Signs You Went to Camp Mystic

Inspired by Helene's 25 Signs You Went to Ursuline and camp starting tomorrow, I've decided to compile a list of signs you may have gone to Camp Mystic. I've posted about Mystic before - it's one of my all time favorite places. I might be old now, in camp terms anyway, but I'll always be a camper at heart.

1. Tribe Drawings is still one of the most nerve-wracking nights of your life.

2. You crave Blue Bell ice cream every day after lunch during the summer.

3. You've seen the sun rise from Sky High (pictured above).

4. You love the sight of the Mystic sign when driving down Highway 39.

5. You can recite camp cheers and songs in your sleep.

6. You crave Mystic birthday cake and consider refrigerating your birthday cake every year.

7. You dream about getting married on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

8. You can correctly spell and pronounce Guadalupe thanks to KT Info.

9. You know that a walking or running a mile at camp is from the Office to the Gate to Bug House and back to the Office.

10. Climbing Senior Hill is both the most exhausting and fun thing in the world.

11. Same applies to Tribe Hill.

12. You've taken Tribe Hill for granted and miss it dearly when you don't go up there twice a week.

13. You've tried to predict CC Day (so well, in fact, that the Big 3 have had to move it no less than three times).

14. You know that CC might actually stand for Camper-Counselor, but it could also be Crazy Chaos or Coke and Candy.

15. You've eaten at the Hunt Store (yum).

16. You've gone to James Avery Headquarters in Kerrville and reveled in the freezing cold A/C.

17. You look forward to living without air conditioning in the middle of the Texas heat.

18. Coffee Cake is on Saturday mornings.

19. You've memorized the term schedule down to the food you'll eat on the last night: Messy Face Cake for dessert!

20. You know what a Messy Face Cake is and what it's for.

21. You ended up going to college with at least one of your cabin mates even if you didn't intend on doing so.

22. It doesn't take you very long to turn any TNM song on the radio into a camp acceptable song.

23. You know what TNM stands for.

24. At one time you feared the phrase "U for You," but learned to laugh at it with your counselors.

25. You keep in touch with your counselors as much as you keep in touch with your cabin mates.

26. You're convinced that your age group's memories of camp are better than any other age group's.

27. You've held your breath during War Canoe Races.

28. You know that War Canoe bruises are intense and take all summer to fully heal.

29. At a certain point, you've memorized the other tribe's cheers and songs, but you're not totally sure when that happened.

30. You've looked for your family member's name on the ceiling of Idiot's Delight and Memory Trail.

31. You've left your mark on camp grounds somewhere... possibly against Tribe Training Rules.

32. Ten years later, you still have and remember inside jokes with your cabin.

33. You've tried to skip Tribe Period. And failed.

34. You're upset that you miss at least one major movie opening weekend every year.

35. Giving up your cell phone for a month sounds terrible, but it's really not so bad being unplugged and in the Mystic Bubble.

36. Blood makes the grass grow and Bombardment is not a joke. Not even CC Bombardment.

37. You've had to promise your non-camp friends that it's not really a cult.

38. You're always on the look out for cute whites for Sunday.

39. Wearing your charm bracelet on Sundays is like carrying a small child with one hand.

40. This list was entirely too long but you can still think of at least 15 more things to add to it.

Anything I should add? Anything pertain to your camp from my list?

Life Lessons from Camp

Camp season has officially started and my personal favorite camp opened its gates to the first campers this morning. And I'm super sad I'm not there (again. I think this will happen every June for the rest of my life). I also feel old because ALL of my campers are now counselors. It's crazy, but I absolutely love it and know some are already fabulous counselors and my baby ettes are going to become amazing counselors. They are both such fun groups!

Sky High at sunrise

 Anyway after my camp friend and former counselor Olivia posted what she missed most about camp, I started thinking about some of the life lessons I learned at camp (there are a lot).

One of the first lessons every camper learns, whether 8 or 17, is how to take care of yourself and your things. Living in a cabin with anywhere from 7 to 30+ other girls can be tricky, especially when you have to pack enough clothes, toiletries, books, stationery and stamps, etc to last a month. In the process stuff gets misplaced or even worse, lost. The better care you take of your stuff, though, the more likely you are to go home with everything you took with you. The first part of this statement, taking care of yourself, if also something you learn pretty quickly. You learn to brush you teeth, brush your hair, wash your hair, take a shower, etc. These things may sound simple enough, but some of these girls are 8, 9, and 10 years old and have never been away from their parents for longer than a night or two and may not know how to do these things without help or being told to.

