Burr

55 degrees is pretty chilly, and that is how cold it was this morning.

I LOVE it. A chance to wear a sweatshirt to breakfast, to run and not sweat, to take pictures in complete comfort… a good day indeed. Not a cloud in the sky, a light breeze, and it should warm up to 80 by the end of rest hour. Kind of feels like San Diego… not a bad feeling!

This is our first day of MWF classes, a repeat of “first day” routines… repeat of finding the class locations… repeat of meeting who is in the class… repeat of goal setting… except today it all makes more sense for the new girls. Today it feels more like home.

The process of settling in is not to be rushed. My Great Grandfather noticed that very first year of camp that it took 10 days for the camp to completely settle down. Main Camp is the only session that allows this natural settling to take place— August Camp is only 12 days long, June Camp is 19 days long, but Main Camp is 32 Days long. We use each and every one of those days very carefully.

This first week is our foundation… get off to a good start, get used to the community, get used to the rules and the people. We gain confidence every day. We become less and less self conscious every day. We become more caring, more open, more trusting every day. This is what I mean by settling in. Ten days and we are there, it is as if there is a collective “Whew”. This ten day mark is always celebrated with “Challenge Day” (most camps have them… usually call them by other names).

I took too many pictures yesterday… but that was intentional as well. Two Thousand Five Hundred candid pictures tell a story. You need to know that there is MUCH joy in the midst of the settling in that happens this week. There are sometimes tears (not many, just a few girls… and we will call you if your daughter is not adjusting well) but even the girls who are having the hardest time adjusting to camp are having a great time. The magic of camp is irresistible… I think you can see it in the pictures.

A word about pictures… you have to get a system or just give up on keeping up with them all. I recommend setting your preference to 48 photos per page, open a gallery and go through the entire gallery as quickly as possible (marking favorites as you go). Be generous in your assessment of favorites (scenery shots and general fun shots are sometimes good to have quick access to later on). I will mark lots of favorites and delete them upon closer inspection. I really like the slideshow feature, keeping photo’s rotating through on a separate window of the computer all day long. Refresh the gallery throughout the day as we add photos all day long.

A word about emails and letters… Mail is delivered after lunch, we print the emails about 12:00 every day and put them with the letters for the cabin. Emails are free, but hand written letters are more appreciated. Emails – I do not recommend purchasing “camp stamps” for decorating the email… just write a quick check in note. Reference what is going on at camp (“I saw your pictures from Lip Synch— so cute”, meals, activities, weather). They are nice. They go in the trash can, for the most part.
Letters – These are GOLDEN. A letter in the mail is a treasure to be carefully considered. The feel of the paper, the ink, the clean smell (if that makes sense). It is just fantastic. Shows love in a profound way. I usually write short letters (yes, I write my campers) and include some little pictures in the margins… stick figures of the dogs, cats, and events described in the letter. Fun.

OK got to speed it up… running out of time!

Breakfast was scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns. I made a breakfast bowl with a healthy dose of Sriacha Sauce— nuff said.

Lunch is meatloaf, mashed potatoes, roasted fresh green beans… our meatloaf is amazing. Comfort food—- big time.

Dinner is stir-fried chicken, fried rice, stir fried fresh squash, eggplant, and zucchini.

EP is the bungalow and cabin lip synch program. This is going to be good. Better than good, it is going to be GREAT! These older girls have been honing their act since they arrived on Monday. It is a quality program that is full of the same magic we saw last night with the tentalows, only bigger!

Thanks reading.

Jimboy