Author: Glenn Smith

Good news everyone- I made it through skating night completely unharmed! No ice, no bruises, nothing! Most of the campers can say the same thing, not to mention the fact that we all had a blast last night when we trekked to the roller rink.

The DJ kept the vinyl spinning and the campers kept their wheels rolling all night. As usual the veteran campers proved themselves to be the best skaters. Stevie and Sam hardly hit the ground at all, the Schwartz brothers alternated between beating everyone at pool and impressing us with their roller skills and even Gerald showed some people up.

The young kids struggled a bit more, but they gave it a good try. With assistance from counselor Susan, the girls from cabin A stayed on the floor almost the entire night. I don’t think Kacey ever let go of Susan’s hand, but she was out there giving it everything she had. Some of the guys from the BV, like Mason, had a few hard falls but stayed up for most of the night.

All in all, skating night was a fun time for everyone. Most of us managed to stay upright for the majority of the night and we all had a great time grooving to the music.

With only a few more days left in the summer, we are all starting to prepare for those inevitable goodbyes. Despite this, there is still quite a lot of fun to be had in the summer. We still have the talent show, the banquet and I even hear rumblings about a bowling trip. So as is typical of the end of any session at CTT, we are all excited to get back and see our folks but dreading leaving High View. With so little time left, you can rest assured that those of us here at CTT will be living every minute to its fullest until we pack up and leave here Saturday.

If you’ll remember, last week I wrote about the battle between the various morning groups at CTT and their constant struggle to prove themselves the best. It all began with dippies, who are the crazies that jump into the pool first thing in the morning. They were then challenged by runnies, a group that likes to get up in the morning and go for a jog.

Despite the over-achievers’ persistence, the winning group with the most people has been and always will be sleepies, who are the folks who sleep through all the action and wait until the breakfast bell to begin the day.

I bring all this back to your attention because dippies scored a major advantage today over the other groups. While the runnies contingent was trotting and sleepies people were dozing, the dippers noticed a small ball of wet fur in the pool.

The ever-curious AM aquatic-lovers decided to investigate. They discovered a small chipmunk furiously trying to escape the pool, doggy paddling (chipmunky-paddling?) with all of his might to find an exit. The dippies crew saw that it would be near impossible for him to escape the chlorinated water, so they scooped him up, named him Bob, and returned him to his natural habitat.

Thanks to the kind hearts of the dippers, Bob the chipmunk can now live out the rest of his days in the area around the pool or anywhere else he decides to go at CTT (assuming he learns to avoid the pool itself).

Because of Bob’s misfortune, the dippies gang saved a life today. So they win the morning activities battle for Tuesday, at least.

Last night was Monte Carlo night, and the normal, everyday campers turned into George Clooney/Doyle Brunson-style gamblers for a night of gaming, betting, impromptu weddings and loud music. There were some blackjack tables, a poker table, a roulette wheel, a dice game and a few other things to occupy the boys and girls for the evening.

The boys who live in tents won the cabin competition, edging out cabin H by a mere two-dollar average. This was surely due to the fact the Schwartz brothers spent most of the night at the poker table and came away with a lot of big money. They proved themselves the best of the gamblers and took home the bragging rights.

I am preparing myself for pain tonight because we are jumping on the buses and going skating. The kids look forward to this night for the entire session even if my knees and elbows dread it. It will be a fun night though because the people at the rink always play some sweet music for us. The food is cheap, there is a pool table and not to mention we will be hanging out with all of our best friends.
Come to think of it, I’m looking forward to this evening too, despite the fact that I may have to spend the evening at Winchester Memorial…

Sunday’s evening activity may have been one of the more fun, interesting, original and outright disturbing things to ever take place at CTT. The event was known as Granny’s Candy, it was something completely new and unheard of at this camp and it produced some interesting characters.

The premise of the night was that the camp was split into groups and they had to find hidden counselors, who gave them balloons that represented candy. The idea of the night was to collect as many balloons as possible and the group with the most at the end of the night would be the winner.

It sounds simple enough, but there were a few orange, obnoxious wildcards. When the campers collected balloons and thought they were in the clear, it turns out that in reality they were far from safe. At any given time, a squad of oompa-loompas (Flip-Flop, Ethan and Collin) could jump out and pop their balloons! Evidently, the three guys got extremely into their roles (they were disturbingly good at hunting children and popping balloons) and had a lot of successful raids and the children and their ‘candy.’ Some of the smaller children were frightened at first, but then realized they had to fight to protect their prizes!

At the end of the day, the group led by Zach was able to corral and save the most balloons. They came out the winners and proved they were the most adept at avoiding the oompa-loompas.

Tonight is the ever-popular Monte Carlo Night! The campers will dress in their best and try to become true high rollers in a bevy of casino games. The cabin that gathers the most currency will be crowned the highest rollers at CTT! It should be a great night, and with skating tomorrow and some other big things in the works for the last week, summer is anything but over here at CTT…

Yesterday started out like any other Saturday at CTT- late wake-up, Sweet Saturday breakfast, a nice service planned by cabin H. Then there was a commotion from the back row of the congregation. Some pirates had shown up and were stealing benches!

The sea bandits continued to pilfer seats until almost everyone was standing. At that point their leader, Captain Submo Pete (Jason Gersh), explained that today was Pirate Day! This would be a day of fun games and pirate-themed activities where cheating, swindling and stealing were encouraged.The campers were split into four teams, assigned colors and the games began.

The first assignment for each team was to pick a team name and a captain. The captain could be mutinied against at meals and a new leader could be chosen from the other counselors on the team. The Red Hot Chili Pirates were led by Mighty Bill Young initially, then Flip-Flop (the counselor) took over. Rachel/Medusa was the captain for the Blue Kleptomaniacs and I was the captain for the White One-Eyed Buccaneers. The black team had a revolving stable of leaders, starting the day with Albert, then Nicole took over and they finished the day with Krista at the helm.

The first activity of the day was a treasure hunt. Each team was given clues as to where they could find the treasure and they went on their way to find stuff. But alas, treachery was afoot even in the opening event of Pirate Day.

The black team began searching for the treasure supposedly with the entire team trying to help. See, when a team found a clue they had to perfectly draw it, to the minor details, on a notepad. After the hunt was over the black team discovered that none of their drawings were correct! At a loss for an answer, they continued on to the next game, which was a piratey version of ‘Red Light, Green Light.’

The black team failed to capture the red team’s gold a single time during the game, setting them back. All morning it seemed as if they’d just had some bad luck. But at the lunch the cause for their ill fortunes was revealed.

When the teams adjourned to their cabins to change into their team colors, just minutes after the assignments were made, Nathaniel Schwartz pulled on some black clothes and began to do the activities with the black team. The problem was that Nathaniel had been assigned to the red team.

Acting as a spy he deliberately sabotaged the black team in the early events. It was one of the more daring movements of the day and put the red team in a good position early on.

In the afternoon, there was some pillaging of the empty cabin D, some water balloon launching and some life-sized Battleship using the racquetball court and water balloons. After the games, the teams headed down to the lake for a canoe relay, which the black team won by only sending four people by canoe as the rest of the team walked around the lake. A special mention should go to Bryan Kirks of the blue team, however, because he rowed everyone on his team to the destination by making several trips.

During the evening, there was a good ol’ fashioned pirate contest to determine the best marauder at CTT. The teams sent one representative each to be judged in different areas. The criteria took into account the best pirate lingo, best pirate dress, best pirate back story and many other piratey categories. There were a few stand-outs from this section of the evening. Stevie and James put on a very lively sword-fighting pirate dance, Gerald showed his skill in the belching competition and Simon proved that the White Bucs were actually behind a lot of the biggest events in history.

After the skits, songs, speeches and belching the Red Hot Chili Pirates were declared the winners. It was a long, fun day at camp and everyone had a great time being an outlaw of the high seas, if only for a few hours. The campers and counselors danced the night away at the pirate social and that was the end of the marauding bands at CTT.

Even though Pirate Day was awesome, there will be many more big things coming up here in the next week. There is Monte Carlo night, a trip to the skating rink and much, much more. It is definitely sad that summer is coming to an end, but I think we are all looking forward to all the big things we have left to do before we leave CTT.

Thursday was one of the biggest days of the session for all of us here at CTT. We broke a record, went to Cacapon and came up with some very interesting sand designs and castles.

During dinner Wednesday, Dean announced that he and a group of campers would be attempting to set a new CTT record at free swim the following day. He was gathering a group of campers, counselors, admins and anyone else to try and get as many water balloons in the air as possible. Dean and Krista began gathering and tying balloons during second period and had several buckets full when free swim came around. Cabin A & B contributed some to the cause, and Jesse Alloy donated dozens of balloons. There was a flurry of activity around cabin three and four as the participants filled and tied every balloon they could get their hands on.

Then it was time. Everyone from Kevin Trow, to A-Tom, to Gerald to Breanna and most of cabin A picked up handfuls of water balloons and waited for Dean’s count. On three, we all threw the balloons high into the air and watched them fall. In all, 207 balloons were in the air at the same time. Of course, they all smashed into the ground at the same time, soaking everyone in close proximity.
When it was over, Dean and his crew set a pretty high benchmark for future campers to meet. 207 water balloons is a whole lot, and getting them all in the air at the same time is a feat that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

In the afternoon, the crew headed off to our first trip of the session – to spend a big day at beautiful Cacapon. There was a lot of swimming and fun in the sun, and the whole day was capped off with some sand competitions.

In the sand castle building contest, Team Braveheart (led by Adam Fiergang) was crowned the winner for demonstrating their architectural prowess. In the cabin contest, cabins three and G came out on top, despite efforts by some (such as cabins one and five) to win by burying their counselors.

