Session 5 Day 5

It was another beautiful day at camp today. It is hard to believe that a typhoon is coming. It has been really nice weather all week. It hasn't been too hot, and we haven't had any rain to speak of.

Our party night last night was a lot of fun. The campers really seemed to enjoy the games and at the end of the night, they really went crazy dancing. There are some really good dancers in this group.

We finished all of our regular rotation activities yesterday, so today, we started our Free-Choice activities. This gives campers a chance to return to an activity they especially enjoyed earlier in the week or choose something completely new.

Each camper is given five activity options and ranks them from first to fifth choice. We do our best to match everyone with their preferences, and most campers are able to participate in three of their top choices.

Today’s Free-Choice options included:

Shrimping: Campers explored the pools and streams around camp, looking for some of the creatures that live in the water. Depending on what they could find, their catches included crabs, crayfish, shrimp, and other small aquatic animals.

Zipline: The zipline tends to bring out very different reactions. For most campers, soaring across camp is one of the biggest highlights of the week. Others decide that heights are not quite their thing, and that is perfectly fine. That is why it is a free-choice activity instead of a rotation activity.

Archery 2: Campers who wanted another turn at the archery range had the chance to build on what they learned earlier in the week. This session includes some more advanced instruction, along with a skills test that gives campers the opportunity to earn a special archery sticker.

Pond Play: We have a small pond here at camp. It is just big enough for the kids to get in and splash around, but the counselors have quite a repertoire of fun games, which makes this a popular choice. It is also a good way to cool off. When they run out of things to do in the pond, they move on to the slip-n-slide.

Crafts: For the kids who want something a little more relaxed, we have a second round of crafts. They made a woven water bottle holder and/or a keychain.

The teens also had a fun and very hands-on morning learning a little about outdoor cooking. They made bamboo rice from start to finish, first gathering wood and building their own fires. They then cut sections of bamboo, prepared the rice mixture, packed it inside. The bamboo rice gets steamed in the kitchen, but they also roasted meat over their open fire. . It was a great combination of teamwork, outdoor skills, and, of course, something tasty to eat at the end.

There were three periods of free choice activities, and in the final period, the teens and youths played some indoor games together. It was a great way to bring the whole group together for a final activity.

It is a shame that we have to end this session early. However, we finished most of the activities and we will have a proper closing ceremony after dinner before we return your children to you.

We also want to say thank you to all of the parents for trusting us with your children, and for your patience while we evaluated options related to the typhoon. Although we hate to end the session early, we hope that you understand that safety is our first priority.

A quick note about the pictures. I have included a link to the folder for the entire week below. However, due to the early ending, our photographer did not have time to complete all the videos. There should be four videos in total. We made a music video this week, which is something we only sometimes do. There will also be a staff slideshow/video, a camper slideshow, and a camper highlight video. For today, only the music video and the staff slideshow will be uploaded tonight. Please check back on Sunday or Monday for the other two.

Dropbox link