CAMP UNIQUE DAY 5 July 26, 2024

Lex Electrifying Goulas blog on the last day of Camp Unique!  Well, today was Day 5 aka the final day of Camp Unique! It’s a shame it had to go by so fast, but at least we all had a blast!

When my grandma dropped me off, I along with a couple of other campers all gave a loud “Yee-Haw” for Mr. Brian one last time, and he was satisfied this time lol! And then we headed to the building to meet up with the rest!

When we got there, I mingled for a bit with my friend Hayley Scimemi and I told my friends John Edward Clostio and Chandler Mogerman hello! After a little bit, it was time for one last Praise and Worship! We did “I’m Gonna Walk”, “The River”, and our very favorite one “Pray” as usual, the sad part is that you won’t find Pray anywhere on the Internet! Afterwards, Ms. Donielle had another special guest speaker that shared a bible verse with us! And then all of the staff was rewarded for all of their hard work! And since we were all such good campers this year, everyone ended up getting a reward (A horse pin!)! And Mr. Brian gave us one last joke for the day: “What do you call a cowboy that has bad gas? Darn Tootin!” !

And then it was time for all of us to go out to the pavilion for our grand finale! I grabbed my umbrella (Thank goodness I brought it!) and I led everyone out like a true leader! Once we got there, there was a DJ already getting the party started! I decided to wait for more to show up, but others were already starting to dance!

But it wasn’t long before everyone got there just in time for the Cha Cha Slide, which I happily walked in the front and led the entire crowd through it! And then after another song or two, the Cupid Shuffle came on, and this time, I joined up on stage with my friends Lexi, Isabella, and Chandler to lead the crowd again! And right after that, we danced to Whip and Nae Nae, which we also led the crowd through! I danced to “Wop” and “Church Clap” on the dance floor with the rest! We also played a “Freeze dance” game, where you dance until the music stops, and then you freeze! And then we pretended to be ballet dancers, which I had no issue doing being a dancer and having a thing or two for ballet!

After all that dancing, I needed some quiet time away from the crowd, so I went by the tree that’s right by the pavilion and I pulled out my umbrella because it started drizzling, looks like our luck with the rain ran out this time lol! Mr. Brian also gave me a sheriff pin and I stuck it on my shirt! I also talked with my friend Jonah who passed by me and he and I talked about how we both have sheriff badges! He also burped out loud and we both laughed !

After a little while of being under the tree, I saw my friends Lexi and Juliette hugging my friend Ali, who was sad, so I walked over to see what was wrong and Ms. Tara Lavern Yergeau told me that someone hurt her feelings, so I put my umbrella above the three and they said “Sheriff Lex to the rescue!” lol! Ms. Tara and I talked for a bit about my LSU socks that I wore since it was Crazy Sock Day at camp today and about how we like both LSU and the Ragin Cajuns! And it turns out, Ms. Tara grew up not too far from where I live! Her and I both agree that I’m more of a city guy and not so much of a country guy lol!

And then I played some horse shoe tossing with Hayley’s mom Ms. Becky Scimemi! We tossed several times and we each got one around the stick! And then I along with several other campers got to throw some water balls at the staff while they bounced on some bouncy balls! I managed to get Ms. Pamela Broussard! And then my manager Ms. Desiree N Albert (My friend David’s mom) came along today and I was happy to see her!

After a little while, the Macarena came on and I went back to the dance floor to dance with the crowd again! The “Toosie Slide” was requested and it played, but I didn’t dance to it! Though that was my Fortnite victory dance for a while!

Eventually, a snow cone truck came over and it got really crowded! So crowded that I tried to get in line, but I just decided not to and went to meet with my friend Isabella and a friend of hers named Andrea! Her and I talked about how Isabella and I sung “A Whole New World” from Disney’s Aladdin yesterday! She was so happy to hear and found it adorable when I said “I was Aladdin and she was Jasmine!”, but she doesn’t have Facebook unfortunately! So I told her that if she does make one, she can find the D.R.E.A.M.S. FOUNDATION OF ACADIANA Facebook page and see it from there, or if Ms. Melissa D. Leblanc can send it to her, that would be good too! I don’t have any contact with Isabella or her parents, that’s a bit of a bummer because not only could I have shared it with them, but Isabella’s a really nice girl! We also talked about my dad and step mom’s spoiled, fluffy, and big kissing Shih Tzus Izzy and Luna!

For the DJ’s grand finale, he layed out a bunch of bubble wrap and asked everyone to join in to pop them all! I don’t really care for the loud noises it makes, so I didn’t join in, neither did Isabella! And thank goodness I didn’t because the second they started, it sounded like those Black Cat fireworks (Those are the big guns there!) and I had to immediately cover my ears! A couple of others did too, but we eventually uncovered them once the noise died down! Andrea and I also talked about what plans we had after camp, I told her I was going to eat at Burger King (Ended up at Wendy’s by that Walmart on Ambassador!) and she told me that her and Isabella were going to Deano’s after! I told her about how I went there for my birthday recently!

But then we had our rides being called, so Andrea, Isabella, and I decided it was time to head out, so we each waved goodbye to each other and I told my friends John and Hayley bye as well as I made my way to my grandma’s SUV!

So after grabbing a bite at Wendy’s and now back at home washing my shirt for the last time (At least until I wear it to work!), I for one can say that I am officially bummed out that it’s all over now….but at the same time, I can say that I’m happy that it happened! All of these wonderful D.R.E.A.M.S. staff work so hard to put all of this together for us, and if not for them, this wouldn’t have happened! I still remember 9 years ago, 15 year old me joined Camp Unique for the very first time! At first, I was nervous about it because I’ve had so much past trauma from a whole bunch of jerks in my school days, so I wasn’t sure about it because I didn’t know anyone here. But as the week went by, I’ve learned to open up my heart, mind, and just be me, because we’re all special in our own way! And after it was done, I made sure I NEVER missed another week of camp ever since, because it’s what turned my life around and made me the cool guy I am today! So thank you to Ms. Donielle Gaubert Watkins, Ms. Wendy Mouton Primeaux, Ms. Hope Lanclos, Ms. Pamela, Mr. Brian D. Watkins, Ms. Melissa, Ms. Ava Hebert, Ms. Amie Clostio, Ms. Kindra Welch Roy, Ms. Christy Slatton Cutrer, Ms. Kristy Mogerman, Kayle Cutrer, Ms. Paula, and every one of the oher volunteers, head staff, campers, and everyone that came out to visit us, you guys turned me from being lonely and depressed to a fun loving cool guy that everyone knows and loves him for who he is! Oh and I was supposed to talk with Isabella and her parent(s) about my dance class at Jill Listi Dance Studio, I think she would LOVE it! But since I have no contact with her, if anyone would mind reaching out to them and giving the information to them, that would be awesome! Well, as Dr. Seuss once said “Don’t be sad because it’s over, smile because it happened!”! Time to rest up throughout the weekend and be ready for work Monday at the D.R.E.A.M.S. Manufacturing Company, be sure to watch out for our meat pies and buy some, you won’t regret it!

  CAMP UNIQUE DAY 4 July 25, 2024

Lex Electrifying Goulas blog for camp today!!! Well, today was Day 4 of Camp Unique! And I’ll be honest, today was my favorite day of all, and you’ll find out why because I have a LOT to say!

After my grandma dropped me off, Mr. Brian tested out our “Yee-Haw” again, and he told me that I was better today lol! After waiting for some more campers to get into a group together, we all headed inside the building to start the day! I also held the door open for the campers because I was the first one there!

But after getting inside, Ms. Tara Lavern Yergeau thanked me for telling her about Comic Con and that she would like to go with her son so that we can all get together for it, I think that’s an awesome idea! I also told my friends Hayley Scimemi and Isabella hello!

After mingling for a bit, we began our day with Praise and Worship! We sung along and moved to the usual “I’m Gonna Walk”, “The River”, and our very favorite one “Pray” (I tried looking at the artist to see if I can find it somewhere on YouTube, it has “Lifeway” in it I think!)! Afterwards, we had a special visitor for today, it was Pastor Yo (I don’t really know how to spell his name, but that’s what I heard!)! He read to us a verse about forgiving others that did you wrong, which many of us find hard to do! He talked about how when you don’t forgive, you block out love in your heart, and when you do forgive, you let that love in and it goes a long way! And as for rewards for acts of kindness, we had a LOT today! My friend Hayley got one for being the one to check on people by texting them (She does it to me, Ms. Donielle Gaubert Watkins and many others lol!), Chandler Mogerman for being the one to look out for his friends, my friend Jonah for sharing kind words with everyone (He said “No matter what, I’ll always share kindness with you all” as he got his reward!) and guess who else got a reward? It was me! I was rewarded for being a good leader for my team because I always led them in the right direction! Our rewards were horse pins! And Mr. Brian’s joke of the day: “What does a ghost cowboy wear? Boo-ts!” !

After finishing up, we went to Music with Ms. Vanessa, where we began with our team chant as a warm up! After that, we all got to play the accordion for today (All of us Louisiana residents know this instrument!)! Each of us got a turn as usual, I decided to add a little fast pace bounce to it and by the amount of applause I got, I think I did pretty good! My friend Isabella said that she had one that she played when she was little, which reminded me that I still have my tiny accordion that I had and played with when I was just a toddler, it still sits on top of my bookshelf!

After Music is Karaoke with Ms. Kindra Welch Roy in the church! My friend Maxim wanted to begin with a prayer, so we all prayed together! After that, I finally had a song to sing for today, it was “A Whole New World” from Disney’s Aladdin! This song is about a future prince singing to a princess while flying on a magic carpet through the air! And guess what? Just before the song started, my friend Isabella sprang up and wanted to sing with me because she knew the song too (This song is a duet song, at first I was just going to sing Aladdin’s parts (The prince), but with Isabella, she can sing the princess’s parts!)! I told her “Come on up!” because I was happy to have her sing with me! We both sung the song word for word, and of course we got a roar of applause as a result! When we both sat down, she told me she had fun singing with me and I told her that I too had fun! She was Jasmine (The princess) and I was Aladdin (The prince)! My friend John sung “Neon Moon”, Lexi and another camper sung another duet song (Forgot the name), and after other campers sung their songs, we all finished it off with “You’re an Overcomer”! I also passed one of Ms. Kindra’s daughters at one point and I accidentally mistook her for Gracie when it was actually Aiden !

And then it was time to head back to the building for a snack break, Isabella thanked me again and I thanked her back along the way! She even tried catching up with me as we headed to the church lol! But after scarfing down my pretzels, I talked with John’s mom Ms. Amie Clostio about their dog Luna and about how she’s so silly lol! From licking my face to getting her head stuck in a gift bag ! I also told Kayle Cutrer hello!

After snack time it was time for Fitness with Coach Damon Vincent! We warmed up with some more running, though I had to be careful because while the rain still held up at camp, the ground was still a bit wet so I had to be careful not to slip and fall! After getting warmed up, for today’s workout, we worked on some agility and reaction time! We hopped through some ladder bars, punched and kicked some punching bags, and dodged some pool noodles! Another good workout for today!

