The very first day of summer camp... If you've ever been there, you'd understand what I'm talking about when I say there is something very familiar about the air, the cabins, the dining hall.. even the other kids and counselors had a distinct smell. It just sorta tied everything together. A "mil dewey, old clothes, cedar, franks and beans" seeping aroma..
The drive that Saturday morning always seemed to take an eternity. And when we finally met the gravel driveway...my body couldn't stand it any longer. I was psyched! (I'm pretty sure my parents...shoot more like the majority of all the other parents dropping off their own kids were even more excited about the long week!) I wanted to jump out of my seat.

So when we got there, we all reported to the dining hall to check in.. We had our medicines, our belongings, and about an hour of registering. Chuck ..Chuck, eh.. well this guy Chuck. I always tried hiding away when he showed up. It was a lost cause though. And when he saw us, he would run over and yell "hey there's my peanut!".. grab my cheek and stretch the loose skin..."So Peanut how was your summer so far?!"
Peanut? really?... I hate "peanut".. "zach attack".. "spider monkey".."the runt".. "Bum" what ever endearing words these crazy adults wanted to go with..but hey, here's an idea : how about you just call me ZACH.. I was a little of the entertainment.

When our parents left, we were pretty much free for a couple hours to mingle and meet with your cabin buddies. It was consistent each year. Jesse, DeAaron, CJ, Kevin...to name a few.
And immediately, our cabin was ready to discuss the weeks most pressing matter:
"The big talent Show".. a lip sinking contest to be preformed Tuesday, and if you well represented your cabin, and killed it like Mily Vanily..well, then again you'd preform for cash, and prizes Thursday in the Finals Showdown!
If you hadn't guessed about me yet.. I am a ham in front the camera, lights, large gatherings.. So now I get the chance to dress in rock outfits of the 80's and bust out some oldies or new jams. well I was in heaven!
I'll roll out the top 3 in no particular order.
1) Beach Boys "Barbara Ann"... I nailed it with a combination of Twist and Chubby Checkers meets ridiculous..
2) I preformed the Ninja Turtles Song - Go Ninja. I was raphael, and I believe we had the best costume and set design.. we ranked Second.
3) "Smoking in the Boys room" by Poison.... seemed a little inappropriate singing about the joys of smoking in the public restrooms, seeing as how we were all living with chronic, often terminal lung disease... But hey we rocked that out without batting an eye..were were kinda like the badest 9 year old bad asses that CF camp ever did witness. And we won 1st place!
We felt like royalty the next day and a half.. Like rock legends..and then we get caught. Yeah, so the panty raid we thought had been executed to perfection the evening prior, well...turned out our "covert opt" ability was comparable to holes in swiss cheese.
Table setting ,and Clearing was our job for dinner..

They had polar bear swims every morning that week too. And you know, I really tried! I really did! I would wake up, and head to the pool ready to go.