My vacation is now over, and it’s back to work this week. I’m writing this with my arms peppered with mosquito bites and my face half tan. The past week went by too fast, as time off always does, but at least I’m left with a week’s worth of memories.

Here’s what I did on my summer vacation.

I spent the past week as a counselor at Camp Odayin, which is held in Crosslake and deserves a prize for all it does for children with heart disease. The campers pay $25 the entire week, with the rest picked up by donors. It’s a chance for teenagers with heart conditions to experience camp, meet life-long friends and simply be a kid.

Each group of campers are assigned two counselors and a nurse, with two doctors on site at all times. All of the counselors and medical staff are volunteers.

We arrived on Monday, and the fun began. I threw my gear in a bunk, helped my campers get situated, and we all headed out to the basketball court. The game was called “lightning,” which we played at least two dozen times before the week’s end. In California, where I grew up, the same game was called “knock out.” Either way, this game’s a blast.

After Lightning, it was off to swim tests at the waterfront, a camp tour, dinner and an all-camp game of capture the flag. We then made s’mores.

The rest of the week kind of all blends together in my mind, but here are some highlights.

I went horseback riding for the first time in 15 years. I rode on a horse named “Bert,” who liked to go fast. On the way to the stables, we listened to a good classic rock radio station called the Power Loon. At the stables, the campers were told to empty their pockets before riding. One kid, wearing jeans, pulled out a camera, two memory cards, a pack of batteries, a pair of binoculars and two large Transformers.

We spent most of our afternoons at the waterfront, where I played volleyball and was told to beware of swimmer’s itch, a really awful condition that’s common in some lakes.

We had water balloon fights, made infomercials and made cards for the donors who made the week possible.

On talent show night, our cabin’s skit was inspired by a scene from the film “Napoleon Dynamite” that uses the song “The Rose” by Bette Midler. It drew some laughs. I also watched a camper do a very good rendition of Johnny Cash’s “I Got Stripes.”

The week wasn’t over yet.

I scored a bull’s eye in archery and made a dessert at camp craft called a “Britta,” named after the staff member who invented it. Cooked over an open camp fire and on top of a tin can, it’s made with a lightly buttered tortilla, brown sugar, cinnamon, apples and chocolate chips.

I watched one of the campers in my group break the camp record on the cargo net, then went kayaking and found myself in a splashing war.

We had a dance Thursday night that made me realize how old I am. I recognized maybe a handful of songs the whole time, and the last one, which was Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

On the final day, we made a teepee, played more Lightning and said our goodbyes.

I then boarded the bus with a slew of memories and no swimmer’s itch, and I arrived home a better person.

David Richards is the editor of the Austin Daily Herald.