And last but not least, we didn’t have Art today! Instead, we had a surprise visit from Ms. Tara and her crew, the Lagniappe Ladies! I was holding the door for the team, so I was a bit late at coming in! But when I got inside, it was just in time because they began by performing a dance to “I Love Rock N Roll” by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts! After that, we all got up and danced with them to the Cupid Shuffle, a dance I know too well to resist! Knowing this dance since I was 6, I felt like I was leading the crowd because even Ms. Tara was watching me (She managed to do my twist to the kicking part and said that her calves burn now lol!)! After we finished, I got high fives by Ms. Tara and another one of the ladies! But I went sit down for a bit because I was still beat from Fitness! They danced to a couple of more songs before putting on another one I can’t resist, the Cha Cha Slide! Knowing this dance since I was just a toddler, around 3 or maybe 4, this time I really felt like a leader because I not only know this one by heart like the Cupid Shuffle, but most eyes were on me and I encouraged everyone else to get back on their feet and dance along with us, Isabella even came right next to me!

After doing one last dance, it was unfortunately time to leave, so as I walked out, I thanked the ladies for coming out to dance with us today and I headed over to our tent to meet up with my grandma to leave (I had to go back to get my umbrella first, I bring it in case it rains!)! So now that I’m back home after grabbing a bite at McDonald’s, now I can wash my shirt for one last day tomorrow and freshen up and rest up for the grand finale! Thank you once again to the Lagniappe Ladies for coming out today and thank you everyone else for today as well, it’s a shame this event has to go by so fast, but at least we’re all having fun, which is what really matters! Well, I can’t wait for the grand finale tomorrow, let’s all make it the best day yet !

CAMP UNIQUE DAY 3 July 2, 2024

Lex Electrifying Goulas blog for today's camp unique!!  Day 3 of Camp Unique was another awesome day as usual! And it seems that we had another miracle with the rain holding up just in time for us to have our fun for today!

When my grandma dropped me off, Mr. Brian tested my “Yee-haw!” and said “It needs work but good enough!” lol, he’s so silly! He did the same thing to every camper that arrived!

Once I got inside, my friend Chandler Mogerman handed me my lanyard and I got to mingle with my friend Hayley Scimemi for a bit! Too bad my friend Isabella didn’t show up today, but at least everyone else was still there! And as usual, we began with Praise and Worship with our usual songs “I’m Gonna Walk”, “Down to the River”, and our favorite one “Pray”! And then some other campers got some rewards for doing acts of kindness, my friend David stood up for one camper that wasn’t getting treated nicely, so he was one of the ones that got rewarded! And then Mr. Brian told another joke: “There were two cowboys, one of them shouted: “Look! A bacon tree!”! So he ran over and then “Pow!”, he got shot! Turns out there was no bacon tree, it was really just a hambush!” ! We also learned that the Bible talks about how you should do acts of kindness not to just be seen, but because it’s the right thing to do!

After Praise and Worship, we started our Day 3 of camp with Music with Vanessa! We started by chanting our team chant and then we all got to play the fiddle! Fun fact: The fiddle and the violin are both the same exact instrument, just held differently! The violin is used for classical music (My go to genre!) while the fiddle is used for country and bluegrass music! We also didn’t have a short schedule like yesterday so we got to dance to a country song that sings about “7 River Warriors”, which our team name is by the way!

After that, it was time for Karaoke with Ms. Kindra Welch Roy in the church! I still didn’t have a song to sing, but I’ll be sure to have one by tomorrow and sing it while I still have a chance! For today, one of the campers sang “We Are Family”, which is perfect for us because at the D.R.E.A.M.S. FOUNDATION OF ACADIANA, we’re all like a big happy family! Seriously, this organization’s done so much for me that I never want to ever leave! Like how a city needs it’s superhero, this organization needs me! And Lexi got every one of us to sing “Happy Birthday” to her mom, whose birthday was today, happy birthday Ms. Suzie Hargroder  ! And then my friend Chandler sung “Hakuna Matata” from Disney’s “The Lion King” (A childhood favorite of mine alongside Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast!)! Justin sung “We Are the Champions” by Queen, we should all try singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” as a group, that would be fun!

After Karaoke was snack time! For today, we had some mini S’mores! Speaking of birthdays, my friend Izzy Arnaud’s birthday is also today, another happy birthday to you ! I also talked with Hayley’s mom Ms. Becky Scimemi! She, like everyone else, loves reading my blogs, especially about how detailed they all are!

After snack time was no Fitness! Instead, our surprise for today was some horses! We got the option to choose whether to pet the horses or just decorate a paper bag to put our stuff inside! I chose to just decorate a paper bag, horses just make me nervous!

After that, we went to Art with Ms. Tara Lavern Yergeau! This time, she tried to joke with us again and instead of “Rattlesnake juice”, this time we drunk “Cactus juice”, which was still just Apple juice! She was a little disappointed that we didn’t fall for her trick, she said that she’d have to get better at it! For our Art project for today, we got to decorate some horseshoes! I took red, blue, yellow (These three colors together are what’s called “Primary colors”, meaning that you can’t really mix two or more colors together and get them as a result!) and the color black and I wrote in red “Camp”, in blue “Unique”, in yellow “2024” and drew two stars in black! Our pictures of us behind bars with “Wanted” above were attached to them, so Ms. Tara said that it could be like a Christmas ornament or birthday cake decoration! Chandler, my friend John Edward Clostio, and I all did her a huge favor today as well! We explained to her what Comic Con was all about! Comic Con is a convention where nerds like me (Lol!) all come together and have a blast by checking out neat merchandise of superheroes, video games, anime, etc. along with meeting voice actors, having costume contests (Almost everyone dresses up for Comic Con! I was Spider-Man this year and for the one before, I was the Hulk!), and so much more! Ms. Tara said that she thinks her son will be so happy to hear that she now understands all the things he’s into (He’s like Chandler, John, and I!)! She also mentioned that she watched the original Transformers cartoon back in the 80’s like John’s mom Ms. Amie Clostio mentioned! There’s full episodes on YouTube!

After we finished our art for today (Thank goodness I made that paper bag because I got to carry my art in it!), it was unfortunately time to leave! And so after picking up my sister from a friend’s house and picking up Subway to eat, I can say that as always, it was a 10/10! And we still have bowling this evening to look forward to! So now I’ll go wash my shirt for tomorrow and chill for a bit before knocking some pins down, wish me luck everyone, and I’ll be back with Day 4 tomorrow!

CAMP UNIQUE DAY @ July 23, 2024

Lex Electrifying Goulas blog from todays camp! 

Well, today was Day 2 of Camp Unique! And of course, the second day is more fun than the first, though all of camp is fun regardless!

On my way to LARC Acadian Village, my grandma and I got lucky because while we were riding through Scott, a train had stopped just before the railroad crossing! My grandma thanked the lord for holding it off because it was one of those super long ones lol! We arrived a bit earlier, and I brought my grandparent’s umbrella down in case it rained (It did a bit, but not hard thankfully!)! When Lexi arrived, her mom Ms. Suzie Hargroder told me to keep her in line and I laughed and said “Don’t worry, I will!” and Lexi said “I heard that!” !

After waiting for a bit, we started to head inside the building and I met up with my friend John Edward Clostio, who gave me my lanyard! I talked with his mom Ms. Amie Clostio for a bit and she talked with me about how my blogs are so well written! Funny enough, Ms. Ava Hebert told me the same exact thing! I also met up with my friend Hayley Scimemi again!

Once we all got together, it was time to kick off Day 2 with Praise and Worship! As usual, we began with “I’m Gonna Walk”, and then did “Down to the River”, and finished it off with our favorite one: Pray (For the part of “Pray in the noon time!”, we do eating hand motions because what do you do at noon? Eat lunch! I bring this up because I like to pretend I’m slurping some noodles with chopsticks, it’s just my own twist lol!)! After we finished, Ms. Donielle Gaubert Watkins announced some rewards for campers and volunteers for doing favors out of kindness such as helping others in need, and my friend Lexi was one of them since she helped one of our head staff members with her wheelchair! Not to mention her leadership personality like I mentioned in yesterday’s blog! And then Mr. Brian told us a joke: “What did the cowboy say when he went to the second rodeo? This ain’t my first rodeo!” ! And then he read a bible verse that talks about doing acts of kindness because it’s the right thing to do!

After that, we went to Music, where we sung our group chant again and got to play “Old Town Road” on the Xylophone! But we had a shorter schedule today because we had a surprise at the end for today! You’ll find out, just keep reading !

After Music it was time for Karaoke in the church! I still didn’t have a song, but my friend Isabella sung “Some Things Never Change” from Disney’s Frozen 2! John sung a song today, but I don’t know what it was called! Another camper sang “Boogie Shoes” by KC and the Sunshine Band, a tune I know way too well lol!

And then we had a bit of a silly mix up! So our usual schedule was we would go straight back to the building for snack break! But for today, everything was back to back due to our surprise at the end, so our team leader Ms. Paula mixed up and told us to go to the building lol! So it started to drizzle a bit, so I walked as fast as I could go (Didn’t run to avoid slipping and falling!) and when I got there with a couple of other campers, Ms. Donielle told us about the schedule change and we had to go all the way to Fitness underneath the pavilion back outside ! So I dashed off like Sonic (I read that he’s so fast that he can run in between raindrops like it’s nothing, if only I was that fast !) and had to race walk (That’ll be my term for it) all the way with the others to the pavilion, I said hi to my friend Izzy Arnaud on the way there!

When we got there, it was time to get strong at Fitness with Coach Damon Vincent! For today, we focused on building arm strength with the bands that you pull up while standing on them, lifting medicine balls above our heads and down by our chests, and lifting dumbbells from the ground to our chin! But to warm us up, we had to run all the way back and forth across the pavilion 3 whole laps! I managed to speed ahead, but I had a couple of others beside me, my friends Justin and John! Looks like I’m not the only speedy guy there lol! After all that running is when we would get strong like The Incredible Hulk! We felt the burn and got all sweaty, but it was worth it because exercise is good for the body!

After a good workout at Fitness, we finished off the activities with Art! Ms. Tara Lavern Yergeau played a joke on us and they filled some shot glasses with some apple juice, but they called it “Rattlesnake juice” lol! It was supposed to refer to how cowboys would go to the bar and drink Whiskey! I immediately knew it wasn’t alcohol the second I tasted it, but it was still a funny thing to do (I’m no drinker anyways!)! And then we got to do some scratch art, where you would scratch a piece of cut out shapes and make cool designs with the color underneath the shade! I just scratched mine all over and made the whole thing colorful lol!

After we finished, it was time for our big surprise! These were some breakdancers that came to perform by dancing and playing some music for us! They also taught us about the different forms of hip hop and how different instruments work such as the different kinds of drums that they play! At the beginning, my friend Cameron got to show off his drumming skills to them and they all loved it! And then along came Isabella, who stole the show for a bit by dancing to one of the songs out of nowhere ! They did invite some campers to come and dance with them towards the end, but for some reason I just wasn’t in a dancing mood today! Ms. Tara said to not expect those kinds of stunts with the Lagniappe Ladies lol, she said that they’ll be more tame!

