Childlike

Camp is a place that celebrates children so it should come as no surprise that we are silly a lot of the time. Favorite free time areas are the see-saws, swings, tetherballs, 9-square in the air, ping pong, skeeball, and pickleball courts. Everyone (counselors included) delights in rolling down the pagent court lawn, playing in the creeks, splashing in mud puddles, and telling jokes. We enter EP Lip Syncs and “theme” meals with a high level of creativity and enthusiasm. Together we are FAR MORE childlike than we are apart. Together we celebrate the joys of childhood. It is wonderful and it is an element of camp that any visitor would notice (if we had visitors!).

This creative fun was in full view last night during the older girl’s Lip Sync EP. The days of practice were well spent… it was such a great show! The Senior’s presentation at the end of the night brought a standing ovation- a production worthy of the moment and we were blown away! We have hired a professional photographer to take some promotional photos (the top photo was his… don’t look for them on the website, not available yet!) and even his professional eye was impressed! Not what he expected from a camp!

After the EP ended about 10 cabins remained behind to catch fireflies and dance to the post-show music (which went on for about 30 minutes). Several girls quietly sat by the lake talking in Adirondak chairs or dangling their feet from the canoe dock. The moon did not rise till much later, so the sky was filled with stars when we blew Call to Quarters and settled in for the night.

We spend a lot of time describing moments in camp because such moments are absolutely precious to the girls. They love the silly things (like the “big hair” contest for breakfast or the dressed-up coyote decoys that were put on the Shepherd Gazebo roof for Morning Assembly). They love the quiet things. They love it all. The girls seem particularly light-hearted this year… appropriately so. We are glad they are playing again!

This morning we tested everyone (unvaccinated folks) to assure there is no Covid lurking in our midst. The results should be back by the end of the day, and obviously, we are praying for no positive cases! If there happens to be a positive case we will follow our protocols, something we did very well at June Camp. We really hope that no girls will have their summer interrupted but are not worried. We have been very careful keeping the girls socially distant (the photos do not do justice) just in case we need to contact trace today. For now, relax… no news is good news (we will contact you if there is a reason). Assuming there are no cases we will breath a collective sigh of relief and settle into the summer with FAR fewer concerns.

• Breakfast Krispy Kreme Donuts, pancakes, sausage, fruit, cereal.
• Lunch Sloppy Joes
• Dinner Pan Fried Chicken, squash casserole
• EP Protect your Counselor
• Weather Sunny, warm, chance of evening thunderstorms… and big rains predicted for tomorrow.
• Sleep Late Friday in the morning. Sleep till 8:30, get to-go breakfast bags (same as we have in the FORT), and eat in our cabins. A favorite “new” camp tradition (been doing for about 10 years).