What an awesome week of camp with nearly perfect weather every day – low 80s and sunny. On Tuesday, we sent the whole camp to the Maine Waterparks because it got really hot. A great time was had by all!! We had an incredibly busy week with great programs and activities. More than 25 intercamps and tournaments…flag football, basketball, baseball, 6 v 6 soccer at Manitou…girls softball at Vega….soccer at Andro and the list goes on. It’s the Laurel Boys Tennis Tournament today with seven visiting camps on site. More than 40 campers were on Adventure overnight camping trips…Super Seniors began their first community service initiative at Camp Sunshine…and the new hypnotism show was a huge success with 20 staff members doing hilarious acts under a trance for nearly an hour!! It was unbelievable. Tonight is one of the most exciting nights of the summer—our annual Carnival! We have bouncy rides, face painting, fried dough, ice cream, and tons of other carnival games. We can’t wait!
Tag: life at summer camp
Fireworks…Baseball…Tennis…Sailing…Intercamps…Non Stop Fun!
It was amazing weekend at camp. The weather has been magnificent and activities are in full swing. Adventure trips are out…our new Gourmet Cooking program is all the rage…Golf Plus is awesome…we’ve participated in more than 12 intercamps and tournaments already….and last nights Patriot Games and then fireworks on Echo Lake were unreal with the finale culminating in the lighting of the Moose! Today all campers and staff venture out on our first S- Day Out for 2010. Because of the great weather, we’re sending Acadia, Apache, Baxter and Sequoia to waterparks all over Maine…while Bec and Bago campers are headed to Boothbay Harbor and Old Port. It’s been a great first 10-days of camp!!
First Week — A Smashing Success…
What an amazing first week of camp! Laurel is in full swing with tons of fun activities happening every day. Last night was the first Sports Night of the season with Bago Football, Bec Soccer, Baxter Hoops, Sequoia Hockey and Apache Wiffle Ball all happening at once. Intercamps also kicked off yesterday with a U-13 boys soccer tournament at Laurel and a U-15 girls soccer tournament at Wekeela…we should have some incredible teams this summer! Last night was the annual Talent Show where some of our campers get to perform in front of the entire camp. Today is the first S-Day and we kick it off with a bang with The Quest. We’ll divide the camp into 18 teams that compete in various games and activities. The winning team gets a Chinese Dinner at Allliquippa. Good luck to the Super Seniors who get to have their first leadership experience of the summer as Quest captains. We can’t wait for Sunday’s Fourth of July Fireworks!!
Off and Running…
What an incredible start to the summer! Our campers are finally here and we’ve jumped right into full activity. Everyone arrived safely on Saturday and met their counselors and cabinmates. Saturday night we had a relaxing and fun opening campfire where members of the Camp Laurel family shared stories and played music. On Sunday, we distributed everyone’s schedules and dove into camp! By Monday, camp was buzzing with activity from waterskiing in the lake to throwing pots in ceramics to playing soccer on the fields. It sure is great to be back!
Life, Unplugged
I don’t know about you, but my kids are constantly plugged into something, whether they are texting their friends (does anyone talk anymore?), bopping along to Lady Gaga’s latest, updating their Facebook status, researching a school project online and creating a multi-media presentation, or playing games on my iPhone while I desperately try to finish a conversation at the vet’s office.
Some days I can win a battle or two (no texting at dinner!) but the war is ongoing. And honestly, I’m not the best example. That iPhone I mentioned is never far from reach, and right now I’m surfing online, listening to my own brand of pop music, answering text messages as they come in and writing this blog.
Don’t you wish there was a place where we could all live life unplugged? We adults may not be so lucky; but for our kids, that place is summer camp.
Knowing that someone out there is cultivating a culture of back-to-basics, low-tech life is an irresistible draw for me as a parent. My husband and I love the outdoors and frequently take our kids on short camping trips, but these offer only a short break from the world of “screen time”. Monday morning comes and before the sleeping bags air out, we’re all rushing to see what awaits us in our email inboxes.
As a mom, I worry about the long-term effects of all of these tech ways of communicating. I’m not alone. Several studies have suggested that kids who spend too much time plugged in lose some skills for interpersonal interaction. Let’s fight back.
At camp, social interaction is done the old fashioned way – face-to-face. Campers and counselors alike leave their cell phones at home and get back to a simpler life, when there is an art to conversation. If you were a camper, think back to your best memories. All of mine involve revolve around interpersonal interactions you just can’t get through an email: telling stories around a camp fire; sharing hushed secrets late into the night; telling the worst jokes you ever heard; huddling together to decide the best capture-the-flag strategy.
Friendship doesn’t need a high-tech interface. Don’t think your kids will get with the program? Check out this Seventeen article where teen girls share their favorite summer camp memories. Not one involves a cell phone, I promise!
Thanks to Pink_Sherbert_Photography and eron_gpsfs for the photos!
Olivia
