Meet the Tyler Place

I've made very little progress in the last few days...my room still looks like a bomb shelter. On the plus side I've kept occupied enough for it to be Wednesday already. I'm just counting down the days until I start working! Am I a crazy person to have said that? Most people absolutely love the time off. As it happens I actually have obtained THE best summer job on the face of this planet. I am SO excited to go back for my second summer! So not crazy. Not for that reason anyway.

I work at the Tyler Place (TP) in Highgate, Vermont. It's a family resort that families come to for a week (Saturday night - Saturday morning). Each family gets a small cabin for the week. Every morning the kids go to "group" where lovely counselors (myself included this year...last year I lifeguarded) lead them in swimming at the pool and in the lake, rock climbing, fishing, banana boating, making arts and crafts, hiking, and countless other activities. Parents have this time to relax and do just about whatever they'd like...or nothing at all. In the afternoon the parents get to spend time with their kids as a family and, again, do anything. In the evening the counselors take the kids to "group" for a second time where the kids have a pool party, movie night, carnival, etc. It's something different every night. After the second group sesh of the day parents have the option of hiring a babysitter and going to the event for parents, which is usually at the inn. These events include Karaoke Night, Game Night, and Dance Party with a DJ. As staff we are welcome at and encouraged to go to the events and socialize with the guests.

Basically I just play. ALL. DAY. LONG.

Almost all of the staff is college aged, sometimes a little older. One of the really cool parts of TP is that a good percentage of the staff is international. This means that there are kids from Canada, Australia, South Africa, the UK, Russia, Columbia, etc. that all work and live at the TP for the summer. I met so many great people and spent the summer hanging out in the woods of Northern Vermont getting to know them all.

I honestly can't explain TP well enough for anyone who hasn't been there to fully understand it. It's a whole other world. A lot of people relate it to Dirty Dancing (you know..."Nobody puts Baby in the corner."), which is funny because it's fairly accurate. And of course, one of the fave songs at Dance Party (DP) is "Time of my Life", which is the big song from the movie. Figures.

In my excitement for the start of TP (MAY 26 AHHH!!) I looked through all of my pictures from last year. THEN, due to my new obsession with slide.com I made a slide show.

Welcome to the extremely short version of TP '09! Check in soon...I'll be writing all about TP '10! (And my adventures with training for skiing!)