Camp Kidjam 2010

Rachel and I had a fabulous time at camp this year. It was her second time, but my first!! We were in bed late each night and up early for breakfast each morning! I had a couple of knocks on my door the first night. One was so I could unplug a noisy refridgerator and the other was to talk to a girl who couldn't sleep. It has taken me two whole days to recover from this awesome experience!!

We took 3 vans full of 14 boys, 11 girls, and 6 counselors up to the Wake-Forest campus for KidJam Camp 2010!! This year's theme was "JUMP! Put your faith in motion." We arrived on Monday afternoon and unpacked our belongings in our dorm rooms. Dinner in the dining hall was CRAZY!! Kids running all over the place to find the food and drinks that they wanted. The food was pretty good, though!

Our first "Jam session" was at 6:30. Each church was assigned to a team. Our church (along with 2 other churches) were combined to form the PURPLE team. There were 6 teams total. Each team was to try to earn points throughout the week by showing team spirit (reciting their team cheer) and by winning at the game shows and outside competitions. Our cheer was fairly lame and set to the tune of the theme song from "Barney".

The Jam Sessions started out with high energy praise and worship music. There were some teens on stage who were there specifically to do the motions/dancing for the songs. They were REALLY great and full of energy. I felt like I was doing an aerobic workout! Two of our kiddos got to participate on stage for the game show called "Leap or Lose". We only made it past the first round once, but I think we would have if our buzzer didn't fail us that one time...

There was a speaker at each Jam session and a fabulous skit that progressed from one session to the next. The acting was great! My favorite character was a "has-been" rock star named Jake Rage. I had him sign my T-shirt on the last day!

After Jam session we proceeded to small group where we were able to lead our children in a series of activities that reinforced the Bible story that the speaker shared in the Jam session. We played play doh, sculpted out of tin foil, played guessing games, and did re-inactments. FUN!!

After small group we were pretty tired, but had to find the energy to go to "late night". This is another high energy worship session followed by messy fun on stage. I had to go up on stage and Rachel made an ice-cream sundae on my face!! After she glopped the first scoop on my face I had a hard time breathing!! Unfortunately, our team did NOT win, but I was able to excite our team enough to win an extra 1000 points for spirit!!

So, the next two days followed the same format. We had a morning Jam Session and small group time and then the kids got to go to their special activity for an hour. Rachel's was "Taking the Stage". After lunch they went outdoors for team competitions to earn points for their team. During free time we all hung out in the dorms. The kids liked to play "house" and visit each others rooms. On Wednesday the kids went on inflatable water slides and went shopping during free time. After dinner we had another Jam Session, small group and Late Nite.

On the final late night it was revealed that we came in last for team spirit!! Each year the prize is different. One year we won the golden plunger, but this year we were unable to win the coveted silver tennis racquet. I believe it was a silver sneaker last year... FUN!!!

Well, I've taken a few naps over the last couple days and finally feel like myself again. I would love to do it again, but I think I'm going to let my husband enjoy the experience with Aaron in a couple years!!

Hopefully I can acquire some pictures soon.