Speed Challenge and a New Record
Hello parents and welcome to a wonderful weekend! The campers sure enjoyed the clear skies and still cool temps today as they were out and about all over camp. We started the day on a sad note as we had to say goodbye to all our mini campers this morning. They were excited to see all their parents after their week here at camp but I gotta be honest with ya, I’m pretty sure not all of them were happy about leaving. This is pretty good tip for you guys coming next week. Don’t get your feelings hurt when your camper is glad to see ya but not happy about leaving. Just a little friendly reminder so don’t say you weren’t warned. :-)
So after all the minis were gone it was back to business, I mean fun, here at camp., The cooking class didn’t waist any time as they went straight to work and produced some delicious looking (notice I said delicious looking an don’t tasting, yep…. I still didn’t get to taste any yet) strawberry/cinnamon/blueberry roll ups. Just check out the pics and see for yourself.
Archery class was right open point (like the end of their arrow) as they enjoyed their time today shooting balloons and cheering every time they got to hear a “POP” when they hit their target (or someone else’s target). Either way they were excited every time a balloon exploded.
In Golden Horseshoe news……. no news, the golden horseshoe has NOT been found yet and its not from a lack of effort I can promise you. FOr those of you new to the game and still playing along at home, let me explain. There is a golden horseshoe hidden somewhere in camp and the club that finds it will win mega points for their club. Its a great tradition and during their free time, all the girls can be seen searching under rocks, in bushes, up in trees, everywhere trying to find the horseshoe for their club. You’ll know when one of them find it, trust me!!
Our caving and rappelling class did their out of camp trip and got to play on some rock faces today going up and down the ropes over all sorts of different edges. I sure was proud of how well they did and all their hard work they’ve put into learning their skills sure did pay off. Just wait toll later next week when you see what they do then! Before I forget, I just have to tell you of a record that fell today. It seems there’s an “official?” record of the time it takes to canoe down stream to Camp Laney. Apparently the old record (whatever it was) was shattered and the new record is set at 13 minutes!! Now I’m no engineer, but I do have a Phd in the blatantly obvious and I’m just gonna go out on a limb here and ask….. You think the dance last night with camp Laney had anything to do with them setting a new record on getting there today?????
One thing thats happening ere at camp this year thats really cool is we have what’s called “encouragers” here that are there for campers as well as our counselors. They have a circle of chairs set up in front of the dining hall (under our strings of lights) and during beli deli if you are tired or even having a rough day, you can come and hang out with them and they encourage you and help to give you strength. Yesterday that included handing out popsicles and what a difference it makes. Our “circle of encouragement” chairs have grown throughout the session and its wonderful to see campers and counselor have place to just sit and unwind for a few minutes and get a new breath of energy before heading back out into camp. I may have to look into getting one of those in my office for these late night typing sessions….
The encouragement circle must be working, ‘cause tonight we had our wild activity of speed challenge and there was so much encouragement I could hear them yelling and cheering all the way across camp. I’m pretty sure you could hear them off the mountain too if that tells ya how loud they were.
So in tonights activity it s a simple set of relay races for each age group here at camp. Each age group competes against the same age group from the other two clubs so the older campers are competing against older campers and the same for the younger ones too. all they had to do was complete a set of 10 relay races, back to back to back to back….. you get the idea. as soon as one relay was finished they started the next really immediately so that makes it really easy to keep up with what’s happening (not really). Some of the races were things like 10 girls from each club taking off one of their shoes and throwing them all in a pile. then they go back to their clubs and one by one, sprint out to the middle and try to find their own shoe. Once they find it they put it on and sprint back to their group so the next person can run down and find their shoe and so forth. Once all 10 campers have their shoes on the next race starts for that club and it could be something like back to back cary the ball relay, over under with a wet sponge relay, hula hoop pass through the whole group relay, and of course we finished it up with the crawl through the legs and everyone sitting down relay. Now during this controlled chaos, the rest of the girls in their clubs are cheering and yelling encouragement for their club mates to finish the race. Once all 3 clubs finish, we rest the props and do it all over again with the next age group, and then the next age group, and the next, and the next…… see, its as easy as herding wild cats on a hot tin roof with one arm tied behind your back, in the dark……
One thing if certain about the activity and thats every single camper and counselor out there tonight is already asleep and sleeping really well after all the energy they spent! Once everything was finished and the shouting was all through, the final results were………………………… (drum roll in your head again??)…………..
Rangers 3rd, Mounties 2nd and the Terrific Troopers in 1st place!!!!!!
Well it seems the campers were’t the only ones that burned a lot of energy today. I think I m gonna call it a night and go lay down to get ready for tomorrow. Everyone is extremely happy (ok, by “everyone” I’m pretty much talking about me but I’m sure the campers would agree) about getting an extra hour of sleep in the morning before we wake up and get to enjoy Mrs. Donna’s famous homemade doughnuts for breakfast!!
When it comes to writing the blog each night, I’m just really glad that all those years of college are paying off. Not the typing (obviously, if you ever saw me try to type), or the English classes, but specifically the years of waiting till the last minute to type a paper thats due the next day. That had prepared me for writing these blogs for you each night before I get to go to bed.
And thats what I’m about to do and so should you guys, some of y’all are looking as tired as I am right now and thats not good. You guys enjoy your weekend and we’ll see ya back here tomorrow night, I’m heading to the encouragement rectangle….. my bed!
LJ
