June means Summer is here...and so is another Toppler!

[AmyK]

I think she is saying both. You can't be my co counselor unless the fruit machine puts you in my cabin.

[AmyK]

Jmom is the new meanie

[Jane Reads]

I'm in!

[Lynn]

Hurrah, very glad it's the second week :)

[Janice, Moderator]

AmyK wrote: "Jmom is the new meanie"

We don't have moderators in this group. We have meanies! Hehehehe!

[jaxnsmom]

I don't think I should be blamed for what the fruit machine does! ☺

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Can I plead fruit machine then (even though I haven't used it yet)?

[Christine]

Is it too late for me to jump in on this? I'd like to give it a try!

[jaxnsmom]

Rusalka wrote: "Can I plead fruit machine then (even though I haven't used it yet)?"

Of course you can! It's the moderator fallback answer :)


Chris Kinsella wrote: "Is it too late for me to jump in on this? I'd like to give it a try!"

We'd love to have you!

For anyone else interested in participating - once the camps have been set up, you can still join and be assigned to a camp.

[Cathie]

I'm in :-)

[jaxnsmom]

IMPORTANT INFORMATION! Check message 3

[[deleted user]]

Camp Happy thread is up & running - jump in & say hello all my happy campers >:-)
here: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

[Lynn]

Where is Amy and our camp? I was trying to be patient but not so much any more ;)

::jumps up and down in anticipation::

[Jess :)]

Hi everyone - I'd like to join in as well! I have been busy lately so I can only commit to one book for the toppler... well.. perhaps a second if things are going well ;)

[Marnie]

Hey Lynn- we could go watch a double header of Meatballs and Little Darlings ( 2 1980's movies about summer camp) until our camp is ready. I'll make the popcorn.

Can we call first dibs on E :)?

[Cathie]

Hi Lynn and Marnie :-). Come drop by Camp Happy; we have smores and wine and wine and wine and smores!

[[deleted user]]

Cathie wrote: "Hi Lynn and Marnie :-). Come drop by Camp Happy; we have smores and wine and wine and wine and smores!"
And as they're virtual, there's no calorie counting to worry about >:-)
Camp Happy living up to its (slightly corny) name already. C'mon in y'all.

[Lynn]

Marnie - Movies and Popcorn sounds good!

Cathie and Helen - I have indeed already visited your camp and help myself to the wine and smores ... you just didn't notice me ;)

[Cathie]

ahhh, we had a lurker, and here I thought Almeta had been sneaking our wares ;-)

[jaxnsmom]

ssshhhh...Almeta is Camp Jingalo's secret weapon. She will sneak into the other camps and learn their secrets, while helping herself to any goodies :)

[jaxnsmom]

E :) wrote: "Hi everyone - I'd like to join in as well! I have been busy lately so I can only commit to one book for the toppler... well.. perhaps a second if things are going well ;)"

Welcome E! You are lucky enough to get into Camp Jingalo!! You're in for a lot of fun!

[jaxnsmom]

Helen wrote: "Camp Happy thread is up & running - jump in & say hello all my happy campers >:-)
here: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1..."

Good idea Helen. I've put links in message 3 to our camps. Amy better be checking in soon, or someone's going to be short-sheeted (or worse).

[jaxnsmom]

I'm going to catch up on everything now. I have a horrible head cold that has had me out of it this weekend. I think I have slept 20 of the last 24 hours - sure hope I'm not up all night!

[Lisa]

jaxnsmom wrote: "I'm going to catch up on everything now. I have a horrible head cold that has had me out of it this weekend. I think I have slept 20 of the last 24 hours - sure hope I'm not up all night!"

Poor you jmom! Get well soon.

[jaxnsmom]

Marnie wrote: "Hey Lynn- we could go watch a double header of Meatballs and Little Darlings ( 2 1980's movies about summer camp) until our camp is ready. I'll make the popcorn.

Can we call first dibs on E :)?"

The fruit machine was kind to E, and put her in Camp Jingalo :D

All I could think of was Meatballs and Bill Murray, maybe I should have named my camp Meatballs, or Tripper :)

[Jess :)]

Thanks jaxnsmom!

[Marnie]

I had that movie on Beta max ( yes I am that old) and my brothers use to quote it often. I might even be able to give the " it just doesn't matter " speech by heart!

[Cathie]

lol, loved that movie!

Almeta has a good singing voice too; she tried to hide but I could hear singing, coming from the shadows of the trees

[Cathie]

Hope you feel better soon Jaxnsmom :-). I hear camp nurses aren't too nice.

[jaxnsmom]

especially when you have let your campers pull too many tricks on them :)

[Thing Two]

Of course I'm in!

