Rushing Rivers Camp, Kit's fifth letter!

Dear Mimi,
Sorry that I haven't written in the past couple of days. It has been really slow around here. Ever since Friday, the weather has consisted of nothing but rain. Rain and lightning. Of course there are small breaks of sunshine between rain, but then it's so windy, and everything is so wet, being outside isn't especially appealing.

So for the past couple days, I have been inside the tent. It is starting to feel very squished. At the moment, Kirsten is crouched in the tents door, taking rain pictures. Samantha is flopped on the floor reading, and I am obviously writing. To pass the time I have also been knitting and reading, but not much of either. The tent isn't very well lit.

Mimi, if you don't want to read a letter full of complaints, you might want to just toss this letter into your fireplace, or your toaster. Whichever is closer.

Anyways, the picture(s) I included are ones that Kirsten took of me in the rain, although I didn't have any idea about it.
A helpful tip: (Aimed right at you, Miss Photography 1 and 2, not that Kirsten is reading this (hopefully) but at least you are) when you are taking a photo of someone who has been cooped up in a tent for three days, let them know about it so that they can have time to brush their hair. That's all I'm saying about these photos.

Have you ever been in a tent for three solid days in a rainstorm? Believe me, it isn't any fun at all. At first it was kind of fun, because it was warm and cozy. The fun stopped abruptly when rain started leaking in the tent's roof, and coming through the fabric floor. A counselor gave us a tarp to put down, but it still leaks in some way or the other.

Sigh. I'm sure that if I have to stay in this tent another second, I'll scream. Actually I probably won't because it's night and we're supposed to be getting ready for bed. Yeah. We started getting ready for bed, then the motivation just left.

Normal camp activities are postponed until the rain stops, because all of them are outdoors practically. We still have to wade through the ankle-deep mud at least three times a day for meals, but for the most part, we're all hiding away in tents.

Well, that's all I have to say really, because there isn't much to say about rain, except for this one thing I forgot to mention: it's wet.

Bye!
Kit

(also included in the envelope was a small note from Kirsten)

Hello!
In Kit's letter, I'm imagining she was rather depressed-sounding about the rain. Don't worry, it isn't too bad here, and also I don't think Kit really hates the rain anyway. The photo I included is of her playing in the rain. I took it at the same time as the other ones, I just haven't shown it to her yet. After she saw the other ones, she asked me to stop taking so many pictures of her when she was unprepared. It's a good thing she hasn't seen my photo file on the computer, hehe.
See you soon!
Kirsten



My curiosity aroused, I went and looked at Kirsten's photo file on the computer. She's right, it is probably a good thing Kit has never seen it; she would be certain Kirsten took too many pictures! There were about fifty-million photos inside... no wonder the computer has been running slowly!!

Rushing Rivers Camp, Kit's fourth letter!

Dear Mimi,

Today was kind of a cloudy, foggy sort of day.
For breakfast this morning we were served toast mostly. It was pretty good, for toast.

Nature class today was about bird feet. I personally thought it was a strange topic, but I didn't have any say in what Ms. Lila spoke to us about.
We learned about what different kinds of bird feet do, and how they differ. Later we had trivia on this topic.

We made book covers for our craft today, to recover old books that they had there. They turned out very nicely, and now we all have new books!

Aside from the bird feet trivia, our game time consisted of canoe racing. It was fun, but I was still a little nervous about being in a canoe. Even if it wasn't in a Rapid River. The red team won one race, and the Blue team won the other. Both teams are currently tied at twenty points each!

Lunch and dinner were typical "camp food". Lunch was soup, and dinner was hot-dogs and beans.

For free time today, I hung around with Molly again. She and I are becoming very good friends. We decided to go swimming, because it was ridiculously hot. I wasn't too partial to going swimming, but the alternative was the River Rapids course.
The lake wasn't very crowded, which we were thankful for. A quiet lake is more fun than a rowdy splashy lake.
Although I can't swim very well, we did manage to swim out to the island that sits in the middle of the lake. It was very peaceful. We mostly flopped around and goofed off for a couple of hours. Then suddenly the sky clouded over. Before we knew it, we were right in the middle of a thunderstorm! You will be glad to hear that we had the presence of mind to go find shelter. We ended up in a small, damp cave. It was better than nothing.
We waited the storm out; it lasted about a half an hour.
When it was finally over, we swam back ashore. It seemed a lot longer than when we had swam out earlier. We arrived on shore by about the time everyone was looking for us. When they heard where we had been, they rushed us off to the nurses office. I think they go a little overboard sometimes (they send people there all the time!) but I suppose it's better than if they didn't send you at all!
The nurse told us to rest for a while... I think that's what she tells everyone. I'm not really sure that she's a qualified nurse. We rested until dinner.

