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Another skit night, another hilarious night at CTT.

Cheesy Skit Night is one of my favorite evening activities because it is a time where the creative side of campers can shine. Cabin 5 acted out a barfight featuring Zach LaPorte as the leading lady with his nails painted and sporting a beautiful white dress. Cabin B performed a game show entitled Are You an American? with Hayley Sanders as the host, Sage Jacobson as special guest Ke$ha, and Sydney Sachs as the winner of the game. Cabin 4 essentially Rickroll’d the audience much to everyone’s surprise. Boys and Girls Tents did skits mocking boys side. Cabin 78 was the winner of the night with a hilarious skit featuring Theodore Kling and Samuel Brami as the owners of an Italian restaurant (even though they are French) and Jesse Alloy and Aaron Morris as their zany customers.

Mealtimes are always fun at CTT as they are never quiet. The girls side does a chant where they bang on the tables and clap and the guys respond with a chant celebrating basketball player extraordinaire John Wall. Yesterday, the boys walked over to the girls’ side to sing The Righteous Brothers’ classic, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”. Also, Brandon Kagen won the choomster contest for the boys side, which is a test to see who got the biggest potato chip.

CTT heads to the roller rink tonight. The theme of the night is “Superheroes” where the counselors dress up as superheroes and the campers dress up as super villains and we have a fun night skating.

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By a week into camp, everyone has found their niche. Nicola Lee-Oesterreich and Abbey Morrisroe continue catching a fish during every fishing class. Joseph Balaban won a game of jail in tennis. Sydney and Jesse Alloy repeatedly win games of knockout in archery and Jacob Langer, Zach LaPorte, and Ethan McCann are points leaders of the CTTFFL.

Last night, Camp Tall Timbers went to a Winchester Royals game. I have seen the Winchester Royals play about a dozen times and they have won maybe once. Maybe it was because the CTT campers were cheering louder than ever before or maybe it was the joy in seeing former campers and counselors at the game, but the Winchester Royals won! To top off the night, we got an exclusive area to view a lengthy fireworks show celebrating America’s independence.

On to a more solemn note, today is the 4^th of July and for many Americans, it is a time to be proud of the United States of America but also to reflect on the fact that there are soldiers overseas fighting wars. The cabin 2 counselor, Jason Neely, was in the air force prior to coming to camp and he encouraged all of the campers and counselors to write letters to the troops and he ensured that the letters will arrive to his old troops. He also revealed that he sent the flag from the “Orange Scurvy” (they were a team from Pirate Day 2010) to his old platoon and it is currently flying under an American flag over the 2^nd platoon in the 357th MP Battalion’s humvee. The platoon thought it was adorable that CTT campers cared enough about their comrade to make a flag for him.

Enjoy your celebration back at home as much as we celebrate America’s independence here at camp but be sure to keep the soldiers in your thoughts and if you get a chance send them a letter, your local post office will send it to the nearest platoon.

Ahoy CTT Families! Yesterday was Pirate Day: a day where yer will be tested and yer strength be pushed to its limit. The campers put on their peg leg and grabbed their bird and competed in a series of challenges.

After a family-themed service to start off the day, the pirates split up into the Red Pearls, Green Peter Pan Pirates, Black Ninjas, and the Yellow Bones. Mutiny Ball, a dodgeball-esque game that combines wit and athleticism, started the day off followed by a game of Human Battleship. The pirates then were tested on their intelligence with a camp-wide Pirate Treasure Hunt to find Blackbeard’s treasure and they then went to the pool for a diving competition. The pirates then were sent to work on the pirate flags and stories that were displayed and told at the Pirate Ball: a marvelous dance where the pirates ignored competition and enjoyed each other’s company. The pirates danced and danced all night and the night ended with the judges’ announcement that the Red Pearls were the most cunning of all the pirates and the winners of Pirate Day.

Though talking and acting like a pirate is fun, the campers are now wearing normal articles of clothing and only the cabin 4 boys (and a few counselors…including me)  are still saying “Myargh!”. Boy’s League and the CTTFFL continue today as do the regular activities for the campers. Tonight, however, Camp Tall Timbers ­leaves the camp to go see the Winchester Royals play and celebrate the 4^th of July with a good old-fashioned fireworks show. Fingers crossed for a Royals victory!

Nothing beats the beach.

Yesterday, most of the camp went to Cacapon State Park. Enjoying their time at the beach, counselor Zach Fang, Aaron Forest, Kevin Shefferman, Noah Pugliese, Paul Holtz & Jacob Greenberg built a massive sandcastle. Theodore Kling, Sam Brami, Martin Babinet, and the Vitet brothers united to ensure that counselors went in the water. After a few hours of splashing, diving, and Frisbee on the beach, we had a big cookout.  The CTT campers showed their talent after the cookout with a sandcastle building contest. In 2^nd place, cabin 2 built a “sand city” and Paul Holtz explained the rich history of their sand city mixing in elements from CTT and the plot from The Last Airbender. In 1^st place, cabin 3 recreated Bikini Bottom and Jacob Blitz led the group in an adorable rendition of the Spongebob Squarepants theme song. All of the sandcastles were well designed and showed tremendous creativity on the part of the campers.

The older campers went rafting where Jake Abel lost a tooth and our international campers bonded with the veteran CTT campers in cabin 4 and cabin G over phrases in Spanish and cheering. The rafters then went to a buffet where they were able to eat as much as they could (much to the delight of all the campers).

Today, Ethan Harrison caught two fish and the Red Bulls and Yellow Polka-Dotted Hippopotammi hold their first practices today to prepare for the vigorous CTTFFL season that lies ahead. This weekend, it’s Pirate Day where campers take a break from their regular activities, divide into teams, and compete in pirate-themed activities throughout the day. CTT will give out a big “Aarghh” and we will see soon which pirate ends up on top.

One of the best aspects of the CTT experience is the bonds you make with your cabin friends. Last night was cabin activity night which featured each cabin being assigned a different area of the camp to run an activity and  take the time to connect with each other. Cabin B had a pool party filled with music and a counselors vs. campers game of water polo. Cabin 4 went fishing and Bobby Jaffe, Sam Blum, and Max Penn caught a fish for the first time. The Cabin 4 boys then proceeded to have what they call “Somalian Pirate Fights” with their canoes leading to a great bonding experience. Cabin 78 had an intense game of hockey followed by an even more intense game of Risk (which is not yet finished) and Cabin G played football and had a “girls’ night”.

CTT leagues are already in full swing. Boys’ Leagues has begun with Sam’s Team: Delightful Facial Hair and Sean’s Team: Outrageous, tied for first with a record of 1-0 and Albuquerque’s Meowing Growlithe and Collin’s Team: Inception tied for second with a record of 0-1 (but everyone is a winner at Camp Tall Timbers). The Camp Tall Timbers Flag Football League (CTTFFL) ran its first games yesterday with the Purple Nurples and Yellow Polka-Dotted Hippopotammi tying at 7-7 and the Red Bulls defeating the Orange Crush 20-0.