Tonight, the campers will have to trade in their swim trunks and sandy shoes for bad hair and cheesy suits because this is Game Show Night! The campers will participate in games based on several of our favorite game shows and it should be a fun night with some fun people.

It promises to be a good time, but I’ve come to realize something midway through third session. Every night is good night at CTT, whether you are at Cacapon, playing games, hanging with your cabin or skating – they are all special.

Sometimes, you just have to sit back and think what a great place this is to spend a summer.

Here at CTT, every Wednesday night is set aside for an evening of cabin bonding. Each cabin splits off from the rest of the camp and goes to a certain area of the camp for a night of activities, fun and friendship with the people we are closest with.

As I was in the gym playing dodgeball last night with cabin five, I heard some music coming from outside. I stepped out onto the gym mats to discover cabin B, who were making posters for their activity. That set off a chain of thoughts in my mind that made me realize the huge difference between cabin night activities on the girl’s side and the boy’s side.

I’ll start with the contrast between my evening with cabin five and what we saw of cabin B. The difference becomes apparent as soon as one walks into either area. One big contrast was the music, and each side tried to play theirs louder than the other. The boys were sweating profusely, dodging balls and beaming them at other kids. They were entranced with the battle/sport, and caught up in hard rocking tunes like “Freebird” and the entire AC/DC catalog. It was intense, manly, competitive and spirited.

Cabin B’s evening couldn’t have been more different. Compared to her brother Riley’s intense evening, Maddie St. Aubin (and the rest of her cabin) had a relatively stress-free night. The girls sprawled out on the gym mats, chatted lightly and made posters while listening to Miley Cyrus, Backstreet Boys, and any other bubblegum pop counselors Rachel and Kelly could find. They went back to their cabin relaxed and smiling, while cabin five went back with welts and bragging rights.

Regardless, I think both groups had a good time.

Every cabin on boy’s side played some kind of sport. The boys in the BV played basketball and hockey (and scored bunches of goals on Flip-Flop [the counselor] and CB). Cabin three went to riflery and played a game of shoot ‘em up poker, which is a game in which a deck of cards is taped to a piece of wood and players shoot the ones they want. Parker won with a full house.

Cabin four went to the upper fields and played Ultimate Frisbee. Ultimate Frisbee is such a staple around here it is hard to believe someone doesn’t know the rules, but camper Sam Greenberg had to learn them. He must have gotten the hang of it quickly because he made two fantastic diving catches during the game.

Boy’s tents did manly stuff as well. They went to the lake and went tubing before capping off the evening with a campfire.

Girl’s side cabin nights are much more chill. Cabin A went into the rec hall and played games all evening, cabin G went for a relaxing bike ride and cabin H spent the evening chilling and being creative in the art shack.

So you can see life on the boy’s side and the girl’s side differs greatly. From dodgeball and tubing to making posters and biking, each group at camp has some things they like to do that are completely different from the other side of camp.

All in all, cabin night is a great night of bonding that brings us closer to the people we live with, whether it be in a cabin or a tent. Last night was a good night for all of camp and we woke up looking forward to spending more time with our roomies.

All that being said, I still contend dodgeball is so much more fun than making posters…

Color War is this incredible phenomenon that is tough to put into words. The concept seems simple enough- the camp is split into two teams, blue vs. white. The two teams compete for two days in tests of athletic skill, artistic ability, general knowledge and overall spirit. But there is so much more to it than just a competition.

Anyone who has been at CTT for Color War knows this. They have competed on the fields, leaving their sweat and tears and everything in their body behind. They have screamed their heads off to the point that the day after the war ends camp is nearly silent. They could have been blue, or they could have been white, but they have definitely been through two extremely intense days that take everything CTT is about, cram it into a few hours and make hundreds of lasting memories.

In only my first year at CTT, I can tell you that Color War is my favorite thing we do here. Like the kids, all of the counselors put everything they have into it. It is such a powerful thing to be a part of, what with all the people screaming and shouting with everything they have for their team, I can’t imagine anything else like this anywhere else in the world.

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a general for the White Pegasus during the second session. To have all of these people stand behind and fight for a common goal, to whip people into frenzy with a few words, is something I’ve never experienced before. I want to try and bring you into the madness that is Color War from the vantage point of a general.

Three days before break-out…

I’m actually going to be a general. I knew I wanted to do this, but am I ready? I saw the pressure they were under first session. I’m scared. Mommy! Oh man, oh man, oh man…

Three minutes before break-out…

The blue generals, Flippy and Nicole, are here. Charlotte, my co-general for white is here. Evan Cook is here to help me break it on boy’s side. What if I slip? What if the kids don’t care? Oh man, oh man, oh man…

During the first team meeting…

I love this stuff! The kids are so into it! My voice hurts already, but I don’t care. Go white! W-H-I-T-E! Enrique the Super Spaniard is on my team! E-N-R-I-Q-U-E!

Hours later, thoughts from the Apache Relay…

Bummer. Jesse Alloy (blue) scored a bull’s eye rather quickly. Big lead for the bad guys.

Enrique just knocked the paint off of that golf ball. I’m legitimately worried about that ball circling the world and hitting me in the back of the head.

Alvaro just kicked five straight field goals. Easily. Why didn’t I know this during flag football? He would do this for the blue team.

White just made up a chunk of time! Look at Casey Dennison go on that canoe!

Sydney Sachs is a great hopper. She just hopped from the pavilion to the baseball field in like three seconds. Can she hop faster than I run?

Ethan Ebinger just rang the bell. Bluteus Maxximus wins the relay. But my guys aren’t quitting. They are running just like it was neck and neck. I love this team. Go white team go!

Heading into the final day…

I know we are behind, but we have some good things coming up. Erin, Camille and Emily have created a beautiful plaque, Ethan and Olivia have a solid speech and the skit and song are good too. We are still in this. Now we have to win some sports.

Two hours later…

Schnikies. We lost every sport but one. Do we still have a shot?

Heading into the final hour, where the plaques, skits, speeches and songs are presented and the winner is announced…

The judges say we are still in contention. The team believes we are still in. They are chanting, screaming, holding nothing back. These kids want to win. The colonels, Susan and Bill and Eva, are leading cheers and screaming their heads off because my voice is shot (and I’m jittery thanks to a mass consumption of NOS energy drinks). We are behind, no doubt about it. But we are here, united, a team in the truest sense and we are one hour from pulling this thing out. I’m on empty, but if these people have an hour left for me than I have one left for them!

“Go white team, go white team go!”

After the presentations, before the winner is announced. There were twenty minutes when the judges were deliberating and all we were running on was nerves…

These people are still chanting! I tried to talk to someone in a regular voice just now, and all that came out was a gurgle. The only way I can communicate verbally is with a raspy yell. All of these kids and all of these colonels are in the same boat and we are all here giving what little bit we have left. Everyone is drenched in sweat, covered in dirt and staving off exhaustion. It’s almost over…

The judges enter…

Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, man.

After the winner is announced…

Well, we lost. Blue team is celebrating, and their generals, colonels and campers did a fantastic job and deserve it. Regardless, I’m proud to be here. I’m proud to be on the White Pegasus team. I want to cheer with this team; with everything I have, one more time regardless of the fact that I basically am without a voice right now.

Color War is an incredibly taxing way to end a session, but there is nothing else in the world I’d rather do. The competition is so fierce it is tough to believe that we all go to the same camp, but when it is over it is almost immediately forgotten and we all become one family again. It makes our relationships with each other stronger and teaches us how to be fiercely competitive but always respect our opponents. It displays our artistic ability, our spirit and it shows that we all have what it takes to buy into a cause with the tenacity to put everything we have into it.

It sums up what CTT is in a furious two-day marathon. It is the perfect culmination of a great summer, and I think everyone- whether they are blue, white, camper, counselor, admin or judge- looks forward to it for that reason. It is CTT, and we love it for that.

And hey, second sesh white team- we’ll get ‘em next year.

Here at CTT there is a certain sect of campers and counselors who I consider clinically insane. A lot of people agree with me about this group of crazies, and I think you will too when I tell you what they are in to.

These campers, led by Trow and CB, get up when the bell rings and sprint to the pool. Then, despite the chilly temperatures the West Virginia morning brings, they jump into the already-freezing swimming pool. This act of madness is known as dippies, and there is a strong following. Today, even Glenn and Emma joined in the ludicrous exercise.

For the entire summer, dippies has been the chief physical activity for campers in the morning. It stood unchallenged and confident, knowing there wouldn’t be anything to contend with their nonsense. It looked as if dippies was your thing if you wanted to be active in the morning.

Until today, anyway. In an act even more absurd than jumping in the pool in the early hours of the day, Krista and Staci have formed a group to participate in something known as runnies. This bunch of wackos woke up early and went running. They took Gerald and Simon along and plan to make this an every day thing!

I feel both of these groups are crazy. I am a staunch proponent of the only group that makes sense – sleepies. We basically lay in bed, like normal people do, until breakfast. But hey, it is their call. I just know that sleepies has the biggest contingency of campers and therefore is the best.

After dippies/runnies/sleepies, a lot of neat things happen around camp. For example the boys in the BV all learned how to shoot a bow and arrow yesterday. Mary started the day not knowing how to cast a fishing pole, and ended the day by not only catching her first lifetime fish, but hauled in a second one as well.

But not everything that can be accomplished at CTT can be done on the athletic fields. For some reason, a group of counselors take a lot of pride in what they do in the dining hall. A while ago, Jason Gersh was hungry and ate six chicken patties for dinner, setting a new camp record and something chicken sandwich enthusiasts could shoot for in the future.