But after saying goodbye to our special guests and thanking them for coming out to perform for us, it was unfortunately time to leave! And it was still raining, so I whipped out my umbrella and I walked to our tent where the parents drop off and pick us up! Isabella and I talked a bit about today and how we’re both looking forward to tomorrow!

But after a good lunch at Mickey D’s (McDonald’s nickname!), I’m now back home about to wash up my shirt for another day tomorrow! So thank you everyone for an outstanding second day of Camp Unique! I along with everyone else, can’t wait to see what’s on the agenda for tomorrow! Though we may want to get prepared for more rain because according to my grandma and Rob himself, there’s even more coming! Let’s all stay as dry as we can!

CAMP UNIQUE DAY 1 July 22, 2024

Lex Electrifying Goulas blog today camp!  Well, today was the first day of Camp Unique at LARC Acadian Village! As always, I along with the rest of the campers, had a blast! And the thing is, we’re just getting started! This year’s theme is Wild Wild West!

When my grandma dropped me off this morning, I met up with my friend Darrius who greeted me with his “Guess what? Chicken butt!” joke lol! This year’s team colors are: I think orange, blue, jade, and gold, I’m team gold! After waiting for a bit with the rest of my team and talking with Kayle Cutrer we headed inside the building to meet up with the rest of the campers, where I got to meet up with my friends John Edward Clostio, Chandler Mogerman, Lexi (She seemed like a true leader today, helping other campers out along with the volunteers, that’s very cool!), Isabella, and lots of other familiar faces!

After everyone else mingled for a bit, it was time to kick off Camp Unique with Praise and Worship! We began with the song “I’m Gonna Walk”, then we did another song called “Down To The River” and then we finished it off with our favorite one: “Pray”! You know, I really needed to hear that song again, because lately I’ve been mentally torn up. You see, as you all know, prices are going up and through the roof, well now my mom is struggling with the house finances, so she needed me to step up and sort of start “Giving back”, it’s a way to help her. So because I don’t get government checks, I tried to get another job to do alongside my current one along with my cousins since they offered me to work with them. So I filled out the application, met the manager (She lives across from them), and even made arrangements at the pie factory so that I could work those days at that other job (I switched my Friday afternoon shift to Tuesday morning). Unfortunately, just as I thought everything was set in motion, it all tumbled down like a Jenga tower. My cousin said that the whole carpool plan wouldn’t work and that the manager had trouble fitting me in through the schedule. Seeing that opportunity now gone, it broke me enough to feel like my happy world just stopped spinning. I thought about asking Ms. Donielle for more hours at the pie factory, but I don’t think it will happen. This song sings about how you should pray when you’re worried or don’t know what to do, which is exactly where I was for the past week or two, so it was a friendly reminder that God still has a plan for me, that’s why it’s my favorite one and always was! Also, Mr. Brian pulled a funny stunt when he came riding in with a costume horse around him and told a joke! It went like this: “Why are cowboys so funny? Because they’re always horsing around!”

After that was all said and done, it was time for my team to go to something new we have this year: Music, where we get to play songs with instruments! I got to play a handheld drum and bang my knee with a colorful tube (The sound it makes depends on the size of the tube!)! The lady’s name was Vanessa (I think) and she seemed impressed by my ability to keep rhythm! We also learned a chant for our team (Sorry, it’s only ours to know!)!

For our next activity, we headed to the church to do some karaoke! I didn’t sing because I didn’t have a song for today, but I did talk with Chandler and John about the new Transformers movie coming out in September (Leximus Prime (Me) and Bumblebee (Chandler) reunite again! We have to come up with some for John and David!)! Other campers sung Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk”, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, and a song from Disney’s “The Jungle Book” (I think it was called “Zoom”)!

After karaoke was our snack break, where we ate Rice Crispy Treats! I also met up with my friend Hayley Scimemi and her mom Ms. Becky Scimemi! I also told my friend Jonah about the new Transformers movie (He’s a HUGE Transformers fan!)! And I talked with John’s mom Ms. Amie Clostio about their dog Luna (A Husky that went crazy on me, so many jumping on and licking me lol!) and talk with my friend David!

After our snack break, we headed to the pavilion because it was time for Fitness with Coach Damon Vincent! For today’s workout, we warmed up our bodies with lots of leg stretches, core exercises, and medicine ball tosses, it was a way to get those cobwebs off our muscles as he said lol! At one point, we had to run back to our spots, so I dashed ahead and managed to get there first (Nothing is a race, it just happened that way!)!

After that, our final activity of the day was Art with Ms. Tara Lavern Yergeau, one of the Lagniappe Ladies! For today, we got to color some bandanas! I was trying to color mine half red and half blue with some yellow in it, but I didn’t get to finish because there was a LOT to color lol! At one point, Darrius was still telling his “Guess what? Chicken butt!” joke and Ms. Tara got him back with a knock knock joke! It went: “Knock knock!” “Who’s there?” “Boo!” “Boo who?” “You don’t have to cry about it!” lol! So speaking of jokes, she asked if I had one, so I got to tell Ms. Tara a knock knock joke myself! Mine went: “Knock knock!” “Who’s there?” “Ash!” “Ash who?” “Bless you!” ! She laughed and laughed and said that the kids at her school will LOVE that one!

After that, it was unfortunately time to leave (Time passes too fast when you’re having a blast!)! But regardless, everyone still has a blast at Camp Unique! So after my grandma picked me up, we headed to Burger King for lunch! And then she took me back home so that I can wash my shirt up for tomorrow and ge to typing my blog for today! And it seems like we just beat the rain because it’s currently raining at my house right now! My grandma actually prayed that we wouldn’t get rained on and it seems that God answered her prayer! Well, that’s Day 1 down for Camp Unique, now I’ll go shower up and rest up for Day 2 tomorrow, which will be even bigger! Thank you everyone for today, all my D.R.E.A.M.S. fam, every one of the volunteers, and everyone else that came out today, all of Camp Unique means a lot to me! See you all again tomorrow!

Camp Unique Day 5 Friday July 29, 2022

Well, as you all know, today was the final day of Camp Unique!

 

But before our 3 hour celebration outside, we did Praise and Worship like usual because we need to thank the lord for this day and especially for this camp!

 

After that was sung and done (Said and done parody lol) and before we headed out, we had to give a big thank you to Ms. Donielle Gaubert Watkins and Mr. Brian D. Watkins for all that they’ve done for us! They had gifts bags and one big card that we made for them with our own signatures! I put “Super Lex” with the “S” shaped like Superman’s “S”, meaning I drew a diamond shaped shield around it! I think the other gifts were gift cards for them to spend a night out with each other! Honestly, they truly deserve it! Mr. Brian also decided to tell us some jokes and make us all laugh! One was “What does a bee do to get a ride? Go to the Buzz Stop!” lol! A few campers and I also had jokes to tell, so we got to go up and tell them! My friend Ross Tophern Hebert told this one: “Have you ever heard of the movie about constipation? No? Because it’s not out yet!” lol! My friend Lexi’s was “Do you know why I don’t like stairs? They’re always UP to something!” lol! And mine was “Have you ever heard about the campground and the skunk? Nevermind, it stinks anyway!” lol!

 

After thanking the lord and the D.R.E.A.M.S. Founders along with having good laughs, then came the big outdoor celebration, where we had a singer that goes by the name “Connie G.” (If that’s how you spell it) come sing some well known songs for us such as “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran, “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars, “Boogie Shoes” by KC and the Sunshine Band (I think), just to name a few! We had her and her amazing voice along with a fun jump, a water slide, a dunk-in-the-water tank (Thank you to the volunteers that decided to get wet, must’ve felt good from the heat!), and Planet VR came to visit us with virtual reality games!

 

After doing a bit of line dancing to start us off, I went to the dunk tank to try and win! Ms. Donielle was the one getting soaked at the time, but fortunately for her, I didn’t hit the target hard enough!

After that, I went underneath the big tree by the canopy, where it’s very shady and I got to cool off and stay hydrated! What I like about that spot is that, if you know me well, then you would notice how I sometimes tend to get away from crowds of people and loud noise and go to a much quieter place with no or very few people that would let me be myself. That particular spot is quieter, also shady, and a place where I can move around at my own pace and just be myself in my own imagination! Other campers probably noticed the same thing I did because another camper, a girl named Bree (Pamela Broussard’s daughter), came to sit on the bench underneath the tree! Maybe she’s just like me!

 

But after some good enough time under the Comfort Tree (I’ve decided to call it that), my group was called to do some Virtual Reality with Planet VR! Thank goodness there was some shade for the line because for the dunk tank, I was cooking like a Sunny Side Up Egg lol! When it was my turn to go in, we got to choose between roller coaster rides, spaceship shooting, and stuff like that! My friend Hayley Scimemi (Thank you for your compliment about me looking cool!) chose a Walt Disney World roller coaster (Before I went in), but I chose a Spaceship Shooter simulation! It was a blast! It gave me Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy spaceship vibes! When I was done, the girl complimented my red checkerboard Vans, saying that she loved them! I thanked her for the complement and for the fun games! I also said that I was going to mention them in this blog since it’s well deserved!

 

After that, I went spend a little more time under the Comfort Tree before I got one last chance to dunk Ms. Donielle in the water again! I missed the first shot, but luck was on my side with the second one! My friend Chandler went before me and managed to get her on the first one!

 

Before we all left, we all got together to do one last line dance! One of my childhood favorites, The Cha Cha Slide! After that, we all got to do a swaying line to the song “And I will always love you” sung by Connie G. herself! I also got to dance with Becky Scimemi towards the end of it!

 

And that was the grand finale of Camp Unique of 2022! This camp has always been and will always be held close to my heart because this is what introduced me to the very foundation itself! This foundation has done so much for me! It turned me from a bullied and lonely school kid to a fine young man that everyone knows and loves him for who he is! From CYT, to Unique Health & Fitness, to Jill Listi Dance Studio, D.R.E.A.M.S. Bowling, all along with this camp, you all sure know how to change someone’s life forever! I want to thank everyone that was there for making this camp special for every one of us (Sorry if I didn’t tag, there’s just too many to count lol!) All of my friends, every one of the volunteers (Especially my friend Chandler’s brother Landon for treating me like a friend and making me laugh with his back and forth arguments against a girl named Aiden), and especially Ms. Donielle and Mr. Brian! Also a shoutout to my high school friend reunited Izzy Arnaud, thanks for coming! Another one to Ms. Annie Dee Hoerner, we miss you and hope you get better! And one more note before I finish: I’ll be at the Shindig at Scott Harley Davidson tomorrow night, so I’ll be writing another blog about it! Be sure to look for it! As Dr. Seuss said “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened!”!

 

Camp Unique Day 4 Thursday July 28, 2022

Day 4 of Camp Unique was awesome and better than the last as usual! We had more special guests today!

 

As usual, we sang and danced in Praise and Worship! Nothing makes the day better than to thank the lord for a good camp day! We also talked about how Truth is good for everyone!