Fishing is also becoming a very popular activity. Under the direction of counselor Zach Fang (no relation), Abbey Morrisroe, Jonah Jacobson, and Nicola Lee-Oesterreich caught a fish for the first time this session and Ethan Weinstein has already caught four fish. Away from the lake, campers have already become very successful at their other activities. Jesse Alloy, Mathilde Carello, and Jessica Hymer won games of knockout in archery. Jake Abel won a game of Frisbee Golf and Michael Balaban, who has never picked up a guitar before, learned to play his first song yesterday.

Today, Boys’ League continues with two hours of competitive play and most of the camp heads to Cacapon State Park for a fun day at the beach, sandcastle building, and a cookout while the older campers go white water rafting. Remember to check out the Camp Tall Timbers Facebook page to watch the brand new episodes of “Good Morning Tall Timbers”. Off to Cacapon!

In my eight years at Camp Tall Timbers, I have learned to expect the unexpected. I never thought I could see a bunch of young girls be so funny, tent girls laugh so much, older boys be so willing to dress as girls, and a bunch of eleven-year-olds successfully reenact a cartoon that was around before some of their parents were born. But last night was As Seen on TV Night, and, like any skit night at CTT, it was filled with some truly outrageous and hilarious skits.

Cabin B was assigned The Bachelorette and had their counselor, Georgia, be their lovely bachelorette. The girls of Cabin B dressed up as some of CTT’s male counselors (including Hayley Sanders as yours truly) leading to a hilarious skit. Girls Tents reenacted the beginning of each season of American Idol with Ashlyn Morrisroe being one of the singers that…well…was not the best singer…but certainly the funniest. In 3^rd place, my cabin, 78, performed two episodes of the The Powerpuff Girls with Samuel Brami, Theodore Kling, and Javier Sanchez in skirts dressed as the Powerpuff Girls. Jesse Alloy mocked counselor Flip Flop in the first episode and Aaron Morris did a hilarious impression of counselor Sam Friedman in the second episode. In 2^nd place, cabin 5 presented an episode of Popeye the Sailor led by Ethan Harrison doing his phenomenal impression as Popeye and Ethan McCann (in a red dress) as Popeye’s love interest. In 1^st place, no surprises here, the adorable cabin 4 acted out a typical episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with Miller Friedman as Will, Sam Audia as Uncle Phil, and Max Penn in a coconut bra as Ashley.

Yesterday was also filled with new camper milestones. Ethan Weinstein and Noah Schweitzer caught three fish. Martin Babinet and Esthermarie Lopez shot a gun for the first time. Jacob Langer successfully dunked on a 9-foot hoop multiple times in basketball. Cabin 2 successfully completed their first challenge in challenge course and Jesse Alloy won a game of knockout and got two bulls-eyes in archery.

Today is slated to be a marvelous day at CTT as Dippies and Boy’s League started today! For those who do not know, Dippies is when the proud and brave campers and counselors run to the pool right after the wake-up bell rings, scream “Good Morning Ladies” followed by “Dippies”, and swim a lap in the pool. We had a great turn-out today and I am sure that we will get more “Dippiers” as the session progresses. Boy’s League is also a fun CTT tradition where the male campers are split into four teams and compete in a variety of sports for at least an hour each day led by the same coach for the whole session.

As Camp Tall Timbers gets into full swing, be sure to watch the brand new “Good Morning Tall Timbers” posts on the Camp Tall Timbers Youtube and Facebook pages.

 

It is only the second full day here at Camp Tall Timbers, but the energy is high and the memories are being made. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alex Fang. I am a senior at the Gilman School in Baltimore, and this is my eighth year at CTT. My favorite thing about the first couple days of camp is the reunions. Friends of all ages come from all over the world to reunite at their favorite place to be: Camp Tall Timbers. Last night, we had our welcome campfire filled with CTT traditions, hilarious skits, and good old-fashioned s’mores.

Today is our first full day of activities and already, memories are being made and bonds are being forged. Juan Antonio Monleon caught one of the first fish of the session. Sydney Laporte and Taylor Kasoff made a mural with their Fruit Loops at breakfast. First-time camper Aaron Morris shot a bow-and-arrow for the first time. Coming all the way from Paris, Samuel Brami and Martin Babinet played Ultimate Frisbee for the first time and they both loved it. Tonight, we test the creativity of our campers with “As Seen on TV Night” where each cabin/tent group gets assigned a popular TV show (Boys Tents has Glee, Cabin B has The Bachelor, etc.) and they have to create a skit using that TV show.

Be sure to “like” the Camp Tall Timbers Facebook page and to follow @camptalltimbers on Twitter so you at home can feel like you are right here at camp. If you have any ideas for the blog, please feel free to contact us here and I will try and get on it. Let’s have a great summer!

Today is a day designed to show third session campers the best things about CTT. We will play popular camp games and take part in chunks of activity days from the first two sessions. There will be a talent show, a play and even a new camp activity known as Granny’s Candy. It is looking like this will be a pretty good day (especially if these pesky dark clouds stay off in the distance).

With all due respect to the people that planned the Best of CTT day, the activities aren’t the best things about CTT. These things are great, but last night while I was playing ping-pong with my cabin I realized that these activities pale in comparison to the real best thing about CTT: the people.

So many things can happen during a single session at CTT: lifelong friendships are forged over the turmoil of living in a tent, memories are made at the most trivial of times and you see the faces that you hope to see in a crowd for the next year. The people here make the smallest moments special. For example, I huddled around a laptop screen and watched a movie with my cabin last night. My small Dell screen is a far cry from the large plasma screens a lot of these kids are used to, but we had a few snacks and laughed almost the entire time. I saw the same thing with cabin G’s dance party and cabin 8’s campfire.

So it doesn’t matter what we do here, really. All that matters is that we get to do it with our friends who we may only hang out with for a few weeks out of each year. Camp is a natural breeding ground for funny traditions and the best kinds of inside jokes. All of these things help result in these memories that everyone here, camper, counselor or admin, holds dearer than almost any other memory that we have.

So maybe the Best of CTT day will truly represent the best of CTT. It may not come from the specific activities we do today, but we will be there with the people we want to be with. We will be participating in this rotation of activities with a huge group of our best friends. I think that our friends are the best thing about CTT, so in a roundabout way I guess today really will represent the best of CTT.

And in that regard, the rainclouds are never a threat.

Last night, Camp Tall Timbers rocked Northside Lanes in Winchester.

First, we rolled up in a convoy featuring a bus, a van and two SUVs. When we unloaded, innocent bystanders had to take notice of the huge group of oddly-dressed strangers dressed like characters from popular movies. There was an elephant, some of the population of Whoville, the cast of Monsters, Inc., a cat in a hat and many, many more. And then we went inside.

