The Halfway Mark

So last Saturday was the halfway point of the summer...I know, how crazy is that? I cannot believe that we are into the last 4 weeks of summer camp already, and really now there's only 3 and half weeks left! I'm staying for Fall camp too, so really I have about 7 weeks to go, but there's only just over 3 weeks with kids permanently on camp. This summer in particular, it seems to be flying by super fast, more than any other year, and I'm not sure I like it...I would work here forever if I could!

Anyway, these last few weeks have been the usual camp madness, with lots of photo taking and video making going on, as well as some fun evening activities, and some crazy weather. We had our square dance last week, which is always a good time, even if we did have to stop midway through and move the whole set up inside as a mental storm came crashing over us (honestly, in the whole of Connecticut, it only rained over Camp Sloane!).

Another fantastic evening activity for the Juniors & Pioneers (the two youngest sections on camp) was a magic show put on by the father of one of our counselors, and it was such a treat, just to be able to sit and be entertained for an hour or so...the best part was seeing the kids' faces when he did a cool trick and you could see them all wondering to themselves (and out loud sometimes too) 'how did he do that!?!'

Last weekend also saw us have our first official Alumni Day, where we welcome many camper and staff alumni from years gone by to camp for tours, a commemoration service for our new Swim Beach Pavilion, and a special campfire with extra special skits put on by current staff and campers. It really was an excellent day, and so interesting to hear about what camp used to be like from some of the alumni who haven't been back here in about 30 years!

Then Sunday was the all camp Theme Day, with the theme being Harry Potter vs Pirates. The teams battled it out all day, doing all sorts of crazy games, building immense forts and ending in a final game of capture the flag. The Pirates came out on top in the end, but fun was had by all and I'm sure the Wizards will be back with a vengeance next summer!

Yesterday was my day off again (it comes around so fast each week!), and we had a super chilled one, with excellent food and even better company. And now it's halfway through week 5 and things are getting hectic for me in the media department, as I try to gather all the footage I need for our Promo and Lip Dub videos!

Where Does The Time Go?

We've come to the end of Session 1 here at Camp Sloane, and I really can't quite believe how quickly this past week has gone. I feel like it was only yesterday that I was writing about how excited I was for the kids to arrive! And now they're here, for the next 7 weeks, or 49 days, however you want to look at it. I remember my first year at camp and how long the 8 weeks of summer camp felt, but this year I have a feeling it's just going to absolutely fly by...it's going to be the end of the summer before we know it, so it's time to make the most of it while we can!

Opening Campfire

It's been a busy week, full of fun activities, lots of games and many laughs. It's so awesome to be back surrounded by all these kids, some of whom I've now known for 4 summers, and some of whom are brand new to camp. It's great to see them all having a great time and making new friends and really enjoying their camp experience, and experience that can truly impact their lives for years to come.

A little bit of Wake boarding

This week has been super fun for me too - I've been making videos, taking lots of photos and just loving being back into the swing of everything this summer. I've been out on the water ski boat (one of my favourite things to do here), hung out down at swim beach and I even ran an all camp evening activity the other night with huge success. It was a Scooby Doo themed mystery night where the kids had to figure out which villain (or supervisor) had 'taken' our Program Director... it was pretty special to watch the kids (and staff) having such a great time doing something that I'd planned. And I think that's my favourite thing about camp really, that moment when you can see the effect you are actually having on a child's whole experience.

The Mystery Machine to the rescue!

Check out our closing campfire skits from this first session!

 

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And So It Begins...Almost.

It's been another pretty full on week at camp, full of more training and lots of fun. Almost every member of staff has arrived now and everyone is starting to get excited at the prospect of the kids finally arriving on Sunday! For those of us who have been here since the end of May, it really feels like it's been a long time coming, and I for one, am so pumped for this place to be full of chatter and noise and all the tiny humans having an absolutely amazing time this summer!

My home for the summer

This past week has also been a pretty incredible one weather wise too - everyone is sporting some sort of tan (or burn) lines as we've been out and about in the sunshine either swimming, kayaking, de-weeding the lake, sleeping outside in the middle of a storm (with tent-ripping results), and even square dancing!

De-weeding the lake!

