Happy Father’s Day!
June 18, 2017 by Don Gentle

Sundays are a great day to rest a little more, reflect a bit, and be thankful for all that surrounds us! We get up a little later, relax through the morning, and enjoy our time together.
Our morning by the lake included some great camp songs and then Zoob shared some inspiring words from the book “How Full Is Your Bucket?” There is an adult and a children’s version of this book. We used the adult version during our staff training and we felt like the lesson would carry over to our camper community very well. The concept is that everyone has a bucket. There are certain things that fill your bucket and certain things that empty it. For example, when a camper leaves his wet towel on someone else’s bed; drip, drip, drip, the water comes out. Or when a counselor likes a camper’s tye die so much he wants to use it as an example in class; DROP, the water goes in! The author goes on to explain that when you focus on filling other buckets in your community, your bucket fills too. It’s a good lesson and a very easy read.
The rest of our morning was wide open for the boys to enjoy some organized free time. Many activities were open for opportunity, or the boys could choose to just hang out. We all had to embrace the beautiful day and be outside. The boys enjoyed some long games of disc golf, free swim, sailing, paddleboards, rounds of tennis, four square, basketball, volleyball, gaga, ping pong, and canoeing.
After lunch, we played an all-camp game of tag that involved colors and erasers. The boys had to find the five different counselors that represented one of five colors. The rest of the staff were “erasers” and they would chase after the boys erasing the colors they had collected. This meant that they had to go back and get those colors again. As you might imagine, the game can go on for some time. It was a big highlight that somehow ended in the mud pit!
The annual mud pit excitement never ceases to amaze me. It is always an interesting social event to watch these boys slowly warm up to the idea, and then wrestle to get them out of there.
Our evening was an enjoyable cookout on the lawn followed by campfire up on the hill. What a fantastic day!
Our week is a busy one ahead with many trips and excitement, including our evening “Chill Nights” to Sliding Rock.
Enjoy the mud pictures!
Don Gentle