Suddenly, every line in the joint tripled in size. The poor lady in the concession stand had to weather the unrelenting storm of dozens and dozens of hungry kids and if anyone unaffiliated with CTT wanted to play one of the few video games in the lobby, they were out of luck. And in between turns on the arcade games and standing in line for food, there was some bowling.

Some campers, like John, proved to be pretty adept (he rolled a 93 in his first game). Likewise, some people (like counselor Katie) had trouble finding the pins at all (she had a robust 3 in her first five frames).  Some of us, like Andrew Priest, were streaky. He managed to record a few strikes early but then struggled through to the last few frames. But the good thing about bowling is that it is fun regardless of whether or not you’re an expert.

And we did have a lot of fun. Everything from Caoimhe’s mock enthusiasm at her score of 30 to Parker Nocket rolling a strike from his stomach was just some good, wholesome fun. The counselors and campers both had a great time at the bowling alley, and I’m sure the good times will continue tonight during cabin night.

This is the night when we get to hang with the people we’re closest with here at CTT. Cabin 7 will be having a ping-pong tournament and a homerun derby, Cabin 8 is hiking to the river, girl’s tents is watching a movie in the pavilion and the tent boys will be having a grand ol’ time tubing at the lake. All of the other cabins also have big plans, and I know that none of us can wait for the bell to ring after dinner so we can start having yet another good night here at CTT.

Your pulse quickens when you realize the difficulty of what you once thought was a trivial task. The handful of M&M’s in front of you suddenly becomes a mass of no certain color or shape and all of the cups, helpfully numbered in front of you on the table, start to blend together.

Your simple task, to separate a tray of M&M’s by color in under a minute, suddenly becomes impossible. Just like the cereal box puzzle or balancing soda cans.

This is the drama of Minute To Win It.

Last night, the campers were splits into four teams and had to complete tasks such as these at four different stations. Some games were simple, some were hard and all of them were pretty fun.

At the art shack, some campers had to knock cups off of a table by releasing the air from a balloon. Others had to try and piece together a cereal box that had been cut into twenty pieces or try to keep two feathers in the air using nothing but their breath.

In the pavilion, Brennan showed his skill at shooting rubber bands by knocking five empty soda cans off the table well before his minute was up. Hans Vandenberg was able to empty the correct amount of soda out of a can in order to get it to balance so quickly it looked like it was his job. Some campers struggled with the aforementioned M&M’s game, but when it came to picking them up with a straw and moving them from bowl to bowl Meier Parr proved to be a beast until he knocked over the bowl with the straw.

There were some interesting moments in the gym, too. Thanks to a game called Paper Dragon (which involves unraveling two rolls of streamers in under a minute) T.J. Pallone was seen in a Rambo-style streamer headband for the rest of the evening. It was also at the gym that some people had to catch tennis balls in a bucket on their head, which sounds like a challenging game.

After the campers had their dexterity challenged in the rec hall by stacking cups, it was time to head up to the gym for the final challenge. In this competition, students had to launch a marshmallow from a plate by hitting it off of a table with a broom and then catch it in a cup. It’s a lot more difficult than it sounds, as Sam Greenberg can attest to. But some campers, namely the Nocket clan and Oliver Schwartz, proved to be extremely adept at this strange task. Stevie and Parker Nocket bested older brother Forrest by catching five to his three, but Oliver outpaced the whole field by snagging eight.

This feat was enough to give his team, led by counselor Taylor, victory for the night. Congratulations to them, but all of the games were fun and win or lose, I think everyone had a great time.

But what else do you expect in a place like this?

When most people think about camp, they think about things like baseball, archery, riflery and fishing. The most known activities at camp are the physical ones, but here at CTT campers have the option of taking classes in things that fuel their creative fires.

Each session at CTT, campers have the option of taking arts and crafts, photography and guitar as classes. In addition to these classes, this session will see a revival of the Tall Timbers Tribune, which is a newspaper written by campers.

The first edition, due out in a few days, will feature stories on the various activities during free swim and a section on zombie survival (see The Only Prescription from a few days ago for more details on why). Sofia Navas Sharry is working as the photographer on the issue and an entire slew of campers, including Parker Nocket and Andrei Ross, are involved with the writing end. It has been a blast working on it so far and I can’t wait to see the final product.

The photography classes at CTT have changed a lot this year, but the campers are learning a lot. The old darkroom has been largely unoccupied because the campers are learning how to compose better pictures and learning some neat tricks with their own digital cameras. Sydney Alloy has been one of the most dedicated students so far (she has taken three classes in her two sessions here) and her expertise is growing daily. Olivia Kimmel and Sabine Lipten are taking their first classes this session but have already recorded some pretty awesome shots and Stevie Nocket has a natural eye for finding the best angle for a picture. If the campers continue to progress the way they have been, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the next Pulitzer Prize winner come from amongst our ranks.

The sound of strumming six-strings isn’t a foreign one during free swims. Parker Mitchell has been playing for several years and he bangs away on his Yamaha almost every free swim. Catherine is now in her second session of lessons and is progressing wonderfully. Jackson Steele, who takes guitar class and private lessons, is also becoming a fixture when someone breaks out a guitar.

So camp is not only good for you physically, but you get to learn things that fire up the ol’ creative side as well. Whether a camper wants to be an artist, a photographer, a writer or a musician- we have something for them. It is really neat to see a kid dominate both on the field and in the art shack and sometimes these classes do reveal some surprising talents in kids who have never had the opportunity to discover them.

So let’s hear it for discovering new talents- that’s just one more reason why CTT is definitely the place where we want to be.

I’m beginning to think that some of the campers at CTT should form a private investigating business.

It dawned on me last night during Clue night that all we need is a giant dog that can talk and we have the stuff cartoons are made of. The camp was split into three groups and assigned a rotation to determine when we could interview different witnesses and suspects. At each station the groups got a clue as to either the identity of the killer, the location of the murder or the weapon used. There were also additional clues hidden all around the stations.

Using the information earned from Professor Plum (Albert), Mrs. Peacock (Megan), Mrs. White (Karina), Mr. Green (Ollie) and Col. Mustard (Jason), the teams had to piece together the events of the evening and solve the mystery (all except for Rachael Cooper’s group, who benefitted when she found a special tell-all card ten minutes into their first station). The teams also had to complete certain challenges to earn the clues, for example a team member had to make five shots on the pool table to get the clue and the whole team had to make a ten-person pyramid.

After all of the interviewing and completing challenges for clues the teams had to put together a story which explained the events of the night and the motive for the murder. Every team figured out that Mrs. Peacock did in Mr. Body with the candlestick in the art shack, but Tim’s team was able to make the most compelling story and win the night.

But because of the fact that every team figured out the story and because these kids always dominate murder mystery night and are able to find a counselor’s food even if it is wrapped in three jackets, a raincoat and a spare blanket buried seven feet underground, I believe that forming a CTT detective agency would be a smart move.