One of the enthusiasts, Flip-Flop (the counselor), sat at the table (wearing flip-flops, the shoes) yesterday with nothing but a pile of chicken patties and a dream. He started wolfing down patties when dinner started and didn’t stop until dinner was well over. He didn’t have much fanfare, but Jason and I stuck around to see him attempt the record.

And I’m glad I did. Flippy chomped down seven patties to claim the new record. Jason had to announce the record today at breakfast, and now the whole camp is aware of Flip’s new record of gluttony.

And those are the big headlines from the first day of the third session. A new group of morning crazies, a rookie fisherman turned into a master angler and a counselor proved himself a chicken patty hog. With all of this going on during only the first real day of the session, who knows what else the next two weeks could have in store?

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. Things got really hectic, as they always do, towards the end of second session and I have been on the go since the last post.

The big thing that kept me on the run, which is the same reason I now sound like Charlie Sheen, was Color War. This time around the White Pegasus, led by Charlotte and I, took on Flip-Flop (the counselor, who encouraged his team to avoid flip-flop, the shoe) and Nicole’s Bluteus Maxximus. After days of screaming, intense competition and shows of sportsmanship by both teams the blue team came out on top. There are so many things to talk about regarding the culmination of the biggest two days in camp that I don’t feel writing an abbreviated version does it justice. So for all you second session people who may still be tracking the blog, I will be posting a Color War blog in the next few days so please check it out when I get the chance to write it.

The day after Color War is a generally sad day around CTT. You know it marks the end of the session and it is almost time to hop on that bus and head back to real life. It was sad seeing so many people we’ve come to know so well leave for the final time. I watched the Dennison triplets board a bus and knew I would have to wait for almost another year to start another water balloon battle. I saw Evan and Joel Cook ride away and knew it would be a terribly long wait until we got to play ‘Find the Cooks’ again. Seeing someone like Hayley Sanders, who started out being terribly homesick early in the first session before becoming a great camper who always wears a big smile, leave us until next June can be an emotional moment.

And the campers felt it, too. There was no shortage of sad glances as they left this place, but you could tell they were eager to get home and see their families and outside friends as well. But watching these people leave after having such a great time, some with tears streaking down their faces, makes everyone proud to be a part of it. It just wouldn’t be the same if we weren’t sad when it was over. We all learn so much here and have such a good time that you have to hate to see it end. This place becomes a part of us even though we are only here for three short weeks. Of the 365 days in a year, we all look ahead to the 20-some odd days we spend here and regard them as some of the best times of the year.

Trust me, you can’t find that just anywhere.

But, in typical CTT fashion, you can’t mope for too long because there are more good times to be had and even more memories to be made. Almost as soon as the dust from the bus tires settled down on Saturday, a long line of cars carrying third session campers began trickling their way into camp. New faces and names like Bryan Kirks and Aaron Walsh showed up, not to mention a whole new slew of cute kids in the BV and cabin A. Some people, like Collin, came back and some people (such as Ethan Polk-Trauman and Vito Parr) never left.

The third session is an all new kind of animal, ripe with fast paced activities and people trying to pack the CTT experience into two weeks where it normally takes three. There are some great activities planned, a decent trips and a LOT of good people. And as I always say, the people make this place special. And I for one can’t wait to jump into the swing of third session and have more laughs with the people I know.

Last night the campers and counselors of CTT herded into the rec hall to take in the camp play Happily Never After, which was directed by Aram and starred Rachel Beiser, Collin and many other talented young thespians that roam around camp.

After the play, there was an improv show that featured 23 of our favorite funny people, including Jakeable, Miller, Theresa Brecker and many others. The whole camp laughed at the troupe’s antics, when they finished everyone was ready to head off to bed and get a good night’s sleep. But since we are here at camp and every plan is prone to quick and immediate changes, the camper’s anticipated sleeping had to be put off because dozens of white sheet clad ghosts came flying into the room and herded everyone up the hill. It was time for GHOST COURT!

Judge Bean presided over the hearings and almost every kid at CTT was handed down a judgment. One of the first groups to get hit were the boys from the Buffalo Village.

The BV guys have had a few problems with each other so far this session. There hasn’t been anything serious but there is definitely a lot of bickering back and forth. Judge Bean decided to do something about it. For all of their fighting, they now have to gather as a group outside of the mess hall before meals, gather in a group hug and sing the ‘Friends’ song. I’m sure everyone is looking forward to seeing that today at lunch.

It is widely talked about among the counselors at CTT that counselors Susan and Breanna got very luck with their cabin assignment. Cabin B is seemingly the perfect cabin. The only challenge with the cabin is learning to tell the Dennison triplets apart (a task that I sometimes struggle with). Well today, that task just got a lot tougher.

Athena Lewis is another great kid who resides in cabin B. She spends a lot of time with the Dennisons, so today she became one. She has been sentenced to dress like the Dennison trio and act like them all day. So cabin B really got hammered – a great kid has to act like three other great kids.

But the action doesn’t stop there for cabin B. In what should be one of the more interesting punishments to watch, the tent boys were convicted of trying too hard with the ladies. Because of their constant swooning, they now have to ask a girl from cabin A or B to a lunch date and act like perfect gentlemen. I can’t wait to see Enrique the Super Spaniard on a date with little Sydney Sachs…

There were many more judgments passed out, but I don’t have time to write about them all. Ask your kids if they were singled out by the Ghost Court and Judge Bean. It’s all in good fun, and I’ll bet their punishment was fun to carry out. GC is something all the campers and counselors look forward to, and last night’s didn’t disappoint.

It is one of the big things that happen towards the end of every session, but not the biggest. You all know what it is and I can tell you that the generals have been picked, the teams have been made and the activities are planned. All we have to do is get lucky enough to avoid the rain, and we will be in business…

Imagine a world where everything is based on candy. In some places, chocolate flows from fountains and free morsels are given away at every turn. In other areas, free Twizzlers are handed to anyone who desires them and giant candy bars walk around hugging people. The only thing missing are tiny orange men who sing ominous songs. I have dreamed of such a paradise, and yesterday the CTT crew found it.

We boarded the buses early and took off for Hersheypark in Hershey, Pa. We all received our first free candy, a pack of multi-colored Twizzlers, before we got into the park. The children excitedly looked around at each other as if they couldn’t believe their luck. Several children got in line for more freebies, and several counselors quietly groaned because with all of these free sweets the kids were bound to be extremely wound up the entire day.

The children all split up with their assigned groups and went to enjoy their day at the park. Some groups, like the one that was with Adam Gersh, made a direct line for the biggest and most dangerous looking roller coasters. Other groups, like David Cohen and his crew, stopped to buy candy as soon as they walked into Hersheypark. I know this because of the white goo in my backpack right now.

See, Paul Holtz decided he wanted to spend a few dollars on a giant Cookies ‘n’ Cream bar. Since the bar was roughly the size of Paul, of course he couldn’t finish it. I tried to be a good samaritan and hold on to it for him. Then I forgot about it, and of course it melted all over everything in my bag. But it wasn’t all bad- his melted white chocolate oozed all over my wild berry Twizzlers. It sounds gross, but in reality Hershey should really think of adding white chocolate-covered wild berry Twizzlers to their product line. Paul and I would be happy to split any royalties.

Taylor Dennison has had a few big days. At Hershey, she rode this monstrous, intimidating and scary-looking orange contraption known as Fahrenheit for the first time ever. She remarked that is was like her against gravity due to a near vertical drop. Today, she joined an archery class and scored her first lifetime bullseye within 20 minutes. This girl is on a roll, and I’m glad she is on white team for Color War because with momentum like this it would be tough to beat her!

Her sister Reese bought a Reese’s pillow. It must be really cool to have your name on a delicious candy and be able to buy cool things with your name on it.

One of my favorite things about amusement parks is the chance (no matter how small) to win a giant, ostentatious prize. Last session the CTT bunch made off with some giant monkeys and teddy bears from King’s Dominion, but this time the prize was less conventional. After passing a stand and seeing his ideal prize, Joel Cook became determined to become the proud owner of a five foot long banana.

After spend eight dollars, Joel just wasn’t lucky enough to throw a softball into a milk can. But one kind player was skilled enough to win one. He asked Joel what he wanted, and gave Joel his giant anthropomorphic stuffed fruit. Thanks to the kindness of a stranger, Joel Cook is now the proud owner of a giant banana.

Overall, it was another big day for the second session CTT bunch. As we boarded the buses to go home there was a neat mix of sadness because the day was over and joy to be back on an air-conditioned bus en route to a bed. That is one of the neat things about being here – you never want the days to end, but you still can’t wait for tomorrow.

The sky turned darker and darker, thunder rolled in the distance and a hundred or so people craned their eyes to the sky- all of them hopeful the storm would go away. After a day of fun in the sun, Beach Day was cruising along perfectly and just as the teams were setting up for the grand finale, the Samoan Relay, the menacing clouds and ominous rumbling prevailed and a quick, furious rain shower drenched everything at CTT.

The campers high-tailed it to the gym and we all scrambled to think of activities to replace the relay. It may seem that with a theme such as Beach Day the day was ruined. But remember- this is CTT. Even when it rains, we can have a good time.

The day began under a sunny sky. Four teams were chosen, each with CITs serving as captains. The Red King Crabs were led by Enrique the Super Spaniard and Kenna Hinton, the Green Sea Turtles had the pleasure of having Ethan Ebinger and Molly Shay running the show, Erin U. and Collin were at the helm for the Orange and Yellow Sunny D and the Blue Crabs dutifully followed Dana Marks and A.J. The teams decked out in their colors, swimsuits and carried beach towels to a day of activities that included boat building, Frisbee and crab soccer.

