Breezes, Clear Skies and Full Lives!
Dear Parents and Friends,
What a great day here with beautiful and breezy weather today. When you’re having a great time, things tend to speed up and go too fast. We held sign-ups this morning and after lunch so campers took this opportunity to do things they loved to do and even try a few new activities. Several cabins were off program just spending time together, which is always a good thing to do. Camp was covered in activities today as groups went to the Rock, one went tubing and one went to Connestee Falls to swim and others just played and spent time on their own. Capture the flag and whiffle ball ruled the athletic field in and around that vicinity.
It was a great day to go to the Farm and those baby calves aren’t so small anymore. Soon they will be weened from the bottle and turned into the pasture on their own. No more coddling by campers and being bottle fed twice a day. It’s always interesting to see their reaction when they’re set free. They look puzzled at first and most skip and jump once they realize they’ve paid their freedom ticket. Folks were also milking at the farm today. Milking is hard work if you’ve never done it and it’s a workout for your hands. It takes a certain technique and a lot of patience.
Arts and crafts were churning out many artisan pieces in our arts arena. From delicate beadwork to clay sculpture, the creative juices were flowing. Batiks began as drawings and will progress tomorrow. Fishing always captures the individual who wants to catch the big one. This time of the summer, fish are very smart in our Mill Pond. They know exactly how to remove that worm from the hook and are getting a little picky about their diet. Any catch today was a good catch and we had some success. Horse riders toured camp all day allowing children to ride who had not ridden previously. There were trail rides as well as along our much-used paths and byways. Horses capture a lot of children’s hearts.
Blacksmithing was making hearts today, which is no easy task. Maybe you’ll be the recipient of a handcrafted chuck of metal from our Blacksmith Shop.
After supper activities is always a nice time at the end of the day. It’s cooler and is perfect for some running sports like ultimate Frisbee or soccer. Tonight it was ultimate and of course Thunderball. If you’ve never played ultimate it’s fast-paced with lots of running. You can’t run with the disc but can throw it a long way. As soon as it’s missed by the team that throws it, the other team gets the disc. It’s very similar to many of our sports taking the best of each. It does take some skill to throw and it’s also a game of opportunities where you get many chances to catch and throw.
Riverside spent their day on the Green River and will be going to the Tuck tomorrow. I will be going along on that trip to shoot some video. I’ll keep you posted on their progress. Mountainside had sign-ups on their own today as well as some went through our ropes course. The course starts at the climbing wall and then snakes its way through the area around the wall ending with a giant swing to dismount. The first 10 feet are like a freefall and then you began to arc into the swing aspect. Mountainside will be holding their first training day of the session tomorrow and will head out in many directions for each adventure. By now each MS camper knows which adventure they will be on, and it’s just a few days as they prepare for next weeks off camp trips.
Tonight’s campfire was put on by our Fine Arts Players and they performed in splendid fashion. The title of the play was “Big Foot Cinderella”. You really had to be there to understand the plot and the transformation of Sasquatch. There’s much about camp that is hard to put into words and even pictures. There’s so much that goes on in our camp world each day. Many times I will ask campers what they did that morning or afternoon and they can’t remember. Their brains are full and so are their camp lives. They certainly fill our lives and I’m sure you agree. Stay tuned!
