"Camp Hardknock - Winter 2013"

Dear Diary,

It's been REALLY hard recovering after camp, and getting back to normal life. I honestly feel like Camp changed me.. for the better.

Camp is a hard thing to really explain, it's something you just gotta DO to understand. But when I was there, it was like I belonged. I fit in with the other kids. It was hard at first.. really hard. I was scared, and shy, and I thought no one would like me because I was new or whatever. But I was wrong!

I made a lot of new friends at camp.. and a few got to be good friends. Mari's brother, Pygar.. for example, and her friend (who is a boy) Johnny. Both of them are really special, and I really am glad I got to meet them finally after hearing so much about them from Mari. They're both so different from each other, and yet I like them both for the same reasons. It's weird.

Getting to finally spend time with Mari was the hugest treat of all about Camp, since we've been friends for years on instant messenger. It was really so amazingly rewarding to finally get to see her, and yes, chase her around like her shadow. And she let me, which made it all the better.

I also made new friends I'd never met or known before. Joy most especially. She and I spent a lot of time just digging with sticks and doing casual quiet things between the various events.. and we got into a pretty fun snowball fight too.

There were others, and I'm not gonna name every one of them. But there were also a few people I didn't get to know AT camp.. who got on Instant Messenger with me as soon as camp was over, and they turned out to be really nice too. Especially Fem, she and I got on Plurk on the same day.. and we've been in a race to see who can get more "Karma" there.

Overall, camp was really fun. It was super scary at first, but I think a lot of that was because Mommy had been stuck in the storm when I had to go.. and I'd had to go alone. When I finally got to see Mommy on Parent's day.. things really started going fast at camp, and before I knew it, I was crying because camp was ending.

 I took like 500 pictures, and I'm sorry I haven't uploaded all of them yet. It's gonna take me a couple of days just to sit down and sort through all the duplicates, and find the best ones I want to show off. I probably won't do anything fancy to the pictures this time.. and I'm thinking about only doing that for special pics from now on. It just takes way too much time.

Mommy had an emergency right before I came home from camp, and she had to go see a friend of hers who had to go to the hospital. She left a babysitter named Casey to watch the babies. I don't think she's the best babysitter in the world, but she seemed nice.. and she did let me stay up all night watching monster movies, and let me drink all the cokes I wanted.

When Mommy finally got home, we sat on the couch all night and talked abut camp, and how it made me feel, and the things I wanted now. I showed her my sash, with all my badges from camp, and told her about all the things that happened. I even showed her a few of my pictures. We talked for hours and hours, and decided nothing. All I do know, is that I want to have other kid friends, and maybe go to a different school. Mommy asked me if I wanted to.. and I think maybe I do.

I also dont' want to spend as much time at Aunt Kelly's. Well, I love Aunt Kelly.. I mean, she's fantastic and she lets me play with her building tools... but I want some time to play outside, and play with kids, and go do things that I want to do too. Mommy says we'll have to see. Aunt Kelly needs to watch over me sometimes.. and I understand that. But we'll see.

Also, the other thing we talked about, is maybe letting me decorate my room next time it's time to decorate. I love my room, and I love so much that Mommy decorated it. She let me help pick things for it too, but in some ways, it still doesn't feel like 'my' room.. if that makes sense? I dunno. We talked about it a little bit. We'll see what happens. Meanwhile, I put the books Aunt Kelly got for me, on my bookshelf, next to the trophy I won at camp.

Favorite new camper.

I hope they still feel that way about me next time I go to camp. And there WILL be a next time!