End of day 1

After the pool closed to the general public at 10, we had a private pool party. I'm not sure about the others, but my guess was that the people who went rafting found this idea less attractive than those who were paintballing. It gave them an opportunity to show off their welts, an important postgame activity.

To be perfectly honest, I wanted nothing to do with this. The pool is nice and big for an indoor hotel pool, but the water was not even approaching clear and the air was unpleasantly warm and humid. I played ping pong for a bit, then sat miserably for about a half hour. There was some fascination to the ability of some of the kids to stay in the hot tub for extended periods of time. After 10 minutes I'm ready to pass out, but some of these kids were in there for an hour or more. But that somehow was not enough to sustain me. It then occurred to me that since the pool has a glass wall all around it, that I could stand outside and still be present and available (and keeping up with the principle that someone should be in the lobby at all times.

I made some phone calls, which continued as the number of pool partiers began to dwindle. Eventually, all but a half dozen kids were gone, so with there being 2 lifeguards, it seemed things were under control. I'm guessing that if you're a lifeguard you really don't want to have to save anyone's life, but they weren't even having any reason to blow their whistles, which is of course the best part of being a lifeguard. Well, that and wearing zinc oxide on your nose, which looks silly if you're inside. This had to be excruciatingly boring. I went in and sat down, continuing to talk on the phone, until the last 2 left, leaving the lifeguards alone to frolic.

It's "hall curfew" at 12, and everyone's supposed to be in their room by 1. At this point, we do bed checks, yet another awkward part of the chaperon job. It involves knocking on everyone's door and checking to see if the people who are supposed to be in their room are there, sleeping or not. The reactions to this range from befuddlement to irritation. We traipse through and take attendance, even checking out who's asleep. Once the kids are checked in, they're not allowed to leave. This left us to go to bed at 1:15.

I went back to our stinky room, where I vowed to eat none of the food I'd been smelling since we arrived. Finally fell asleep around 2.