These campers have proven time after time that they can find the most difficultly hidden clues and solve the toughest mysteries, so why not? If nothing else, it would make for a lot more interesting rainy day activities…

The evening activity schedule at CTT is, in a word, awesome.

Every night of the summer, the campers participate in a different activity. Some of them involve solving a mystery, some of them involve games of chance and odd skills and some of them make campers dig deep into their creative sides.

The mystery nights, like tonight’s human Clue game, require campers to use their brains to solve a puzzle. This evening, several counselors will dress as characters from the board game and campers will rotate to different stations to try and pry clues from people like Professor Plum (counselor Albert). Clue night has spurred some memorable memories already this year, like during first session when Collin portrayed Mr. Green as a southern curmudgeon and when Mrs. Scarlett (Lindsay) was convicted of the crime, she ran through camp with a horde of campers in tow.

The games of chance bit refers to nights like Minute To Win It, which is coming up in just a few days. Based on the popular TV game show, campers will be attempting to do seemingly simple tasks like roll marbles and make them stop on a piece of tape, sort a tray of M&M’s by color and keep two feathers in the air using only their breath. All of these things seem really easy, but when you try it they are actually pretty difficult. Some campers first session, like Jakeabel and Miller Friedman, got really frustrated when they couldn’t accomplish these seemingly easy tasks.

The creative nights are some of the most entertaining. For nights like Cheesy Skit night and Dance Through The Decades, campers team up with their cabins and try to create humorous skits. So far, Cabin G and Boy’s Tents are in the lead after winning the junior and senior divisions of Cheesy Skit Night, but winning these nights are a source of pride for a cabin. I expect the next one, which is tomorrow night, to be just as competitive as the last.

I wish the resident assistants at my college would have thought of awesome activities like this to entertain us in the evenings. Then maybe I would wear my Averett shirts as proudly as I do my CTT shirts…

There is a fever spreading through CTT this year.

The nurse can’t help and the doctor is helpless to cure it. Bed rest won’t make it go away and there is no medicine. The only prescription is preparedness.

Thanks to a certain group of counselors who call themselves the ‘Nerd Counselors’, zombie fever has spread through the camper body here at CTT. Riflery classes (except the ones that Bill teaches- he isn’t a nerd counselor) have been renamed Zombie Defense Preparedness. Wilderness Survival is now all about escaping the hordes that will inhabit towns if (or when, according to the nerds) a ‘zombie apocalypse’ happens.

It is an interesting spin on several camp activities and the kids love it so far. After learning how to safely handle a rifle, campers now have zombie silhouettes to shoot instead of just shooting cans and metal spinning targets. Even the crew at the lake has gotten involved by making sure children can spot ‘rage geese,’ which apparently carry the zombie virus. Even the evening activities have been affected- last session, murder mystery night involved teams finding the cure for Ethan and a slew of older campers who had been transformed into zombies.

Zombie fever certainly has livened up the day-to-day routine here. It has been a fun few weeks since counselor Tiz began blaming any technological failure on a zombie attack and it seems like every day something happens that provides a new development.

Tonight is Cabin Night, and I’m pretty sure there will be some talk of zombies somewhere amongst the camper body. But just like any other time at CTT, it is going to be a good night (and that’s more than a feeling [not sure I’m quoting Boston or the Black Eyed Peas]). We get to spend time doing fun things with the people we’re closest to, whether it be watching a movie like Cabin B, hiking to the river like Cabin 8 or playing on the lower fields like Cabin 7, Cabin Night is always a good one and I’m looking forward to it.

Even if we have to fight back a horde of zombies.

The sun rises over a quiet horizon in High View, W.V. It is a nice, silent morning in the Appalachians and it looks as if that sun will meet a relatively peaceful day here in the mountains.

All of the sudden, there is the crack of a rifle fired by T.J. Pallone. A mountain bike piloted by A-Tom zooms through the forest. Sam Greenberg slams a baseball off of the side of the art shack. Cabin A girls scream as they jump in the pool. Believe it or not, in our corner of High View, this is the ideal way to start a day.

The campers that make up the third session of camp have only been here for two days, but they are already in full camp mode. The first shots in the Dippies vs. Sleepies War have already been taken and girl’s leagues have begun. The campers are trying out their schedules for B days and there is a lot of buzz in the air about an upcoming early morning flag football game between two groups of counselors. We’ve already snarfed down grilled cheese, chicken patties and tacos in the dining hall.

Yup, camp has begun. And it’s going strong and should continue to go strong because of all the awesome activities lined up this session. There will be a trip to Cacapon (which is pronounced ka-cape-n, according to local counselor Tim Allen. Most camp folk say kah-kah-pon) and the bowling alley. Older kids will get to race go-karts and go rafting. The evening activity line-up includes tonight’s Cheesy Skit Night, Minute to Win It and some other camp staples which always make for a good time.

Are you jealous of the campers yet? You probably should be. This is going to be an awesome session, which I’m sure you’ll hear about in letters. But I’ll do my best to keep you updated here in the blog, so hopefully you’ll keep coming back for more. And I hope you do- this session, like every session at CTT, is going to be a winner.

So I’m going to go be a part of it (it’s fun, and it makes these more interesting!). Hope you come back tomorrow for all the latest from our favorite summer destination- Camp Tall Timbers!!!

First there’s Color War, one last pool party, a fancy dinner with fancy dress, some limericks and a breakfast. The big red bus pulls in, the campers board, the dust settles as the tears dry in the gravel. And with that, another session is over at Camp Tall Timbers.

In case you don’t realize who I am, I drive the luggage truck to Tyson’s Corner and Rockville (yup, I’m the the big goofy guy with the glasses). It is very nice to be able to meet the parents of some of my favorite campers, but that aspect of the job has a few drawbacks. It’s exciting to pick-up the bags of the campers and to see who is coming, but dropping them off a few weeks later almost always makes me a train wreck.

It’s funny how the names on the bags are just words when I pick them up, yet when I unload them after the session I have a story to go with just about everyone. Justin Lasker’s luggage made me think of how excited he got for every evening activity. Elisabeth Rindner’s bags brought back memories of when she and Hayley Sanders dressed as Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift for a skit about Sham-Wows. I apologize to the parents at those stops for taking so long, but literally every name on a bag sparks a memory.

I dropped Erin Smedley’s and Emily Middendorf’ s luggage off the the truck while thinking about how we laughed at pictures during banquet. Ian Holtz’s gear made me think of his leaping touchdown catch when we won the Super Bowl with the Red Bulls this session. Josh Arnold’s things made me think of the original CTT song he and his cabin perform every year at the opening campfire. As I handed Ethan Polk-Trauman’s golf clubs to his father I have to think about his tremendous talent and how he is the best guitar player at camp at such a young age.

Jamie Alloy’s suitcases made me wonder if I will be her co-worker next year when and if she will become a junior counselor. Brett Richardson’s bags made me think of the booming shots he hit during the softball league and the big smile he always has on his face.

