life at camp

I realized I haven't written a whole lot about camp lately, which is funny, because it is basically my life right now. We are in the middle of our fourth week already...which is crazy and amazing that it has gone by so quickly and so smoothly.

The staff is fantastic and I am so pleased by how well they love and care for our campers. But last week it was obvious they were losing their steam. As a whole, we were missing the spontaneous, wacky, excitable staff that I hired.

So I threw out a challenge to them at our meeting on Friday and again on Sunday. I told them I wanted fresh programming, clever ideas and funny stories all week long. I held a carrot in front of them in the form of a $25 gift card to any place of their choosing from my very own personal money. And that the gift card would go to the staff person who comes up with the most unique/clever/imaginative program of the week.

The past two days I have come into work to find notes on my desk from counselors telling me of their plans. One cabin, tonight, is having a dance party on the platform of a tent that has no tent on it. Half of the campers have agreed to create a strobe light out of all of their flashlights, and everyone else will dance. I love this idea.

One site is making origami animals and hanging them from the trees. This whole site has rallied behind this idea and today I had the site coordinator frantically looking for more online patterns for these kids because they are so excited to make more.

I've heard whispers of other ideas too. One group is leading underwater basket weaving...literally underwater, in the pool. The best part is that the campers know of the challenge too, so they are trying to think of more and more creative things to do as well. It's getting really fun...and it's only Tuesday night! I'll report back on Friday with the best ideas from the week.