Well that's about all that happened today! We all miss you!
Kit

Rushing Rivers Camp, Kit's third letter!

Soon after I received Kit's letter, I was on a bus headed towards Rushing Rivers! It was just as long and interesting as Kit had written, and I was enthralled the whole ride.
When I arrived after three long hours, I was greeted warmly by all of my doll companions, and a few friends they had made. Kit was very excited to see me. She insisted on showing me the whole camp, obviously forgetting an experience of her own rather similar to that.
I only stayed for a couple of hours, but Kit wrote me a letter to tell me what I had missed.


Dear Mimi,
I was very glad to see you this morning, but I'm sorry you couldn't stay longer. What did you think of camp?
Breakfast wasn't very good this morning. You're lucky that you came too late for it; the eggs were too runny, and everything else was to hard.
Ms. Lila told us an "epic chipmunk story" for our nature class, or that was at least how she described it. The chipmunk pictures were very cute, but it was really boring.

Crafts were postponed due to "technical difficulties beyond their control" (Really, how many technical difficulties can you have with craft supplies??) so we moved right along to game time. We were promised a craft later.
The first game we played was hide and seek. It didn't last very long, because some of the younger Dolls, (Rose and Amanda) got hot and tired of it very quickly. Instead we played games with cotton balls and straws.
The first game we played was a race, and the second one was more like hockey. They were both very fun, although they left one quite winded. The red team won both games!

After a quick lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (They have low budget lunches here) we moved right along to free time.

Kaya was eager to go on the high ropes course, which had just opened this morning. She asked if I would come with her. I told her I would. I wasn't planning on going on it after my experience yesterday, but I hoped to get a few pictures with Kirsten's camera. (which I was borrowing)
I looked over the course as they stood in line. It basically involved some ropes that were about four feet from the ground, and a couple of swings and slides at the end. I noticed that the ground below it was covered in large pillows and soft things, to make up for the lack of a net.



Kaya had climbed up confidently, and was crossing one of the ropes. I stood below, taking pictures for her scrapbook. Suddenly, a small gust of wind whisked her hat off of her head! I'm pretty sure that Kaya would have stayed on if she hadn't grabbed at her airborne hat, but as it was, she lost her footing, and toppled onto the cushions below.
Kirsten and the nurse with whom I am well acquainted rushed over to see if she was all right. Of course she was, the cushions guaranteed that. In spite of that, they took her to the nurse's office.



In other news: Kirsten competed in a swimming race today, and claimed first prize! I cheered for her doubly loud since you couldn't be there.

Molly and I met up with Kaya as soon as she was let out of the nurse's office, and went to the rock climbing course. You will be glad to hear that no one fell of, or hurt themselves in any way on this excursion, except for a scrape on Molly's knee. It was very fun and completely safe. That's what they told us, any way. Come to think of it, that's also what they said about the Rapid River, and the High Ropes Course...

We had crafts eventually. They were tote bags! Mine is purple with a green flower on it.
After that we had baked potatoes for dinner, and our first camp fire! We roasted a lot of marshmallows and made s'mores.
I feel rather ill now. Samantha told me not to eat too many of them. I would've listened to her, but that twelfth s'more was calling my name!! They were very good though, even if they did make me sick.

I thought that I would include a picture of myself in this letter, so here it is! Molly took it for me.



Yours truly,
Kit Kittredge

Rushing Rivers camp, Kit's second letter!

Well, Kit's next letter also "soared on the wings of the post and found me as she left me", and included pictures! I will stick them in at about the time they would appear in Kit's letter.



Dear Mimi,
We awoke at seven in the morning to the obnoxiously loud blaring of a bugle. I was confused at first, expecting to wake up in my bedroom, but I quickly remembered where I was.

