Get Skyline Back 1st

Hello again parents!! Mother Nature gave everyone a little shower today, but I’m hear to tell ya it didn’t slow down your campers one little bit! This morning as I was getting to walk through camp, watching everyone in their activities, the rain decided to start falling. I headed for a little cover and as I was looking out at the ladies on the ropes course and climbing tower, not a one of them had moved. It’s almost like they hadn’t gotten to play on that stuff in a couple years or so…………. You could tell they’ve waited long enough to get back up here on the mountain and they weren’t gonna let a little rain stop them from getting an extra ride on the V swing or zip line (spoiler alert… the rain soon stopped and their efforts were rewarded with many extra trips on the ropes course).

Well like I said, we did get a little rain this morning and then when it quit during lunch, the sun managed to come out and we got to introduce all the campers that are NOT from the south to a little bit of southern hospitality with something we call ….humidity! If you are from down here, then you know. Nothing like walking around and feeling like you’re swimming across the land! Thank goodness it’s never as bad up here on top of the mountain as it is down in the flatlands!

As for the rest of the campers, they were busy all day (I’ll tell ya how I know they were busy later, don’t get ahead of me!). Now folks, just because we have little rain, doesn’t mean we stop having fun. Circus just moved their activity into the gym and worked on some silk routines and some ground acts. The canoeing class was so close to the water anyway they decided to go ahead and do a little singing, um, I mean, canoeing in the rain . Of course musical theatre had the best plan and that was stay indoors as they worked on their performance for the end of the session. The campers that have horseback took the time to give some of the horses baths and do a little ground work while learning how to groom the horses (I’m sure the horses enjoyed it just as much as the campers!). Some of the other classes like painting, arts and crafts, cooking and fitness weren’t affected at all (come to think of it, no one was really “affected” by the rain, just read the first paragraph again). Needless to say, by late afternoon the temps had cooled and everyone had lost any rain gear they may have had before and it was all smiles and fun throughout the day.

As for my CSR class, we didn’t make it to do any rappelling today but we worked on knot tying and then what better way to work on survival skills than being taught how to build a campfire after it’s rained with no matches! Well, I’m hear to tell ya, they learned how and built a great little campfire using only what they could find and no matches or lighters allowed. They were all excited once they finally got it going and they realized they accomplished what they thought was previously impossible!

After all the action of the day it was time to enjoy a relaxing dinner (if you think we have “relaxing dinners” with over 200 girls here then you are mistaken!). They “sing” after every meal (and by sing, I mean loudly) and then the moment everyone was waiting for. Our kitchen staff brought out homemade Chocolate chip squares, which we call cookie brownies, and the place just erupted. Trust me, those cookie brownies didn’t stand a chance once they hit the tables. The girls LOVE them and it showed by the way there were only empty plates heading back to the kitchen.

And as if that wasn’t enough, as everyone was finishing dessert, the counselors stormed in and took the club leaders and club boxes out of the dining hall and took them to specific places out in camp. All the campers had to do to get them back (once they finished their desserts, no one was gonna leave them left behind!) was to get 4 campers to hit the counselors with 4 stuffed socks before they were tagged by a sock thrown by the counselors. I know, it sounds crazy, but the girls love it and it showed in all the running, diving and cheering they did as they rescued their leaders. I’m happy to report that all rescue missions were a success and all club leaders, flags, and boxes were rightfully returned to their clubs. After it was all over we tallied up the number of campers that were tagged by socks along with the time it took to rescue each one and the winners tonight were…………. (ya hear that drum roll again??)

Mounties 1st

Rangers 2nd

Troopers 3rd

Looks like the Mounties are making an early charge in the points for this years club trophy!

Tomorrow night will be “Candy Crush” and it’s so wild, I’m gonna have to wait till tomorrow to tell ya about it!

One thing I do know is at the end of the night, it was easy to tell these campers have been giving it their all for 4 days, (see…..told ya I’d get around to telling ya how I knew they’ve been busy!! just hang in there!) ’cause there were some tired looks and drooping eyes at the end of the night! I’d be surprised if some of the campers I saw made it through the campfire and devotion tonight….. I’m not sure I could have made it through campfire either though!)

One thing I need to let ya know before we all call it quits for the night is how our camp photographers/videographers work. They have a schedule of every class thats going every period. Once they feel like they’ve pretty much gotten every camper in a certain class, they’ll mark that class of their list and make sure they hit other classes during those same periods the next day. The good news is if they go to (lets just say) archery 1st, ropes 2nd and horseback 3rd periods one day, and your camper is in those classes during those periods, then you hit the jackpot that day. The next day they’ll go to classes other than the ones they did the day before and it may be a day or two before you see your camper in activity pics. Trust me, they’ll find them, it just may take a day or two. If ya haven’t seen them if 2-3 days then by all means, let us know and we’ll try to make sure we find their classes. One thing we can’t do though is field special request like “get a picture of my camper wearing her blue shirt on the white horse facing east with her hair done in braids”….. you get the point. We will get those pics up as fast as we can though every day!!

Well folks, like I’ve said several times already, it’s been a busy day and if you think the little darlings are tired, then you should just try and imagine how I’m feeling. If you’re feeling the same then make sure you pace yourself. We’re only halfway through the first week and theres a lot of action still to go over the next week and a half (thank goodness for coffee!)!!

Y’all have a great night and I’ll see ya back here tomorrow (unless you decide to sleep in!!)

LJ