 

For Art today, we made some special spy cards and fingerprints! We had to make some code names for ourselves! Mine was “Man of Gold”, a mixture of the term “Heart of Gold” and Superman’s nickname “Man of Steel”! Others put things like “Sparkles” or a name from an Anime character (Probably my friend Chandler lol)!

 

And now for the special guests of the day, the Lagniappe Ladies! They’re dancers that perform in parades such as the Christmas Parade! We got to do some line dancing with them! We did the Cha Cha Slide (I’ve known since I was a toddler), a song that involved “The Twist”, The Wobble (Middle and High School event memories lol), Love Train (Knew the words, but not the dance), The Freeze (My Mom loves that one), and the Zydeco song that talks about “My Hands Up! I forgot to tell them about how I did a dance class at Jill Listi Dance Studio, I’m sure they would’ve loved to know that another dancer was among them!

 

For snack, I ate Animal Crackers and stil staying hydrated, especially after all that dancing!

For karaoke, we danced a bit to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, which was Chandler’s idea! Our first idea was to sing the Inspector Gadget theme, but I found out that the only words are “Inspector Gadget ooh ooh!” and “Go Gadget Go!”. Not only is majority of the song instrumental, but since the singers were female, I didn’t think it would work.

 

For Fitness, we warmed up with a game similar to Simon Says, but the coach tells us what to do instead of “Simon” lol! After that, we played a game of “Musical Medicine Balls”, but instead of the usual Musical Chairs rule of getting out and taking out, we kept everyone and all balls in! There were a total of 5 rounds, so Chandler and I were at each other the entire 5 rounds lol! I got the first round, he got the next two, I got the second to last, and the tie breaker ended in my favor! We high fived each round, telling each other ”Good job!”! For the last game, it was like ”Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”, but we all had a medicine ball in the middle of our partners (Chandler and I)! The goal was to grab the ball before the other does when the coach calls ”Grab the gadget (Camp themed)”! I had the first round, Chandler got the second, and for the second tie breaker, we each had to take two steps back! Chandler nearly got it, but I was just a bit quicker! Like the last game, we high fived and congratulated one another! This had to be the best Fitness activity of the camp!

 

We went to our rides after, so there was nothing else! Tomorrow for the grand finale, we’re having a party all through the 3 hours! There will be a band, fun games, snacks, and I know it will be a blast!

 

Camp Unique Day 3 Wednesday July 27, 2022

Day 3 of Camp was even better than yesterday! We even had a special guest visit today!

 

Before we started with Praise and Worship, I was complimented by my friend Hugo’s helper about my shades and cap! My friend Lexi’s mom even sang the song ”I Wear My Sunglasses At Night” or something like that lol (Y’all would probably know it)!

 

After the usual Praise and Worship before we begin, we went to Art where we decorated a finishing touch of our project! It was a tux jacket like spies wear (It wasn’t really one, it was paper folded like one)! We got to decorate it along with writing three things to describe us in the inside to resemble how these things are within us, similar to how gears are in a machine! I put stars and dollar signs on the front and on the inside, I drew a pencil with the words “Writing (Blogs)”, a stick figure wearing a cape with the words “Super Friend” above, and two stick figure hands handshaking with the word “Kindness” above! These are the words that I think best describes me!

 

After Art, we did another camp themed activity! We got to do the “Bad Spy” game again, but this time with water balloons! We would throw them at Ms. Kristi (My friend Chandler’s mom) since she was the one that we had to get wet! At one point, others got to get wet too if they wanted, but I didn’t want to and neither did my friend Chandler since we both had our phones in our pockets (Water and electronics don’t mix). But I did manage to get her and another that wanted to get wet lol!

 

And for snack today, we had goldfish and stayed hydrated!

 

We also did a bit of karaoke, but not for long since we had to finish with Fitness afterwards to make time for the special guest’s visit!

 

For Fitness, we got to do an obstacle course! We hopped like rabbits, Hulk Smashed some medicine balls, and ducked and jumped over bars! KATC was also filming today, so be sure to look for us on the channel tonight! Lexi and I both led the group back to the main building, talking to each other about how we both could’ve finished the obstacle course much faster normally, but she was helping a certain person out and I was letting the rest catch up!

 

And last but not least, the special guest’s visit! Magician and Comedian (A bit of both) Aaron Baca came to visit us and show us some magic and make us all laugh! The tricks he did were funny and amazing at the same time! One of them was done with paper rabbits underneath slot boxes, where one was colored black and the other was colored white! I noticed how he would flip the boxes around and then we say the magic words ”Camp Unique!” and supposedly they switched! I thought that they were each other’s opposite colors on their back sides! But when he flipped them, to all of our surprise, they were different, but instead of black and white, they were red and yellow! My eyes widened and my jaw dropped before I clapped with the rest! My whole theory just went out the window lol! Another one was with an egg in a bag, where he would somehow take an “Invisible Egg” from the air, pretend to place it in the bag (Nothing is in the bag, it was even brought inside out to show)! And once the magic words were said (This time it was chicken noises lol), there was an actual egg inside! Another amazing and funny trick! He also did a coloring book where everything was not colored! We all pretended to throw in any color we could think of within the book! His volunteer (A camper) waved multiple wands that he had her hold to do the magic! At first, it was colored, but not fully and not within the lines! So they tried again, and this time, it was all perfectly colored! The same pages shown not colored and barely colored, all colored perfectly within the lines and completely! And if you think any of this was crazy, then you’re in for a real mind blower for his grand finale! My friend Scott was his volunteer! Do you know the Disney movie Aladdin (A childhood favorite of mine)? Do you know the magic carpet from there (One of my favorite characters)? Well, he laid Scott down on the table, covering him in a blanket, he put his hand above Scott, and I kid you not, made him LEVITATE IN THE AIR! As if he was using some sort of telekinesis or maybe even “The Force” from Star Wars! My mind was blown so much that I can’t even TRY to think about how else he did it! We all roared with applause as he finished before we left!

 

But shortly before that, he talked about how he was not always the most popular or the most invited kid in his school days since maybe they thought he was a bit weird. He told us that even if they think we’re different, being different is what makes us special. I have to say, I really liked that because I could relate. You all know how I would talk about how I was treated in school. Bullied, left out, you name it, majority of them put me through it (Very few had the heart to show me kindness, and they didn’t last as long as I wanted them to unfortunately) But now as I graduated and grew up, I realized ”So what if I have autism? I’m special in my own way! We all are! After all, I’m the only one of me within the world! And there will be only one of me forever!” So it was a friendly reminder that just because some think we’re strange, or whatever else, doesn’t make us “Lesser” than anyone, it’s just what makes us special in our own way!

 

So that was my third day of camp! It was awesome, and I know it’s going to get better tomorrow! Halfway done already! Time sure does fly by when you have fun!

 

Camp Unique Day 2 Tuesday July 26, 2022

Day 2 of Camp Unique was a bit better than yesterday!

 

As usual, we started with Praise and Worship! But for today, just before we left for Art, we talked about how just like the chip that they used for Inspector Gadget to get his gadgets working for him, the Holy Spirit does the same for us! And that’s very true!

 

For Art, we finished up coloring our gears and gluing them to the paper! Though we have one finishing touch to do with it: Adding a sleeve! I was also jamming to Jiggle Jiggle by Duke and Jones and Louis Theroux playing across the room just before we started lol!

 

For our next activity, instead of a themed spy activity for today, Ainsley’s Angels came with the karts and we all got a ride! After we finished, we all played with Nerf guns! Lexi and Ms. Melissa were behind a board while Chandler, John, the rest of the kids and I were all on the other side! It was like a one side against the other game! Lexi managed to get me with one of the bullets and shouted “Gotcha!” while laughing and I went ”Aww!”. But when she looked away for a bit too long, I crept up on her and managed to get her back and just said “Bang!” as I fired it! She was surprised that I managed to catch her! And I saw a camera guy that looked familiar (Think it’s News 15) filming us play, so turn your channels to News 15 tonight and look for me wearing a red Houston Rockets flat brim cap and shades!

Next was snack time with Rice Crispy Treats and staying hydrated, which was perfect timing since we were outside in the heat!

 

After that, we did some more music time! We all sang a couple of songs such as We Will Rock You by Queen, We Are Family, and Summer Nights from the movie Grease! Chandler and I are still trying to think of a song to sing!

 

And finally, we went to Fitness! For today, we worked on dodging and reflexes! But not before we played our favorite warm up game, Pop See Ko! My partner Clay and I made an awesome team!

So today was a bit better than yesterday, looking forward to tomorrow! Maybe it will be better than today!

 

Camp Unique Day 1 Monday July 25, 2022

Well, today was the first day of Camp Unique! Had a blast as usual and even made a new friend today! This year’s theme is Inspector Gadget!

 

I was fortunate enough to get put into the same group as my friends Chandler, Clay, Hugo, Izzy, Lexi, and my new friend John! We talked about how we both like video games and how we both play on a PlayStation, which we’ll add each other whenever I can remember his gamer tag!

 

As usual, we started off with Praise and Worship! Of course it’s good to start with thanking the lord for an awesome day and camp to attend by singing and dancing!

 

Our first activity was Art, where we colored in some paper gears with words such as “Bravery” and “Positivity” written on them! We also talked about how just like how gears are within machines, we have these things within us! We’ll finish up with them tomorrow since Praise and Worship took a bit longer than usual because everyone had to settle down from excitement lol!

 

On our way to the next activity, Chandler, John, and I were talking about what superpowers we would want if we had some. Chandler said he wants to be like Black Panther, John said he would like to be like The Flash since he can run to a family members house and back in an instant, and I said I would like to be like Superman and have multiple powers like flight, super strength, super speed, nigh invulnerability, super hearing, laser eyes, x-ray vision, and I would want to replace his frost breath with telepathy and telekinesis! We all thought each other’s ideas were very cool!

 

Our next activity was a camp themed activity, Pretend Interrogation! Mr. Brian talked about how spies and detectives interrogate suspects to get them to tell them what they need to know. And Ms. Melissa pretended to be the suspect by putting on protection clothing, goggles, and a wig because all of us would throw whipped cream pie in her face! My friend Chandler said a mix of movie dialogue along with his own lines like “I’ll sting you like a bee!” before throwing the pie while I said “We can do this two ways! You give me the info or I splat your face with this pie! Your choice….”! Playing along, Ms. Melissa did the tongue spit and I responded with “Suit yourself!” before bashing the pie in her face lol! Lexi laughed and gave me a high five right after! The whole thing reminded me of how I was almost pied in the face back in high school for a raffle ticket drawing for a 3.0-4.0 grade average event that was held for the students! The ticket number that was called had only one digit different from my ticket number and it was the last one, which made it even more intense! I remember my eyes widening and my heart beating faster as each one of the exact same numbers on my ticket were called and as each student that had a different number sat down as it went on, but I was saved by the last number being a 0 instead of a 2! I sighed in relief as I sat down as the other student had to go to the front of the auditorium and get pied in the face! I’ll never forget that!