For breakfast that morning, we were served waffles. They were quite good, except for they were a little dry.
I sat with Molly and Rose, because I was a little nervous about wandering around until I found and my other friends.



After that we went to our nature class, where Ms. Lila spoke about raccoons. It was interesting, and the raccoon pictures were very cute.



Soon after we were done with raccoons, we went on a three mile "nature walk" (more of a strenuous hike really) and were thoroughly acquainted with the campgrounds.

When we were back, they quickly sent us out on a Scavenger hunt. The blue team won (I am on the red), but all of the red team had fun as well. The prizes were pillows and headbands.

For crafts today we made bracelets out of pretty beads and hemp.

During free time, I was invited to go on the river rapids course with Molly. I wasn't entirely sure, as you know, I am not very good at swimming, and the thought of rushing down a rapid river made me a little ill. However, I didn't want to disappoint Molly, so I agreed.



(As always, click for better quality)
Picture 1, This is the picture of us, going down the river.
Picture 2, The canoe hit a bump, Molly was thrown backwards, squealing with glee. Kirsten fell back, out of reflex, crashed into me, and I went flying out of the canoe.
Picture 3 and 4 are me in the water.

It was pretty scary, at first I was flying, then everything around me was a vivid greeny-blue. I couldn't breathe. I suppose I was lucky that there weren't any rocks in that part of the River Rapids course...
I was only under for a few seconds. I quickly bobbed back up to the surface, but I only had time to draw a quick breath before I was whisked under again. I vaguely saw Josefina hop out of her canoe. The next thing I knew, I was being dragged onto the shore by the collar of my shirt. When I opened my eyes, Josefina was standing above me, looking out of breath and very wet.
Don't worry, I thanked her!

The rest of the day was all kind of a blur. I remember that a counselor whisked me away to the nurse's office. The nurse told me to take it easy, and that the rapids course wasn't for swimming. Of course I already knew that, but I didn't tell her so.
I'm excited to think that you might be reading this letter on your way to Rushing Rivers! Even if you might not be able to stay the whole two weeks, I'm glad you'll at least be able to see the camp.
See you soon!
Kit

Rushing Rivers camp, Kit's first letter

Today I received my first letter from Kit, who is at camp. I decided that the easiest way for you to hear how camp has been so far would be for Kit to tell it to you herself.

Dear Mimi,
Camp has been really great so far!
I will admit, I wasn't sure if I should even go when we were saying "goodbyes" at the bus stop, but I am glad I did come!
The bus ride was very long; over three hours. To pass the time, I worked on a novel I'm writing. Everyone else mostly read, or sang never-ending songs very loudly. I wish you could have been there to see some of the places we passed, and the things we saw! My favorite things that I saw were a city called "Orange", and "Big Cow Creek".

When we finally arrived at noon, I was rather dubious. I didn't see any river, or any water for that matter! The whole place looked dry, and weather tossed. A guide appeared promptly to welcome us. She explained that although the outside of Rushing Rivers wasn't very welcoming, the inside was much nicer. I had my doubts, but sure enough, after we had walked a good quarter of a mile, Rushing Rivers stood before us in all of its glory.

After a very long orientation, where we were told what "team" we were on, and what cabin we were in. We were free to investigate for an hour, and then we would have our first nature walk.
I was very excited to learn that I would be boarding with Samantha and Kirsten, but sorry that Kaya and Josefina couldn't squeeze in with us as well. Some of the other campers that I knew were the Dolls, Lindsey, Eliza, Daisy, Amanda, and Rose. I also recognized their cousin, Molly Mcintire. The elation of seeing so many people I knew was somewhat smothered by the overwhelming amount of people I did not know.

The first thing I did was go and find my cabin. When they told me that we got cabins, I expected to have a cabin. Lo and behold, when I arrived at Cabin 4, Cabin 4 turned out to be a tent. Now I don't really mind tents, but it simply wasn't what I had been expecting. It was then that I realized why only three people were together in a "cabin".
Samantha, Kirsten and I deposited our luggage, and unpacked a few things that we would need. The tent is a bit squished, but it's cozy, I guess.
We went on a nature walk after that. It was very short and pleasant. We took a few pictures, and will I will send some with my next letter.
I do wish you could be here. I know that you will come briefly around Wednesday, but even two days are too many without you. I got that out of a book!

At around one we ate a late lunch of sandwiches, and then played a trivia game.

