As the buses pull out every week, we stand on the shuffle board courts and we sing a song as they drive up the driveway.
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye….
We repeat it until they’ve left. Then the dust settles, and we realize what’s ahead as we prepare for our next week.
Well, that’s happened again today, except that today is the busiest day of the season, as we prepare for Family Camp Week 1, which starts in just a few hours. Our staff are moving out of wherever they were staying, cleaning their accommodation, and moving into their new one. The kitchen is being mopped, scrubbed, and cleaned, while the dining hall chairs are switched out for new ones.
Kids camp is over.
Summit was great! I heard lots of kids telling each other to add them on Facebook, and sharing numbers and email addresses so they can stay in touch with the friends they’ve made here. There were many hugs as everyone prepared to say goodbye to those they wouldn’t see again for a while.
Now as we scramble to get ready for our first of four weeks of family camp, I’m sitting in the tuck shop writing to you, ready to share yesterday’s pictures and the last memories from kids camp for this season. We’ll be back to kids camp at the end of August for Bravo, Aspire, and Zenith of course!
But here are yesterday’s highlights! Apparently I should have gone in the boat for water sports as Emma was able to drop a ski and slalom for quite some time, but since I spent most of the day Thursday in the boat (and have a tan line from my glasses to show for it 😛 ) I decided to stay firmly planted on land.
Here are your cabin photos for Summit 2015!
On the last day of the canoeing major, the participants played a game where they have to try to splash water into the other canoe, and each is trying to finish the game with less water in their canoe than the other.
At the beach, I saw people relaxing, kids having fun building castles, and many splashing around in the water throwing a ball around.
At Crafts, Shelley brought up a bunch of old pictures of camp and let the kids look through them and choose some to make scrapbook pages out of.
At Beauty Inside and Out, I caught up with the girls as they were doing their nails, getting ready for banquet night, where those who want to get dressed up for dinner.
At the kayaking major, the participants had gotten to a point where they were ready to practice tipping their own kayaks so that they knew what it felt like and what to do should it ever happen accidentally. Here they are, tipping over!
Throughout this week, Hope, Noah, and Jordan led a Triathlon boot camp activity, where 6 kids practiced swimming, bike riding, and running leading up to a triathlon yesterday. We have extensive coverage of it since I sent Hope across the road with my phone while I stayed on the main campus here. It’s my understanding that this was a big week for Chris, who learned not only how to water ski, but also how to ride a bike! Way to champ it! Donny ended up winning the triathlon, but all six of them did an incredible job persevering. I know I wouldn’t have been able to do it for sure!
Here are the Outdoor Pursuits kids heading out on paddle boards, canoes, and kayaks. I’m not sure if they were just heading out for a paddle, or working on skills. I didn’t get a chance to talk to them. From where I was perched watching the Triathlon, it looked like they were working on water skills because I looked at one moment, and when I looked up the next, a canoe was tipped and there was no one in it!
Check out our awesome kitchen staff! Heather’s back as our cook, Shanon’s back as our assistant cook, and Emma is spending another year as kitchen assistant this summer. A special thanks to Annette, who came up for the week as a volunteer to help out in the kitchen as well.
Here is a Crew group photo!
And here is an LIT Group photo!
And lastly, to finish off our last week’s blog, here are a couple great sunset shots from the other night.