Friday the waves were slightly rougher, but the seining went on nonetheless. We had a few late-arriving men available to sein, but Joe and Mr. Bellerjeau still joined in the fun. After completing an early chore I arrived on the beach and asked Mr. D which group I should help. He surveyed both groups and reached a conclusion. "Charles is down there, so go help the other group." Shows you how highly Mr. D values my scientific expertise, I suppose.
Holt somehow caught a bee, which he proudly held by the wings. Later someone said he ate it. The rest of us were treated to popsicles. Earlier, the usual Living Science lunch sandwiches were greeted by shouts of "SANDWICHES!" and "I love sandwiches!"
There was alot for the students to get in that day, and little for the chaperones to do, except chat, take pictures, help with lunch and dinner, and break down equipment at the end of the day. Late in the afternoon several of the chap ladies gathered around Mrs. D, and an impromptu ladies conference broke out. The ladies asked questions, and Mrs. D held court for over an hour, dispensing wisdom. I was fortunate enough to sit in for some of her talk. One nugget: If you're doing it out of comdenation, you're creating deaf ears.
My arms and legs had been bitten by so many bugs that I looked like I had the measles. While us chaps chatted, I spied Nurse Mary's old school calomine lotion. With nothing else to do, I coated my arms in the soothing pink liquid. Later Mary used the calomine lotion to sooth several student's bites (until she ran out, for some reason).
Just before our pizza dinner the servant leaders headed to their cars, ready to head back to the hotel to prepare for the evening activities. Mrs. Hanson relayed a message from Mrs. D: After the skit, Mr. Ellis and I would be selected winners of the best teacher "election." I quickly told David, and we shared some ideas. I considered accepting the award as Krypto, but the needed costumes were unavailable. I was unaware the he also had a superhero alter-ego, but he didn want to go that far. We decided to play it by ear.
Meanwhile, the middle-schoolers were introduced to a complicated four-part game as they waited for pizza. As the instructions droned on for what seemed like 15 minutes, Joe and I saw several blank stares. We didn't think the complex game would fly, but we were soon proven wrong. Both the boys AND girls went to work untying human knots, climbing through ropes, throwing a ball, and performing human wheelbarrows. The game was a hit, and only two students were injured in 15 minutes of action. Anna suffered her THIRD injury of the week, bloodying her knee pretty good.
Several times during the week Tia and Joanna hosted the "Who am I?" game. Students dutifully stood, then sat when eliminated. Tia's bright personality was the highlight of the game, and she insisted on having each "winner"'s picture taken with her.
The wonderful skit came to it's decisive conclusion, though we didn't want it to end. Mrs. D actually had the students vote for their favorite teachers, and during the break the they were supposedly counted. Though the teachers supposedly knew there would be no winner, Will was thrown for a loop when Mrs. D announced "The winners, with 58 votes...Mr. Murphy and Mr. Ellis!" David and I scream, hug, and excitedly run about. Mrs. D ill-advisedly handed me the microphone, and I pull out the speech I'd jotted down. My first line was ONLY said for laughs: "We may not have written the skit, but we still got the last laugh!" I continued my speech, which was going to mention all three teaching teams. But Mr. Ellis looked like he had something to say, so I handed him the mic. His "I voted for us 58 times!" line was so good, there was no need to continue. Ad-libbing, I compared this acceptance speech to my speech at Will's mugging, which I hear was infamously long. Finally, I pointed to Mr. Landrum, asking him to play the video we had prepared (earlier I'd asked Charles to play any video he had that might be funny). I thought his choice was excellent...a video on toothpick bridge building. Unfortunately, many students didn't get it.
Letters from the parents were read, which is always a special time. Worship got off to an unusual start. Matthew Flurry couldn't find his sidekick Caleb, and was quite upset. I thought he was looking for a parent, after reading his letter. I found his mother in the back, and she came to his rescue. But later the youngest Flurry boy was MIA. Fortunately, after a few frantic minutes, he was found on the front row of singing students.
After worship the 8th graders went ghost crabbing, which was Anna's favorite part of the week. I got in trouble with Mrs. Hanson for taking Holt to the house, to get his flashlight. At 2 am Matthew Flurry throws up, but he feels fine afterwards. His dad says pizza does that to him.
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