After that it was free time. I chose to go to the archery place with Molly, and the fishing pond with Kirsten and Lindsey.
When we were done at about six we took baths, and had "Dinner and Chill" time. That involved pizza, and an impromptu talent show thing. They had to cut it short when it started raining, and the power went out. I didn't really mind however; we were right in the middle of a banjo-accordion duet, and it wasn't very good.

I should probably stop writing now because the mail collector is here to collect the mail. With all luck, this letter shall soar on the wings of the post and find you as I left you. I got that one from a book too!

The other dolls send their greetings, and hope that you will join us soon.
Yours truly,
Kit Kittredge

Rushing Rivers!!

The dolls are all packing and getting ready for Rushing Rivers, the summer camp they will be attending! It kicks off tomorrow, so their bus will arrive shortly.
Rushing Rivers is an accredited camp located out in the country away from everything else. It will run one to two weeks, two if everything goes well, one if everything doesn't! Hopefully all will go well. Of course I will provide pictures, and stories of the highlights of camp.
Well, I should probably go and help the dolls pack now. See you soon!

Kaya's opinion

The other day, I was photographing Kaya in some new clothes I had made for the dolls. After the first picture, Kaya had a question. "Would you mind if I posted about these clothes?" she asked.
"Oh I don't know, why?" I replied.
"Well you see," she said, "You can't really give an accurate review of them, because you've never worn them."
She did have a point. "Okay." I agreed reluctantly. "But just this once, until we see how it goes."
So I guess this would be a good time to sign off and let Kaya take the wheel. Bye!!

Hello! I would like to tell you all a bit about myself, but Mimi told me to try to stay on the subject, so I suppose I'll tell you about these clothes instead.
I think Mimi did a very good job on these. I like the shirt a lot for two reasons. Firstly because it is different from all of our other shirts, and secondly because I prefer more neutral colors like this green than brighter colors, because I think they look better on me.
The jeans are very nice, but they are to heavy for summer, so I suppose I won't be wearing them much until next fall.
Both of these are from pattern-free, and made from old clothes. (an old T-shirt, and cargo pants extensions) Mimi told me to put that in, I don't think it was really that important, but Mimi always has strange whims like that.
I would love to keep going, but Mimi says that blog posts should be short and to the point, or something along those lines, so I should probably end here.
Bye! Kaya

Summer dresses

Hello! I'd like to start this post off by mentioning that I didn't make either of these dresses; they were both birthday presents. :)
Samantha chose this spot for her picture, because she said it made her look like she was about to cross a street.
"Not really." I objected. "It can't be a street because there aren't any cars going way to fast, or people on bikes disturbing traffic, or any ducks or squirrels madly darting out-"
"A nice street." she interrupted.
"Oh." I said. "Where do you find these nice-"
At this point, Kirsten stepped outside. "Are you nearly finished?" she asked politely.
"No, haven't started." I told her rather distractedly. "Now hold still Samantha,"



When it came time for Kirsten to have her picture taken, she had already decided to stand beside the house. "Doesn't the brick red really go well with my dress?" she asked.
I nodded, and snapped a couple of pictures.



The only reason Kirsten gets more pictures than Samantha, is that she holds still better. Samantha kept wiggling.
See you soon!

Luggage!

Lovely name for a blog post, isn't it? Oh well.
I made this suitcase some time last week, without any sort of pattern. It started as a cardboard box that I made from, well, cardboard! I covered it, and added the zipper, which came from a pair of cargo pants. I'm planning on making another handle to go with it. The handle that it haas on now is removable, and the pick up kind. The one I make for it next will be the drag kind.



It's kind of a shame she doesn't have anywhere to go, isn't it? Doll Camp is coming up soon, so she has that to look forward to I suppose. I do think it's a little to early to be packing for that though; we haven't even settled on a date!



This little picture shows Samantha's new duffel bag. (you might click on it, to open it larger) It is made from fabric that I got for my birthday, and a zipper from a pair of pants.
This bag was made for Samantha on her request. You see, she is a dedicated dancer, but didn't have any way of conveniently transporting her "stuff" (as she refers to it) to and from her classes. She was quite excited when I gave it to her; before this, she had been using plastic shopping bags.
Thanks for looking!

