Okay, so where did we leave off?
At lunch yesterday, a chant started up near the windows closest to the driveway. It began with just one or two counselors chanting ‘Jordan’ and then got bigger and bigger, though most of us didn’t know why until camper Jordan Kovalsky came through the double doors. She had arrived a couple of days late, and a bunch of people jumped up to hug her. It’s so cool how often the campers get to be stars here. It’s one of the things I like about the size of our camp.
I haven’t mentioned it so far this year, but most cabins have a system for deciding who cleans the table at meals, and it’s called Freeze. The counselors have the kids freeze in the middle of what they are doing, and then try to make them laugh or move in some other way. Sometimes it involves everyone standing on their chairs. I noticed them doing Freeze yesterday and realized I hadn’t mentioned it!
A few announcements. At breakfast this morning, Albert Oriol was recognized for spilling 99 fruit loops – the most fruit loops anyone has spilled so far this year. Erin Uhlfelder kicked a field goal. Ethan Weinstein caught two paddleboats and his first fish in Fishing. Marley Smith and Emily Morrow conquered Lord Equinox (one of the climbing walls – the other is Sir Halifax). At archery, Kate Pantano, Jordan Kovalsky, and Noah Meltzer won in knockout. The Lexi’s (Cohen and Smith) parked a paddleboat backwards. And Georgia Oriol acquired a middle name for the first time ever – Harriet.
The afternoon was spent in ‘A Day’ activities. After dinner I joined an impromptu game (with no name, half made up on the spot) in the baseball diamond. It started out with a few of the younger boys and slowly pulled in about twenty campers. It involved everyone being assigned a number and catching the ball when their number was called, and it pretty much made no sense and had no object, but everyone seemed really excited to play..We were good and sweaty by the time the bell rang for the evening’s activity…Pool Party!
It really did feel like a party. We had great music, played water polo (some of the counselors vs. a ton of kids), took turns off the diving board, and at one point everyone in the pool held hands and made a whirlpool. A few smaller kids swarmed counselor Ryan Clifford to be popped up in the air like little balls. The kids who didn’t want to swim set up their towels on the grass like it was a beach and hung out, talked, read…Finally the kids headed into their cabins for hot showers and to wind down for bed. The oldest campers stayed up a bit later and hung out on the office porch. It was a nice chilly night, and I popped into the doctor’s house to see if they had anything good to read, and then curled under my covers with a mystery. This morning is sunny and breezy.
Campers who showed up at early yoga include James Winston, Justin Fribush, Forest Green, Jack Parr (Vito) and Quinn Morrow. At breakfast, counselor Dean stood up to announce we will be trying to set some records for the Camp TT World Record book this session. The first will be for the biggest imaginary tea party, which will be held in the pavilion at Free Swim. British accents will be used.
My cabin is in such a great spot. As I’ve been writing this I’ve seen mountain bikers going up and down the drive, campers walking to their activities, people practicing the Camp TT hug, a robin looking for worms, the photography class looking around for good shots, and a few people checking out the hummingbird nest in front of the nurse’s house. I can also hear the campers learning the music for the camp play.
Tonight’s cabin night, where each cabin spends doing an activity of their choice (usually camping).
Gotta go, tea party time!
J