This has been our week:
Fourth of July – a morning full of pie making, milk-carton boat building, and Carnival booth construction. Incredibly the weather was beautiful from first light and only improved through the day (typically we start the 4th with grey skies and drizzle, occasionally enjoying clear skies by late afternoon). Almost 30 pies were baked, too numerous to detail here, but Archers must be mentioned – they won Best in Show for their Short Bread and Lemon Pie!!! 
After lunch we had our annual Fun Run around the property, followed by canoe and boat races down on South Beach. One hundred and thirty five pounds of salmon was barbequed on the beach late in the afternoon and we all enjoyed a great 4th of July picnic before we headed off to Carnival. The booths were creative and varied. As an example: Tatoos by the Mariners, Soak a Pio by the Pioneers, Teleportation by the Explorers and Carriage Rides (After Marriage) in a garden cart by the Troubadors.
Wednesday Night the older units enjoyed Special Activities – activities not typically offered in our regular program. Options included: a Poetry Workshop, Contact Improv, Chart Reading and Trip Planning, and Swahili Running. The younger units enjoyed more typical camp activities, like Capture the Flag or a multi-unit dance in the lodge. Their Wednesday Night specials are coming up next week.
Friday night the Troubadors hosted our all-camp campfire with the theme of “Save the Dinosaurs”. The Rangers performed a very funny skit about two missing campers who were captured by the composting toilet. Their impersonations of the Unit Staff from the youngest units were hysterical! Brown Bag Skits were performed by the Islanders and Wayfarers. A Brown Bag is a skit performed by a group of people selected from the audience who are given a limited amount of time to come up with a presentation, using a random collection of props in a brown bag. Both did a great job. This campfire was dedicated to the departing Archers and Explorers, who left early Saturday morning. Many campers and staff from the older units got up to see them off at 7:00am!
Saturday for the middle units was spent in regular program activities – Drama, Adobe Oven, Crafts, etc. The Voyaguers spent the day in a combined Nature/Adobe Oven activity, gathering mussels in the the morning and cooking them with a variety of vegetables in a buried pit dug on the beach. Very tasty!
The four older units spent Saturday finalizing preparations for their 5-day trips. Six trips were offered: an Alpine hike, a Mt Baker trip, biking to the 3 major San Juan Islands and 3 water based trips – sailing, kayaking and paddling the 22′ dug-out style canoes. Gear was checked, food sorted and packed, health screenings conducted and trip orientation went on throughout the day. The Kayak trip caught an advantageous tide late Saturday afternoon and the rest of Camp went tobed early that night. Alpine, Baker and Bikes boarded a 6 AM barge for Roche Harbor and the remaining water rtrips weer on the water well before lunch.
With the youngest and oldest campers gone, the middle units will have the property and program to themselves this week. In addition, there is our Robinson Day celebration and campfire on Tuesday, a sleep-in breakfast Wednesday morning, and the third overnight of the session Wednesday night. More about all that next week.