Great Day – Weather and Program!
Dear Parents & Friends,
If you didn’t catch my blog last night it was because Mr. and Mrs. Camp Director had a night off. Tonight is a bit cooler and that means good sleeping weather up here. You can’t beat the weather we’re having these last few days. It’s been just brilliant recenlty with warm afternoons and cool crisp mornings and evenings. Several cabins are camping out tonight and between the night sky and cool temps it should be great sleeping weather. Those Hillsider’s will sleep well tonight because they just finished dancing in the Lodge. We did Circle Round My Zero, Patty Cake Polka, Going to Kentucky and the Virginia Reel.
Snorkeling has been a very popular activity this session as has biking, thunderball, of course going to the farm. Water polo is always a favorite as well and we play at the pool. If you’re a shallow swimmer, this really helps with your swimming skills. You can start off with a swimming noodle which makes you a little more buoyant. Swimming with the ball in front of you is such good exercise and also provides stamina. Cindy, who runs our waterfront told me that many of the children had really improved their strokes and were so much more confident in the water because of water polo. I saw some confidence gained today in our mountain biking program. The first hour had some beginning riders who did well with our varying terrain and its features that are quite different from the yard/street/sidewalk at home. Learning how to ride in the attack position and being able to shift your weight around was the first thing they took on. The attack position is when your pedals are even at the 9/3 or 3/9 position depending on which foot you want to place forward. You’re also standing up out of the saddle with your weight evenly distributed over the entire bike depending on the terrain which we teach in a later lesson. We keep a couple of fingers on the brake levers ready to use those if you need them. We start them off in that position riding down a slight incline and then go to maneuvering the bike around a few obstacles in that position. Everyone did great which led into a ride around camp utilizing our terrain with its many features. We got on the single track bike trail at the end our session and went about a ¼ of the way up our trail and rode back down because we were running out of time. Big improvements with this group!
We’re also seeing some real progress with our kayakers who will be going out on trips next week. We’ll head to the upper French Broad and possibly to the Green next week.
Mountainside learned what their adventures were going to be today and will be heading out on Monday. I have one Mountainsider at my table and he was excited about the upcoming adventures. We have a great staff up there with super leadership. I wish my own children hadn’t aged out of that program because I’d love to have the staff as their mentors and role models. It’s all about the staff and the role they play while your children are here at camp. We held open house today for many cabins and that is when our leaders go into cabins and talk with the campers about their experience when counselors aren’t there. It’s basically to provide us with information as to what kind of job the counselors are doing. Everything at camp starts in the cabin and works outward to building a strong base there is important. One young man in Walnut Run said he had his neighborhood friends and now his neighborhood friends consisted of those in his cabin.
We’ll change tables tomorrow. I have such a great table this session and we all really want to stay together for the remainder of the session. We had oranges for dinner tonight along with Beef Stroganoff and other fresh items from the garden. If your child sits at my table they know what orange teeth are. Camp is all about having fun, and it’s also about learning and trying new things including new foods.
As far as learning new things, Arborist Climbing was in full swing this morning at our huge Poplar Trees in front of the office. This afternoon the climbers headed to our “Rock” which is on site and at the top of our property. It’s a small hunk of granite but nonetheless climbable. This was a two hour activity this afternoon and is located in a cool shady part of camp. Climbing is very popular at camp not a day goes by without some sort of climbing activity. It’s one of those that pushes the comfort zone and allows the camper to step out there on their own. Camp is a great place to take those steps and then on your own step back into that comfort area. Stay tuned as we take on new and exciting things each day!