 

Anyway, after that, we had some snacks and water to stay hydrated and to keep our appetites in check!

 

Then after that, we did Music, where we sing a song of our choice! Chandler and I don’t know what to sing yet, but Lexi sung a song about friendship and told us about how she sees every one of us as a true friend! I said that that was nice of her and thanked her for that!

 

And last but not least, we had Fitness! Today we exercised with medicine balls, which we got to toss and race with! Mine weighed a total of 25 pounds, so I had a good workout!

 

I for one can say that today was worth every cent! Can’t wait for tomorrow! Also got some cool shades, thanks for that!

Camp Unique Day 5 Friday July 23, 2021

Day 5, the grand finale of Camp Unique, was the best! It’s a shame that this camp can’t last any longer, but I guess it’s better than nothing!

For today, instead of the usual, we only did Praise and Worship and then danced all the rest of the time outside under the shed!

And do you remember the girl I talked about named Avrie? Her and I not only got to talk more and found out that we have a lot in common, but we got to dance together for certain songs! I sang and danced to every song I knew along with Avrie and the rest of the campers and volunteers (Shape of You, Cupid Shuffle, and Cha Cha Slide to name a few)! We also had a guest singer sing the songs for us (I forgot her name, but she was good)! It was also pretty hot so we got to cool off and hydrate at times. And the thing is that the time passed by so fast!

During my break from dancing, I found out about a dance studio called Jill Listi Dance Studio that has a program through D.R.E.A.M.S. I was thinking about giving Unique Fitness a temporary break and giving it a try once they open registration again! What’s good about dancing is that it’s good exercise (As I’ve been told and found out today)! It would also help me get out more and try new things like I plan to! I’ll have to see more about it!

Camp Unique may have been in a different location for this year, but everyone did an awesome job at making it just as special as it was at the Bayou Church! I want to thank Ms. Donielle Gaubert Watkins, Mr. Brian D. Watkins, Jamie Wallace Yates, Suzie Hargroder, Melissa D. Leblanc, and everyone else that volunteered for this amazing camp (Let me know if I accidentally left you out in the comments so I can tag you too)! It was a blast seeing all of my friends again! I can’t wait for next year’s Camp Unique!

Camp Unique Day 4 Thursday July 22, 2021

Day 4 was even better than the other 3 days of Camp!  The days just get better and better!  It’s just too bad that tomorrow is the last day of it.  At least I’m having a blast!

After everyone got there and after singing and dancing along to Praise and Worship, we had a special guest CYT’s Gerald Broussard and a partner of his visit us today! They also had Logan as their volunteer for a science experiment! This experiment was about filling a plastic bag with water and poking through it with pencils (Or that’s at least how it looked from where I was)! However, the thing was that we didn’t know whether Logan was going to get his head wet or not. So in case he did, they tied a cloth around his head and made it look like a hood lol! So after poking the pencils through the bag, to our surprise, no water dripped out! This was also about how we can trust in God even when things get scary!

After giving them a round of applause for the awesome experiment and lesson, we headed to Fitness where we got to practice our forward punches and ducking when our partners would swing the noodles that we were using at our heads! But not before our favorite warm up game (You should know this by now) Pop See Ko!

Next was Art as usual! Today we colored some shapes that we would use for a Totem Pole that we were working on! I also got to help cut out some of the shapes and was complimented by the Art teacher herself for my cutting skills! It was a bit confusing due to the body parts such as ears and noses looking a bit weird, but I was showed where to cut and got it done! They reminded me of some of the ancient Mayan carvings that we learned about in school a long time ago! I also made a bracelet!

After our snack break with pretzels, we got to pet some animals and play some kickball with some UL students! I got to pet two calves and had a dog sniff me, but was too excited for me to pet it lol! It just wanted to play with a stick and barked as it bounced around! And for the kickball, the field was a bit slippery (I think it’s because of the slightly still wet ground), but we still got to go slow enough to not slip (Aside from two times, but no one was hurt lol)! I was also complimented for my catching skills by the students, saying I “Had the hands”!

After we all got a turn to kick the ball, we headed back inside for Karaoke! I got to sing Flash by Queen! I thought it was about the superhero Flash at first, but it turns out it was from an 80’s film with the name Flash Gordon. But I thought it was catchy anyway!

Also, turn your channels to News 15 tonight! I saw them filming around! I’ll try to spot myself! Even thought tomorrow is the last day of Camp, I still can’t wait for what the grand finale has for us!

Camp Unique Day 3 Wednesday July 21, 2021

Day 3 was a tad bit better than Day 2 (Yesterday)! Camp seems to get better as it goes on! I also got to know one of my new friends a bit better (Her name is Avrie)! She’s the one that hugged me when she first saw me before Praise and Worship!

After we got started and sang and danced while praising the lord, we also had a special guest that taught us that honesty is the best policy! He used the well known Fable “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” as an example, but then he talked about how it can sometimes encourage people to lie more because of them being afraid of telling the truth at times. But then he used George Washington’s cherry tree incident as another example of why it’s good to be truthful!

After we left the main building, we were off to Fitness! Today we did an obstacle course that involved hopping, slamming a medicine ball, going over and under bars, and jumping over swimming pool noodles! I did at least 5 or more rounds of it myself! We even had another round where things got a bit tricky because we went faster and went backwards for some of the obstacles, but I pulled through!

After a good exercise from Fitness, we headed to Art where we decorated some “Noise makers”! They’re bottles with small rocks inside and we decorated some construction paper to wrap them in! I got to sit by Avrie because she asked me if I wanted to sit with her! I decorated mine by adding “Lightning Lex” as the text, lightning bolts on the side of it, stars on the corners, and a video game controller at the very bottom to show that I’m a gamer lol! After I finished, because I finished early, I got to help another student with his decorating! The volunteer even thanked me for my help afterwards!

After our snack break with Goldfish (The snack that smiles back lol), we headed back to the shed where Fitness was, but this time, we were off to the side and got to build small wooden houses with Home Depot! It was a bit hard to hold the parts steady and hammer in the nails as the others were hammering because it was vibrating the table, but after a little help, I got the hang of it! I even got a little pin from them on my shirt!

And for the final activity of the day, it was nothing other than Karaoke! I finally got to sing today! I sung Hold On To Me by Lauren Daigle! I noticed that when I started to sing, not only did the lady sound amazed, but everyone went silent and listened lol! After I was done, everyone clapped and cheered! And of course you know I would clap along and clap for the others when they would sing!

Another interaction between Avrie and I today was just before Art while we were waiting for the other group to finish because they were a bit behind. I noticed she was squatting her legs exactly like a ballet dancer does because at the last Camp Unique, an actual ballet dancer taught us how to dance ballet and that was one of the dances she taught us! I asked her if she was trying to do ballet and she said yes and explained that she was a dancer herself! I told her that was very cool! I also found out that the “Angels of Acadiana” that I talked about yesterday is actually called “Ainsley’s Angels”! I have a card for it so I’ll have to look more into it and see what it’s all about! It’s surprising that we’re already halfway done with Camp Unique (A bit of a bummer also)!

Camp Unique Day 2 Tuesday July 20, 2021

Day 2 of Camp Unique today was a bit better than Day 1 yesterday! I met up with a couple of people I didn’t see yesterday and even met more people!

As usual, we began with more Praise and Worship after everyone was there!  What better way to start off Camp Unique, am I right?  It’s fun to sing and dance while praising the lord!

After we finished, we headed to Fitness where we got to lift sand bells for our exercises for today! We had to curl them like bicep weights and lift them above our heads (I was lifting 25 pounds today)!  But we didn’t do that before our favorite warm up game, Pop See Ko! I forgot to mention yesterday that I along with another girl had to introduce it to the class and show them how it was played. And due to some new kids coming today, we both had to do it again lol. But we both enjoyed showing how it was played!

After Fitness came Art! Do you remember when I talked about those bands that we were collecting for our Scavenger Hunt yesterday? Today we got to decorate our very own headbands (We call them something else, but I forgot it lol)! I got to write my nickname “Lightning Lex” on it with lightning bolts and stars with a gold marker (Gold goes well with blue in my opinion)! I also wrote my tribe name Ndoto on the back with stars and moons to resemble the “Dreams” mark! And now we get to wear them to camp everyday from now on!

After our snack break with Cheez-Its, we got to go outside in the parking area where an organization called “Angels of Acadiana (I think)”came over to give us rides on their carts used in races that they do! I had fun going fast lol! I was also thinking that I could look into it and see what it’s all about because I plan on getting out more!

After we all had our turns of riding, we got to do Karaoke again! Unfortunately, I still can’t think of a song to sing. If you have a suggestion for me, tell me in the comments and I’ll look into it! But I did enjoy listening to the others sing and clapping along with them!

Today was even better than the first day, and it’s only the second day! I can’t wait for the next three days of this year’s Camp Unique!

Camp Unique Day 1 Monday July 19, 2021

Day 1 of Camp Unique was good! I saw many people I knew and met a few new people! Maybe I can get to know them as the rest of the week of fun continues! And what’s different about this year’s Camp Unique, is that it’s at the one and only Acadian Village! It’s different from the Bayou Church, where it was usually held, but I think this place is alright overall.

As usual, after everyone got there, we began the day with Praise and Worship. This is where we sing and dance along to Praise and Worship songs. We sang, danced, and had fun!

After we finished, we got to get together with our team members! Well, instead of “Teams”, we go with the term “Tribes”! They gave us the names, Ndoto, Rafiki, Kipekee, and Ukweli. I’m in the Ndoto tribe! We also lit tiki torches and learned that the fire of the torch represents the life as we began the day before we headed off to Fitness!

At Fitness, we began with my favorite game to start it off with known as “Pop See Ko” (You can look up the video if you don’t know what it is to get an idea of it)! And then we got to throw medicine balls in different ways such as by overhead throwing and twisting our upper bodies. I was throwing 20 pounds (I’ve done 25 before)!

Next we went to Art, where we colored small pictures that resemble important things such as Friendship, Justice, Peace, and Strength (There was more)! I didn’t have the colors that I had in mind available for some, but I got creative and used what I had!

After that, we had a snack break where we got to have animal crackers and water or Capri Sun! I chose water to keep myself hydrated through this heat!

And then it was time for a Scavenger hunt, where we had to look for 20 blue band tags! I even got to find two myself! I also had to use some math to keep track of how many we found and how many we had to still find. We had to go to different buildings and we got to learn how people used different technology from back then for dental care and making sheets. We even went to the old church and schoolhouse! After we found all 20, we had to look for a small blue paper that revealed our team name (I forgot it lol).

And for the final activity of the day, we got to dance and sing karaoke! I didn’t have a song in mind, so maybe I can think of one and then sing when I’m ready! But I did enjoy doing a favorite line dance of mine known as the Cupid Shuffle!

After we finish is when all of the groups get together and everyone leaves as their rides arrive. This was a blast and it was only Day 1! I can’t wait for the rest of the 4 incoming days!

