More Funny Camp Stories
Food Stories
A huge part of camp is the camp food.............and campers say the funniest things at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Some kids are so excited to be at camp that they just don't want to waste time eating. One such kid sat at my table telling everyone to hurry up but not putting anything on his own plate. My co-counselor told him he had to eat something, so the kid chowed down on a forkful of beans. When my co-counselor told the child once again to eat something, the kid retorted with, "I ate three beans!" Growing weary, my co-counselor said, "Well, beans don't cut it." The kid was quick to come back with, "Yes, they do; they cut the cheese." The same kid loved pickles and asked the kitchen staff for about three serving bowls of them at every meal (including breakfast).
Uncle Don Casserole is a favorite dish of campers, counselors, and deans alike, but one of my day group campers went a tad overboard. She was proud of eating seven helpings, but later on (after a couple S'mores) she told me that she had "about two and a half helpings too many."
A camper lost a tooth during lunch one day and was advised by another girl to keep it in a safe place. Her friend had lost a tooth the previous year and one of the hoppers threw it away. The girls looked for a safe place at the table to put it. After ten minutes of searching and ruling out everything from on a napkin to on the corner of her plate they decided that I should get a paper cup from the kitchen (which I gladly did; any excuse to visit the awesome staff) and that she should put the tooth in the cup wrapped in a napkin. After this whole ordeal, in a matter of minutes a hopper had accidentally thrown the camper's tooth away despite her friend's warning............. 
One kid loved eating bugs. He had this thing about finding bugs on the ground and eating them. When we did the scavenger hunt, one of the things listed to find was a bug. Another camper reminded the kid, "It doesn't count if you eat it."
Dean Stories
Dean Peter held morning worship on hilltop once during the 1995 Elementary III week. It was a very bright, sunny day and when he stood directly in front of the benches his back was to the sun but we had to shade our eyes. Noticing our discomfort Dean Peter moved to the edge of the hill. The closer he moved to the drop off point the less the sun was in our eyes. He finally got as far as he could go without falling off and made a joke about his predicament. "I won't move too far away from you," he said. "My voice doesn't carry very far." Most of us just chuckled, but a loud-mouthed kid shouted, "Yes, it will! We'll hear you say, 'Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!' all the way down the hill."
Dean Virginia gave a very interesting and informative program about her missionary work for our program one night. She had some wonderful slides and told us all about other countries' lifestyles, customs, and needs. When she was finished Dean Peter asked the kids what they liked best about Virginia's presentation. Most of them said things like "The pictures", "Seeing her wooden cross", and "Learning some Russian words" but one camper shouted out, "I liked the toilet!" referring to a picture of a toilet built into the ground Virginia had included to illustrate how different Russia and the U.S. are. That was what had impressed the kid out of the entire evening. My dad and his good friend Dave were deans of Elementary camp (way back before I was old enough to go!) and stressed that the counselors were not allowed to go swimming late at night. One night Dad and Dave took a walk down to the lake. They ended up taking a swim. They were just swimming along and hanging out when they heard voices and saw flashlights approaching. The counselors caught them swimming, and didn't let them live it down for the rest of the week.
Another of my dad's deaning stories (he has a million such as how he'd always have to hide his swim suit or his friends would run it up the flag pole) also had to do with breaking late night rules. Some of the counselors climbed Ol' Baldy at midnight. Dad and his co-dean (probably Dave again) heard about this and waited for them to come back. Just as they were sneaking back to camp Dad stepped up to them and said, "Hi there!" and scared the heck out of them.
Dad was a dean with a minister named Lillian. She was a relatively laid back person but the pressures of being a dean can get to anyone. When people asked her how she dealt with everything she used to say, "My co-dean keeps me calm." which brought a whole different idea into the picture....................
Cabin Stories
A downpour started just as Dean Peter began a sermon about how God always protects us and helps us out even when we aren't aware of it. My co-counselor Margie and I remembered that we had left our cabin's windows open, but neither one of us wanted to get soaked running up to close them so we just hoped for the best. A little side note here: the cabin we were in was Ishpeming which is next to and a little bit down the hill from Negaunee cabin. When we got back to Ishpeming cabin, we expected what we feared would be wet sleeping bags. To our surprise nothing was even damp. Margie was quick to incorporate this good fortune with our Bible lesson. "Who protected us, girls?" she asked. A camper looked out the window, thought about the positions of the two cabins, and shouted out, "Negaunee!"
Me Too Stories
Me Too is a fundraising type activity done during every week of camp. The kids receive canteen cards when they arrive with which they can buy candy, pop, and the all-important gimp. Their parents pay a set amount which they ration throughout the week. Any money they have left at the end of the week can be given to the Me Too fund---a charity, mission, or group of people in need. One camper got confused though. She had generously saved about five dollars (half of what she started with) for Me Too. She came up to me on the last day and said of the fundraiser, "I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I like you all." I asked her what she meant. "Well, Dean Peter says he wants us to give our leftover canteen card money to him, but at crafts Theresa says to save it for her, and Kelly says she wants it. Just now I asked Bill what to do and he said to give it to him." I told her that she must have misunderstood the others, because she was supposed to donate her money to Me Too. "You want it too?" she burst out, practically in tears. It was then that I realized she thought that we were literally saying to "give your money to me too." I quickly explained that we meant the fund and not ourselves personally. My dad recently told me about a Me Too story he had. He was a counselor at Michigamme during a week in which the kids paid for treats and crafts with real money rather than canteen cards. Cans were placed on the table at every meal, and the campers could put change in them through slits in the plastic tops. One girl leaned across the table to pick something up, and her wooden nametag got stuck in a slit on one of the plastic can tops. She stood up quickly, and the entire can went flying off the table. Change spilled everywhere, and the girl's face turned many shades of red.
Campfire Stories
During evening vespers around the campfire Dean Peter asked the kids what their favorite story about Jesus was. Several kids talked about wonderful Bible stories such as the first Christmas, His parables, and His miracles. But one boy said, "My favorite story about Jesus is when he drank the whole sea." Dean Peter paused a moment, said, "I don't recall that one," and moved on.
KISS Stories
My mom teaches freshmen Intro to Lit/Basic Comp at the school I am an alumnus of, and I was her student assistant for three years. One of the things they study every year is Charles Dickens's classic novel Great Expectations. It is about a common boy who aspires to make something of himself, mostly to win the affections of the beautiful but snobby girl he falls in love with. Dickens makes the point several times that Estella is a very lovely girl. Last year when they were getting ready to watch the movie they found out that it was black and white, and uproar nearly began in the back corner where my student assistant desk was located. I tried to tell them that the movie was pretty good even though it was black and white and used the example of the excellent actors in the cast. "Alec Guiness from Star Wars and Jean Simmons is in it," I told them. One boy was very excited. "Jean Simmons is in this movie? Are you sure?" I was very impressed with him. I had always thought of freshmen as uncultured and rather silly, but this young man was an admirer of a very classy elderly British actress. "Who does Jean Simmons play?" he asked. "Estella," I said. He looked at me, utterly horrified. "No way!" "Yeah," I said. "Estella?" he exclaimed. "I was thinking of the convict or something." That's when I figured out that he was confused. "I'm talking about the British actress from North and South," I said. "Who are you talking about?" "That guy from KISS," the freshman said. Much to his disappointment, I told him that Gene Simmons hadn't even been born when the movie was made. Later I found out that there was a KISS song named Great Expectations. I now wonder if that freshman went through the entire novel thinking it had something to do with the song.
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