2014 Camp Kesem Report: Guest Post from Carrie and Katie
A Note from Fatty: Today I’m happy to have my twins, Carrie (left) and Katie (right) be guest-posting about their experience at Camp Kesem this past summer. Carrie (aka “Car” wrote the story; Katie (aka “Couch”) illustrated it
The timing for this story is perfect, by the way, because the 100 Miles of Nowhere (which is a fundraiser for Camp Kesem) gear has just shipped out — you should be getting yours soon!
Our 2014 Camp Kesem Story
Camp Kesem is always the highlight of our summer vacation. It is the thing we look forward to the most as the school year comes to an end. It’s better than Disneyland…or any other theme park.
In Camp Kesem, you are never bored. The games are infinite and the people are fantastic!
Once, our group finished all our scheduled activities, so a large chunk of our group started an enormous game of “Human Knot.” Human Knot is a game where everyone playing forms a circle and grabs two random people’s hands, creating a knot. This game took an astounding two hours to untie.
Two hours!
As the days passed, we all got the chance to do incredible and fn things. These things included things like the zip line:
The Zip Line was awesome — so much fun!
We also got to go on a giant swing, and we had an Ice Cream Cone Challenge, where one person had to stand on a chair and pour ice cream and toppings into another person’s cone.
Some kids didn’t even try to get it in the cone — they’d just pour it all over the other kids’ face!
But our personal favorite activity was doing the talent show. The talent show wasn’t so much a talent show as it was a chance for everyone to perform hilarious things. One boy ate a lemon:
One boy ate a lemon during the talent show. We couldn’t believe it!
Another boy did some sort of really cool-looking robot dance.
I’d like to think that our act was one of the best, though. What we did was sneaky, secret, and…musical.
It all started when one of our cabinets in the green girl cabin pointed out that we had a boy counsellor called “Simba,” and a girl who went by “Nala.” She suggested that maybe for the talent show we could surprise them by singing, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” from The Lion King.
It was an idea we couldn’t turn down.
So we practiced and learned the lyrics. The turnout was great. They were surprised, but they soon started waltzing around the stage.
I think the whole act was funny for everybody.
That isn’t all that Camp Kesem is about, though. Camp Kesem is really about getting away from the stress of the real world. It’s about finding people you can talk to, people who know what you’ve been through.
And altogether, Camp Kesem is magic.
Comment by Clydesteve | 10.9.2014 | 9:38 am
perfect! – Thanks for the great write-up Car & Couch!
Comment by davidh-marin,ca | 10.9.2014 | 9:50 am
So proud to be part of the Fatty Family.
Thanks Car and Couch!
Comment by Tom in Albany | 10.9.2014 | 9:56 am
Great write-up, ladies! Thanks for reporting back and so happy you had fun!
Comment by Fat Cathy | 10.9.2014 | 9:58 am
Great write-up and illustrations Car and Couch! Fatty, you have some very talented kids!
Comment by Rob L | 10.9.2014 | 10:15 am
Buwhahaha, once dared my brother to eat a whole yellow onion. He did. Great tale, glad you had awesome adventures!
Comment by Liz M. | 10.9.2014 | 10:39 am
Woderful write up! Thanks for giving us a peek inside Camp Kesem. Glad you had so much fun.
Comment by Gingersnap | 10.9.2014 | 10:45 am
CK at BYU loves Car and Couch!! We’re glad they were able to join our family. They are so much fun!
Comment by Eric L. | 10.9.2014 | 10:52 am
Wow! Really great drawings. Car & Couch should start a blog.
Comment by JRGdeCT | 10.9.2014 | 10:58 am
Fattie… thanks to you I found Camp Kesem a couple years ago after my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. My daughter has gone to the camp for the past 2 summers and loves it. No joke… it was the highlight of the summer. She is already talking about how she will only go to college at a university that supports Kesem because she is going to “be a counselor one day”.
I can confirm that this is a great program and one I personally support and encourage others to support. Thank you for supporting them.
My twins say the same thing your daughter does – they both want to be CK counsellors when they’re old enough! I think that’s another great thing about Camp Kesem — it seems to create a fantastic “pay it forward” desire in the campers. Which is a value I love. – FC
Comment by Dave T | 10.9.2014 | 11:16 am
Great post I love the drawings. Camp Kesem does look magical, so glad you had such a great time.
Comment by sr | 10.9.2014 | 11:33 am
Hey girls, good writing and illustrations. Well done.
Comment by NZ Ev | 10.9.2014 | 11:57 am
Wonderful post!!! Can’t wait to do the 100MON in support of Camp Kesem!!
Comment by Heidi | 10.9.2014 | 11:59 am
Fantastic write-up, ladies! I’m so glad you have this to look forward to every summer.