When I got to the end of the truck, the last three bags I unloaded belonged to Taylor, Reece and Casey Dennison. I had to chuckle at how Taylor tried to nickname herself Smurf, but it never caught on and I was the only one who remembered it half of the time. I remember Casey giving everything she had for the white team during tug of war and the hurt leg she got as a result. I’m sure it hurt, but she never complained and limped over to the next team meeting to be there for her teammates. I remember teaching Reece her first guitar chords during my class and the smile on her face when she finally mastered the D chord.

With each suitcase, the end of the session seemed more and more real. Before that, I knew it was coming but it still just seemed surreal. When I set those last bags on the ground, it hit hard. But the end of a session always does (Yes, I’m that guy that always gets upset at the end of the session. Tears happen, okay?).

But, despite how bad the end of a session seems, it is always comforting to know that there will be a next year. That is the great thing about the camp life and its routine- just as sure as the bell will ring every morning, there will be a next year. The summer of 2011 might take forever to get there and just about anything could happen before then, but if we can make it through the next 11 months Camp Tall Timbers will be there for us.

It will be there to generate more special moments that become priceless memories, it will bring us closer to new friends and reunite us with old ones we haven’t seen since the bus ride the year before. Despite what the year brings, we know CTT will be here next here. Hopefully, I will be too and hopefully I get to load up those bags I just unloaded at the beginning of next summer.

So the next 11 months may be a little tough, but just remember that CTT is here. The cabins may be empty and the bell may fall silent, but Camp Tall Timbers will be there like it always has- quietly tucked back in the Appalachian Mountains silently awaiting next summer.  And as you go about the year and deal with school, work or whatever else, just remember that CTT is still here and there will always, always be a next summer.

Hopefully, I’ll see you there.

Out of the bus window, you see towering trails of twisted metal rising high into the misty morning sky near Richmond, Va. Occasionally a small cart flies through the air, looking like it is just barely attached to the massive steel sculpture underneath.  There are screams audible from the parking lot as yet another cart flies through the sky on a giant loop.

These structures are known by menacing names like The Dominator, The Intimidator, the Flight of Fear and the Anaconda. There is a volcano with tracks coming out of it and another beast known as the Shockwave.

This, as CTT found out yesterday, is King’s Dominion.

But I think I may have been the only person worried about these scary machines (for the record, everytime I try to get on a roller coaster I see a grim reaper waiting for me in the line). The campers of CTT certainly didn’t. They spent most of the day intimidating The Intimidator, dominating the Dominator, sending the Flight of Fear into a flight of, well, fear.

Small children like A-Tom hopped on every coaster they could and some people, like Corinne Polk-Trauman, rode their first coasters. Sydney Alloy and Sammie Cooper rode KD’s newest attraction, The Intimidator, twice in a row. Alejandra got over her deep fear of roller coasters and hit some of the biggest rides in the park.

The older campers, guys like Ethan Ebinger, Alex Fang and AJ Roshfeld hung together and had a good day enjoying their last trip to KD as campers. It was a grueling day, but we got lucky and it stayed cool and overcast for most of the day and we didn’t see any rain until the end.

It was good for all of us to break the normal routine and spend some time with some members of our camp family we don’t get to see all that often. There is still a lot of stuff to do this session; there is a Super Bowl (Red Bulls vs. Orange Crush), the World Series (Red Sox vs. Blue Wilds) and that color thing. But despite all that, the end gets closer and closer.

We will all hate for that to come, but yesterday’s trip shows that we can and will enjoy every moment until it does come. So bring it on, we’ll enjoy it.

Once again, a CTT activity has been interrupted by rude visitors. First there were the Gladiators, then the evil villains. Last night after each team had completed the counselor hunt, a horde of ghosts whooshed in and dragged the whole group of counselors and campers from their activity and off to meet Judge Mookie.

It was the beloved camp tradition known as Ghost Court, and some campers and counselors had to go before the judge and receive punishments! They were hilarious, as usual, and the aftermath of Judge Mookie’s rampage is evident all over the camp today.

The punishments began this morning when the boys in the BV and cabin 3 had to hug each other and sing the ‘I Love You’ song from Barney in front of everyone at breakfast.

Keep in mind this was only the regular BV boys, not the extra ones provided by Judge Mookie. The male CIT 2s, Ethan Ebinger, AJ Roshfeld and Alex Fang, all act like counselors so the Honorable Sir Mook banished them back to the Buffalo Village for the day. They, along with the rest of their fellow tent campers, must carry trash bags around all day and pick up trash because they are very dirty kids.

The young ladies in cabin A were deemed too energetic, and in order to rid them of excess energy they must skip to every activity today. Cabin B got it too, but because they (along with their counselor Julie) are huge fans of Glee, they must sing all of their words during free swims and meals (I, for one, am searching out the Cooper sisters during second free swim).

Also around camp, Georgia Oriol had to make PB&J sandwiches for everyone who wanted one during the first ten minutes of lunch, Alvaro is Harry Potter for the day, Joan and Juan have to hold the door for everyone at each meal today and all of the foreigners have to end every sentence with ‘but I love America’ because they always speak in their native languages.

The day after Ghost Court is great. I wish I could write more, but I have to go pester Alejandra to read me her life story and pelt water balloons at Tyler Maizels and Sydney Alloy. Bye!

You may remember a few days ago when a bunch of gladiators interrupted our Saturday service? Well, it happened again this week.

Except this time, instead of gladiators, a group of villains robbed some innocent bystanders! The villains, who looked strangely like counselors Tiz and Collin, were quickly thwarted by a pair of superheroes (Bill and Jason). The heroes informed the crowd that it was Superhero Day, but then the villains struck back! They scared off the superheroes with water guns and declared it Global Domination Day! The camp was split into teams and, like every Saturday, the team switched into their colors and the events began!

The day began with a game of four-way dodgeball, a penny dive and an arms race. The arms race consisted of a group of games where the competitors use only their arms, such as a strength endurance test, an arm wrestling competition and unraveling a human knot.

Each team was also tasked with building their own city and destroying the other teams. The red team, led by Mighty Bill Young, won the city competition and led most of the day until the skit portion. It was there that the yellow team, the wards of counselor Mark and Ethan Ebinger, unveiled their evil plan to blow up BP oil rigs on the East coast. The U.S. government probably wouldn’t be pleased with their plan, but the judges were and at the end of the day it was announced that the yellow team had won!

So this Saturday we learned that services will almost always be rudely interrupted, the cause of the BP oil spill and that Ethan Ebinger is the guy you want on your team on a Saturday (he was also a part of the winning green team from Gladiator Day).

It’s hard to believe there is only one week left in this session. It has flown by so quickly, but there is still a lot of cool stuff to do this week. We are going to King’s Dominion, there is a counselor hunt and presumably there is something big going on towards the end of the week. It’s that thing I mentioned the other day, with all of the yelling, intensity and color. I just can’t remember the name. Clash of the Colors, maybe?