The boat-building contest was a fun one to watch. The team was given an assortment of random objects to build a boat with. The only requirement was that it had to carry half of cinderblock.

All the teams worked diligently on their boats for the time they were allowed. Despite the hard work, some just worked better than others.

For example, the red team’s design floated, but not upright. As soon as Enrique put it in the water, it tipped to the side and stayed there.

The yellow team’s design didn’t do much better. It began taking on water as soon as Conti put it on the lake. It didn’t take long for it to become completely submerged.

The blue and green team put forth the best concepts. The Sea Turtles put the brick in a bucket and sealed it. They then tied the bucket to the back of another vessel they made out of a crate and they both stayed afloat for a good while. Even with a good idea such as this, they still couldn’t quite top the blue team.

The Blue Crabs utilized empty soda cans and made pontoons out of them. Their star-shaped vessel easily supported the block and almost took on no water. They won the competition by half a point over the Turtles, and after a winner was decided the distant thunder became a giant obstacle in our plans.

As I mentioned, the rain certainly fell. Although everyone was looking forward to the canceled Samoan Relay, a few games of step tag in the gym had everyone right back in the spirit. After the Sea Turtles won, the teams split up and two of them headed to the rec hall for some games with Dean and Adam. The other two stuck around in the gym for that old rainy day standby- dodgeball.

After the dodging, ducking, dipping, diving and dodging, it was time for the Luau social. We set up speakers and blasted Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Hootie and the Blowfish (yeah, for the first time ever I got to pick a song) and many more of the camper’s favorite tunes. Katie was good enough to set up the stage lights to create a club atmosphere and we all danced the night away.

So, despite the rain Saturday turned into a great day at CTT. We missed out on the relay race, but Mike says that last night’s social is one of the best he has ever been to. Today is a normal day, but tomorrow is one everyone here is waiting for. Tomorrow we board the buses and head north to Hershey Park for a day of roller coasters and water slides.

But Hershey isn’t the biggest thing looming in the horizon. I don’t want to give it away, but I will give you a clue as to what the biggest event of the year is- Let’s go WHITE!

As the third and final week of session two looms ahead of us, I thought it would be neat to look back at the first two weeks and talk about some of the highlights that haven’t made it into the daily blog. They certainly deserved to be in the blog and receive recognition, but if every feat was covered I would be posting a novel every day and I’m sure you would all get fired because you would have to spend all day reading this instead of working.

So in order to give these campers their proper recognition and bragging rights (as well as making sure you all keep your jobs), we will have a little catch-up session.

First off, I’d like to address the lack of coverage of the flag football league. It is my fault. My Red Bulls have had a rough session and it conjures bad memories to talk about it. But, since we got our first win the other day over the Orange Crush I feel it is time to talk about the play of the year so far.

J-Man was at center for the Crush in the aforementioned game against the Bulls. In our league the center isn’t allowed to go out for passes, which makes this play all the more spectacular.

On fourth down, the Crush quarterback dropped back and tried to find a receiver over the middle. Bulls defensive back Evan Cook drew a bead on it and attempted to knock the pass down. He made solid contact and sent the ball back in the quarterback’s direction. The batted ball popped high into the air and right into the arms of an unsuspecting J-Man.

Since a defensive player smacked the ball into his hands the center was allowed to run with it. He took off around the left end and made a line for the first down cone. Several Bulls stood in the 15-yard stretch to the cone, but J-Man wove, ducked, dodged, juked and powered his way past the cone for the first down. It was without question the best play of the season so far.

A certain sect of campers and counselors are extremely dedicated to a special type of madness known as Dippies. This is a group of people who jump out of bed as soon as the 8 a.m. bell rings and sprint to the pool for an early morning swim. There are certain people who do it everyday, but they always seem to be lobbying for more females to join them.

Well, today they got them. In what was probably the highest turnout of females at Dippies in a long time, the entire population of cabin G reported to the pool this morning. This was a big deal for the usual Dippers, but the girls said this was a one-time thing (much to the disappointment of Chris Brown and Trow).

And a few more highlights, although briefly-

– Stephanie and Masha climbed the wall for the first time this week. Word has it they were scared senseless and Steph screamed most of the way up, but they did it.

– Javier swam the length of the entire pool under water without stopping to take a breath.

– Dozens have people have caught and named fish, the last being Miguel who christened his new friend as Jack.

– Counselor Noah caught a sock. At the lake. With a fishing pole.

– A-Tom invented a game. And won the game.

And finally-

-Enrique the Super Spaniard did something incredibly athletic.

The problem with choosing what to include in the blog is tricky. Everyday, all of these kids are doing great things and having the time of their lives. With over 100 campers, I do the best I can to give you just an inkling of what they all experience when they come here. Even if I don’t mention everyone by name, just know that when I speak about this camp being a home for all of us and the people being our CTT family I am talking about them as well.

With this phenomenon known as Color War looming on the horizon as well as a trip to Hershey Park, there are tons more memories to be made. Hopefully, I can do this place justice and give you a glimpse of the amazing place CTT is, and help you get to know the even more amazing people that inhabit this place.

Normally at CTT, we recognize the sound of a bell as notice that we need to wake-up, go to meals and switch activities. It is one of the constants in our lives that help can help us organize our schedule. Last night, at Carnival Night, the ringing bell meant something completely different.

At Carnival Night, the bell meant someone had just accomplished an incredible feat of strength. It meant that someone had just taken the giant rubber mallet (which was a little bit bigger than the girls of cabin B) and smashed the impact pad hard enough to send the, um, thingamajig high enough to hit the bell. A few of the senior campers such as Enrique, Tim and Javier were able to do it but a lot of the juniors struggled with it. That’s okay though, because despite numerous efforts admin Karina couldn’t make it happen either.

There were other activities at the carnival as well. There were juggling lessons, a dart game, face painting, a moon bounce and arm wrestling. All of the activities kept long lines until the end of the evening. But one line, arm wrestling, seemed to be incredibly grueling.

Conti and I were the counselors who wrestled the kids. When a kid won, we gave them a piece of candy. Well, after we met the likes of Noah Hayes, Casey Dennison, Stephanie and Olivia Seltzer all we had left was an empty box that could have been filled with what was left of our shattered confidence.

Before the carnival, there were some amazing things done elsewhere in camp. Conti announced at dinner that Sydney Sachs dunked a basketball without any help at all. This seemed a little suspicious, seeing as Sydney is seven years old and stands well under five feet tall. It was revealed later that the rim was only five feet off the ground, but regardless dunking the ball is still pretty cool. In the same period, J-Man saw his basketball fly over the wall during a game of Knockout. Instead of finding another ball, he took off and leapt over the wall headfirst in true Superman fashion.

Paul Holtz continued the pattern of gluttony at dinner last night when he successfully tackled a six-layer peanut butter sandwich.

And finally, in the vaunted tradition of the Choomster and the Loomster, CTT has new contest to determine who has the biggest of a certain object. Yesterday at dinner it was announced the Joel Cook is the first possessor of the Bruister, which is the biggest bruise in camp. No one is really sure how he got the massive bruise but it has earned him this distinct recognition and the envy of people who bruise easily. Despite the honor, we hope no one will be able to challenge him.

Today, the young campers will be heading out to Cacupon and the veterans will be going white water rafting. It should be a fun day for everyone will all of our best friends, and hopefully we will get into some good stuff so I can tell you about it tomorrow…

Do you remember the old opening credits for ABC’s Wide World of Sports? That old “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” spiel that had an endless reel of athletes behind it?

Well, last night it looked as if all of the athletes in the reel had called all of their jock friends and went roller-skating. It was skating night for the CTT bunch and our theme was sports, so everyone pulled on the jersey of their favorite player and donned the logos of the teams they support. There were Redskins fans, Yankee fans, LeBron James fans and even a Seattle Seahawks fan (namely, Emma – she sported a nice Shaun Alexander throwback jersey).

Skating night is always a big one at CTT. The veteran campers generally zoom around like professionals while the younger ones try to keep up. That is usually a sure-fire way to tell how long someone has been at camp, but last night there was an exception named Enrique.

Enrique comes to us from Spain and has been nicknamed the ‘Super Spaniard.’ He claims to be 16 years old, but due to his hulking size and staggering athletic ability I have a suspicion he might be somewhere closer to 26. He makes most of the counselors look small and generally dominates at any sport, regardless of whether or not he has ever played it before. For example – in one of his first golf lessons, he was able to chip the ball out of the sand and into a bucket. He was the first of the session and achieved the feat before the instructor, Ethan, could do so.

So no one was surprised when he, on his first trip to the skating rink, threw on some quad skates and was quickly doing tricks. He fell a few times, but from what I understand no one could believe this was his first time. I couldn’t help but be impressed with his quick mastering of the activity, even if I do believe he is pushing 30 years of age.

Also at the rink, Spanky challenged Dana Marks to a game of pool. Apparently, Dana is a pool hustler in her spare time because she destroyed him.

CTT offers dozens of different activities for the campers to participate in. There are normal sports, water sports, extreme sports, wilderness activities and much, much more. Despite all of this, we found out this morning that a new activity could be added to the list soon – agriculture.

Or gardening at least. For the entire summer, we have been tracking the CTT tomato plants growing outside the dining hall. We had almost given up hope, but then Emma stood at breakfast today and announced that she was holding the first ever “CTT toe-maht-toe.” With the help of a British-to-American translator, it was revealed that she was holding the first ever CTT tomato. Adam Gersh sang “You say tomato, I say toe-maht-toe” as the rest of us pondered a possible agricultural boom here at camp.

