The Museum of Natural History and a random squirrel

Yesterday at camp we took a field trip to The Museum of Natural History. This was a trip for the whole camp. So we had groups 1-4 campers and staff. We used public transportation (two trains) to get to the museum. It took us a little over an hour to get there. When we got there the group leader for my group (G1A) split the kids up between our 4 staff members. I had five kids to look after and walk around the museum with. I didn't get to take any pictures because I wanted to be able to keep up with the kids.
The first section we went to was Natural Histories. It was a long hallway of pictures of a bunch of animals that used to exist. They thought some of them was cool but others were ugly. When I could keep there attention on one picture for more than three seconds I read to them the descriptions of the animals and insects.
The next section we went to was Northwest Coast Indians and saw the Indian men and women (still figures) working and preparing food. As we walked down the hall we saw a few masks and then the kids pretended to be one of the bird mask and tried to scare each other. When I got them to stop making faces and growling at each other we got to see some hand crafted swords. The boys were excited about them but the girls continued on to look at something else.
Then we went into the North American Forests section. The kids got to see animals in their different habitats. When they saw squirrels and snakes they pointed them out and called my name repeatedly to show me. That morning I coincidentally took a picture of a squirrel eating a granola bar and I showed it to them after the third fake squirrel. They also got to see what a mosquito looks like in an enlarged replica. I even got to introduce them to a few new insects like beetles and centipedes. They thought it was gross and all said "Ewwwww!".
The last section we went to was the Hall of Biodiversity. Not much about this part of our tour we just sat at the desks and watched a few videos on climate change and plants and animals. We more than anything used this section for resting since we'd been walking around for an hour. When they were paying attention to the videos and not pushing each other off the bench they seemed to be into it. They paid the most attention to a video about growing potatoes.
After we finished watching the videos I realized it was almost time to meet up with everyone so I took them to the bathroom. When they finished we went to the Cullman Hall of the Universe which is where everyone was to meet up. After waiting for 20 minutes for the rest of the groups to come we were then all able to make our way back to the school.

Squirrel eating a granola bar.

Squirrel now running away because I got to close.

I'm a Camp Counselor!

I don't actually know if camp counselor would be my proper "job title" but that's what I'm going with.
I work at a Good Shepards service day camp at my old middle school. With that information it's okay for you to assume that already knew most of the people that's working there. No, this does not mean that I got hooked up with the job because I'm working through SYEP. SYEP stands for Summer Youth Employment Program. It's a (almost) random picking based on online applications that people fill out before the beginning of the summer.
At the day camp there are four groups and four sub groups split up by age. The sub groups are there in order to maintain a balanced number of kids, counselors, and group leaders. The group leaders are the people that work with GSS all-year, during the school year it would be for after-school program. The groups go from 1-4 and the sub groups are 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 4A, and 4B. Group 1 kids are the youngest and group 4 is the oldest kids. I work with group 1A. I'm not sure of the ages of the kids in the other groups but my kids are 5-6. So I haven't worked a full week yet but I definitely like my job because I love kids.
On my first day of work I thought I'd be able to just settle in and try to get the flow of the camp. I thought wrong, my first day we went on a trip to a small kiddie amusement park. On my second day, which happened to be a Friday, the camp had Olympics. There was a bunch of games for all the groups to play including water games. I started to get the hang of it on my third day of work which happened to be our pool day. We took the kids to the pool and helped the swim instructor teach them how to swim. Today on my fourth day of work we were supposed to go Mini-Golfing but there was a communication problem so we have to go back next week.
When we're in the school we are either in the gym or in the class room. In the gym we play a few group games and then the kids have a little free time before we go to our classroom. I make sure everyone is safe and not playing to rough. when we are in the classroom we have quiet time so I remind the kids to be quiet and to keep there heads down.
Yeah, so that's just about everything there is to know about my job, if you have any questions or something was unclear to you feel free to comment.

Added 9/30. Last day working with the kids we went to the park.

I got a Job!

It may not be a big deal to most people because it's just a summer job. However, I am very excited because it will give me some work experience. I haven't started yet so my next post will be about my first week. I'll be working for a day camp at my old middle school as an assistant camp counselor (I'm assuming, I don't actually know yet). I got hired a little later than everyone else so I had to go for a doctors appointment the day I was supposed to start (Monday) to make sure I'm not sickly since I'll be working with kids. I actually should be getting my test results today and I'll be able to start work tomorrow. This was more of a small update than a full out post but I hope you like it. Have a wonderful day. :D

Taken the Monday before my appointment.

Happy Independence Day!

I know what you're thinking, "The Fourth of July was yesterday." Yes I know but it sounds so much better than saying happy belated Independence Day, doesn't it?
For the Fourth I went to a cookout with my cousins at one of there family members homes. when we got there it was still light outside, but not for long. We ate and sat outside in the backyard for a while but it wasn't the nicest yesterday, we were cold. So, me and my younger cousin decided to go sit in the car until they started to light the various fire crackers. When we got out the car to watch I came to realize that I forgot to take my camera with me. I was upset for a few minutes that I wouldn't get any pictures of the fireworks. I did manage to save two sparklers for when we got back home. After all the fireworks were finished we got in the car and drove back home. I ran upstairs to get my camera so I can take a few pictures of my cousins lighting and throwing the firecrackers their mom had.
Here are a few pictures that were sort of decent.

ISO-6400

The result of trying to write Happy Fourth.