Sun and Fun and Final Days by Claire

What a beautiful day it has been at camp today! This is Claire Marie again (I realized too late that I didn’t indicate who was writing the night of the dance, but it seems like some of you guessed anyway! Not sure if that’s a good thing or not!). It is feeling like July in Alabama here on the mountain today. I think this is the first day of no rain, so we’re not complaining. I did start my day struggling again after a late night of counselor check-in. This one was a little different because one of the counselor’s moms was in town to take her to dinner. Her mom was just precious. That is always so much fun to see the personalities that make these counselors who they are.
After one of my favorite breakfasts (French toast sticks), we had our typical staff meeting. For our Counselor Encouragement time, the counselor who shared a story inspiring us to have “No Reserve, No Retreats, and No Regrets” moved us to tears. Being around these counselors who are younger than I by many years, but who out stand me in wisdom daily, is very humbling. I am so grateful to be around such a phenomenal group of young women and feel even more blessed that my daughter is being led by them daily! With only two days of activities left, there were lots of loose ends to tie up and make sure we got to all the fun things the counselors had planned. When I was walking across the river, I noticed that the canoes were being put in above the dam (usually, we put in below the dam and go down river toward Laney). As I was yelling at talking to the campers from the bridge, I realized they were actually canoeing up river today. One of the girls told me they got to canoe past Camp DeSoto. That is something I never did as a camper, but I’m sure it was just as beautiful upriver as it is canoeing down the other direction.

LT (Leadership Training) campers were going full speed. Today looked like team building day. They had large rubber bands (?) that they were using to bounce (for lack of a better word) each other to the opposite side of the band; from there, the momentum bounced the farthest girl. To be honest it looked exhausting, but the girls were laughing and seemed to be enjoying themselves. These campers are the oldest and the most mature on campus. They are each assigned a cabin where they work with the counselors to help the younger campers in that cabin: eating with and cleaning up after meals, getting ready for bed, sitting with them in the gym, and other activities the younger campers might need help with. The “little” girls look up to them so intently. I have loved watching this group of girls grow and work so well with the younger campers.

I was excited to participate in Ropes today! My daughter was going off the zipline last in line, so I snuck up there with her and we got to slide off at the same time. She has no idea how much it means to me that she is willing to share some of her Skyline time. I definitely (try to) give her space and independence that camp is so great at cultivating, but it was fun to step into her bubble for some zipping today! I have watched and cheered for the mountain biking class all session, and today they finally put their new (or honed) skills to practice! They took a trip off campus. They drove the bikes and got to try new trails that are too far for just an hour-long class. I am really sore just thinking about that! Is anyone out there in the PickleBall craze? Well, I am not. I just learned to play the day before we came to camp and really thought I probably won’t do much of it anyway. That is… unless a counselor challenges me in a match! I made a guest appearance to the pickleball class today to show those girls how it’s done. Not sure that’s what I showed them exactly, but we did have a great time. It was hot out there, (and they didn’t like me playing because I’m still a little fuzzy with scoring and the rules) so I didn’t last long.

Then it was Beli Deli… today was my day to help. For those of you who have first time campers, you may not know about the Beli Deli, but soon, you will! It’s my favorite part of camp – canteen, snack, break, concession stand – if you will. We still keep track of the orders the same way they did back when I was a camper: binders of campers pages are labeled by number; campers get a number and tell it when they get to the window; Aunt Syl or Aunt Mae write down the order; a counselor runs to the back to retrieve the order; then, move on to the next camper. I am not very efficient with this job because I try to talk to the campers about their order, but the line is usually pretty long. There are lots of good, healthy options in Beli Deli like Cherry Coke, Dr. Pepper, Frios popsicles, candy bars, and chips. Luckily these girls are working off all that sugar as they play through all their activities! Musical Theatre is gearing up for their big performance at Show Time tomorrow night! They will be performing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I am so excited to watch it! The campers created their own sets and have been practicing in the gym to get ready. When I saw them walking to the gym, I asked the girls if I could be an Oompa Loompa, they were so excited to tell me that they were the Oompa Loompas. I’m not sure if they were thinking there was no more room for more or I wouldn’t be a very good one?

And finally, our nighttime activity tonight was Speed Challenge. This is a long relay with lots of different games for the girls to work together to complete. Each age group competes in different activities and tries to finish first. It is a club event, and the girls went ALL OUT! I saw a Mountie (red) and a Trooper (green) as they dug their fingers into their body paint to paint their entire legs and arms. One of them said, “I think I might regret this!” I didn’t see her after the races, but I’m sure her gown-up at home will be regretting it when they are washing those sheets when she gets home! There are A LOT of club points awarded to the winners of the Speed Challenge. The winner tonight was the Mounties! After a full day of sun and fun, I am ready to call it a night! With the last day of activities ahead of us, we want to hit the ground running. Hard to believe only two full days left! We are going to be sure to finish strong!

CM