Today we celebrated Independence Day, and it was a great way to kick off our session! I was nervous about starting a session out of routine and normal structure of camp, but it could not have been a more wonderful day for our campers and staff! We jumped right into the spirit of Camp Highlander with our Stars and Stripes tradition, and I loved watching cabins bond through playful competition and team spirit!
Our morning began with everyone getting a t-shirt for our 5K run/walk event called the Highlander Freedom 5K. Almost every camper and staff member participated in the race, but those who didn’t were lining the road cheering, giving high-fives and supporting their friends. Our overall best time winners were siblings Ellie M. from Cabin 3 and Kristopher M. from Cabin 30…I guess you can say it “runs” in the family. After the race, we danced in a color bomb on our land sports field, and it was AWESOME! Covered in red and blue dust, campers were smiling from ear to ear as they bathed in the mess of it all! Only at camp!
For Stars and Stripes, each cabin is assigned to a team, either stars or stripes, and they battle brother and sister cabins to see which part of the flag is more important, the 13 stripes that represent the colonies that founded this country or the 50 stars that represent the states that represent our country today. The afternoon was filled with competitions, sunshine and laughter with friends. Cabins competed in games like bombardment, USA trivia, Ships n’ Sailors, wet willie spins, relay races, kickball and more. Everyone was so excited when today’s apple cart snack was replaced with a watermelon cart, a simple treat made their day more memorable and sweet!
Favorite Details of the Day
- Reflect at the Rock: This morning Bryan read a poem about our flag, Old Glory, it’s history and what it stands for in celebration of our country’s birthday.
- Meals: For breakfast we enjoyed “Freedom (French) Toast Sticks,” sausage links, scrambled eggs and fruit bar. For lunch we had turkey and cheese ciabatta sandwiches, sweet potato fries and salad bar. Dinner was SO good. We had freshly smoked bbq chicken and pulled pork, baked beans, mac and cheese and coleslaw! For dessert, we had these yummy cinnamon apple pie pockets. They were amazing!
- Weather: I am SO thankful that we had good weather for our fabulous July 4th celebration! We had a sunny, hot day today until dinner. The clouds rolled in and the rain came pouring down during dinner. We were worried that we would have to cancel the fireworks show, but the rain stopped before it got dark, and we were all set to light up the sky!
- EP: Stars and Stripes is our 4th of July programming tradition. Our evening program was a continuation of those competitions with cabin challenge style games and events like musical ice buckets, pictionary, limbo, rock paper scissors, tic-tac-toe relay and more. In the end, the STRIPES won the day of competition, but we all agreed in the end that the stripes and the stars of our flag are equally important to the past, present and future of this wonderful country.
After dinner, the competition continued in cabin challenge styled games. Though the rain was coming down, it didn’t stop the campers from cheering on their cabinmates, screaming with delight and celebrating a victory for their team! The energy was high, and the team spirit was epic!
And the perfect ending to our perfect day was the beautiful fireworks display we enjoyed on the athletic field. It was a perfectly, wonderful day! As I sit here typing and replaying the days events in my head, my heart is full. I am so grateful for each and every moment spent with your children today, and I am even more grateful that the fun has just begun.
About Melissa Fitzgerald
