Ali Ballweg

I have not posted pictures in months… So here are some to sum up my summer

Sugar Creek had a very special week with the very first ever Fine Arts week!  There were many different programs going on including Music, Theatre, Art, Norwegian and… Horse.  Horse camp was the biggest program with 5 counselors (4 of us lived in Wagons and 1 in the Discoverer cabins).  The campers had a lot of fun and enjoyed the extra time with the horses, however the disorganization and lack of communication was quite frustrating for all of us on staff.  At least a lot of insight was gained for next year. 

On a happier note, I had some great campers and did some cool things! We had quite a bit of free time this week and took advantage of that by going to the pool and canteen everyday, which was super nice.  We also got to package food for Feed My Starving Children again as well as spend an evening at Outpost (I was in charge of games and I made a new version of Ship to Shore and called it Barn to Pasture).  We had some awesome electives, one of which was lasso with Bryce and Jesse.  They had James dress up as a bull (complete with cups ducked taped to a hemet) and taught the kids how to lasso and hog tie.  It was quite hilarious for those involved and those of us who were just watching from afar. 

We got to go on 3 horse rides this week, one of which was an hour and a half (and my stirrups were too short so my knees killed the whole time).  I got Anders the Norwegian Fiord all 3 times so now he and I are great buddies.  Actually this week got me more comfortable around all the horses in general. 

I have a few funny stories from the week to share and the first one happened Sunday evening.  I was unrolling the window flap on the outside of our wagon when I touched and saw a bat!  I was so startled and scared that I screamed and jumped backwards off the ledge that is about 4 feet off the ground.  Another story is when Bryce bet about 15 of the campers that they couldn’t pull a post out of the ground with the lasso rope that he was having them stretch out.  Turns out he knew a few days earlier a few of the horses had loosened it and it needed to come out anyway so after a few minutes they were able to do it and were super proud of themselves.  We ended up having to have the closing festival/program in the barn (and barnyard) because of rain, but it was still fun and one of the activities was “So you think you can pull a wagon?” and all 5 of us counselors had some of our campers pull us around the barnyard in one of the wagons in the rain, which was great fun.

This week I worked with Elise, Sara H., Jesse and Ace (as well as working closely with Jo, Jessica, Heidi and Bryce) and I have to give them all credit for being amazing counselors even though many times we had no clue what was going on.  On top of that, Elise had several difficult campers and yet still was able to make it through the week in one piece.  Praise God for helping her and all of us through it!  We did it and now we only have 2 weeks left!  I’m off on Settlers this week (8th graders who canoe for 3 days on the Mississippi)! 

 Jo, Kim, Sara, Johnna and I went to the LaCrosse County Fair in West Salem last Saturday and had a blast!  I really enjoy taking animal pictures, I especially like the first pig one                

 My cousin Amber got a puppy for her 17th birthday and I took lots of pictures of it at her family party.  Oh and she was completely passed out for quite some time, you could move her in an position and she’d just stay there with a smile on her cute little face.  What a cutie!