The walk home

After an hour or so of wading, Kit and I finally headed home. It was a very pleasant walk, but it would have been more so if we hadn't both been tired and sore.
"Did you have fun Kit?" I asked at a length.
"Oh yes!" She replied promptly. "But, do you think that next time, my friends could come too?"
"Sure!" I replied carelessly. I wouldn't mind a little more company.
"Great!" Kit said. "Well in that case, I'll have to ask Samantha, Kirsten, Kaya, and Josefina of course, and also Lindsey and Molly and Eliza, oh, and their sisters Rose, Amanda, and Daisy, and we couldn't forget their friend Chloe! Or Jessika, and Maggie, or-"
I groaned. I hadn't realized Kit had so many friends. "Hey Kit," I said, changing the subject. "I'll race you home!!"

Kit's day in the woods, part 3

Our next stop was the river; Kit had heard a lot about it from the other dolls as well.
Kit wandered down the path slowly, taking in all of the lovely scenery around us. "It's beautiful here!! Is is much farther to the river?" Kit asked.
"No, we're just about there." I told her.
"Really?" she squealed, and ran ahead.
I was rather puzzled. Normally by about this time, we would have heard the river rushing and splashing, but today all I could hear was Kit and birds.
Kit's footsteps stopped abruptly. I ran to catch up with her, wondering what had surprised her.



I found her standing by the riverbed, looking rather surprised. Only a small stream remained of the once large river.
"Oh the river's gone." I said, not knowing what else to say.
"Will it come back??" she asked rather anxiously after a moment.
"I suppose so, I guess this must be the wrong time of year or something, now that I think of it, the last time I came here was very late summer, not late spring."
"Oh..." said Kit.
"Let's go further up stream, maybe we can find some water there." I reassured her.
She instantly brightened.
"Oh, wait," I told her as I fished a pair of rain boots and an over-shirt out of my pocket. "You might want to wear these. The area gets distinctly swampier the farther you go upstream."
Kit, thrilled to oblige, quickly donned the added clothing. I slipped her old sandals into my pocket.


Kit was overjoyed at the sight of the river. "May I jump in?" she asked excitedly.
"I should say not!" I exclaimed. "Why that water is filthy! You'd absolutely ruin your clothes. You may wade however."
Kit was a little disappointed about not being allowed to swim, but quickly cheered up at the prospect of wading through the river.

Kit's day in the woods, part 2

"Wow," Kit said on the way to the rubble heap. "The grass is really long here in the forest!!"
I just grinned. "It's not much further to the rubble heap." I told her.



Kit was quite excited to see it. "Oh wow!!" she breathed. "Can I go play in the rocks??!!"
I told her she could, and sat down on a rock to watch her, and to get a better look at the rubble heap. It had been fenced in years ago for whatever reason. I decided that it would definitely look better if the fence slats were all in the same direction....and the same color.
When Kit was out of breath, she trotted over to request another picture.
"Where would you like me to take it?" I asked, hoping she wouldn't chose the rubble heap.
"How about those trees over there?" she suggested after a moment.
I breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, go stand over there then." I told her.



More will be coming tomorrow!

Kit's day in the woods

The other day, I found Kit looking out the window. She looked excited, to say the least. I watched her for a few minutes before I asked her what was on her mind. She turned around, fairly dancing with glee. "I was talking to Samantha today, and she was telling me about a trip you all took in the woods a while ago!"
"Okay..." I told her, not sure where she was going.
"I didn't know there were any woods around here! Do you think we could go? I do like woods."
I hesitated. It had been a long day, and the last thing I wanted to do was tromp around in the woods somewhere. Still, Kit looked very excited about going, so I told her yes. Within minutes she was ready to go. "I'll meet you outside!" She called as she ran out the door. I followed slowly.



When I made it outside, I found her sitting on the fence waiting for me. "Are we ready to go??" she asked happily.
We were, so I led the way into the woods. "Hang on," she said. "Will you take my picture?"
I fished around until I found the camera. "Say cheese..." I told her as the camera focused.



"Where do you want to go first?" I asked her after the picture break.
"Can we see the rubble heap?" she asked hopefully.
I hadn't realized the other dolls had told her about the rubble heap. It wasn't anything impressive, but it was interesting, and the dolls had fun playing there, so I agreed...

More about our trip tomorrow!!