You know you’ve had a good day when it included a fashion show, a talent show, a Survivor-style relay and a baseball game.

That is exactly what the lucky campers of CTT had in store for them yesterday during The Real World- CTT. After lunch, the camp was split into six teams and the activities were under way! The day began with the juniors at the Project Runway station and the seniors went down to the lake for a Survivor Relay.

At the Project Runway station, the kids took 20 minutes to come up with an outfit for one of their teammates, who was deemed the model. All of the entries were good, but the highlight of the day had to be when David Cohen, who is normally one of the more serious people in camp, donned a frilly white dress. The event was a lot of fun and Cathal, our camp photographer, took a lot of shots which I’m sure will be online soon enough.

While the Project Runway station was fairly easygoing, the going got a bit more intense during the Survivor Relay. During the senior relay, we learned that counselor Kyle isn’t the greatest potatofish (read: potato) spearer in the world and that some of our campers, like Emily Middendorf and Evan Cook, don’t complain nearly as much as others (Alex Fang) when tasked with walking through a section of the lake.

In the junior portion, campers had to do things like sample the ‘local cuisine’, which meant they had to separate pastel mints from a tray of flour and other elements using only their teeth. They also speared potatofish and had to ‘cut the cake,’ where Corinne Polk-Trauman proved to be among the best.

After getting glitzy at the fashion show and getting down and dirty at Survivor, it was time for four members from each team to showcase their talents. There was a dance routine led by Marley Smith and Hayley Sanders, a ‘Country Roads’ rewrite performed by Matt Kasoff and a few friends, some mind-blowing bass riffs by Rina Berman, Miguel in a bear suit and a performance of ‘Freebird’ by Ethan Polk-Trauman.

The whole event was really a showcase of the various talents of CTT campers. Whether they were spearing potatoes, sloshing through the lake, putting on a fashion show or performing in front of people, the CTT campers rose to the occasion and made each event highly competitive. The red team was the ultimate winner, but the event was still an impressive showcase of the versatile campers at CTT.

After dinner, we all threw on our CTT shirts and jumped on the buses and headed to the ballpark to see the Winchester Royals take on the Woodstock River Bandits. After a night spent dodging foul balls, eating all of our favorite ballpark fare and laughing with our friends, we were all exhausted. The home team couldn’t power out an extra-innings win but we all had a great time and slept great when we finally got home.

From Survivor, to Project Runway, to CTT’s Got Talent to the Winchester Royals, it was another fantastic day at our summer home.

Some people say that everyone has a twin somewhere in the world.

Well, last night when CTT hit the roller rink, it looked as if we all had found our twins and decided to go skating. All the campers and counselors found a friend to be twins with- Fang teamed up with counselor Rose,  A-Tom, Ethan and Marley all dressed alike and even two counselors, Ollie and Jason, got into the act and dressed alike.

Skating was a fun night, just like it always is. And just like every other time, there was a zooming noise when the kids went by and a crash periodically when some poor counselor would finally hit the ground. All of the kids seem a little sluggish this morning, and this is usually indicative of a pretty good night.

This really sets off a chain of out-of-camp trips that will take us to a baseball game and King’s Dominion, in really short time. It’s hard to believe the session is already half-over, but there is still a ton of stuff to do in the remaining week and a half that we have left- The Real World CTT, Global Domination Day, the talent show…and that one thing that happens at the end of every session, you know, with the two teams and the yelling and the screaming? Color Battle? Hue war? Something like that.

It’s all coming up on us very fast and I just can’t wait!

Hola! Bonjour! Cheers! Crikey!

Campers and counselors alike learn a lot about a variety of topics during a typical session at CTT. They learn sports, art, photography and nature. To put it simply, there aren’t a whole lot of things you can’t learn here. And all of these things hold true for every session here, but second session offers something the others really don’t.

The few days leading up to second session are swamped with runs to and from the airport and different languages. This session, there are over 20 campers and counselors that have made a trip across the ocean and become a big part of our small camp. They hail from five different countries and have all made quite an impact here in tiny High View, W.V.

The most sizable group of overseas campers is the group from Spain but France, England, Australia and Ireland are represented as well.

The Spaniards, who have been celebrating their homeland’s World Cup win since they received word of it, are spread out through both sides of camp. Cabin 3’s Bastien Vitet of France is the youngest foreign born camper on boy’s side and he lives right up the hill from Alvaro Garcia-Solans, the youngest Spanish representative,  who stays in cabin 5 under the watchful eye of England-born counselor Ollie Knowles. Frenchman Cesar Colella and Spaniards Carlos Ibares Loncan and Jaime Guinea Sarmiento reside in cabin 7 with Barcelona native Albert Oriol.

Bastien’s brother Aurelien, Ramon Ramirez, Joan-Joel Luengo and Juan Antonio Monleon represent cabin 8 and are led by Mark Flores, who is of Honduran descent. Miguel Guinea Sarmiento and Gonzalo Narvaiza make up a fifth of the boy’s tents crew and are always key players in competitions and skits.

On girl’s side, Caoimhe Ni Droighneain from Ireland is in cabin B, which is right beside cabin A and their counselor, Spain-born Carla Vivo.

Cabin G’s Alejandra De Gregorio shares a porch with cabin H’s Lucia Aparicio Irisarri and Caoimhe’s sister, Catherine. Our resident Australian, Julia Grgurinovic is a counselor in cabin H and, despite the stereotypes, she doesn’t enjoy catching snakes.

That bunch lives near the tent girls, which may be one of the most diverse groups in camp. Clea Colella flew in from France on the first day of camp with her brother Cesar and her friend Heloise Cabotin, who is French but lives in Spain. Veteran camper Jamie Alloy shares a super tent with Julia Alarcon Lorente, Maria Nupponen Camprecios and Georgia Oriol, who all come from Spain.

Needless to say, it takes some adjusting to understand different cultures but everyone here gets along famously (I realized this last night when Paloma, the translator, wiped Barbasol on my face during Carnival Night and I spent the rest of the night trying to catch Carlos to repay him for doing the same deed). The usual CTT curriculum is great, but having all of these new friends from different countries and cultures really adds to it. We are all learning so much from each other, and when that is combined with all of the fun and excitement you expect in a CTT session, it makes this session an experience of a lifetime.

It seems like every time we hold a skit night at CTT, Alex Fang wears a dress.

Except this time, at Jive through the Genres, he wasn’t alone. About half of the group, including A.J., Evan Cook and Ethan Ebinger joined him in wearing women’s clothing. Their skit was based around Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” and poked fun at some of the couples in camp. And it was good, but they faced some stiff competition from the rest of the field.

The boys in the BV remade the video from the Jonas Brothers “Year 3000,” which featured Jack Corby and Paul Holtz on a trip through time and Justin Lasker as Paul’s great-great-great granddaughter. Cabin G performed a dance to Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” and Cabin A based a routine around Taylor Swift’s “Our Song” and we saw Hayley Sanders dance in counselor Susan’s cowgirl boots, which was very impressive.

