It's More than Expected

 

Our campers woke up this morning to an overcast sky and temperatures in the upper 70's.  You could not ask for more perfect weather for the first day of camp.  This morning our youngest campers got up and headed to breakfast while the oldest one made beds, cleaned cubbies and worked on cabin chores.  Things like emptying the trash, sweeping the floor, and cleaning bathrooms are all on the list and a little more.  At stake are the golden faucet, silver toilet seat, and bronze faucet.  The most coveted daily awards offered for the cleanest cabins.

  Breakfast today consisted of pancakes, turkey sausage, and of course we have cereal and fresh fruit available everyday.  We eat in shifts at camp with the youngest campers eating first and then heading back to their cabins to get ready for the cleanest cabin competition while the older youth make their way to the dinning hall for breakfast. 

Flag raising kicks off the activities for the day.  How this works is that youth are divded into groups (Head, Heart, Hands, Health, Earth, Sun, Adventurer, Trekkers) by age.  For example our 8-9 year olds might make up the head group and during the day our girls and boys of the same age come together and do their activites together during the day everything from arts and crafts, to meals, and camp store.  Even the evening activities are done together and at night they split up with the boys cabins being on one side of the camp and the girls on the other.  

On the schedule for campers today for their first activity after flag raising were events like new games, which have team building exercises, pool, canoes, wall climbing and ga-ga pits, archery, and more.  Groups have 15 minutes after their first activity to move on to the next one.  Our groups rotated around and in many cases were getting intructions and lessons and will have a chance to repeat these activities later in the week.

Before we knew it, it was time to get to the dinning hall for lunch.  Lunch was a camper favorite with pizza and salad.  You would be amazed at how much our youth can put away after a morning of activities.

After lunch our campers went right back to activities.  In the afternoon on Monday they also had a chance to visit the bookmobile (so it might not be operational so it was more like they turned one of the buildings into the book mobile).  Campers got a free book and pencil and now have something to read as they have rest time and time before bed or after chores to read.  Several groups also got to hike to the incredible beaver dam which hosts lilly pads and other natural wonders.  

This afternoon also marked our campers first camp store of the week.  Each child automatically has $15 dollars on their caccount.  Today they could purchase a snack and drink.  If they plan their cards right they can have a snack and drink all week and a little more to spend on a souvenir at the end.  

After camp store there were a few more activities and a little rest time either before or after dinner, depending on the group.  By the way did we mention Dinner?  Taco Monday?  It might not roll off your tongue but that is what our youth had for dinner.  Who doesn't love a taco and chips with all the trimmings?  Our youth had a great meal before they headed outside for the announcement they were all waiting for, the cleanest cabin.

After dinner we had flag lowering last night and the announcement of cleanest cabin.  Then it was on to the evening activities.  Our youth were either hiking to the pioneer area for night games and smores or having a ball at water sports.  Water sports incudes time on the slip and slide, the chance to literally jump in a lake (with a life vest on of course), and be in the pool.  This is a ton of fun and everyone has a great time. After evening snack it was time for showers and off to bed.  Tonight it didn't take long to hear the sounds of snoring from our cabins as everyone was exhausted from all the incredible fun of the day.

To see our day in photos please feel free to click this link.