Canyon Life is Getting CRAZY

So it has been the most hectic past few days I have had in a long time, followed by the most relaxing day off possible today. This is when I start to really love the Canyon.

Starting Friday, the middle school group that was in checked out at 7:15 Friday morning, so we went in early and had an all-camp All Clean because our Wildhorse Family Camp was coming in Friday afternoon. It was super crazy because we literally had a couple of hours between camps. The families started arriving at like 1:00 in the afternoon but couldn't check into their rooms until 4:00 so it created a crazy schedule where we cleaned the quads last. Weird. It was a long and fast-paced day, but we got it all done.

Family camp is huge and super fun. Every room in both quads was used. It's completely like Young Life camp in a weekend. They have program, field games, the carnival, the dance, all the rides were open, everything. So in that respect it's awesome. Clubs were really fun, program was really funny, and it was really fun to see all the families around. All of our property staff families get to participate, so it was fun for them as well. The kids go crazy because it's their one chance to be campers. The other thing that was really fun was that I'm starting to recognize some of the faces that have been out here several times and getting to know the people on field staff here in the Northwest. They're really fun and it's just encouraging to feel like I know people.

With a camp of over 500 people in, I knew the Sassy would be crazy. I had been warned and prepared and had plenty of practice over the last 7 months. Still, I had no idea. The Sassy Saturday afternoon was CRAZY. I didn't stop moving for 4 hours. I had volunteers in that I had to train before we opened and they were great. Other staff jumped in to help. We had both windows open and lines at both all afternoon. At one point we had 8 people working in the Sassy and still huge lines of orders. It was overwhelming. It just hit that this is what every opening is going to be like in the summer. Crazy, crazy, crazy. And it means that my job changes a lot. I have to be the one running around, making sure everyone has everything they need and are functioning properly. I'm not necessarily great at that because I'm more task-oriented than big picture-oriented, but I can definitely handle. It was just that same feeling where you start a new job and the first 2 weeks you come home every day wanting to cry because you think there's no way you can do it. Then you figure out you can and it's easy. I'm going to patiently await the easy.

We were open again that night and I had all staff volunteers working with me because everyone else had to work the carnival. It was really fun, although I was exhausted. I didn't get to sleep until like 1:00 and my whole body was sore. The great thing was, I got to wake up the next morning and head to HK for another all-camp All Clean because again, we have a mid-week group that will be coming in early Wednesday and we're off Monday and Tuesday. So, we had to bust out both quads and all the perifs in record time. What usually takes us 6 hours in the quads needed to take us 4. It didn't. We ended up working until 6:15, exhausted and on little sleep. Not to complain though, it was really kind of great. I love the end of a day/weekend like that. I feel tired but weirdly energized because I did so much and pushed myself to do it well. I'm oddly excited for summer even though it is going to be so overwhelmingly hard.

After we got off work at 6:15, we ran home, changed, and went to float in the pool until the sun went down. I forgot to mention that it broke 100 degrees in the canyon this weekend as well. So not only were we working hard but we were drenched in sweat. And, what's even better than a shower after a day like that? Jumping in the pool! Cleans you right up.

This morning I woke up after some solid sleep and headed down to the pool. It was hopping because a lot of people have Monday off. We spent a few hours laying in the sun and then headed home and hung out. This evening we had a bonfire with Bill and Dena and played an intense game of wiffle ball that ended in a tie. After that, all the girls came over and watched Father of the Bride because Lacey had never seen it. And after that, Darren and I watched some West Wing. That is what I call a perfect day in the Canyon. It was beautiful, although I'm slightly sunburned. Totally worth it.

Tomorrow we're going to see Prince Caspian and getting dinner at Red Robin. I'm pumped! I will post a thorough review after.

Much love!