Regardless of whether or not that idea gets off the ground, the fact that we have successfully harvested a tomato is pretty cool. Hopefully there will be more to come. Maybe we could add eating our home-grown tomatoes to the long list of things we will take away and cherish from our time at CTT.

There wasn’t a muggle in sight last night at CTT. This was due to the fact, for one night at least, we were transformed into magical, spell casting, quidditch-playing beings who participated in wizarding activities during Harry Potter Night.

All of the campers and counselors were sorted out into the four houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They were then sent off to different games and competitions that would determine the house winner for the night. There was quidditch in the gym, wizard dueling in the rec hall, Harry Potter trivia at the pavilion and finally, to end the day there was a relay race (which didn’t actually have much of a wizarding theme at all, but seemed like it would be fun).

The most physical of the contests was quidditch. There were hoops attached to various high places around the gym and the goal was to throw various yellow balls through the hoop. A counselor guarded each hoop and the trick was to time your throw so the counselor couldn’t smack it down. Ethan Ebinger seemed to master this, because I know he scored around a dozen times in my hoop.

The knowledge these kids have of the world of Harry Potter is staggering. With almost no counselor help, the campers from each house were able to answer each of Aram’s questions. Aram, who is a hardcore Potter fan himself, had to give it up to the kids- they knew their stuff. They named each of the unforgivable curses, all of the Weasley brothers, the name of Hermione’s cat, knew the make of the flying car and tons of other minor details in the stories. I could only imagine if they were able to focus this same energy on clean-up time…

In the end, the house of Ravenclaw was named the winner. Even though they were battling the rain, all the houses brought a competitive spirit and showed excellent sportsmanship. It was a big night, but two campers deserve special mention for their devotion to the Potter world. Hayley Sanders and Collin dressed in their wizarding attire. Hayley was a convincing Hermione Granger while Collin, despite having Weasley-esque locks of red hair, donned a fake beard and came as Albus Dumbledore.

This morning, the Froot-Loop face-stuffing competition continued when Reece Dennison set the girl’s record at 40 pieces of cereal. I don’t have the official books in front of me, but I do believe that’s a new high for campers.

The forecast for tonight is pain. Well, for some of us. It is skating night. Those of you who read every day know that I almost sustained some serious injuries in our last go-round at the rink, so I’ll be wearing plenty of padding. It never ceases to amaze me how skilled the campers are. They just show up, put on some skates and zoom around effortlessly the entire night. Others, aka the counselors, usually show up and promptly crash. Several times. Hard.

So, those are the plans for today; pain for counselors, fun for campers and most importantly- cheap food and drink at the roller rink. I’ll be back tomorrow to let you know how it went, even if I’m blogging while buried in ice.

Last night, campers at CTT got the chance to live rough and show how handy they can be in the outdoors. After a night of sleeping under the stars and making our own fires and food, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Discovery Channel cameramen show up for our next adventure.

When the bell rang after second free swim, each cabin came to the pavilion and picked up tarps to sleep on and a crate of food. Then they spread out to all corners of the camp to begin a night of cabin togetherness, story telling and most importantly – roasted marshmallows. Everyone seems a little sleep-deprived, but we all learned a lot in regards to making fires (including how long a process it can be) and attempting to sleep comfortably with no shelter.

One camper, Dana Marks, decided that the fire was more important than the sleeping part. She built the fire for the girls’ tent group and was so proud of her handy work that she kept that same fire burning for 14 hours. Krista, the counselor for the group, remarked that Dana was up with the fire when they went to sleep and was still dancing around the flames when they woke up this morning.

The boys’ tent group decided to do a little something different with their fire. Using the water they were provided at the beginning of the evening, they brewed several different types of herbal teas. I’m not sure where they came across the stuff, but they listed a ton of ingredients. It sounds like a really relaxing way to spend an evening and I’m jealous.

A few days ago, I remarked at Jakeabel’s feat of being able to stuff 15 Froot-Loops in his mouth. That was his personal record, but today at breakfast cabin three decided to challenge him.

Eric Siegle first broke Jake’s record by shoving 24 pieces of cereal in his mouth. Not to be outdone, his counselor Albert blew everyone’s mind by stuffing his face with 50 loops, chewing and swallowing them all with any beverage.

This was only the second most astonishing feat of the day though. During lunch, Noah Hayes made and ate a six-layer peanut butter and jelly sandwich. For such a small guy, Noah took down the six-tiered monster in a short amount of time. It was truly a spectacle to witness.

That just about does it for all the breaking stories from CTT for today. Tonight, we will follow up Survivor Night with Harry Potter Night. I can’t wait to see what activities the planners have in store for us. Maybe some spell casting? Possibly some quidditch? Is there a sorting hat involved?

We are all waiting in anticipation of what should be another in a long string of memorable evenings at CTT.

Boy, a lot has happened since the last time I was able to post. We went to a baseball game, survived a rainy day, visited the wild west and witnessed an epic 20 minute dance-off between Ziggy and Chris Brown. With all of that action you can understand why I haven’t been able to post.

I have said before that the people at Camp Tall Timbers are what makes this place so special. A  perfect example of this was what went down on Friday.

We woke up and it was extremely warm. The heat before breakfast had most of us sweating profusely and preparing for a real scorcher. So imagine our surprise when we left breakfast under dark, threatening clouds. It seemed rain was imminent, and halfway through first period the skies opened.

After some scrambling by the admins and counselors, a plan was formulated. The younger kids went into the rec hall for a Chinese auction while the older campers had an egg drop in the gym.

I stuck with the young ones, and the Chinese auction was a blast. The judges, Karina and Jacqui, gave us 10 minutes to gather a pillow case full of random objects. Then, when the competition started, teams had three minutes to build a certain object out of what was in the pillow case. Campers built a wide array of objects and it was enjoyable to watch. We got to see Noah Hayes dress as a caterpillar and do the Worm, a picture frame with a moving picture of cabin three and cabin A rock out as a four-piece band when they were assigned to build a guitar. In the end, cabin three took the win but it was a blast all around.

In the afternoon, we had a camp-wide display of true skill and virtuosity in a talent show. Cabin one performed a poem in, as counselor Aram introduced it, the same vein as Allen Ginsberg and the beats. Cabin B showed us that they are good at many sports, but Taylor Dennison is the only one who can kick a soccer ball. The girl’s tents demonstrated a zeal for corny jokes and both the Spanish and French campers sang ‘Happy Birthday’ in their native tongue to Trow (who turned 19 and revealed that he is actually an egg throwing robot). There were many other talents and it was certainly a very fun afternoon.

As I said before, to have a good day when it rains is something that makes CTT special. It proves that all we really need to have a good time are the people around us- our CTT family.

Yesterday, we all jumped into a DeLorean and visited the 1870’s during Wild West Day. The day included events at riflery, archery; an Alka-Seltzer quick draw competition and a pie eating contest. When the day was done, the team known as the Northern Riders came away with the win. It was a fantastically planned day that everyone involved is raving over.

Luckily, our flux capacitor didn’t malfunction and today we are back in modern times. To celebrate, Jakeabel set a new personal record at breakfast by stuffing 15 Fruit Loops in his mouth.

Tonight, we will venture out with our cabins to different areas around camp and sleep under the stars. It should be a great night of bonding for campers and counselors alike. Hopefully it stays dry outside (knocking on wood at this very moment), but if it doesn’t I know we can still have a good time.

Whether we are in the cabins, in the woods, in the gym or rec hall during rainy days,incredibly hot ones and even if we get a rare July blizzard, all we need are the people. This camp is built, functions and revolves around the people that are here. It is a blast, and I am proud to be a part of it.

The chant bellowed through the dining hall as a few campers and counselors made their way to the head of the room carrying exceptionally large potato chips. Each of them looked eager to match their formidable crisp with the next and every one of them hoped to possess the largest chip of the day- or as we know it at CTT, the coveted Choomster. The search for the Choomster is one of our neatest little quirks. Both the boy’s and girl’s sides take great pride in bringing home the Choomster.
Yesterday the boy’s side took home the glory thanks to Jason Gersh’s baseball sized snack. He devoured it as the boy’s side followed up the “Choomster” cheer with chants of “Eat it!”

Outside camp, such a tradition might look a little crazy. But here at CTT such behavior is all in fun, commonplace and encouraged. The search for the Choomster is just one of the really neat things that make any amount of time at CTT special.

In another arena of crazy competitions, the boys down in the Buffalo Village and the girls of cabins A & B continued their rivalry during cabin night. Originally, the two groups were separated. A & B set up for a relaxing spa night on the wrestling mats outside the gym and were content to paint their nails and be girly until bedtime.

The BV had other plans. They were in the gym playing some incredibly intense games of dodgeball. The boys could hear the girl’s music outside and after some convincing and goading, A & B sent counselor Eva inside to challenge the boys to a few games. The action was just as heated as the water balloon fight the day before, but there was definitely a clear cut winner. The BV beat A & B seven straight times. But A & B won’t back down, so they challenged the boys to yet another water battle during second free swim. The boys answered the challenge with the help of Dean, who helped them freeze and kidnap counselor Kelly. The rivalry between the youngest kids in camp is in full swing and it may be the most exciting thing going on in camp. Details from the water battle will be posted soon…

Elsewhere, campers have been teaching the counselors a thing or two. On the basketball court, Alvaro defeated Adam Gersh in a game of one-on-one. At the archery range, Casey Dennison beat the archery counselor (who happened to be me) in a game of Knock-out. During the game, Casey hit her first bull’s eye. It was a big day for Casey at the range and one she will hopefully remember for a long time.

Yesterday marked the first ever Annual Mike Conti Gold Bag Walk. During second free swim Conti, CB and some counselors walked to the soccer fields and back. No one is sure why it was momentous or what charity it supported, but we do know they were very enthusiastic and that has to count for something.