My cousin had the younger campers her first year as a counselor and was shocked when she realized they didn't know how to do their hair or make their beds. But camp teaches these skills early on in your camp career.

The view of the camp ground from Sky High

Patience. Despite having a packed schedule each and every day, each camper spends part of the term waiting. Whether it be waiting for rest period because she'll get a package or waiting for her favorite ice cream after lunch or even her favorite meal during the term - each girl waits for something. Your patience also gets tested by living with so many other girls. This goes hand-in-hand with another life lesson:

Learning to work/live with other people. Sharing such a small space with other girls is difficult. You have to wait 30+ minutes for showers some nights. You may have to share an aisle between beds with someone who is WAY messier than you. You may sit at a table with a chatty Cathy and have to wait to get a word in edgewise about the awesome package you got at rest period from your best friend. Working and living with people you don't know and sometimes don't always like requires a lot of patience.

The importance of naps. Every afternoon the girls are sent back to their cabins with their counselors for a two hour rest period. During this time the girls get their mail, can read and write, or even nap. For two hours everyone is required to stay quiet and to "recharge" for the rest of the afternoon. The younger girls totally dislike this time (other than getting mail), but as they get older they realize how awesome it is that they can take a real nap and really recharge.

To try new things. Every girl is required to take between 7 and 9 activities on a blocked schedule (5 on MWF and 4 on TTS). Some girls find it easy to pick their activities and are on their ways. Other girls don't know what they like. Should they take diving and learn to dive? Should they take drawing? Are they good at tennis? There are tons of things to do at camp and you definitely have to try them all to find out what you like and what you're good at. This doesn't just apply to activities, though. We have excellent food at camp. At home with their families, some girls may eat the same things week after week or even may eat a lot of fast food (like me, totally guilty), and may be picky (again guilty), but at camp there are so many new and absolutely delicious foods you just have to try them all!

Chapel Hill

Camp Mystic has three ideals that every camper learns and can recite by heart on the spot. Not only are these great lessons to learn and use at camp, but you can easily apply them to life outside the gates.

Be a better person for being at Mystic. Because of the many life lessons you learn at camp, I'd dare to say most of the girls that go through those gates leave better people.

Let Mystic Bring Out the Best in You. As you grow up, you learn a lot of bad habits like biting your nails, gossiping, and cussing. The directors at camp push you to be the best version of yourself you can be. At camp you have the focus and support around you needed to try and curb these habits.

Grow Spiritually. Mystic is a Christian camp. There's devotionals every night in the cabins (led by the girls a lot of the time). There's vespers Sunday evenings and Assembly and Devotionals Sunday mornings. These are just the most obvious times campers and counselors spend time worshipping. It's hard to be in such a beautiful place for so many weeks and not feel God's presence.

I could go on and on and on... and on. But I'll stop here with just these things I've already listed. My family loves camp. My grandmother, aunt, and cousin went to Mystic before me. My step-sister went as a camper until last year (she'll be a counselor in the future). And we have numerous second and third cousins that also have attended, do attend, and will attend Mystic. I only pray I have kids that love camp as much as the rest of us (boys or girls because there are some great boys camps down there, too!).

Did you go to camp? Did you learn these life lessons? What other life lessons did you learn?

Round Up... 20X-treme - Thanks, Hurricane Alex

Where to begin? I guess it'd be good to review a normal Round Up.

Normal Round Up should have started at 3:15 today. The Watershow and War Canoe race would have happened between 3:30 and 5:00-ish. The gates typically open around 2:45 for parents to come in. Then the parents leave/go picnic/tailgate while the campers and counselors go to dinner in the Dining Hall for the last time. Then at 7:30 everyone is reported to Rec Hall for the Chorus and Dance Production. After Chorus and Dance, the parents leave and there is a massive all camp dance party until late. Then tomorrow reveille would have played at 7 am, bright and early. At 8 we would have our last breakfast and the parent would have started coming in around 8:45. Quadrille and Dressage would have performed on the golf course and then there would have been a brunch until 11 when the Awards Ceremony would start. After Awards ceremony, we would have had Tonk Dessert Party and left.