Hey, does this mean you got your ipods back? ;~)
Comment by Christina | 10.9.2014 | 12:02 pm
The “WHAT” figure has me laughing out loud. Excellent write-up!
Sad to have missed out on 100MON sign ups this year. I may bandit the ride. Mwa ha ha ha.
Comment by Corrine | 10.9.2014 | 3:56 pm
Loved the write up. You girls are great writers and illustrators. Loved the drawings, too. I did my 100 MoN Sept 13 and good thing I did because I’ve been cross country skiing the last week on 10 inches of snow here in Fairbanks. I was able to raise several more hundred dollars by doing my ride and sent it on to Camp Kesem. I sent my report to Fatty. Please, Fatty, post my report this year. It’s been one of my goals to have you post my report and every year I am disappointed and downtrodden. You don’t want to be responsible for that, do you?
Comment by Carrie Nelson | 10.9.2014 | 4:09 pm
Thanks guys! And hi Gingersnap!
Comment by RodNeeds2Ride | 10.9.2014 | 4:13 pm
Great job, ladies!
Sorry you got so wet at the Tour de Donut – you were such troopers!
Comment by BamaJim | 10.9.2014 | 4:28 pm
Great writeup and illustrations! Due to some schedule conflicts, my 100 MoN was last Saturday. Glad to participate again, and happy to be able to make a tiny contribution to some “magic”.
Comment by Susan's Sister Christine | 10.9.2014 | 4:33 pm
Thanks, Car and Couch for the very fun guest post today. I loved the write up, and the pictures were awesome. So two hours to untie and human knot? What if someone had to go to the bathroom? And the zip line, ice cream challenge, and talent show look like so much fun as well. I’ll bet the only thing missing was a good game of silent pictionary! Glad you had fun. Love you guys. –Aunt Christine
Comment by Kukui | 10.9.2014 | 5:06 pm
Couch and Car! Great write up and drawings, you guys! And two hours in a human knot?! That is some serious dedication. And that talent show sounds awesome!
I’m so glad you had fun at Camp Kesem – it looks like a blast!
Comment by Cyclingjimbo | 10.9.2014 | 10:32 pm
Thanks for the wonderful write up and the geat illustrations to accompany it. This weekend we will have 4 100 MoN riders doing a small loop in my neighborhood, as well as a lemonade stand, and we are happy to be together and supporting Camp Kesem.
Carrie and Katie, AKA Car and Couch, (there must be a story there – can you share how these nicknames came about?), thank you for sharing your experience with us all. We love it.
Comment by davidh-Marin,ca | 10.9.2014 | 10:34 pm
@Corrine
Didn’t we have that writeup from Denali as a 100MON? Or, am I just becoming more addled with age? But please, don’t get me wrong, I love to read all the reports. One day, I’ll finish mine.
Comment by Corrine | 10.9.2014 | 10:47 pm
@davidh
I posted my 100 MoN link in the comments last year under somebody else’s post, Fatty didn’t post it himself. Yes, you did see it, you aren’t getting too old or addled. Please do your write up of your Europe trip. I’m dying to hear about it!
Comment by Carl | 10.10.2014 | 9:01 am
Best thing I have read in ages. Thanks for sharing girls!
Comment by JD | 10.10.2014 | 9:38 am
Great post girls!!
I saw the shipping notice for 100MtoN and now this. I’m a week past a compound fracture of my upper left arm during a road bike accident (last Saturday). :-( Something tells me my 100MtoN ride/result is going to be delayed….
Comment by davidh-Marin,ca | 10.10.2014 | 10:11 am
@JD All one has to say is ‘compound’ in relation to any fracture and I’m sure we all share the same reaction….we shrivel into ourselves.
Make a successful and complete recovery, and when you return to the bike, and you will return, that 100MoN victory will be all the sweeter!
In the meantime….have some pie. Best wishes!
Comment by bikemike | 10.10.2014 | 12:12 pm
Ahhh. Wonderful. Thanks talented Nelson twins.
Comment by Andy@wdw | 10.10.2014 | 7:31 pm
Great write-up, girls! I can’t believe you hung in there for 2 HOURS working on that human knot!!
HOORAY! My 100MON box arrived today! So much awesome swag! The jersey is even better in person! Since my support crew now has different days off than I do, I just don’t know when I’m going to get my ride done. :-/
Comment by Amanda | 10.11.2014 | 9:51 am
I have read this blog for many years , but fall under the “silent reader” category as I have never commented before. However, I cannot help but publicly applaud the artistic hilarity in this post. Thanks for a great laugh.
Comment by leroy | 10.11.2014 | 8:54 pm
Great post!
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