Hitting Our Stride

It’s Monday, and we’re really hitting our stride at camp. The day started with a yummy breakfast of waffles, bacon (always a fave!), and fruit. With our bellies full, we headed into Morning Watch and then the morning meeting. After that, our schedule flip-flopped because on Mondays, morning group meets at night. That means that we started the day with the “evening program,” which was “Quest for the Mad Lib.” Campers were grouped by cabins and played games to win mad-lib words, which they then used to create a camp related Mad Libs story. The campers had a great time with this one!

Lunch was Philly cheese steaks (always a hit), hummus wraps (a new addition to the camp menu and very tasty), tater tots (who doesn’t love those?), and grapes. The campers then headed into spree time. Yesterday, I mentioned that spree time includes the opportunity to visit the camp store. Now I have to admit that I’m pretty biased because part of my job at camp is to help run the camp store. Dave Krall is our ever enthusiastic store manager, and I get to be the assistant manager of “Garments, Gatos, and Gear.” The store has really expanded over the past few years, and we have a wide variety of apparel available (the garments and gear) along with snacks and drinks (the “gatos” part of the name). If you have a camper here this week, it’s not too late to place an online order for them. You can visit this link (Camp Store), and we’ll fill the order and get it to your camper! Okay, the shameless plug is over...

(Look at some of the awesome items we sell in the camp store!)

The afternoon program introduced the campers to their color teams. Color teams allow us to mix up all the grades and all the cabins and all the staff into new groups so that the campers can meet more people. The afternoon game was called “Ye Olde King Cody’s Faire.” Here’s set-up… The game started when the King and Queen of Camp Body were kidnapped by a dragon, and the campers were divided into knights and wizards with the common goal of rescuing them. The knights played more active games while wizards focused on puzzles and riddles. After a brief rain delay, the orange team emerged victorious! Huzzah!

(Color teams gathered in the council ring for "Ye Olde King Cody's Faire")

Dinner was the ever popular orange chicken, sautéed vegetables, rice, and blondie bars. So good! The class of 2020 led our chapel service and did an amazing job. Then we moved into morning group at night. This has become a treasured camp tradition. There’s something about meeting outside at night, in the dark, that really encourages teens to open up and share. It’s also a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation as we look up at the night sky and take in all the stars. The discussion tonight focused on values — where our values come from and what it means to live by our values. Right after morning group at night, we headed to the council ring for vespers. We have an awesome tradition of ending vespers by standing in a circle around the campfire (or rather, a few concentric circles — there are a lot of us!), holding hands, and singing the Lord’s Prayer. Campers then headed back to their cabins for the night. And with that, our Monday program came to an end…