During the same period, the Cook brothers, Evan and Joel, donned their camouflage suits and hid from a search party. After not being found at all last year, both Cooks were discovered in less than a minute. I’m not sure whether the Cooks were taking it easy on the rest of us or the search party’s finding skills have greatly improved, but we will all eagerly await the next time the Cooks try to escape the rest of the camp.

Tonight, we will be jumping on the buses and going to see the Winchester Royals in action. This is one of the activities everyone in camp looks forward to and it should prove to be a good time. What could be better than a baseball game with all of our friends and CTT family?

Second session is now well under way. The campers are getting into their daily routines and the activities they selected, the flag football league starts today and we expect to hear about the beginning of the baseball league any day now. The rifles are firing and the balls are bouncing, the bats are ringing and the swimmers are swimming.

It is camp as usual. A normal day is scheduled, but unscheduled activities also have a neat way of popping up and drawing our attention. A perfect example of this is the other day when, on a whim, several guys from the Buffalo Village decided to attack cabins A & B and their counselors with water balloons, guns and bottles. A & B responded by brandishing their own water weapons. It was a fight.

Yesterday, cabin B counselor Breanna stood at lunch and challenged the BV to a formal water battle. The BV of course answered the call. It was scheduled for second free swim and when I approached from the riflery range I saw Taylor and Casey Dennison circling the area outside the bunk, ready to attack the first BV camper or counselor who was unlucky enough to show their faces.

Isaac Lewis led the charge for the BV. He came out with the few water balloons they were able to scrounge up and a water gun, which was supplied by Eli Sachs (he had a huge bag of guns and supplied the cabin). Athena Lewis came at her brother, but the rest of the BV stormed the A&B porch.

Counselor Eva tried to nail me with a water balloon. Well, three balloons to be exact. Let’s just say I don’t want her on my baseball team. Hayley Sanders, however, pegged me in the back and I want her in my outfield.

Brendan Arnold and Brett Richardson doused Breanna and the boys of the BV managed to capture counselor Carla’s water bottle. She had to come to our porch to get it back, which resulted in her getting a decent size bottle of water poured on her.

When it was all said and done, everyone outside was wet. We had to retire to go work on our skits for ‘Movie at a Glimpse.’ Both sides claimed victory and because of the dispute a rematch is scheduled for later today. I’ll keep you posted on how that shakes out.

‘Movies’ was the evening activity. The idea was that each cabin had to perform a blockbuster movie in less than a minute. Then they were given a characteristic (for example, my cabin did an arrogant version of Elf) and they had to perform it again.

There were several perfect scores given. Cabin B’s rendition of a sick Wall-E netted the top score of four stars, as did a musical Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles performed by cabin four. In the end though, the judges decided to go with cabin seven’s version of The Sandlot. They received the CTT Emmy at breakfast and celebrated accordingly.

Tonight, we are gearing up for our first cabin night. Wednesday is a special day for all of us here at CTT because we get to hang out with our cabin mates for an entire night of activities. I know everyone in camp is looking forward to it and they should, because this is how our strongest relationships are formed- by spending good quality time with our friends.

That just about sums up another big day here at CTT. Girl’s leagues started today, flag football is any minute now and our first out-of-camp trip, to see a minor league baseball game, is tomorrow night! Everything is in full swing here and there is a ton of fun stuff to do every day. The campers are starting to feel the everday excitement that is CTT, and seeing them have fun and try/ excel at new things is what this place is all about.

Hey everyone, sorry about the total lack of blogs since last Wednesday. Everyone I’ve talked to loves daily updates and I love to give them, but some big things were going down in regards to wrapping up first session and beginning this one. I’m back now, and after the madness of Color War, the sadness of the first group of campers leaving and the excitement of the new batch I can assure you I will have tons to talk about.

On Thursday and Friday last week I got my first chance to experience this phenomenon known as Color War. It began early in the morning when the generals, Trow and Rachel/Medusa for white and Spanky and Krista for blue, came barging into the bunks at around 7:30 sounding sirens and calling names. Everyone received a bolt of either blue or white paint to sort out the teams, and the games began!

It was sheer madness for a day and a half. It began with a cheer face-off outside the pavilion before breakfast, included team sports and an unruly, yet oddly carefully organized Apache Relay (which included near every activity at CTT, even a gum chewing and bubble blowing stage) and wrapped up with the presentation of the team songs, skits, plaques and speeches.

The battle was at a near dead heat going into the presentations. The Blubonic Bots had taken a lead early in day one but The White Glove of Michael Jackson battled back by winning the Apache. It would all be decided on the spacious front porch of the rec hall.

The Bots skit parodied the Transformers saga, while The Glove’s skit showed Michael Jackson protecting small children from evil robots. The songs were well written and performed with great enthusiasm and the plaques from both teams looked great. Hannah Sherman delivered a powerful Obama-esque speech for the blue team that got the crowd cheering and her near tears (this is her last year, so appropriately so).  The white team sent up Ian Lever, who spoke about campers being able to realize their personal potential in an environment that is incredibly conducive to doing so. His speech was equally fiery and the crowd was moved.

After the closest Color War in years, the judges convened and deemed that The White Glove of Michael Jackson had won! After some cheers, the teams embraced and it was over. Just like that, we saw that the bond between all of the people at CTT was instantly restored, and that through everything we are all still one big family.

The next day, it was time to say good-bye to first session. It was tough to see familiar faces like Lindsay Heiman, Bob, Tucker and everyone else get on those buses and leave. The people on those buses had made the three weeks that made up first session truly magical. But everything that is good comes to an end, and eventually we all must trudge back into real life…

On Sunday, those buses returned and this time they were carrying campers for second session. There are some familiar faces from last week like Jakeable, Miller, Hayley Sanders and the Dennison triplets but for the most part, there are a lot of new names to learn.

The second session really got rolling last night at the camp fire. It started with a rousing round of boom-chicka-boom, a rock/paper/scissors tournament and an interesting game your kids will have to teach you on your next trip to the beach called “Cut the Cake.” Jason Gersh and his buddies Ziggy and Matt Kasoff treated us all to a mini-set of songs they have been working on in their guitar classes, including one that I feel really sums up life at CTT.

Amidst the craziness of the first few days, such as the start of boy’s leagues, flip-flop (the sandal) advisories and an ongoing fight between Rachel/ Medusa and Flip-Flop (the counselor) about whether peanut butter is good or nasty (for the record, 80% of the people at breakfast sided with Rachel and are supporters of the by-product), CTT has a feeling of home. It is a place where we all come to be ourselves, to be with friends and to try new things. This is a place where we can come to really live.

The song Jason played was “I Feel Home” by OAR, and thinking of CTT and the people seems to echo the words of the song. Even at the beginning of the session, this group of campers has come to their second home, a place they love to be, with the people they love to be with.

I feel home when I see the faces that remember my own,
I feel home when I’m chilling outside with the people I know,
I feel home and that is just something I feel,
‘Cause home to me is reality and all I need is something real.

-OAR

After a huge day at King’s Dominion, everyone in camp was grateful for the late wake-up this morning. We were all really tired after returning around 11 p.m., but I think it was worth the late night and the long ride.

Campers and counselors boarded chartered buses at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning. After a lengthy ride on the highway and lunch on the bus, we arrived at the theme park for a day of roller coasters, water slides, a hot sun and extremely overpriced food (if you’ve never been there, think $3.75 for a 20 oz. soda).

For my group, which consisted of Jakeable, Miller, Brandon Kagen, Ziggy and a few other big names, the day began at a big, blue piece of terrifying-looking twisted metal appropriately named The Dominator. I was, in fact, dominated by The Dominator and sat with the bags as I watched my group climb aboard. One group, led by Adam Gersh, were not intimidated and successfully dominated the Dominator by riding it four times.

After stops at the equally menacing Anaconda, terribly frightening Volcano, the ferocious Grizzly and the rather tame attraction known as Scooby-Doo’s Haunted Mansion (my favorite of the day) we hopped on some water rides. Most groups followed the same pattern but in slightly different orders. The one thing we all had in common is that the day at King’s Dominion flew by too fast, but we had a whale of a time while we were there.

Emily and Nicole took their first roller coaster ride of their lives and Jennifer Heiman went on her first ever ride that goes upside down (which was, respectfully, the Flight of Fear). Ethan McCann won a huge stuffed bear in the first game he played, Hannah Sherman made off with a giant monkey and someone gave Twix’s group a giant husky dog.

We all spent way too much money in the various gift stores and candy shops. Several boys from the BV purchased custom trucker hats and I bought a giant bag full of tasty gummy treats.

As we boarded the buses and left, it was tough to believe the day was over. From my perspective, the day began with Barry Manilow, included some rides that were almost as terrifying as Mark’s singing along with the aforementioned crooner and ended with McDonald’s. In that context it seems an incredibly bizarre day, but it really was another lifelong memory made at/with CTT. I’m sure the campers will tell you the same.

Now with King’s Dominion in the past the big thing completely blocking the horizon is Color War. And after that comes the day none of us want to think of- the end of the session and leaving CTT.

Today, the Buffalo Village established their dominance over the rest of CTT in a big way.

For the last week, the boys have been sneaking away to the art shack with counselor Krista. They have been hush-hush about their covert project and told people they were just working on a new banner for the cabin. They have been working diligently for some time now, and this morning CTT saw what they were up to.

The boys rose with the sun (well, a little later. Probably about 45 minutes before the rest of the camp) and went to the art shack. Their counselor, Trow, let them in and they made a beeline for their banner.

