Seal Society, which I hope most of you know about. Easter Seals provides money to families with kids with physical disabilities, because the special equipment needed to help these kids be independant is VERY expensive. The money, either raised or donated, also goes towards helping these kids go to camp, thus BMC. There are four other camps in Ontario that are also run by Easter Seals. I have been going to BMC for 3 years now, but not as a camper. Through the Leader In Training, and Counsellor In Training, I learned how to help the kids in whatever way they needed. Whether it be feeding or just talking and hanging out with them, it was one of the most awesome experiences of my life(as an LIT/CIT you weren't allowed to do numerous things due to liability). I didn't work at the camp the next year after I completed the programs, but my friend Elyse went back and she had a really good summer. I was at Camp Hollyburn. I missed BMC, but I had a really good time where I worked. However, BMC still rocks so check out the pics!
Before heading off to camp, Elyse and I(my friend who was also doing the program and we were going up together)decided to stop
off in Wasaga Beach to do some go-karting. I could have gone on forever, but it was soon time to go.
Each cabin goes on an overnight, this was cabin #2's turn. It was about
two days after camp started. At the same time Cabin 2 went(there are 8 cabin's in all, but only
one or two go at a time over the course of two weeks) all of the CIT's went too. We were there to
help out and stuff. This is Gabe-a very funny kid.
This is also on the overnight. Brad, a counsellor, is on the right,
and Alex a camper is on the left. On the overnight, the cabin canoes over
to Craigleath Provincial Park. There, we cook our dinner over the fire, eat marshmellos, tell stories,
and-of course-spend the night. The next morning we get up and canoe back again.
This is Elyse and I joking around. I don't quite remember who took the
picture or how we ended up deciding to take a picture like that. Nonetheless, it was funny.
Each session of camp there's a theme day. This one happened to be "Titanic". This whole group
got "shipwrecked" on the shores of BMC and needed help gathering their stuff and such.
The whole day is spent doing different activities and collecting pieces of the boat at each station
and putting it together(you'll see it in a sec).
One of the activities was finding items that had gotten lost on the
beach when we "crashed". Each cabin was given a list and the task was to find all the items. This pic is of two of
my kids from my cabin(#3).
This is Jessie, another one of my campers that I have known for three
years. Each year I've returned to camp she's been in my cabin. You'll
see her in alot of my pics.
Like I said previously, at each activity during theme day cabins would collect
"pieces of the boat" so they could put it back together. This is the "boat" almost done.
This is the completed boat. Like it?
It got hot quite often during camp, so we have beach days. Notawasaga Bay runs right into BMC.
Usually, beach days only occur on Sundays because it's like a rest day for the campers. However, it got so hot at one point
that we had 3 beach days almost in a row. The next few pics are from the three different days. This pic is of two of my campers
and a counsellor in the same cabin.
This is Jessie and I
Jessie, Kerri(the one I'm holding), and I hanging on the beach, catchig some rays :)
Kerri can't speak, but she can hear and can tell you yes by smiling or no by
sticking out her tongue. Smiling also means she's happy or thinks something's really funny. When she laughs it's
really cute and funny so sometimes we made a point of doing so. Anyways........this is a pic of Kerri saying "no" to the food
I'm holding out to her. The girl laighing on the right is Dawn(another camper), but she's not laughing because Kerri's sticking out her tongue. She's just laughing. Very funny girl too. She LOVES Barney.
At the camp there's a pool(obviously). Each of the cabin's get turns in the pool throughout
the session(this one happens to be 2 weeks). Who are these people? I'll let you figure that out.
No explanation. People in the pool. Their names don't have much meaning to most of you so I thought
I'd spare you the reading.
Ah, the CIT(Counsellor In Training) campfire. Since the CIT program is alot about leadership
and stuff, we were responsible for leading one campfire. They occur every other night providing the weather is okay.
At campfire we basically sing songs, and sometimes there are skits by different cabin's. Us creative CIT's decided campfire was getting
a little boring so we(6 of us. 3 guys, 3 girls. Thats just the way it worked out) decided to spiff it up a little.
We hid in a nearby cabin and had one of the counsellor introduce us as the BMC Village People and we then came
out dancing to "YMCA" all dressed up in the corniest costumes we could find. My god, it was SO
funny. The guys dressed up as girls which made it even more funny. One of them wore pink tight shorts
underneath the white lab coat and went and put his leg up on another male counsellor when we
came dancing out. The guys wore make-up too. We girls got to put it on. This is of us, the 3 girls,
while the guys were still dancing around.
This is me leading the song "The Other Day"(a.k.a. The Bear Song).
This is us in our costumes. Like them? Jason has the blond wig, Daryl the native headress on, Noel with the construction hat, me with the
grey wig, Elyse looking like the drummer boy, and Kerry with the red cape. There's a normal pic
of us at the end.
Each camp session has a banquet at the end sort of like a leaving party. We had two
because some kids only stayed a week. These are pics from both banquets. Kerri and one of her counsellors Kim(Cabin 3, my cabin)
I'll let you guess again. Who are these people? Yes! You're right!
It's Jessie and I dancing at the banquet!!
Elyse and Jessie dancing
Ma was the assistant camp director. He was with our cabin alot. I think the
explanation above pretty much explains what was going on. Dawn is just plain funny. She like Barney, dropping things on purpose, singing,
copying, and the list goes on. She even has books memorized.
Cabin 3. All of us. The campers, the CIT(me) and the counsellors.
These are us, the CIT's, dressed normally. The girl on the far right
is Beth, the LIT/CIT program co-ordinator. This is on the last day just before one of us was leaving.
Camp is over and I had a fanatastic time. See Ya!!
The BMC sunset that I love so much :)
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