Hi Folks,
In this posting you will find:
We talk a lot about balance up here. It’s one of the most important things we emphasize for physical and emotional health. A body can’t function well if it is out of balance. A person can’t function well if he/she is out of balance. And, a community or organization needs balance to function well. One of the things we try hard to balance is being welcome to new ideas and ways of doing things versus our commitment to old ways and camp traditions. “But we’ve always done it this way.” Well, sometimes that is valid and other times we have to move forward a little, right?
So what’s new at camp that raises these thoughts? On Monday we sent out to all of our 1st session campers’ parents postcard updates that their counselors have hand written for you. It’s a quick note to touch base with you and fill you in on how things have gone so far. The counselors worked hard on these, and we think you’ll find them informative and helpful.
Here’s a fun fact….some of our counselors have excellent hand writing, and others have other abilities. We think all the cards we sent you are legible, though some just barely. AND we realize that while the intent was to get these to you at the two-week mark, that’s actually when they were mailed out, so you won’t get them for a few days.
We’re gonna try something new next time. For 2nd Session we’re going to ask the counselors to type up their notes, and those will then be emailed to you by camp. The upside is you should have no problem reading them, and you’ll get them much sooner. Sounds good, right? The only downside we can think of is that an email is just an email. It’ll have the important info in it so you’ll be tuned in to your son’s camp experience, but a postcard is just a little more homey and personal. So, it’s a sacrifice in that sense, but we think the change will be better for everyone.
We’ve had a lot of fun these past few days, and we finally got a little relief from the hot, dry weather. To date, we have STILL not had a rainy-day activity period, which is A-OK by us. However, we did finally have an evening program that was “dewed” out just last Saturday. And the funny thing is the kids thought that was GREAT! They were so ready for a kick back evening where they could watch a movie in the Rec Hall or play games in the Lodge. It was sort of a collective “Aaaaah” sound that the whole camp made together.
The weather pattern since then has been a little unstable, but so far all the storms have passed north and west of us. Phew! We did have some boys on the Brule River experience a small flood in their campsite one morning, so that trip had to end a little early. However, our Trips Director, Hitch, drove up to pick them up and worked it out where they could put their stuff in the van and trailer, and then continue the last few hours of the paddle. That gave them the chance to experience the awesome feeling of paddling a canoe down the river and spilling out onto gigantic Lake Superior. It is a unique and beautiful spot, and we’re glad they were able to do that.
On Sunday we had Lazy Breakfast in the morning. Usually the 2nd and 3rd times, Lazy Breakfast is truly lazy, and the pace is nice and slow. For some reason, that was not the case this time around. We were pretty well slammed from start to finish. Naturally, our well-oiled machine in there of campers and counselors made it a breeze, and everyone was well-fed.
That afternoon we replaced our free period for an hour of preparation for Karaoke Night. This gave each cabin an extra hour to polish their acts, perfect their timing, work out their moves, and be ready for a stellar performance. It seems some of the cabins used the time effectively, while many were clearly busy doing other important things. We’re not saying Karaoke Night was a bust. It wasn’t. There were some very cute kids doing very funny and cute acts. That was worth the price of admission right there. Still, some of the cabins had a hard time getting their acts together (literally), but they still got a warm reception from the crowd. We are excellent clappers and cheerers around here.
Yesterday was a very nice day in camp. We had a cooler morning, which was perfect for the running of the Timberloop Classic 5K Fun Run. Kids volunteer to run the TLoop, and they estimate how long it will take them to complete the route. In the morning they lined up towards the back driveway entrance of camp, stretched, got a briefing on how to run on the road safely, and they took off. The route goes out the back driveway, wraps around the local airport, enters camp property at the front driveway, and then down the length of the driveway back into camp. There are 2 water stations along the route, and we have counselors on bikes cheering the kids on. We also have a van at the back to pick up anyone who just needs a lift. And the race winners are the kids who come in closest to their estimated times. This time we had a camper come in 8 seconds off his estimated time. It was an impressive display.
Today is Cruiser Day. The Seniors are here in camp. The Juniors have hit the water slide park and miniature golf. And the Intermediates have scattered in vans. Some guys are visiting Bond Falls State Park, some have gone strawberry picking, one group went to tour an iron mine nearby, and another went down to check out the chair lift at Rib Mountain. It has been sunny and breezy so far, and we’ve dodged a little weather heading to our west.
The days ahead are packed full of action. Tomorrow night we’ll load up the entire camp and head into town to see the Minocqua Fireworks Show. Granted it has been more than 40 years since I’ve seen a “big city” fireworks show for the 4th of July, so my perspective is off a bit. But seriously, our little town puts on a show that would rival that of any big city….I think. It is an awesome and lengthy show, and everyone here is very excited about it. We’ll be out pretty late, so we’ll sleep in a little later the next morning.
And then before ya know it, it’ll be UN Day! We’ll tell you more about that in a coming post, but just suffice it to say we are very excited for that.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- You may have noticed that we have signed up for the 3rd Series of activities. That’s true, but those activities don’t start until Thursday of this week. We had to sign up a bit early because of the way July 4th has messed with our calendar.
- And as we noted above, mid-session post cards have been mailed out to all of our 1st Session camp parents (not including CITs). Those should arrive by Thursday.
- Very soon we will email you information about the trip home for our 4-week 1st Session campers.
- Very soon we will also email information for those of you visiting camp during our Visiting Weekend (changeover). Ain’t it flying by fast?
FUTURE TRIP DEPARTURES:
- Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MI – 6 days backpacking
- Northern Highlands Wilderness Area, WI – 3 days lake canoeing
- Tettegouche State Park, MN – 4 days rock climbing
- Ontonagon River, MI – 3 days river canoeing
That’s it for now. We’ll write you again very soon.
Benches up,
Mike & Leslie