Cabin 3’s routine was a real crowd pleaser. They put together an act based on theme songs which was the soundtrack to Josh Arnold and J-Man’s journey to test their friendship. They started out in a yellow submarine and then met Spongebob Squarepants, The Simpsons, pirates and finished it with the Ghostbusters slugging it out with a pesky poltergeist. All of the acts were good, but at the end of the night the first girl’s tent group pulled out the big guns.

I can’t lie, I don’t know exactly what song they used. Their genre was boy bands and they all sound the same to me, so I don’t know which one it was. But whichever one they used, they had a well-choreographed routine to go along with it. Erin Smedley, Emily Middendorf, Marley Smith and the rest of the gang really put a lot of work into the routine. Olivia Kimmel, counselor Steph and Rina Berman posted up on the front of the stage dressed as whichever boy band they were and the whole crowd got into the act.

The girls took their first skit win of the year and they deserved it. Their dance was well put together and polished and, as I predicted, raised the bar yet again for what is expected from these skit nights. But at this point I’m not surprised, I’m just anxious for the next batch of skits which will come in Friday during Movie in a Minute.

Yay, skits!

It seems like every time we try to hold a nice service on a Saturday, it gets broken up by something rude. First session saw pirates and college kids and just when we thought we were going to make it through Saturday’s love themed service, it was interrupted- this time by gladiators.

Colossus (Kyle) and Blarfengarf (Ethan) came around either side of the rec hall porch and proceeded to get into a sword fight right in front of everyone. When Blarfengarf knocked away Colossus’ sword, all eyes turned to Emperor Insano, who was waiting on the gym porch. He gave the thumbs up, which allowed Colossus to join a host of other gladiators and help announce that Saturday was Gladiator Day!

The campers were broken up into four teams; the Mean Green Fighting Machine led by Ethan Ebinger and Jamie Alloy, Alex Fang and Maria’s Super Magenta Awesome People (SMAP), the red Blood Thirsty Warriors who followed A.J. and Julia and Great Gray, who were led by Evan Cook and Georgia Oriol. The teams participated in a four-event rotation that pitted them against several intense gladiators.

Battleball, a football-type game, saw Marley Smith use blazing speed and Brendan Arnold use sheer power to score on gladiators. At the pool, Brett Richardson used brains to get the ball into the net at Aquatic Thunder and at The Gauntlet, SMAP shot through the obstacles and counselor Tim couldn’t hit a single one with a water balloon.

It was a highly competitive day and the scores were almost dead even when it came time for teams to take on The Eliminator, a giant obstacle relay that covered the whole camp. Everyone on every team was involved and it was neck and neck right up until the final leg. The green team was able to edge out gray for the win in The Eliminator and when the final scores for the day were tallied, the Mean Green Fighting Machine had won Gladiator Day!

It was a hard fought day and everyone had a nice, relaxed time at the social when it was over. Socials are always great for bringing the whole camp together for a fun night of dancing and laughing. Today, we are all preparing skits for Jive Through The Genres, which is always great and this year, for some reason, every skit night has been better than the last. The bar is set unbelievably high right now, and I’m sure it will just bump up even more tonight!

Every session, I always worry how long the period of adjustment is for a certain group of campers. Sometimes, it takes a little while for kids to adjust from their everyday routine and sometimes the kids just throw themselves into the camp lifestyle and there really is no period of adjustment.

Well, this session pretty much had none. This was never more evident than it was yesterday at Cacapon. The campers and counselors belted out all of the traditional camp songs and cheers on the bus ride there and the oft-mentioned trademark CTT zaniness took over as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. The kids didn’t have much luck fishing, but we had a great day splashing around in the water and, as usual, the sandcastle building contest showed us how imaginative our kids really are.

Cabin 3 and Cabin 5 tied for first place, but all of the entries were really cool. The boys in the BV even made a replica of Bowser’s Castle from the Mario games. All in all, Cacapon was a really neat experience for all of us.

It’s hard to believe the first week of camp is almost over. The flag football and baseball leagues begin today and tomorrow is our first Sweet Saturday! Tomorrow is also Gladiator Day and that should be a lot of fun. There will be a whole line-up of awesome sporting events for the kids and counselors alike. Everyone enjoys special Saturday activities, and this one should be no exception.

So big things are happening here at camp! This has been a great session so far and the next two weeks can only get better. CTT is definitely the place to be this summer.

Out-of-camp trip today – details and a full recap will follow tomorrow!!!

What are some jobs you really wouldn’t want to do? There have to be some. Perhaps being plumber isn’t your thing or maybe being a custodian doesn’t ring your bell. Well, we all have some professions we wouldn’t want to do and last night the campers and counselors at CTT created a series of humorous skits to show what jobs they don’t desire. It was the much heralded Cheesy Skit Night, and it set the bar pretty high for the rest of the skit nights this session.

The show began with Cabin 3 and counselor Marylou showing the terrors of the teaching profession (which may be autobiographical because she is a math teacher in the real world). Josh Arnold and the gang got the night off to a great start with the longest skit of the evening.

There were many memorable moments throughout the evening and just like in every skit night of the previous session, counselor Kyle was made fun of in several acts. Cabin A decided being his childhood babysitter was one of the worst jobs anyone could have because of his propensity to smash things and eat plates. His own campers in boys’ tents decided he actually had the worst job available and poked fun at themselves.

But there was plenty of love spread around. Alex Fang was mentioned in two skits as well, both by the youngest girls in camp. In Cabin B’s skit, it was also determined that being Fang’s counselor during wake-up was a tough job and Cabin A demonstrated that it was actually tougher to be his counselor during unpacking day because of his odd wardrobe (which includes multiple onesies).

Despite the good-natured ribbing of some of our favorite people here, the boys in Cabin 78 and counselor Julia won the night by trashing both Justin Bieber and the latest installment in the Twilight franchise, Eclipse. First, they demonstrated that being Bieber’s manager would be tough because people are willing to kidnap him just so he is out of the limelight. The toughest job in the world, according to Jesse Alloy and his friends, would to be the editor of Eclipse. A movie editor has to watch the movie up to 300 times to catch all the tiny mistakes. According to Alloy, “That movie brought us all enough pain from watching it one time. Watching it over and over has to be the worst job in the world.” Needless to say, they won the competition.

Cabin A came in second, but it was all in good fun. There were lots of laughs and great skits last night and that is what we have all come to expect out of Cheesy Skit Night. Tonight is Cabin Night, and that is one of my favorite nights of the whole session. I love hanging out with my BV boys, even though they have vowed to take down my co-counselors and I in a game of water polo…

But it will be a blast. This is CTT. Everything is.

