A Week Already?

August 2, 2014 by Don Gentle

Today’s Pictures

I love Saturday at camp! Everyone is back.  No trips out of camp.  And, of course, we have a ton of fun!  Many of the activity areas choose to add a little flair to their Saturday.  It could not have started better with fresh, scratch-made (no bag, no box) hot cakes off the griddle.  Saturday pancakes made by the director is a time honored tradition that started with Townsend’s father, Sumner Williams.  The tradition continued with Hank, and now it is up to me.  I haven’t had a stellar first year, and I must say I have had a lot of help.  While I am up there helping with the pancakes, I find myself to be more of an assistant.  Nathan has definitely been interested in taking the lead, which I am more than happy to let him do.  I choose to flip a few, mix up some batter, and serve.  I think I enjoy serving them the most.  It gives me the opportunity to speak with every camper, ask a question or two, and just have a little fun while I am doing it.  Breakfast was rounded out with bacon, fresh fruit, cereal, and the necessary syrup and butter.  The kids ate almost every cake we made.

While breakfast was going on, Zoob was busy with several other ladies out on the front porch.  Today was wacky hair day!  The “salon” consisted of about three ladies, some quality hair care products, combs, brushes, and mirrors.  When I say quality products, I actually mean hair paint, gel, and spray.  They did a great job, and the boys were excited to have some fun hair for at least part of the day.

We had an exciting assembly and then headed out for activities for the morning.  Climbing was doing a “ninja training day” complete with blindfolded climbing, rappelling, and caving ladder accents.  Hiking had a focused “car camping” day complete with music, fried doughnuts, and games around the campsite.  Mountain biking brought back the ever popular Harley Day.  A day centered around beards, mustaches, tattoos, and the necessary clothespin and playing card in the spokes for appropriate motorcycle-like sound.  The boys did a trail ride, and then rode around camp flexing their muscles and “establishing their turf.”  What a hoot!

Lunch brought us to the best pizza ever!  We start out with a standard crust that covers the entire sheet-pan.  Then comes the sauce.  Finally, the cheese.  There is so much cheese on this pizza, it is amazing.  Boys had a choice between two time honored selection of just plain cheese (or should I say extra cheese) and pepperoni.

Our day of fun continued, even with a little sprinkle in the background.  Soccer brought out the slip and slide that finishes with a sliding goal kick. The cheering may have been my favorite part.

Tonight’s Evening Activities:

“Hill Billy Warriors” (Hillside & Connestee) – Hillside headed out for their cabin overnight.  Connestee joined up with the Squidwards for the evening.

“Aggressive Squidwards” (Lakeside & Foxhollow) – Classic dodge ball in the gym.

“Men of the Woods” (Flattop & Chalet) – These guys were playing some High Rocks made games on the tennis courts..

“Do It for the Vine” (Windswept & Outpost) – These boys were headed off the water slide for the night.

“The Most Annoying Noise in the World” (Lookout & Pinnacle) – This crew joined Trains for the evening.

“Trains” (Halfway & Holiday) – Had special games on the activity field for the night.

Camp life is starting to meld a bit, particularly in the cabin.  Boys are making friends, having disagreements, and feeling very comfortable.  This is a time when cabin meetings have a little more “meat” to them.  We find the cabin meeting is one of the most important parts of cabin life.  Each night the boys talk about their day.  They may speak about their favorite part, or something they are looking forward to tomorrow.  They may even bring up what they thought was the “downer” of the day. These early meetings set the stage for later, more important, meetings where boys may want to bring up a concern or issue they have.  We are teaching these boys to share their feelings, concerns, and joys with each other. We are also helping them learn about empathy and understanding.  It is definitely not what they signed up to do at camp, but it is most certainly helping them with their camp experience. If boys learn to talk about things and use their words,  they feel like they are understood, and they learn to understand.

Camp life has so many cool moments.  Here is to Saturday and an awesome week ahead! Have a great night!

Don