August 15, 2009

I can hardly believe that it's true, but today is our last day of camp! It's been a full and wonderful week. We've done so much in the time that we've been here: some cabins have gone to the corn maze, others have been to Sliding Rock, others have been on camP outs, and everyone has had a chance to explore the beauty of the natural world around us at Eagle's Nest.

Yesterday one of the canoeing classes headed out to the French Broad for a fantastic trip on the river. The Walks and Waterfall class teamed up with the Leadership class and took a trip to a secret swimming hole off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. And last night at Coffee House a group of the campers from the Song Writing class preformed two original songs.

Today the campers are taking classes in the morning and then we will be playing a campus wide game of Capture the Flag in the afternoon. I know that they will be excited to hear that! After dinner tonight we will have awards and then an Indian Village ceremony. The Indian Lore players will be putting on a play. During Indian Village we will honor the campers who have advanced in their skills during the week.

Cabin Library led flag raising this morning. They shared what they love about their week at Eagle's Nest. It was so wonderful that I wanted to share it with all of you:

"E" - Excitement when you first pull into camp
"A" - Awesome, keep your hand up if you are awesome
"G" - Giggling with friends
"L" - Library of course, the best cabin ever
"E" - Energy
"S" - S'mores and stories on our camp out
"N" - Nature, getting to spend time outside
"E" - Exhausted after a long day of fun
"S" - Square dance
"T" - Tribes

We're looking forward to a great last day at camp!

August 13, 2009

We had a beautiful cookout on the Athletic Field last night. The morning rain helped cool everything down, and the clouds blew away leaving blue skies for the cookout. After getting our fill of burgers, dogs, corn, potatoes and dessert, we all headed to the New Lodge for a great square dance. I don't think I've ever seen so many pink boots or so many campers dancing!

Today has been another great day. After a full day of activities, several of the cabins headed off to special outings: Cabins 4 and 5 went to the corn maze this evening, cabins 10, 3 and 7 went to get ice cream at "Big Scoop", and cabins Library, 7, 8 and 9 went on camp outs. Tomorrow morning cabins 3 and Tree Tops are getting up early to go to Sliding Rock before breakfast. It's going to be chilly!
August 12, 2009 - afternoon

The rain has stopped! It stopped right at lunch time and we've been able to be outside playing Tribal Stealth all afternoon. Hopefully the dry weather will continue for our cookout - YUM!


August 12, 2009 - morning

Cabin 4 led us in flag raising this morning, and their thoughts for the day including "let the wild rumpus begin" - and it did! As we were walking up the Quad from flag raising, the Cha Cha slide started blaring from the Old Lodge and all of the campers and staff members busted into a spontaneous dance party! It was a great way to begin the day!

Today is a wet day for us. The rain has been coming down pretty steadily since breakfast (it's actually stopped for now). So far the lightening is staying away, so we've been able to continue with our activities. We're hoping that it will all blow away in time for our afternoon activity and cookout. Even if it does continue, we'll be able to have our square dance today. We have local musicians and a caller coming to put on the dance. It'll be lots of fun!

August 10, 2009

Session IV is up and running at lightening speed. Yesterday was a FULL day for our campers. After check in the campers had lunch with their table families,  went right in to watching activity skits and then signed up for classes. After dinner we had tribal inductions and hikes.

Today the campers started their classes. The Valley Girls class just ran by covered in mud (and gave me a big muddy hug when they did). The Walks and Waterfalls class is on a field trip to DuPont Forest. They are planning to hike to some waterfalls there. And all around campus people are playing music, making art projects, paddling boats and just having a great time enjoying this beautiful day.

Tonight the campers will be doing "Air Guitar" skits with their cabins. It's ALWAYS fun to see what they come up with. I wonder what they'll do tonight...