When the rest of the camp arose a while later, they looked to the flagpole expecting to see Old Glory but instead saw a BV banner! It was adorned with all of the kid’s signatures, buffalos in the corners and random sports equipment. It warns people not to look at Medusa/ Rachel. It states that the kids are awesome, but the counselors are just OK.

All in all, the flag perfectly displays what the young men have taken away from their first year of camp. They fought through homesickness, learned new traditions and routines, furthered their knowledge and skills on the field of competition while making good friends and lifelong memories the whole way. Collectively, I’d say the men in the BV had a great first session of camp and are going to be ready when next summer rolls around.

There will be some big things going on in camp today outside of the BV. The CTTBL resumes play with the biggest rivalry in baseball: My Red Sox vs. Twix’s Yankees. These two squads will test each other during the first free swim with the league lead on the line.

After that, the flag football league will crown a champion. The Red Bulls, coached by Zach and yours truly, will be taking on Spanky and Julie’s Orange Crush. The two teams met before this season with the Bulls winning by three, but this is the Super Bowl and anything can happen. I know Ill be wearing my ¾ length Bill Belichick-style shirt for the game. It should be highly competitive and fun to watch.

That sums up our Monday here at camp. With a new flag and some big games, the campers will hardly have time to look ahead to tomorrow’s trip to King’s Dominion. But I know it is in the back of their mind, because despite my games today I am already feeling terrified of the ‘fun’ metal monsters known as roller coasters.

So, we have two big days upcoming at CTT. Oh, and a little thing called Color War. It will be a grueling, tiring few days for everyone but they should also be some of the best days of the summer. I won’t be able to blog tomorrow, but I will be back soon with news from CTT’s takeover of King’s Dominion…

The last two days at camp have been some very big ones. We’ve traveled out of camp, became royalty and danced the night away. Then we got a big surprise…. But more on that later.

On Friday night, CTT rode into town to catch a little minor league baseball action and some pre-Independence Day fireworks. The day began at camp under cloudy skies and it even began to rain a little on the way to the ballpark, but luckily for us the weather cleared up and we were able to enjoy an awesome night of baseball, pyrotechnics and friends.

We arrived in the fourth inning with the Royals in the lead. Unfortunately for the home team, we must have brought some bad luck with us because the Rockbridge Rapids chipped away at the deficit, then smacked a grand slam in the seventh inning to take the lead. The Royals lost the game, but the camp had a great time regardless.

The kids munched on hotdogs, peanuts and other goodies as they cheered on the team. I wasn’t around the older kids, but my boys in the BV found front row seats right behind first base. We had to dodge a few foul balls but the kids loved it. They were autograph seeking at every opportunity and watched in awe at the speed of the game.

After the final out, we all filed into the bullpen for the fireworks. The show lasted around 25 minutes and it seemed that they were right on top of us. Max Penn pretended to shoot every single firework for the entire show. He thought it was hilarious, but counselor Chris Brown called it annoying.

Saturday was Royalty Day. We began the day with the traditional service, then we saw counselors Aram and Susan ride around the gym on horseback! They stopped in front of the group and read off the teams, and then we all split up and began planning.

We came up with team names, colors and even a fairy tale, which was performed that night. After rest hour, the games began.

At one station we played siege ball, which is a dodge ball-type game where you have to protect your castle. Then there was a bit of an obstacle course at the lake. Three campers had to eat apples dangling on strings without touching them. Then there was a riddle and a canoe race at the lake. The last station was mask-making, which were to be worn at the ball/dance party that night.

One of these races came down to the wire and ended rather controversially. One team, In the Land of Tiana, was incredibly behind when the senior campers jumped into the canoe. Due to some extremely fast paddling by Kelly, they were able to catch up to the Royal Weiners vessel, which was piloted by Lindsay Heiman and Alex Fang.

Fang decided to jump out of the Weiners canoe to hand-off a sheep, which was part of the race. He couldn’t get back in, so he ran along the shore beside the boat while Lindsay and Kelly were neck and neck. As the two boats neared the finish line, it became apparent Tiana was going to win. Then Fang jumped in the water and shoved Tiana’s canoe! Race director Krista gave the race to Tiana, and there was alot of arguing between the judges and the Weiners. In the end, the win stayed with Tiana.

After the day’s competition, campers danced and sang together at the royal ball, but that wasn’t the end of the night…

Partway through Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face,’ the doors flew open and CITs clad in ghostly white sheets flew in. They roared and shrieked and herded everyone up the hill. The veteran campers knew it was time for Ghost Court!

Many campers were tried and found guilty by Judge Mookie and the ghost court. There were a lot of interesting judgements handed out. Some of the best were-

Girl’s tents- For using too much electricity, they are wearing signs that say ‘Go Green or Go Home.’

BV- For being just too cute, they must growl when they are approached by a camper or counselor.

Jennifer Heiman- For being messy in the bunk, she has to dress like a pig and oink when she speaks.

Boy’s tents- For never listening to announcements, they must sit attentively on the floor in front of the speaker of each announcement.

And some campers who love to be in the cabin will marry said cabin this afternoon.

It should be an interesting sight to see. I, for one, have never witnessed a cabin-human ceremony. There were lots of other interesting punishments given out, so ask your child if he or she received one. Who knows- you may now have a genuine CTT cabin in your family.

Well, that sums the last two days as best I can without writing a novel for you folks. I can’t believe we only have a week left in this session! But it will be a big one, with King’s Dominion in two days and color war looming on the horizon…

Following two soggy days at camp, everyone is outside rejoicing in the sun this morning. But, true to the weather patterns of the summer thus far, there are some dark clouds rolling in. We are all hoping they disappear because tonight is our trip into Winchester to see the Royals in action.

A few of the Royals made it to camp on Wednesday to play a little baseball with the kids and counselors. A lot of the kids got autographs and a few of them made fast friends of the minor leaguers. Everyone in camp is pumped to make the trip and hopefully the fireworks afterwards will not disappoint.

Is there anything more American than sitting with your best friends and watching a minor league baseball game and fireworks the day before our nation’s birthday?

There will be quite a bit of action before we head to the ballpark. Today begins the playoffs of the flag football league. In the first round the Red Bulls, coached by Zach and yours truly, will be taking on Jacqui and Chris’s Purple Nurples. The Nurples are the only team to beat the Bulls this year, but they did just lose to the Orange Crush who in turn lost to the Bulls on the first day of competition.

Speaking of Spanky’s Crush, they will face Twix and the Yellow Polka-Dotted Hippopotami today. The Hippos won the first match-up between these two squads, but this is the play-off. Anything can happen and I’m sure the usually lively and avid fan base will turn out as well.

During breakfast today I noticed something peculiar. Kevin Trow, a counselor who is well over six feet tall and weighs well over two hundred, plays college lacrosse and lifts weights everyday, was carrying a tiny tie-dye teddy bear. It certainly was a strange sight to see such a formidable young man carrying a stuffed animal, but I didn’t say anything because everyone has their quirks.

It became apparent during announcements what the deal was.

After a few announcements, Rummer from the girl’s tents stood and walked to the front of the mess hall with a prepared statement. As it turns out, she had insulted Trow’s smile and he had stolen the bear in retaliation. As she read her statement, she apologized and talked of how his smile resembles that of a Colgate model. Apparently pleased with the formal apology, he flashed his pearly whites for her as he made his way to the front of the room to return the bear. It was a pretty humorous exchange to start what should be a pretty cool day.

Since today does look promising, I think I’m going to get out and enjoy it. Plus, I have to go coach some football. I hope everything is well with you folks, because everything is going smoothly here at Tall Timbers.

Usually, Wednesday nights are known as cabin nights. This means all the counselors and campers in a cabin spend the evening together playing basketball, or swimming, or fishing or whatever else they want to do. This was the designated week that the campers and counselors would all camp out at various locations around camp.

The tarps were being cleaned and the sleeping bags were being rolled with the whole camp abuzz about the evening ahead. Hamburgers and hot dogs were on the grill and the other necessities were packed.

But then, only moments before the bell to end the second free swim, the clouds started spitting a tiny amount of water. While we all waited to see if it would stop so that we could have our outdoor adventure, that spitting turned into a steady rain and at times a downpour.

As we watched the water trickle down the hill and wash out some loose gravel, we saw our hopes for an outdoor cabin night wash away as well.

We all stood around and wondered what to do next. We went ahead with our cookout dinner under the pavilion despite not knowing what was headed our way as far as an evening activity goes. When it seemed like we had waited forever under the pavilion, Jacqui, Karina, Mike and Dean grabbed the bullhorn and announced that instead of sleeping outside we were going to have a pageant to decide Mr. and Mrs. CTT.

Each bunk had to pick one counselor to represent them in a three-segment contest. The entire bunk had to help out and we had less than an hour to put it all together!

Despite the short time to prepare the evening was a smashing success. The first segment, the question and answer session, was fun but the real action began in the evening wear competition. The selected counselors went all out on their costumes with help for their bunkmates. One of the neatest costumes, in my opinion, was Twix’s ridiculous get-up. He wore a leopard-print Snuggie and a gold vest.

I have no idea where you get a leopard-print Snuggie, but he rocked it like no other.

The most impressive outfit from the girl’s side had to belong to Charlotte. She took to the catwalk in a zebra-print one-piece pajama suit. I had no idea they made infant pajamas to fit adults, but a tip of the hat to the girl’s tent group that produced one.

The talent contest was the marquee event of the night. The girl CITs sang a song with all of their names in it and centered on their contestant, Nicole. Tis demonstrated his ability to fight ninjas and Julie showed everyone how good a counselor she was by speeding through a day in her life. Even I got into the act, using the children of cabin one as weights so I could get a workout.

