Dear Families and Friends,
We celebrated the 4th of July on Friday with gusto by packing in loads of fun-filled activities! The day started with an all-camp musical parade to the tune of This Land is Your Land after breakfast followed by a raising of the flag, complete with color guard and the Star Spangled Banner.
Then we went right into action mode for the morning – each unit had teams of campers working on pie making, milk carton boat building, sign making and carnival booth set-up. There were more flavors and types of pies than you can find at any Marie Callender’s – from bacon pie to key lime pie to shepherd’s pie to all-American berry pie, we saw it all. These pies later served as the dessert at the end of our salmon bbq dinner.
The engineering prowess of the boat building team was admirable. Design is key in order to ensure best speed and float-ability. All units rose to the occasion with creative offerings.
Carnival booth construction and sign making was productive and fun – and led to a very successful carnival at the end of the day. We are always impressed with the ingenuity of the booths – be sure to ask your camper which one was their favorite – Pebble Toes Booth? Marriage Booth? Facial Hair Booth? And so many others…
After lunch we held the annual 4th of July Fun Run on Johns – and it was once again complete with avid runners, casual joggers, three-legged hobblers, hands and knee crawlers and everything in-between. The watermelon at the end of the race came at the perfect time of day right when we needed it.
Clouds rolled in just as we went to the beach for the canoe race, kayak race and milk carton boat race. That didn’t stop us from cheering on the participants and enjoying some time on the beach. Bark collecting was also an activity, providing much needed fuel for the baking of our salmon at the fire pit on the beach.
The rain came down during our bbq, so we dined picnic style in the lodge, then fortunately the weather lifted and we were able to enjoy a clear evening at the carnival. Although most of us fell into bed exhausted that night, we were still entertained from our tipis and tents with fireworks and loud ‘booms’ all around us from the surrounding islands. A wonderful 4th of July celebration!
We were sad to see our Short Session campers leave our little island already! Two weeks flew by in a flash – and we feel so fortunate to have had such a wonderful group of Archers and Explorers with us. Saturday night’s Farewell Campfire provided an excellent opportunity to honor our youngest campers with awards, songs and a chance to say good bye. We miss all of you already!
And now that it’s the third week of camp, our oldest campers are out on their Big Trips – 5 days of unique outdoor adventure! And they had so many wonderful trips to choose from – Sailing, Alpine Backpacking, Hunt Canoe, Mt Baker Ascent, Kayaking and Biking in the Islands. More reporting on their trips after they return on Friday…
Meanwhile, we are back to regular activity at camp and looking forward to an overnight tomorrow night and Nell Day on Thursday. And on a side note – thank you for sending letters and keeping in touch with your camper/s. It means the world to them when they receive mail and we appreciate that you are following some of our mail-writing tips that we sent out in the spring.
Wishing you blue sky days and warm summer nights from our little slice of paradise,
Sheila and the Nor’wester Team
