Hi Folks,
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Today we signed up for the 3rd Series of Activities. Those will be posted tomorrow to your Keylog pages, and we will begin the series on Thursday. If your son is a four-week camper, this is (already!) his last series of activities for the summer. We understand that some of you had some activity-related ambitions for your kids this summer, and if you shared that with us, we shared it with your kids. In most cases, the kids have been receptive to their parents’ ideas and any suggestions we have made to them.
In some cases, they are set on their own plan in spite of our input. Our approach in these situations is – as advertised – to defer to the kids’ final decision. This is, for many, their first opportunity to be in charge of and responsible for their own scheduling decisions. Those decisions will bring consequences that are mostly positive. If a particular camper could have branched out more, believe us…we have encouraged him to do so. But if he chooses not to, that is also a consequence of his decision that he will learn from. There are exceptions, of course, pertaining to swimming requirements and our requirement that at least 2 of the 4 activities are active. Beyond that, we encourage, we even lean on them a little, and then we let them do their thing.
We also want to remind you that we do not permit any packages at camp other than reading material such as books and appropriate magazines. Things like toys, baseball cards, games, glow sticks, will be returned to parents at their expense. There’s been a bit of a glut lately, so please help us out. And please let relatives know about this too. Thanks very much.
Today is July 4th, and that’s a very fun time at camp. We walked into the Lodge for breakfast and found our oldest campers, the PAs, had decorated the whole dining room in red, white, and blue streamers. It was awesome! We sat down to breakfast, and over the speakers came a playlist of songs commemorating the holiday. Some Bruce Springsteen, some Don McLean, a little John Denver, and then some other stuff I’m only vaguely familiar with…a Mylie Cyrus song and some other….stuff. The kids were INTO IT, in spite of it being first thing in the morning. Nice way to start the day!
And what a day it was! Sunny and gorgeous from start to finish! And get this…the 4th of July was also our 4th beautiful day IN A ROW!! After the start our summer got off to, we do not take that for granted. It’s been awesome. The lake has warmed up nicely, and we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves.
Last Saturday was the start of the nice weather. It was one of those summer days with a sky full of blue and of white, cottony clouds. There was a nice breeze blowing, and that made for a great day of activities. For evening program we played “Wacky” Blue & White games. They were some standard games with twists (such as playing Nukem with a football), and some games we don’t often play, such as Line Soccer.
On Sunday we had our 2nd Lazy Breakfast. After the laid-back pace of the 1st one, we expected more of the same. Nope. We were totally slammed from the moment we opened till the moment we made “last call.” Wow! Sunny weather makes people hungry, I guess. We had a great crew of kids helping us in there, so it went off without a hiccup. The day went well with activities, and then in the afternoon – instead of a free period – we made time for the cabins to practice up their acts for Karaoke Night. We never know if more rehearsal time is actually a good thing or not. So, they had an hour…seems pretty decent. The show was a lot of fun, and one of our oldest kids actually had his cabin perform a screen play he had written. I don’t know if he wrote it in that hour…I can’t imagine that would be true. I mean, it was really clever and funny, but this boy is capable of that on short notice. But it was also pretty well acted out, and that takes practice. Along with that were other funny skits, some singing and dancing, and we really enjoyed it. It capped off an excellent day.
Monday morning we met again with all the United Nations Day leaders, and we drafted teams. That went very well. In the morning we had clinics, and that include the running of the Timberloop Classic 3 Mile Fun Run. This is an event that kids can sign up for, and they estimate how long it will take to run that distance. They then run it (without a watch), and the winners of the race are those who come in closest to their estimated time…not who crosses the finish line first. There were lots of kids and counselors running, and some of the kids were within 30 seconds of their estimated times. That was impressive! In the afternoon we had normal 3rd and 4th activities, and then for evening program, it was something totally new….
We played a game called Element Zero. Without disclosing too many details (gotta keep the surprises for 2nd Session!), the game combines some hunting with some parts Capture the Flag. There are 3 teams instead of two, a few safe zones, and one big, hectic, space where there are smugglers and patrollers and a lot of running around. It was a lot of fun, and we’re excited to play again next session.
And that brings us back to today. It is Laundry Day, by the way, so that’s good news. Right now we’re in a free period, but given the holiday, we’ve renamed it an Organized Freedom period. The boys are running around having fun. We’ll ring a bell in about 20 minutes, and everyone will go back to their cabins. They will (hopefully) use the restroom, grab their full water bottles, and return to the flagpole. We’ll pile into buses and vans and make the drive (about 10 minutes) to metropolitan Minocqua. Right there next to a picturesque grocery store parking lot (truly….as far as parking lots go, this one is A+…view of the lake and all), we will pile off the vehicles and take a seat. We’ll get there about an hour before the fireworks, so there will be lots of singing. We know the “civilians” around us always enjoy that. And then we will see a big city fireworks show in our little town. Never fails to blow us away! When that ends, we’ll pile back in and return to camp. Normally we sleep in the next day, but that can’t happen, ‘cause tomorrow is Cruiser Day!
Our youngins are going to be on a bus together, and they’ll spend some time at the waterslide park near town. They’ll also check out the Lumberjack Show, and grill out burgers at a local park. Sounds like a fantastic day! The Intermediates are in vans, and one group is heading to Madeline Island while a few others are heading to a park in Eagle River, famous for having every inflatable water feature known to man. And the Seniors will chill out here in camp and do a bunch of activities together. The forecast is for warming temps, and a chance for “heavy dew,” so we’ll be prepared.
Thursday’s Trips:
-Northern Highlands, WI – 3 days lake canoeing
-Ontonagon River, WI – 3 days river canoeing
-Tettegouche State Park, MN. – 4 days rock climbing
Gotta get ready for the fireworks! We’ll write you again soon.
Benches up,
Mike & Leslie