There's No Place Like Home

My last week at GKTW were absolutely amazing! Thursday I was a Bunny Buddy for Mayor Clayton. I drove him to his venue for the night, made sure he was okay, and took care of him. I was basically security. We did 3 tuck-ins that night. What's a tuck-in? Parents can schedule for any of the characters at GKTW to come at a certain time one night and tuck in all the kids. The parents of the second family expressed their gratitude for all the volunteers to us. It was so heart felt. The third family had 2 younger girls and 2 teenage boys. Mayor picked on the boys, made them get tucked in, and would hit them with a pillow. The girls laughed SO hard at this. That was so much fun!

My last shift was in the Ice Cream Palace, which is awesome. It's usually really hard to get a shift there because everyone loves working there. So I'm glad I got to work there one last time. I put in 182 hours at GKTW this summer. I got to meet some amazing families and I got to know a lot of the staff there. It was so hard to say goodbye to the people and that place.

Sunday the whole team went to church together. That afternoon we went to the lake and a man brought his boat and another man brought his sea-do. We went tubing, threw frisbees, and hung out. It started thundering and lightening a little then WHAM! Lightening struck a tree within 30 yards of us. It caught the tree on fire, but it wasn't bad. It was loud, scary, and pretty cool actually.

Monday was Disney day! We got there at 8:30 am and didn't leave until around 1 am. We did all 4 parks in 1 day. Whew! We were so very worn out.

Tuesday we were up at 8:30 am to clean up the camp. That took a few hours. That night we had our end of the summer banquet. FBC fed us and we watched a video one of our teammates put together of pictures from the summer. We all got a copy of that. Earlier that week, we got a sheet with different awards that were to be given out at the banquet. We all voted and turned it in. So at the banquet, the awards were given. Most were goofy awards like "most likely to be left" or "most likely to get lost in Orlando". I received the best laugh award. I wasn't expecting it.

Cyle got tired of taking pictures with me, but I talked him into one more! :)

This is Mr. Brian and Mrs. Suzette. They were our "bosses" for the summer. They are doing great things in Orlando.

Then Wednesday we started flying home. Cyle and I landed in Memphis around 3:30 pm. My parents were right there waiting on me. We went to the escalator to get our bags, but Daddy said we had to go a different route for some reason. (He's not a good liar.) So we come around the corner and Carlye Carpenter, Will Simmons, and Ashley Farris were all there holding signs that said "Welcome Home Claire". It was the most precious thing ever. I had no idea they were going to be there. I have some amazing best friends! This just made the day even better!

It's so nice to be home. I've missed small town life. I don't see how people live in such a large touristy city. I like going to restaurants and them knowing what we're going to order. I like going from Aberdeen straight to Starkville on one road...no exits to interstates or merging to highway 349473902. I can see the sky, stars, and moon so much better here. So very, very nice.

Saturday I'm leaving again. I know! I just can't stay still for very long. Haha! I'm going on a road trip with 6 other girls. Our first stop in Savannah, Georgia. Then we'll go to Charelston, South Carolina. Then Asheville, North Carolina. Finally, Nashville, Tennessee. We'll be back on Wednesday. Other than our night in Savannah, we'll be camping in tents at camp grounds all the other nights. I am really excited about this trip. I've always wanted to go on a road trip and now I am!

Thank you for all your prayers and for reading my blog! I hope I have kept you up to date on everything! Love you all!