[jaxnsmom]

T2 - you're in Amy's camp :)

[Jennifer]

Oh.... i'm a late arrival to camp! Please point me in the direction of my cabin please!! :) Hope it's not too late to be assigned a camp!

[jaxnsmom]

Jennifer - you are also a lucky winner! The fruit machine has assigned you to Camp Jingalo!

[Jennifer]

Thanks ~ I will make my way to Camp Jingalo!

[Janice, Moderator]

Not only do we have wine and smores... we have HAPPY campers! And the rumour about camp nurses is not true. My mom was a camp nurse and the only ones she had to patch up were her own children. LOL! My brother cut himself with a knife. My sister cut herself too, and I hopped out of the upper bunk and scraped my leg quite deep.

Feel better soon j'mom!

[Esther]

Janice wrote: "Not only do we have wine and smores... we have HAPPY campers! And the rumour about camp nurses is not true. My mom was a camp nurse and the only ones she had to patch up were her own children. L..."

I hope you feel better Jaxnmom. Any hint of what kind of books we need to pile up?

[Rusalka, Moderator]

I haven't looked at goodreads much over the last day. I have a camp! woo.

We don't really do the summer camp thing over here. Although I did go on a camp that happened to be in summer, and then lead it a few times. Us leaders had camp names, usually something fun or reflective of us (examples were Scooby, Bobbin, Goose, Frazzle). Mine was Cosi mainly after the Louis Nowra play Così. It's about a group of Australian psychiatric patients trying to put on the opera Cosi Fan Tutti by Mozart.

I did a bit of acting, was a singer (although hated my operatic training), and slightly loopy so I thought it all fitted rather well.

There is a great film version of Cosi as well if anyone cares to check it out. It's a pretty amusing movie and has Toni Collette as one of the leads http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115951/?...

[jaxnsmom]

I thought of camp names, but figured it would get so confusing - I can't remember who I am half of the time :)

[jaxnsmom]

Esther wrote: "I hope you feel better Jaxnmom. Any hint of what kind of books we need to pile up?"

Thanks, Esther. I'm almost back to normal :)

I'll start posting tasks this week so you'll have plenty of time to pile, gopher, squirrel, or list possible books :D

[Almeta]

jaxnsmom wrote: "I'm almost back to normal :) ..."

??Normal??

[Almeta]

Kinda funny that so many people didn't really have a summer camp tradition. In the US there is a camp for every interest; band camp, craft camp, sports camp, science camp, etc.

Summer Camp is a way for frazzled parents to get their children away from them for a glorious two week stretch! Like paying a babysitter 24/7, only better, because they will bring home baskets made of Popsicle sticks, or drawings for your refrigerator colored with twigs and leaves! AND they will sing Kum Ba Yah until even the earworm will beg for relief.☻

I also never actually attended camp as a camper, but was a camp counselor for the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation, which sponsored camp activities for intellectually and physically impaired teens.

It will be fun to be a camper for a change!

[jaxnsmom]

Almeta wrote: "jaxnsmom wrote: "I'm almost back to normal :) ..."

??Normal??"

I never defined normal :D

[Cathie]

Normal is a setting on the dryer, I think.

[Almeta]

Cathie wrote: "Normal is a setting on the dryer, I think."

:)

[[deleted user]]

We have a phrase used to describe the certain locals who are considered slow. For example, NFN stands for Normal for Norfolk.

*note I'm half Norfolk myself, I'm more normal than a very very normal thing

[Helen]

Hi all. This toppler sounds like fun. Jmom, can you charge up the fruit machine and assign me to a cabin?

To keep things less confused, you can refer to me as Helen 2.

[[deleted user]]

ah ha! Fruit machine, do you choose to divide or combine the Helens... >:-)

[Cherie]

Almeta wrote: "Kinda funny that so many people didn't really have a summer camp tradition. In the US there is a camp for every interest; band camp, craft camp, sports camp, science camp, etc.

Summer Camp is a w..."

Here in Oregon, in the Portland area, our 6th grade elementary students always looked forward to Outdoor School. Some did it in the Fall and some in the Spring. It was a week long environmental science camp. My daughters loved it when they went! They had cabins, counselors, camp fires, etc. The counselors all had names other than their real one. The parents got to go the last night and sing around the campfire with them and be lead all around to see the place. It was fun! I do not know if they still do it or not.

[Roz]

Here on Long Island the 6th graders (at least in my sons' school) go on a winter trip to Frost Valley, also a science camp. Parents don't go but we get lots of pictures of our kids being silly and having a great time. Lots of fun and science too.