The gym waited in anticipation as the judges conferred to make a decision. First the boy’s winner was announced. I don’t want to brag, but I guess now would be a good time to tell you that you are reading the words of the new Mr. CTT. Me and my boys from cabin one took the title with us to the BV and boy, were we excited.

Next, the girl’s winner was announced and Nicole, with help from the female CITs, celebrated her win in her orange leggings, cowboy boots and suspenders with a studded belt.

It was a fun night at camp, and a very impressive end to what could have been a ruined evening. I guess the ability to churn out an event like the Mr. and Mrs. CTT pageant in about an hour is what makes Camp Tall Timbers so special.

The fact that everyone pitches in and tries to make the activity as fun as possible is testament to the quality of people that make up our CTT family. We had so much fun in what was basically an improvised activity it just shows that it doesn’t really matter what we do, as long as we do something together. Halfway through the first session, the CTT community is coming together into one big, happy unit.

Last night was a quick blast of loud music, a sudden flash of neon clothing, a stiff breeze as someone sped by and the ensuing crash of a body hitting the floor because CTT boarded the buses and went roller skating.

As soon as we got there, it became very apparent which ones of us were veteran campers and counselors. These individuals, like Lindsay Heiman, Adam Gersh and other veterans pulled on skates and began easily zooming around the track as soon as we arrived. Others, like the young men of the Buffalo Village, the girls of cabins A & B and myself, considered it a major feat to be able to even stand on the skates.

Some people took some time at the rink to play some video games. Admin Mike spend a substantial amount of time playing a basketball shooting game, but one determined camper was able to make a long-lasting mark on the game. Eric Morrell stepped to the line with the goal of beating the high-score of 66.

When we left the rink, Eric owned the record. He smashed the previous record by 10 points, finishing with 76. So it wasn’t only a flamboyant and fun night for those of us at CTT, for some of us it became a record-breaking evening.

Before the skating adventure, another game of the Camp Tall Timbers Baseball League was played on the diamond in the center of camp. The Red Sox and the Wildcats faced off, with the league lead at stake for the Sox.

When it was all over, the Sox cruised to a 10-4 win over the Cats and a one-game lead in the CTTBL. The highlight of the game was when Bobby Jaffe, who was filling in for counselor Krista, made an amazing double play at second base by snagging a sharply hit line drive and then diving to the bag to tag out counselor Bill.

This sets up a showdown between the Red Sox and the Yankees. If the Yanks win, the division will be tied. If the Sox take it, they will have a commanding two-game lead. The camp waits in anticipation for the next round of CTTBL play…

One lucky camper became a father yesterday. Kind of.

Ben Mendelson was sitting on his bunk during rest hour when a fly landed on him. He swiped it away, but before he did the fly managed to give birth to a maggot on him! So congratulations to Ben and the Mendelson family on their new tiny, white parasitic addition!

In preparation for our trip to the ballpark on Friday night, several players from the Winchester Royals are coming to camp today to hang out with us during free play and maybe give us some tips on how we can improve as players. It says a lot for these guys to come out and do this, and I know all of the baseballers around camp are eager to learn an inside trick or two from some real pros. This should prove to be another neat and informative day for all of our campers.

Well, that is the word around camp. We all had a blast skating and can’t wait for our next outing, although sitting around camp isn’t too shabby either.

The Royals will be here soon, and I’m trying to go get some help fielding grounders…

Due to some continuing connection problems, we are still unable to print emails and upload photos, and our blog is sporadic! We apologise for the inconvenience and will be up and running again as soon as we can. In the meantime, we encourage you to use the good old US Postal Service to contact your campers! As always, feel free to call our office with any questions or concerns.

I may have witnessed one of the most humorous things of the season this morning during breakfast.

It began during announcements when Spanky and Adam Gersh theatrically made their way to the front of the mess hall. From the looks on the two counselors faces it was apparent they had a juicy tidbit they were waiting to spring on the campers and admins. As soon as they began to talk, admin Mike froze them.

Soon after, Jason Gersh stood up and made an actual announcement concerning the meeting place of one of his outdoor classes. Then he began to speak of a terrible tragedy, and Mike froze him!

Then counselor Rachel/Medusa stood up and made began to speak of a news story concerning Yao Ming, the center for the Houston Rockets and one of Mike’s heroes. A very distraught looking Mike then quickly froze her.

Before Mike’s freezing spree could continue, Emma froze him! She then unfroze the counselors who spilled the news of Yao Ming’s possible career-ending injury. Mike was near tears when the news was leaked and the campers, counselors and admins broke into a “Schmao Schming” chant.

Elsewhere in camp, there are some more exciting boy’s league competition being played this morning as the Lacksplash Savages and the Twixie Cups duel in hockey and Ultimate Frisbee. The Fighting Trowjans and G-Force will be in action as well as they take the basketball courts for some hoops action.

In other camp league news, the flag football teams took the field yesterday for the third and final regular season games. On field one, the Red Bulls used a long touchdown by Lindsay Heiman and a 25-yard Ian Lever field goal with four seconds remaining to overcome the pesky Yellow Polka-Dotted Hippopotami 10-7. This game came down to the wire and all of the spectators were on the edge of their seats.

On the second field, defending Super Bowl champions Orange Crush dropped another game to the Purple Nurples, tying the Nurps, Bulls and Hippos at the top of the standings with 2-1 records. It will be interesting to see how the seeding for the play-offs turns out, and the participants wait in anticipation as the numbers are fed into a computer… Joking. We will actually play games to decide a winner at CTT.

In Camp Tall Timbers Baseball League, the Red Sox and the Yankees are deadlocked atop the standings due to the Yanks (1-0-1) win over the Blue Jays (0-2) yesterday. Today, the Red Sox (1-0) and the Wildcats (0-0-1) square off with the division lead at stake for the Red Sox. I don’t want to appear biased, but I am wearing a Red Sox jersey and will be playing second base…

There was also a near showdown at the challenge course today when Mike and a group of young ladies were using some of the equipment. A van full of Timber Ridge campers pulled in, and as Mike said, “…saw us and pulled out of there before we had to throw down.”

Tonight the entire camp will head out to a skating rink for an evening of fun on wheels. When this was announced at breakfast the faces of the campers lit up with smiles and the air was filled with cheers. Skating night is a big one at camp, and like most of the campers, I can’t wait to board the bus and pull on some skates.

I am also preparing myself for some pain, but you all should prepare yourselves to hear all about our skating adventure tomorrow as another day dawns at our favorite summer destination.

Mahalo.

So sorry to keep you all in suspense, but I am back to report the score from Friday’s opening game of the Camp Tall Timbers Baseball League. I am proud to say that my Red Sox racked up eight runs in the top of the first inning and weathered a late game comeback attempt, which included a monster homerun by admin Mike, to defeat Adam Gersh’s Blue Jays 8-7.

The Red Sox got a boost from first baseman Nicky Feldman, who had a big day at the plate. He stepped into the leadoff role on the offensive side with no qualms or hesitation, and together with shortstop (and cabin mate) Ethan Harrison made up a lethal one-two combination that had the opposing pitching staff scratching their heads the entire game.

Counselor Jason Gersh started on the hill for the Sox, but after getting into trouble in the second inning CIT Julie came in to finish the game. Counselor Rachel made two highlight-worthy catches from her post in left field, which were as big a surprise to her as it was to the hitters (despite being a devout baseball fan, Rachel spends most of her time on the soccer pitch).

The second game of the CTTBL will be today, featuring Twix’s Yankees and Bill’s Wildcats. I’ll sure be there scouting out the competition, and in doing so I’ll be able to bring you the scores and highlights with the next post…

Big things have been happening off the diamond as well. It has become apparent during riflery classes that CTT is full of highly trained snipers. Nate Fink, Cory Nigrin, Rachel Beiser, David Morrel, Jessica Hymer, Jake Shapiro and Ben Mendelson all hit the spinning targets multiple times.

The spinning targets are basically steel circles hardly bigger than a spoon. These guys are hitting these small targets from over 50 feet away with tiny .22 shells. This is an impressive feat for anyone, let alone a group of campers who generally only shoot during camp.

Now that you have a bit of a mental image at what these marksman are doing, try to wrap your mind around the fact that Joe Curran was able to connect on six of eight shots, including three in a row.

At the challenge course, Jordan scurried to the top of the wall in only two minute and 37 seconds. This is quite a feat because I’m not sure I could scale the vertical structure in two hours and 37 minutes.

On the football field, teams competed in their second game of the 2009 season. Each game came down to the wire and everyone had a blast.

On the first field, the Yellow Polka-Dotted Hippopotami defeated the Orange Crush 24-19. The Hippopotami used a time-consuming short passing game to run out the clock and narrowly escape with the win.

The other game came down to the very last series. The Purple Nurples and the Red Bulls traded the lead throughout the game, but when the Bulls failed to convert on fourth down with the scored tied at 14 and with 15 seconds remaining, the Purple Nurples used a long pass to move to cover the field. With no time remaining on the game clock, Corey Greenwald hauled in a 10-yard touchdown pass to seal a 21-14 win over the Bulls.

Nicky Feldman led the way for the Bulls with two touchdowns.

For those of you keeping score the BV continued their siege on the girl’s side by capturing counselor Krista, who they quickly re-named Fairy Girl. The boys were able to make her un-freeze three times, meaning she has to clean the cabin one meal table three times.

Today, there are some girl’s league competitions taking place along with the aforementioned CTTBL action and tonight is the Counselor Hunt, where some counselors will be hidden and the group of campers that finds the most counselors will be named the winners. It sounds like a fun evening activity to cap off yet another awesome day at Tall Timbers, which thankfully seems to be the norm around here.