I never thought the sight of a bus could spur so much emotion. Usually, a bus is just a slow-moving obstacle to deal with on the highway. But, as I learned this weekend, the symbolism behind the red Schrock buses that transport campers to and from CTT can elicit sadness, excitement, nervousness and hopefulness.

The crunch of the gravel under the bus tires and the cloud of dust in its wake brought the sadness on Saturday. When the bus arrived, it was time to say our goodbyes to first session; to say goodbye to the laughs, the friends, the CTT routine and say goodbye to being away from everyday. The red machine looked so out of place in the middle of our camp that the experience was surreal, but when Brandon Kagen, Miller Friedman, Sydney LaPorte and all of the others piled on it became evident that it was really there and this was really happening.

There was talk of our trip to Hershey Park, of the 300 White Spartans defeating the Blue Collar Comedy Crew in Color War, of special times and everyday activities, now all reduced to memories in the part of our brains where we store good times. It was a sad day and many tears were shed, but the great thing about life is that there is always a tomorrow. After we find ways to stay occupied for the rest of the summer, after the school year begins, after the cold winter and after Spring Break, we get to return to this place.

I hated to see the campers from first session leave, but at the same time I occupy my mind with thoughts of the camp opening next year and when we all get together again. And I can’t wait.

The bus delivered the excitement and nervousness on Sunday when it hauled in Brett Richardson, Olivia Kimmel, Ethan Polk-Trauman, Adam Tommer and the rest of the second session gang. The nervousness comes when waiting on the bus to arrive, and it is almost unbearable. Will the kids be excited for camp? Will they like our skits? Will they like us?

But that all melts away as soon as the red bus crests the top of the hill and you can see excited campers faces even through the tinted windows. When they all come pouring off the bus and hug their favorite counselors from last year and meet their counselors for this year, camp is right back in session. The excitement spreads through this camp and soon after the kids get here seemingly everyone is smiling and already enjoying each other’s company. BV kids play tetherball with cabin three, Cabin G girls start talking in hushed, hurried tones about whatever it is they talk about and tent boys and girls begin the awkward conversations we all had at that age. Suddenly, we’re all caught in the moment and excited for the next three weeks.

The last emotion, hopefulness, is a common theme throughout. We are hopeful that the first session campers have a great year and learn a lot. We hope to see and hear from them again very soon and we are hopeful that the things they have learned here transcend our small camp and help them in their everyday lives. We hope they remember us fondly and we truly do hope for the best for each and every person that left this camp after the first session.

We are hopeful we can make the next session an amazing one for the campers of second session. We hope each moment of this session is one that will turn into a memory they will cherish. We hope we have fun and we hope we can teach these kids how to be good people. We hope second session is a blast, even though we are pretty sure it will be.

And I hope you enjoy this blog. I loved spending the first three weeks of summer bringing you the latest news from camp and I am excited to get started working on second session. I want to thank the first session readers for visiting my blog and being a great audience. As far as second session readers, I hope you keep coming backing. This is going to be a great session and I will bring you all of the big stories here, so keep coming back!

Don’t you just hate when a normal skit night ends with a hoard of ghosts flying in and dragging you to the lake for judgment?

It happens every year at CTT. It is known as Ghost Court and it is the one night a year the counselors (mostly) get to choose a fitting punishment for the campers’ quirks. And this year’s judgments and sentences were simply awesome.

The most noticeable punishment so far is the one handed out to Cabin Three. Jakeabel, Ziggy, Matt Kasoff, Sam Audia and the like are so positive they are good at everything that this morning they had to wake up and go to the art shack to make signs detailing their flaws. Now the whole camp knows about Bobby Jaffe not being musical and Sam Blum’s inability to dance. It’s just priceless.

This year, the girls of Cabin HuG love to make bracelets. And they look nice. I’m not 100% sure, but their counselors may have had something to do with their sentencing to make bracelets for all of their counselors. Hmm…

Some kids have to make public declarations, such as Cory Nigrin. Cory loves his iPad. He allegedly spends most of the day on it- while at camp. So by order of Judge Mookie, he must make a list of 10 reasons why camp is better than the iPad and read it at lunch.

The boys in the Buffalo Village don’t like to observe rest hour. They prefer to call it Wrestle Hour and, as you’ve probably guessed, wrestle for the duration. This morning, thanks to the honorable Mook, they had to each come up with a reason why resting is good and read it in a professional wrestling voice.

Sydney Sachs and Aaron Forest are very loving people, but when it is stifling hot outside hugs aren’t really all that desirable. For their propensity to hug long and often, they are forbidden to touch anyone the rest of the day. It will be neat to see how that one plays out…

The day after Ghost Court is great. You see Max Penn walking around in a mountain boarding butt pad, Olivia Seltzer and David Morrel performing poetry, kids dressed up like GameBoys and hear Jacob Langer talking like a pirate.

On second thought, I kind of like it when a skit night is interrupted by ghosts that whisk us away for hilarious convictions…

This year at CTT, we are lucky to have an American soldier here to celebrate Independence Day. Jason Neely, a rookie counselor in Cabin 1, is a member of the West Virginia Air National Guard and it is remarkable to see how seriously he takes this day.

We are all patriotic people and we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and cover our hearts for the national anthem, but Jason makes us all look like slackers. He sits on porches and cabins for hours and talks to campers about how much he enjoys serving his country and about what military life is like. He wears his fatigues to intense events like Rope Burn to add an air of intensity the rest of us can’t match. And this morning, after the wake-up bell, he stood on the porch of the BV, fixed in a rigid salute, as The Star-Spangled Banner was played over loudspeakers.

It was almost haunting to see one of my peers and co-counselors switch into soldier mode and I realized that without people like him we would not have a place such as this to come and be with the people we love. When he stood at breakfast and urged us all to write a letter to a soldier today, the campers and counselors broke into a ‘USA’ chant and he swelled with pride. And he deserves to.

Next summer, there is a very real chance that Jason will be trading a CTT staff shirt and the mountains of West Virginia for a combat uniform and the doldrums of Afghanistan. While the rest of us mill around and stress about planning such trivial things as Pirate Day, he is mentally preparing himself to go ensure that we have a safe place to live. The weight must be tremendous on the young man’s shoulders, but he doesn’t show it. He laughs and has fun just like the rest of us, but sometimes, like this morning, we are reminded of how special he is.

Usually in this blog I like to mention campers and the fun we are all having, but when I saw Jason on the porch this morning I knew this had to be a different kind of post. On Independence Day, we should be honoring the people who have made the American dream such a reachable goal and he is one of these people. We should enjoy our barbecues and fireworks, but take some time to think of people like Jason. People like him are the reason we have things like Camp Tall Timbers. They are the reason we have nice things and loving families that we can enjoy in safety.

As we work our way through today’s activities, it will look like a normal day at CTT. Tonight is Movie in a Minute, so people will be prepping for that. The flag football playoffs start at free swim. It will look like a run-of-the-mill day, except one counselor will have an extra bounce to his step. And he deserves to.

Thank you, Jason.