Today we had our first cabin choice day at camp! This is the day when instead of being scheduled for activities, cabins get to choose which activities they want to do for the day. This may sound easy enough to the non-camp person, but this is actually a very strategic process for cabins and for our leadership. Cabins choosing where they go is a great lesson in cooperation and compromise for all of the campers involved. Sometimes the cabin can’t agree on what they ALL want to do, so the counselors teach them about compromise and selflessness. These are hard lessons for some, but valuable teaching opportunities for all.
While we offer all of our traditional camp activities, there are different activities offered on cabin choice like Parkour, Zumba, Line Dancing, Card Games, Pool Volleyball, Crazy Creek painting, making pizza in the outdoor pizza oven, firebuilding and more. While it’s awesome to have new activiites and new challenges available for our cabins, its the memories made and laughter shared that make these days so memorable.
I had the joy of teaching Zumba today to 4 cabins in girls camp and they were so much fun - Cabins 14, 17, 11 and 2. Mac taught line dancing today for our new campers to learn the differnt lines dances we do each week at square dance. My favorite part about today happened in the middle of 4th period while Mac was teaching line dancing to two cabins. Footloose came on and Mac started to teach the dance, and suddenly the cabins at basketball stopped mid game and started lince dancing, all the cabins that were in the art bays below the gym came running out of the bays to line dance in the gravel lot, the campers in the gym who were in Camp Fit class joined them and line danced. Even campers at the pool got out to dance on the pool deck. It was AMAZING! We had our own, unplanned, flash mob! Only at camp would you drop everything you are doing to just dance!
Favorite Details of the Day
- Reflect: This morning Emily talked about thankfulness. It’s important to be thankful for the opportunities you have and all that you are able to do. She encouraged us to be thankful for camp and the friendships that camp has given us.
- Meals: Breakfast was buttery pancakes,scrambled eggs, bacon, and fresh fruit. We had philly cheese steaks and tator tots for lucnh with a fresh spring mix salad. For our final meal of the day we ate Greek chicken, grilled vegetables, roasted red pepper hummus and warm pita bread. This is a camp favorite and one of my favorite meals!
- Weather: Session A campers brought the sunshine to Highlander this week, and we are so grateful! This morning we had a slight chill in the air, but that’s the best part about summer in the mountains.
- EP: Tonight’s evening program was Game Night! Campers had tons of fun competing in Bingo, Battleship, Are You Smarter Than A Counselor, Deal or No Deal, Jeopardy, and The Price Is Right. There was awesome prizes like a trip to Gus’ Place for candy, a pizza party for your cabin, an ice cream party, coke for your cabin during cookout and even a perfect 10 on cabin inspection. The competition was tough for these games but everyone had a blast!
Doing what you love is freedom. Loving what you do is HAPPINESS.
The greatest choice that campers made today was in choosing their attitude. It is probable that some campers found themselves at an activity that wasn’t their favorite or an item on the menu they didn’t like. However, we ALL have a choice about our attitude and how we react to things not going exactly how we wanted them to. I was so happy to see everyone participating in their activity no matter what it was. Today our campers chose to be present in each and every moment, to make the most of their day by choosing happiness and to dance like no one is watching.
Life lesson of the day: Sometimes you just gotta dance!
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