Night to Shine Prom 2020

Had a fun time at the Night to Shine Prom Friday night! While not everything went as planned, it was still fun overall! I got to meet up with friends of mine, eat some of the meat pies that I help make for the public, and even felt like I got a bit of a celebrity like moment due to walking down the red carpet before the links arrive with everyone cheering! I would like to thank Jaden Landy for being my outstanding buddy that never let me down and was by my side for the entire night, Tammy Sturgill Landy for allowing her to be my buddy for the night, Kaylon Khamphilavong and Triston Thorne for showing up along with everyone else apart of D.R.E.A.M.S. such as Coaches Damon Vincent and Catherine Vincent, Max Vining and Kirby Thibeaux, Ava Hebert, Pamela Broussard, and last but not least, Mr. Brian D. Watkins and Donielle Gaubert Watkins for arranging this amazing night along with the One Church! And if anyone has any other pictures with me in them, feel free to message them to me!

Unique Fitness Christmas Carol December 21, 2019

Well, today has sure been a big day for me! As you can tell by my picture that I took this morning with my Santa Claus hat, I went Christmas Caroling with the D.R.E.A.M.S. Unique Fitness group! We had a lot more people that showed up than I expected, but I guess that’s good because it shows that the foundation itself is getting bigger and becoming more popular!

As for our songs, we got to sing 5 of them. They’re known as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Silent Night, Jingle Bells, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, and Silver Bells! Funny little fact: I’m not sure if anyone had noticed, but I kinda decided to sing my own little version of Jingle Bells at one point. It goes “Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin just layed an egg, the Batmobile lost one wheel, and the Joker got away, aw man!” lol! I did sing the original words for the rest of the time although, but I just wanted to be silly for a bit. I didn’t mean to ruin it for anyone.

I did enjoy singing along with everyone for the rest of the songs. One of the guitar players Sydney Broussard complimented me on my deep voice and told me about how I was good at doing low pitched voice lines. I thanked her and continued singing for all of the residents there. Just by looking at the warm and joyful smiles on their faces, I can tell that this meant a lot to them. I’m very glad that we got to make their day with holiday cheer!

After we were all done, I got to take a quick picture with a good friend of mine Logan Watkins before heading out in front of the Christmas tree that they had put up (the pictures are all below, see if you can spot me in the one with all of us!). Afterwards, we were off to the bowling alley to do some fun bowling and eat some delicious pizza!

As for the bowling part of the day, I couldn’t seem to get even a spare. This disappointed me a bit, but I guess it’s due to not being used to bowling a lot. I did get better as the game went on, however. I guess I just had to boost up my confidence a bit. At some points while waiting for my turn, I got to talk with more good friends of mine Max Vining and Kirby Thibeaux along with Logan. I asked if they could order more pizza due to it all disappearing as if a magician made it all vanish into thin air and still being hungry lol. Fortunately, they were able to get enough for everyone!

At one point, Logan and I got to arm wrestle for fun due to him arm wrestling Max already. Him and I just held each other at the same spot for a minute straight before we decided to forfeit due to not wanting to break each other’s arms lol. But we had fun talking and laughing with one another overall! And even though I got the lowest score in bowling, I suppose the day itself still wasn’t bad at all! I even got to play some arcade games while waiting for my mom and step dad to pick me up.

And last but not least, this fantastic day had ended with a fun family Christmas party! I sure am glad that I got to experience this awesome day and make all of the senior residents happy. I would like to thank all of my D.R.E.A.M.S. friends for taking part in making this day fun, Coach Damon Vincent and Catherine Vincent along with Donielle Gaubert Watkins, Pamela Broussard, all of the people that played the instruments as we sang, Jeanne Donellan Comeaux, and all of the remaining volunteers that offered to help us all out today! Seriously, I don’t know how to thank you people enough!

D.R.E.A.M.S. X-mas Party 2019 December 18, 2019

Well, I sure had a blast at the D.R.E.A.M.S. Xmas Party tonight! I got to meet new people and make friends with them as well! Ever since I first walked through the door, I’ve gotten compliments from a lot of people saying that I was looking good. I thanked them all and began to socialize with more people as more arrived. I got to take several pictures with them as well!

Eventually, we got to eat lots of delicious food involving our meat pies! I enjoyed everything on my plate and had a couple of delicious desserts as well. I got to also take some cookie cake home with me because I am a HUGE cookie cake lover lol!

I also got to dance to the three of my favorite line dance songs! The songs were Footloose (which I did at Camp Unique and my high school prom), Cupid Shuffle (always been a favorite of mine since childhood), and the Cah Cha Slide (another childhood favorite). I loved doing all dances with my friends and sung the songs as I danced as well.

After dancing, I got to take a picture with “Santa Claus”! I didn’t get the picture because a photographer was taking the pictures for us. After I took the picture, I received a small bag of candy from him. I thanked him for it and went back to talking with my friends.

Towards the end of the party when the volunteers were cleaning up, I got to meet Miss Louisiana Taja White! Her and I took a selfie with each other, which you can see below! I got to tell her about how one of my cousins was in a Beauty Pageant as well, but she didn’t seem to recognize her first name.

And that wasn’t the only surprise that I had received tonight. It turns out, I have found out that I am related to Melissa Castille Lavergne and her kids! My grandfather on my father’s side of the family was a brother to her grandmother! They were both brother and sister! Small world isn’t it? I got to take a picture with them below as well!

As the party came to a close, I got to help take the tree down and help pack some of the ornaments and lights. I helped out with what I could and then eventually told everyone bye and thanked them all for a good time! You know, I have to admit, I believe that this party was better than the past ones! There were lots of people tenet and interact with, the place was much bigger, and it was just a lot more fun tonight! I would like to thank Ms. Donielle Gaubert Watkins and Mr. Brian D. Watkins for planning this awesome event, Claire Carriere and her boyfriend Dylan, Lauren Prudhomme, Robyn Wimberley Blackwell, Abigail Muffoletto, and everyone else that showed up and made this event awesome! Also Rio High once again for the compliment lol! I surely cannot wait to go Christmas Caroling this Saturday with my Unique Fitness class along with others! Be sure to look for that blog!

Halloween of 2019 October 31, 2019

Well, I sure had one awesome Halloween last night! Due to the weather being very cold, we went to the Acadiana Mall to do Trick -or-Treating. As we went from store to store receiving candy from almost every one of them, I’ve often got lots of kids complimenting my costume and had one man compliment my Scepter! I also got to explain to him about how it was handmade and how I received it.

When we went around the food court area, there was one employee that had decided to take my picture! But I had a much bigger surprise during the event, I got to see one of my D.R.E.A.M.S. friends Ali Wood along with her caretaker Natalie Simon and her daughter! We got to take a picture together, which is below!

There were lots of people so it was obvious that we were not the only ones to think of that idea lol! Even though a few of the stores had run out of candy, we still had managed to have fun and celebrate my Stepdad’s birthday with a dinner at Texas Roadhouse! I got to eat some delicious rattlesnake bites along with some fried pickles! And for the main course, an all American cheeseburger with a side of steak fries! Once we finished and began to head out, I noticed that when the wind was blowing, my cape was flying with the wind like a superhero cape lol! I thought it was pretty cool.

If you ever wondered why I chose to be Loki for Halloween, well I hope you know how video game mods work because that’s what gave me the idea! One day while I was playing Skyrim on my Xbox One, I had downloaded an Infinity Gauntlet mod that allows the Infinity Gauntlet from The Avengers to be added to the game! Although it is not exactly like the one in the movies or comics because the creators have to make it fit in with the game somehow. Anyway, a Loki outfit just so happened to be a bonus for the mod. And that’s when my brain had just hatched the idea! So that’s how I became Loki, prince of Asgard for Halloween! I also might possibly attend Comic Con next year with the same costume!

I would like to thank Ali and Natalie for taking a picture with me, my aunt Teresa Davis Kaldis once again for ordering me the Scepter, and my awesome family to take my sister and I out for the night! And as for tomorrow, I will be going to the Corvette Car Show later on tomorrow afternoon to help sell our meat pies! Be sure to look for my blog for tomorrow!

DREAMS Manufacturing 1 Year Anniversary Party!

Well, today was our one year anniversary for the D.R.E.A.M.S. Manufacturing Company! I got to see my fellow employees all dressed in uniform for our new picture that was taken for our new label that will go on our meat pie boxes!

Before the picture taking, I got to talk to my friends about how Halloween is coming up and what we plan on dressing up as. I was trying to decide whether to go as a werewolf or Loki from The Avengers. There seems to be more people leaning towards Loki, so I may have to look at getting the scepter for it soon because it’s selling fast! One of my friends wants to go as Genie from Disney’s Aladdin and another wants to be Maleficent from Maleficent (I think).

After a little while, it was time to take the label picture! I had to make sure that my face could be seen and that I had the best smile I could pull off! We took one regular, another with our hands in the air, and the final one was with silly faces! Just before the picture was taken, I overheard Ms. Donielle say that this picture will be going national! But because it’s for the label, I think that’s what she meant due to everyone buying the meat pies will see the faces of awesome employees and managers!

After the pictures were taken, there was food served, but I left shortly after because I wanted to eat with my mom and sister, who were waiting in the car. I just didn’t want to be stuck doing nothing at a restaurant. But I got to tell everyone bye and head out to help do a couple of errands afterwards!

You know, this job has really helped me out in life so far! When I just got out of high school, I didn’t really know what I was going to do about where to work at besides try to register for college, which didn’t go as planned. But luckily, I found the Continuing Education program that I went to twice! Aside from that, when I found out about the D.R.E.A.M.S. Manufacturing Company opening soon on Facebook, I thought I could help out due to my certification in Food Handling that I received back in high school! Ms. Donielle and the chef were very impressed with it! On my first day, I was shown how to do things and got the hang of them after a little bit. I got along extremely well with everyone! I’m very happy that I found this awesome job and I’m very thankful for all of the awesome managers and friends of mine that make my job enjoyable! I would like to thank Ms. Donielle Gaubert Watkins for starting the business, Pamela Broussard, Sydney Broussard, Brooke Schexnyder (even though she doesn’t work here anymore) for being awesome managers, Brandon Gaubert for being an outstanding chef, and everyone else that takes part in this wonderful job of mine! You have all really made this part of my life special!

68th Annual Kiwanis Football Jamboree Event

Well, tonight I got to volunteer to help sell our meat pies again! This time, we went to the 68th Annual Kiwanis Football Jamboree at the Cajun Field! I got to help hold up fliers for the D.R.E.A.M.S. Manufacturing Company! Although it didn’t seem like too many people were interested at first.

After a while of holding up the fliers and asking anyone around if they were interested, I got to take a short break and meet up with my friends. Some of them were in the DR.E.A.M.S. Cheer Warriors team!

Some time later, while I was back to holding up the fliers, I noticed that the mother of one of my friends was watching the field below. I then decided to go see what we going on and found out that the D.R.E.A.M.S. Cheer Warriors team was preparing for their cheer that they got to do before the game! I surely enjoyed every minute of it!

Shortly afterwards, some shocking news came up. We have sold out of meat pies! I honestly couldn’t believe it at first, but I was very happy when I found out that it was no joke! That’s because it means that we’re selling good and business is getting better!