Yes that's right... square dancing. During every two week session we have a square dance with all the campers and last night we had one just for the staff so that everyone can get to grips with the songs and dances so they can then in turn help out the kids with their own groups dancing. It's always a pretty special night (and ALWAYS absolutely boiling hot... the lovely clothes and make up we all put on is totally ruined by the end of the night and we all end up a hot, sweaty mess) and a great way to get to hang out with a few more people that you haven't yet had the chance to properly chat to.

Sleeping in Hammock Haven

That's one of the greatest things about coming here to camp every summer - the amount of people I get to meet and interact with, people whom I would never have met otherwise. It's a fantastic opportunity to learn from others and open your eyes to the world a little bit more.

And so, we're all off out tonight on our day off after a hard slog this week, then tomorrow afternoon brings the final prep to make sure we're ready for the influx of kids on Sunday! Here we go!

Everybody loves a Square Dance!

Staff Training Is Underway

We're well into our staff training here at Camp Sloane... last week was our supervisory and specialty training (lifeguards and adventure/ropes staff) and it was full of fun discussions, lots of learning, note taking, many many group bonding games, and a lot of time to just generally get our areas prepared for the coming summer. It was nice to have the time in a slightly smaller group of staff to get to know the new people as well as to get all my lesson plans written for my media classes, get my media room moved and reorganised, and have more of an overall sense of how the summer is going to go.

 The weather last week was pretty poor, so respect to the lifeguards for getting in the (really cold) pool and lake everyday without any complaints at all! In fact, everyone all week has been quite impressive, there haven't really been any complaints about anything, everyone seems to be working to their absolute best and it's looking like this summer is going to be pretty spectacular! I think this staff group is one of the best ones we've had to a while and I'm super excited to see everyone in action once the kids arrive at the end of this week!

On Friday we all had the night off and it was great to get off camp and get to know one another under different circumstances - it's always fun to get out of the camp 'bubble' every now and again. And then on Saturday a whole bunch of new (and returning) staff members finally arrived! It was super exciting to see lots of people whom I haven't really even spoken to since we all left camp last summer... there were lots of excited squeals and hugs going on!

Then yesterday was one of my favourite days at camp so far this summer... a bunch of us were taken down to our new climbing tower (check out a photo of it in last week's post) and were then formally trained and certified so we can run it this summer and in our Fall season too. We basically spent the morning tying knots, learning about the ropes and different safety measures and the afternoon saw us belaying and climbing. It's a sport I never really got a chance to do much until my second summer here at camp and now climbing is one of my favourite things ever! And I'm super proud of myself too because I managed to climb to the very top of the 'hard' wall, which is actually really hard!

Putting up tents!

So it's all go go go this week as it's only 6 days until the kids arrive! Wow, that's come around quickly!

Oh It's Good To Be Back!

So I've finally made it halfway across the world and I'm back at Camp Sloane YMCA for the summer. I've been here just under a week now and I am loving being back in my home away from home. There's only about 10 of us at camp at the moment (and for the next week until supervisor and lifeguard training starts), so it's a lot of fun having camp all to ourselves! I always love being one of the first to arrive, getting the lay of the land and settling in before the mayhem of staff the summer really begins.

This past week has been pretty busy, full of random jobs around camp, preparing for the kids to come. During the Spring season we also have groups come to camp with whom we do all sorts of activities, ranging from canoeing to hiking to fishing to creative arts. For the three days after I arrived we had a primary school group of the loveliest kids you'll possibly ever meet and we had so much fun showing them around camp, doing initiatives and games with them, and challenging them to work out all our camp riddles or, as we like to call them, 'never tell' games.

I've been doing some bits and bobs to start preparing for this summer's Media program, which I'm in charge of. There's been a lot of ideas floating about for new videos and classes and it's all exciting stuff, if not a little stressful at the moment, just because I haven't quite had time to wrap my head around everything I need to do yet... give me another week and I'll be entirely sorted though!

That's about it for this week. Next week a lot of my friends whom I haven't seen for about 8 months are going to be arriving AND it's my birthday (birthdays at camp are the BEST), so it's going to be a pretty awesome time!

For those of you that aren't at camp yet and are so excited you can barely sleep (I know I was), don't worry, it'll come around soon enough!

The greatest kids ever!