HOWEVER, this was far from the truth this year.

Yesterday, the owners of the camp made an announcement at breakfast that no one expected. Dance and Chorus PRACTICE? Not practice. And it's in Harrison Hall. It'll be videoed for the parents. No practice time, sorry. Jaws dropped. War Canoe? Right after rest period. Along with Synch Swim. Parents? IF they're close enough... Last/CC Tribe Hill? at 5 pm. CCs are not going. Rainy locations, not actually on the hills. Last campfire right after tribe hill and in Rec Hall. Dinner at 6:30 instead of early. Awards Ceremony in Harrison Hall at 8. So basically, the entirety of Round Up was done in one day instead of spread over two days. It was absolute insanity. And absolutely X-treme!

More about camp later. I'm exhausted and have missed my queen sized bed.

Day Off #2

It's been 48 hours since my second day off but man oh man was it a good one! Despite being more tired Wednesday than I was Tuesday, I fully enjoyed my second day off, destination: Austin, Texas.

I left camp for a taco stand right by the famous Hunt Store and ate lunch with several of the other counselors. Being my picky self, I had a hamburger. Strange I know, but I get overwhelmed by new places/menus and I like to cling to what I know. Then I left for Austin to visit my camp bestie, Emily, who(m?) I hadn't seen in THREE years!

We met at the Domain and window shopped for a bit before sitting in Starbucks for an hour or so just talking. I love that with really good friends you can pick up right where you left off. It's one of the most comforting things in life. Then we walked on down to the Lilly Pulitzer store there and visited our cabin mate, Caitlin! We had a mini reunion - no seriously, there were 17 people in our cabin our last year so 3 people constitutes a mini reunion - haha. It was so nice to see Caitlin and catch up with her too.

After we visited Caitlin, Em and I called Halei and Katye and met them for dinner at Magnolia Cafe. Let me tell you, Magnolia Cafe would be an amazing place to people watch at 3 am. It would be like IHOP at 3 am. But on steroids. Or something more hippie-esque. After dinner, Em and I said a quick goodbye and took a photo, I gassed up and hit the road back to Kerrville. I'll definitely be making another trip to Austin this summer to visit Em and finally celebrate our 21sts (and now our 22nds)!

In the past week at camp we've had a lot of fun stuff happen: Tonk Kidnap Breakfast and CC Day last Thursday, Capture the Flag and Kiowa Serenade on Saturday, and my cabin's age group's cabin campfire. Tonight we have a dance with one of the boys' camps down the road. The girls are all really excited.

That's all I have for now. I think once I get the chance (which may be when I get home in July) I'll add pictures to my posts, but for now all you get is the text.

Day Off #1

Hello from beautiful Hunt, Texas! I'm on my first day off with three of the other counslors on senior hill. It's so nice to be in contact with the real world again after a week sans real phone service and one time facebooking before the campers came. This blog is going to be kind of random and all over the place, because I'm pretty much just typing as I think.

The campers got to camp Friday and the term has been a blast so far! I'm loving my campers, they're all such sweethearts! The older campers get to go on e a fun night called a cabin campfire and my cabin's (and myy step-sister's cabin's) is coming up on Sunday. I'm really excited to bond with not only my cabin but my step-sister and her cabin (some of my former campers).

Anna is Kendall's best friend at UT Tyler. She's Swedish and awesome. Anyway, she told Kendall, an avid reader and book lover, about the series The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Kendall loved the firrst two books and I'm assuming she's alreaddy finished the third and loved it. I started the first one before camp and I had a hard time getting into it. The prologue and first chapter were boring, but I knew that if I would just get into the book I'd be ok. Well, I'm about two-thirds of the way through and I hate putting it down. I had to go buy the second book, The Girl Who Played with Fire at Hastings in Kerrville before we headed to our day off destination so when I finish the first I can jump right into the second one.

Ok, well, I'm going to end this because my laptop's fan is being ridiculous... AGAIN. I can't wait to get a MacBook Pro next month! I'll try blogging again on a night off soon, if not probably my day off next week!