After everyone began to leave, I got to tell my friends bye and help load up some of the fans that we were using due to the scorching heat outside. My family was there to pick me up just a few minutes after.

You know, this was the very first football Jamboree that I have ever been to! Even though I didn’t get to watch the game, I still enjoyed helping out the Foundation! And I surely can’t wait to help out the next time we sell more to the public!

Meet and Greet Candidate for Mayor President Meat Pie Sale Event

Well, today I had an unexpected surprise event! I got to volunteer to help sell our meat pies at the Meet and Greet dinner for the Candidate for Mayor President of Lafayette Carlee Alm-LaBar!

Before the event, I went over to my friend Logan Watkins’s house to get freshened up and ready for the event! While waiting to leave, I got to meet his pet Yorkshire Terrier named Elizabeth! She greeted me with puppy kisses and followed me around the house for a bit lol! After we were ready, we headed over to the home of the couple that were hosting the dinner!

When we got there, we got to meet the couple and I ended up running into a friend that I ran to in the past Carly Faulk! Her and I recognized each other and remembered that we have met at a certain event before, but weren’t sure exactly where. As people walked in, I introduced myself with a smile and got to tell them a little bit about the D.R.E.A.M.S. Foundation and my blogging job for it! Lots were impressed about it and thought it was cool! Once all of the guests have arrived and everyone got settled, it was time to serve the food! Logan and I were assigned to serve our meat pies to the guests! Logan would hand each passing guest a plate and I would take a meat pie with tongs and serve the guest! We worked pretty well together! We got to take a picture with one of the guests that we met Timothy Cazares!

After a little while, the wife of the couple hosting the dinner grabbed everyone’s attention and we got to listen to the speech of the Candidate for Mayor-President Carlee! She talked about how she will do things and what she will change if she is elected! After announcing her speech to everyone there, every guest gave a very strong applause!

Once the speeches were done, Logan and I got to resume our job of serving the guests and got to eat once everyone was served! I ate 1 1/2 of meat pies, a half plate size serving of pasta, and two peanut butter chocolate brownies with lemonade! I got to talk with the Candidate for Mayor President for a bit and explained how I was the blogger for the D.R.E.A.M.S. Foundation! Her and I decided to take a picture afterwards!

Once everyone started to leave, I wanted to make sure if my help was still needed before leaving. I was thanked and got very good compliments about not only our meat pies that we have made for this wonderful event, but my help for the event! My grandparents were waiting outside and began to think as I left the house “I guess sometimes life brings you unexpected surprises! I got to not only meet new people and talk about what I do with the D.R.E.A.M.S. Foundation, but I got to do some PR work for an event! (as my grandparents called it)”. I even got to keep the shirt that I wore! I would like to thank Ms. Donielle Gaubert Watkins for inviting me to this awesome event, Logan for helping me out with the serving, and everyone else that has attended this event and made it one to remember! All pictures are below!

Lake Charles Gun Club Meatpie Sale

Well, today I got to help volunteer to sell some of our meat pies at the Lake Charles Gun Club! But there was a bit of a change in things, not many people came to the event as expected. But not only did we manage to sell our meat pies, but we got to participate in shooting shotguns and doing Archery! This is the first time I have ever gotten to shoot a cock and load shotgun and do Archery in my entire life! Even if I didn’t shoot any of the flying disks that were launched into the air, I still had fun trying to do so! It’s just a bit hard to aim while following the disk at the same time. But to warn you, that shotgun will leave your shoulder a bit sore at least! I also got to hang out with some of my coworkers and best friends today while cooling off from the scorching heat! I did get a bit of sun lol! When I got to try and do the Archery, the employee walked me through the process step by step and I eventually caught on and shot pretty well for my first try! In fact, you won’t believe this, but I’ve managed to get a bullseye on my third try! I have the pictures taken all below! And you bet my back and upper arm muscles felt pressured! After I completed the Archery, I got to try two of our meat pies and drink lots of water due to sweating like a dog on a hot summer day. But even though the event didn’t go as planned in a way, we still all managed to have fun and try new things! If I had to choose which activity was better, I’d have to say it was Archery! Mainly because you don’t have to worry about a kick back and loud noise. But I still think both activities were very fun! I would like to thank everyone from the D.R.E.A.M.S. Manufacturing Company Donielle Gaubert Watkins, Logan Watkins, Sydney Broussard, Pamela Broussard, Ashley Castille, and everyone else that participated in the event today! You sure made my Saturday awesome!

CYT Fall Session 2019

If you have a child with special needs that is interested in Acting and Performing Arts, D.R.E.A.M.S. CYT is the perfect program to get them into! CYT (standing for Christian Youth Theater) is a program where kids and teens can act and perform plays for the public. D.R.E.AM.S. has a CYT class of their own and it has everything you would expect in a Performing Arts class! I myself have had experience with the program and I rated it 10/10 every year that I went!

Back when I first got involved with D.R.E.A.M.S. around 2015, I was offered to attend CYT for the Fall session of CYT. I accepted the offer because I felt like it would be a very good opportunity to try something different. After all, it is fun to pretend to be someone you’re not! For the first Fall session that I attended, we did a skit of a parody of KATC! I was a country singer named Lexendary. I had lots of fun performing my character and loved how everyone applauded at the end of our performance!

For the 2016 Fall session, we did a skit of a parody of Family Feud! I got to be a host along with one of my friends that I met at Camp Unique! But instead of talking like a regular host, I had to sing every word I had to say, which I thought was pretty funny because imagine having to give a speech to the class with a voice like that lol. My mother, stepfather, sister, grandparents, and one of my cousins and her family along with her mother ALWAYS came to see my performances and congratulated me after every awesome performance. Honestly, I did truly feel like a star, even though I never got to participate in the actual CYT plays! As for the 2017 Fall session, D.R.E.A.M.S. CYT was doing a skit of the TV show Happy Days! The vocal class got to sing the theme song and a short commercial in between the skit! I guess we managed to make the already awesome performance even better! That’s why if you’re child with special needs loves to act, then I highly recommend this program for them! If you’re interested in signing up, go to cytlafayette.org D.R.E.A.M.S. Theater Fall 2019! I guarantee your child will have a blast!

If you think your child would like to join the CYT D.R.E.A.M.S. class, please go to the link below to register for class!!

https://www.cytlafayette.org/classes/DREAMS-Theater/264

Camp Unique 2019 Day 5 July 26, 2019

Well, as you all should know by now, today was the final day of Camp Unique for 2019! We began with Praise and Worship with the two songs Oh Happy Day and one of my favorites, Pray! After our prayer for the day, we headed off to Fitness!

When we got to Fitness, we played our usual warm up game Pop See Ko! Because it was the final day, I let other campers go before me and offered to go afterwards. I got to show everyone that I can pat my head while rubbing my belly! After we finished, we played an obstacle course racing game! My opponent and I were too close to call a winner, so we settled it on a tie! I also cheered on the other campers as they hopped over the floor latter marks, hopped into hoops on the floor, balanced on foam noodles, and catch a ball at the end. I was reminded of the Pixar lamp while I was hopping lol! After the obstacle course came a parachute game where we had to toss balls into the air like popcorn does out of a pot! I haven’t played with a parachute since elementary school! At one point we had to go under the parachute and run from one end to the other! It was very fun!

After Fitness came Dance! For today, we did some Jazz dancing! It was very fun to learn and dance along to the song! I remember playing the saxophone back in the 5th grade! But of course my music reading skills and instrument playing are a bit rusty now (I brought this up because a saxophone is a Jazz instrument isn’t it?). And then we got to play a game of Duck Duck Goose while listening to the song Macarena! Another song that took me down memory lane of Pre-K lol!

After Dance came Snack Time! I got to have more cookies and water today! I also got to take selfies with friends as you can see below the post!

After Snack Time was over, we went to the karaoke room and sang some more karaoke! This time, I sing Hakuna Matata from The Lion King! Everyone cheered when I was done! After a few more songs, we got to the Chicken Dance once again! Back to Pre-K memory lane it was lol!

After a couple of more karaoke songs, we got to head to the Art room to make some coasters for our parents! I got to paint a black L on it with golden stars, lightning bolts, and even a number symbol with a 1. It was sure fun doing Art this year! And speaking of Art, my project is finished! It’s the very last two pictures below! It’s a fingerless Infinity Gauntlet (Don’t worry, I didn’t actually snap my fingers lol!)!

After Art class came a grand finale for all of this year’s camp! It was a Magic Show! I finally got to see the dazzling magician that was talked about for this year! As I watched his magic tricks and participated by saying my own magic words “Abra Kadabra, Alakazam!”, I felt as if we were all apart of the show itself! I laughed when things got a bit silly and was amazed when the magic tricks worked out exactly like they were supposed to. When the magic show ended, I said all of my goodbyes to my friends and headed out, thinking about what wonderful things will await us all next year!

The D.R.E.A.M.S. Foundation has really changed my life. I can still remember my life before of being bullied in school and some other kids thinking that I was a bit weird. And when my Mom found the D.R.E.A.M.S. Foundation of Acadiana and signed me up, I was a bit nervous at first due to me not knowing anyone from my school or anywhere outside of school. But as soon as the first day of Camp was over, everything changed in a flash. I now have a place where no one will think I am weird, they will think I am special in my own unique way! Everyone is special in their own unique way! Honestly, I can’t ask for better people to spend an awesome summer camp with! I would like to thank Donielle Gaubert Watkins and Brian D. Watkins for starting the foundation that has changed my life forever, my friends Logan Watkins, Ali Wood, Hayley Scimemi, Paolo Ferrata, Danielle Landry,Adrianna Jeanne, Jaden Landy, Bella Russo for being there for me and making this camp year another year to remember, the volunteers Natalie Simon, Tammy Sturgill Landy, Janae Snow, Kaylon Khamphilavong, Triston Thorne, and everyone for helping us out and keeping us happy, the Dance teacher Virginia Foshee for teaching us the graceful ballet, Danie Adams for teaching us the groovy Jazz, and everyone else for every other moves we have learned to bust, the coaches Damon Vincent and Catherine Vincent for helping us exercise and letting us play fun workout games, our Art teacherAnne Hoerner for not only her kindness towards us and always being there to help those in need, but her generosity to loan me some sketch paper so that I can do my project and show everyone what I was planning to do in Art this year if we ever got to free draw, and everyone else that took part in Camp Unique this year! You have all made this year special to me! Am I happy you ask? You bet I am!

Camp Unique 2019 Day 4 July 25, 2019

Well, today was the 4th day of Camp Unique for 2019! As usual, we started with Praise and Worship with our favorite songs Deep Cries Out and Pray!

After our prayer for the day came Fitness! We played our favorite warm up game Pop See Ko and also played a game called Grab the Tag and Wack the Mole Fitness style! Grab the Tag is where two players tuck in tags in their pant and they both try to grab each other’s tag from each other. But even though you have to try and not let them get it, it has to be visible enough for the player to catch it if they have the chance. I had lots of fun playing it! After that game came Whack the Mole Fitness style! It’s very similar to Whack the Mole, but instead of using a hammer and moles, we use medicine balls and a foam noodle as the hammer and mole. I got to give myself a good ab exercise due to the challenge for me having to keep my legs off of the floor while turning and whacking the noodle from side to side. But it was still very fun!

