About three months (or so) ago we got a phone call from one Steve Honsvick, the program director for Camp Steiner. A young man in our ward had worked as a youth counsellor at Steiner last year, but was not going to return this year; he recommended Jason to fill the job. Jason was in bed when Steve called so he ended up talking to Bruce. It turns out that Steve and Bruce both worked at Hartvigsen School together (at least at the same time) a couple years ago; they had lunch together once or twice. Steve remembered Bruce, and I guess he thought that if Bruce could do so well with handicapped kids then he could work with twelve-year-old scouts at Camp Steiner, too. So he asked Bruce to be the shooting sports director.
Bruce thought this sounded like fun, but the pay was far from tempting, and being away from his family for six days at a time for the entire summer was even worse. He said he just couldn't do it. A couple days later Steve called back and told Bruce that he also needed a cook and I could go work there, too. With Bruce's camp pay and mine we would earn more than Bruce is making now. But Bruce told him that we have eight kids—we couldn't very well leave them behind. Steve said he'd have a job for Michael as the ecology director, he could hire Jason and Lindsey as youth counsellors, and Brandon could be a counsellor-in-training; we could just bring the rest of the kids up to camp—in fact, while we're there Ryan can earn all the merit badges they offer. Suddenly this looked too good to pass up. Paid vacation for the entire family!
Well we've been to a couple of training meetings, we've bought some uniforms, and Bruce and Michael went to National Camping School a couple weeks ago to learn how to do their jobs. (Bruce is now NRA certified as a range-safety officer, and NRA certified instructor for rifle, shotgun and muzzle-loading rifle, and USA Archery certified Level 1 archery instructor, and he's a BSA certified Shooting Sports Director.) This week I've been dyeing light-khaki pants to dark gray (no way am I spending $55 a pair for BSA uniform pants!) I hope I've got them pretty close to the right color. We've been attempting to keep the house clean—at least I've been fussing over it; I've made pj's and floppy hats for the little girls (I wonder how long I'll keep calling those three "the little girls?"), and we are cleaning the van and gathering gear and clothes and bug spray and sunscreen.
Our big plan is to leave at 6:00 a.m. —before the sun gets too high and hot (no AC in the van :-{ ). And then the adventure begins!
The big questions are: What will the three little girls do while everyone else is working?
and What will we do with the cat while we're gone?
Wish us luck!
3 comments:
Oh my goodness!!! That is wonderful! David and Bruce will have to go shooting someday. David is a member of Sunnyvale Rod and Gun Club. One of these years you need to vacation in CA! I can't wait to hear about your adventure! You'd better get your blog on, girl!
I personally think that this might be a little bit too much work for me just to get ready for it.
Ugh! Up 'til 2 a.m. packing the van. Not even awake by 6:00. It's quarter to seven now, and most of the house is still asleep. :-/
Post a Comment