After the game was finished, we headed on over to Dance! For today, we got to do our most popular line dance of Camp Unique! It was Can’t Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake! After our most recognized line dance, we still had more time to kill for two more line dances. We also did the Cha-Cha Slide and the Cupid Shuffle! These two were childhood favorites of mine! I sung along while doing the dance and had fun doing so!

After Dance was Snack Time! Today’s snack was chocolate chip cookies with Capri Sun juice or Water! It was very delicious! I got to socialize a bit and even meet more new people!

After Snack Time was over, we headed to the same room where we made cards and made a video to do some karaoke! I got to sing Thunder by Imagine Dragons! My Facebook name Lex Electrifying Goulas is what made me think of it. I was originally going to do Hakuna Matata from The Lion King, but that song is more of a duet song. I even got to do the Chicken Dance along with everyone else! I haven’t done that dance since Pre-K. As we did the silly but fun dance, I had nostalgic memories of my 4-5 year old self doing this every time the song came on.

After our karaoke time was finished, we went to Art! Today we got to trace and color in some hearts! I made two hearts and colored them orange and red.

And for the grand finale of the day, we got to do some amazing science with Mr. Brian D. Watkins, or should I say Professor Brian? Lol! For today’s science experiments, we got to watch a rocket launch into the air and fill some soda with Mentos! They exploded like two soda volcanoes! And for the last experiment, we had some dry ice in water I believe it was. Unfortunately, the experiment for the rocket didn’t turn out as it was supposed to, but at least we still managed to get it into the air! Camp Unique is getting better and better as the week goes on. But the thing is, tomorrow is our last day of camp! I surely can’t wait to see the grand finale of not only for the last day, but for the entire week of this wonderful camp that has changed my life!

Camp Unique 2019 Day 3 July 25, 2019

Today was the third day of Camp Unique for 2019 and it was awesome as usual! For today, we got to learn a new song for Praise and Worship! I forgot what it was called, but it has the line “Step if you’re blessed”. And then we sung our usual song towards the end called Pray. Some Therapy dogs came to visit us today! I got to pet both and received a puppy kiss from one of them lol!

After saying our prayer for the day, we headed off to Fitness to play some more fitness games! As usual, Pop See Ko was the warm up game! After busting a couple dance moves, we got to play Horse and Buggy again along with Squash the Bug, which is raising a medicine ball above your head and slamming it on the ground in front of you. And then we played a game where we have a partner and we are back to back. This game is about passing the medicine ball to each other both clockwise and counter clockwise. We even got to kick some X-Ray papers! I even accidentally kicked the paper out of the coach’s hands a couple of times lol.

After Fitness came Dancing! But instead of Cajun dancing again today, we got to do some Ballet! I got the hang of the jumping, foot positions, and bowing (for the males), but the tip toeing while turning part was a bit tricky. I would like to thank Virginia Foshee for teaching us Ballet today and working with us! Since we had a bit of more time to kill, we got to play Duck Duck Goose again along with hitting a balloon while not letting it touch the ground.

After the games came Snack Time! Today’s snack was Goldfish and Capri Sun Juice or Water. I got to socialize with my friends and talk about how Camp Unique was going so far.

After Snack Time was finished, we got to go outside and play a sport with sticks that had nets to catch a tennis ball (I forgot the sport’s name). After catching the ball, you threw it in a net, which was the goal. I did very well at it! In fact, I’ve managed to test my dexterity a bit and came to the conclusion that I may be a bit ambidextrous. I congratulated my partners as they played the game, caught the balls, and making a goal.

After the games were finished, we went back inside and got to go to Art! Today, we colored some pictures that had the word Love surrounded by plants and flowers. I used all sorts of different colors for the letters and plants. And before we left, we played a funny game where we had to try to draw the person in front of us without looking at our paper! I didn’t do too bad, but I got the hair in the wrong place lol. But it was okay, it was just for fun! While we were heading out, one of the campers didn’t want to take a blank sheet of paper that they had. So I offered to take it home because I have something that I want to do with it, but it’s a surprise! The Art teacherAnne Hoerner gave me sketch paper along with any other pieces of paper she did not need. I thanked her and told her that D.R.E.A.M.S. can’t ask for a better Art teacher than her. She thanked me for my kindness and I got to head out. So I not only got to do a different Praise and Worship song and get kissed by a dog, but I got to learn basic Ballet for the first time, meet even more new people, and receive the main material that I need for my surprise project! I surely can’t wait to see what tomorrow and Friday brings to us!

Camp Unique 2019 Day 1 July 22, 2019

First day of Camp Unique went very good! I got to see a lot of my friends and even meet some new people! And the thing is, this was only the first day! I have a feeling things will get even better as the week goes by! Here’s my experience for Day 1 of Camp Unique!

Before the afternoon of wonderful activities begins, we ALWAYS start with a little activity called Praise and Worship. This is where we sing songs about how great God is and how we should thank him and trust him for everything he does. And at the very end of it, we all say a prayer and get into our groups! Because I was in the blue colored group, our first activity was Fitness!

Fitness is an activity where we have fun playing games and exercise to stay fit at the same time. Today we started off with my favorite warm up game Pop See Ko! In case some of you don’t know what Pop See Ko is, look up Pop See Ko on YouTube to get an idea of what it is. The entire class gets in a huge circle and everyone including the volunteers participates! I got to start off everyone with the dance move known as The Floss. I then passed it to another camper who did a dance known as The Bernie. I knew how to do this dance since I was around 11 or 12 years old. As I did the dance, everyone cheered me on including the coach! After a couple of more dance move done by other campers, we played another game where we pretended to be animals while technically exercising at the same time. One camper did a horse, I did a T-Rex, and another did an elephant. Of course we all did it as a class. I sure had fun pretending to be one of my favorite dinosaurs!

After Fitness comes snack time! Today we had Cheez-It’s and water or Capri Sun juice. I also managed to take some selfies with some of my friends! The pictures will be below!

After snack time comes Dance! Today we learned how to Cajun Jigg! I had an excellent dance partner who is also my friend and a volunteer Jaden Landy! Her and I did each step required and got better as we went on. We learned how to sway, twirl under the arm properly, and even learned how to connect our hips with each other and do a circle movement after that (I forgot what the dance was called).

And after the dancing was done, then came Card Making! Today we were making cards for a girl the can’t get out of the house very often due to her having seizures 6 times a day. And since her birthday is coming up and she loves to get cards, we all made cards for her! I wrote “Happy Birthday (girl’s name)” on the front of the card. And on the inside on the left, I drew a birthday cake with presents, balloons, confetti, and a banner with Happy Birthday on it. I even drew a girl with a crown on her head to resemble the girl and even wrote “Birthday Queen (girl’s name)” with an arrow pointing to her. On the right side, I wrote “Hope you get better soon -Lex”.

After the Card Making came the final activity of the day. That activity is Art! Today our Art teacher had us cut out some blue fabric cloths into pieces of different geometric shapes for a big surprise on the final day of Camp (I don’t want to spoil anything)! We also talked about our theme this year, which is Love and how the type of art that we were doing was known as Fiber Art. After all the cutting was done, it was time for us to leave! Thank you for a great day today Donielle Gaubert Watkins, Brian D. Watkins, Kaylon Khamphilavong, Ally Nguyen, Triston Thorne, Danielle Landry, Logan Watkins, and everyone else that took part in volunteering and helping out! This post will also be going on the D.R.E.A.M.S. Foundation of Acadiana in the blog posts!

Camp Unique 2019 Day 2 July 23, 2019

Well, as you all know by now, today was the second day of Camp Unique! In my opinion, today was just a tad bit better than yesterday. But it is extremely close when it comes to voting on which day was better. Today was also special because we had an activity added in today! A company had managed to bring in some animals such as two kids (baby goats), a goose, a horse, a calf, a rabbit, a pig, a chicken, and even a dog! I got to pet the rabbit and two kids (baby goats)! I will have the picture of me petting the rabbit below! It was so fluffy that I thought I was going to die (Despicable Me reference) lol!

After the petting zoo came a dance party due to the other kids getting a chance to see the animals! I got to dance to the two songs Can’t Stop the Feeling and Footloose! Fun fact: I did Footloose at my high school prom! I had tons of fun doing the dances with everyone. After doing the two dances, I got to meet a couple of new people and tell them about my new blogging job and how Camp Unique works. Every one of them congratulated me and I thanked them for their praise.

For the next activity, we went back to our normal schedule and went straight to Fitness! We got to start off the class with Pop See Ko again today! Unfortunately, one of the campers got a little shy and didn’t feel like doing his dance move. But luckily, I offered to take his place and showed everyone my arm waving dance. This dance has both of your arms out with your fingers on both hands together and you move them up and down like waves on an ocean. After our warm up game, we got to play a game called Horse Buggy (at least I think that is what it was called). The game works by two people with a long rubber band that goes around one person’s waist and the other person has to pull back like they would pull back a horse while the other person with the strap around the waist has to run forward and pull, working their leg muscles in the process! I had lots of fun doing it with my partner! And since we had a little bit of time to kill after the game, we played a little bit of a Duck Duck Goose game, but with a Fitness edit to it! We had to hold a squat position as one of the players goes around and picks the goose. I felt the burn, but that’s what you want when you exercise!

After that round of Duck Duck Goose, we went to do some more Cajun dancing! Today I got to dance with my awesome partner Jaden Landy and learn the Two Step! Her and I practiced over and over until we finally mastered the dance and got every step right! I even got to meet her mom, who was taking pictures today!

After the Cajun dancing was over, we had our Snack Time! Today it was Animal Crackers and water or Capri Sun juice! I got to mingle with more of my friends and meet more new people once I was done.

After Snack Time was over, we went to the same room where we made cards for the girl that couldn’t get out of the house and for today, we made a video of us singing a Christian song called I Can Only Imagine! It’s about a man wondering what he will do or how he will react once he meets God for the first time. I sung along with the words and the rest of the group as if it was a song that we were singing all together. We all did a fantastic job and took another short video of us thanking the sponsors for what they do for us.

And for the final activity of the day, we went to Art! For today, we got to use the pieces of fiber material we cut out yesterday to make designs on a white fiber material paper. This paper was heated up and made a different way than the blue ones were. I made a design with my name and what was supposed to be a lightning bolt to resemble my Facebook name Lex Electrifying Goulas! The Art teacher Ms. Anne Hoerner was feeling a bit under the weather today. But I got to help her feel better as I worked on my design by talking about the animals that I got to see and how the rest of my day was. I even got to explain my very own motto to some of the volunteers and campers “You don’t know until you try”. She thanked me for doing so and I was very happy to help because helping those in need is what I love to do. And that could be why I get along with so many people at camp! Can’t wait to see what tomorrow and the rest of the week brings me!