Considering that they had very little access to shops or scrap clothes some of the outfits at stretch circle this morning were amazing. The theme was ‘Blast from the Past’ and some ideas were ingenious. My personal favorites were ‘greek toga’ (clever use of bed sheet complete with homemade wreath), caveman (another sheet, a plastic baseball bat for a club and messy hair) and perhaps the wittiest was ‘me 7 weeks ago’ complete with cushion stuffed up t-shirt as a fake belly!

The 80s took a good hit, partly because the fashions from that decade seem to come back around every other month and are currently to be found in most hip teenager wardrobes. At breakfast the count was taken for yesterday’s steps and costume effort, with the Appalachians currently winning hands down.

Then it was back to business with culinary lessons, trips to Xcelerate (some still in costume!), swimming and Group. Then at dinner we had the announcement of the nominated Wellcoming Prince and Princess (lower camp) and King and Queen. All the nominated campers gave speeches in thanks of their nomination and extolled their fellow campers to vote for them again in the final round. The speeches were excellent and a lot of thought and time had obviously been put into a few of them. One girl read her speech off her iPod, reminding me that it might be blast from the past day but we truly are in the 21st Century.

Tomorrow the whole day is given over to Wellcoming with a fun run, the King/Prince and Queen/Princess crowning and the dance. Each group is to come up with their own costume theme and parade tomorrow morning for the whole camp. I am hoping that at least one group will chose the Wild West as it is the only costume I haven’t yet worn this summer!

Jude.

Labels: costumes, king and queen competition, spirit week

Today’s youth can SHOP! However the good news is that whilst ransacking shops of anything super cool tonight, our Eagles also got loads of steps. (And the staff got even more as they trawled around after them!) One of my highlights from the evening was when a young girl realized that instead of buying an XL she would be perfectly fine with a small. Amazing!

Today was a really fun and busy day. Wellcoming kicked off with ‘wear your PJs day’ and the votes are already coming in for the Wellcoming King and Queen. Weigh-in went well this morning with lots of happy faces – particularly amongst out 4 week campers


With a lot to fit into just five days this week activity levels were high. Cascades had nutrition, crossfit, email and sports. The Smokies went to Xcelerate and also had nutrition; the Appalachians had PT and Group; whilst the Rockies also had Nutrition and Crossfit.

This evening the Sierras had their dine-out challenge to Chili’s. The guiltless grill provided the perfect dining option for many but a few decided that the temptation of other, less healthy options was too great. In fairness, they had planned for a high calorie dinner by going under their calories at breakfast and dinner (a good tactic for staying on program) but I think they’ve have to not eat for a few days to justify the steak and bacon!

Whilst the Sierras were off dining and the Eagles were shopping, the rest of the camp played Capture the Flag and earned points for their Wellcoming Teams. Tomorrow’s theme is ‘blast from the past’. Old enough to actually have actually lived in the 70s, 80s and 90s, I am looking forward to the campers’ ideas of what I wore as a child!

Jude.

Labels: 000 steps, costumes, dining out, shopping

Today was dress like someone else day. I had put on a hat and was about to create one of my counselors when I remembered I had to go and buy food for culinary before breakfast, so my effort was dismal. The campers however fared much better.

We never have a themed costume day at camp without a boy dressed as a girl – water balloons and all! But this year was the exception that no staff got copied. Obviously we are too boring. One camper I genuinely mistook for another and even for those who didn’t dress up had fun guessing who everyone else was.

Otherwise it was business as usual with culinary and nutrition lessons, crossfit, yoga, swimming and laundry! A number of campers have no successfully washed and folded their clothes for the first time – whether they’ll manage to continue at home is another matter!

Tonight Snowdonia, the Alps and our middle 4 week Sierras went on their Dine Out Challenge. Not our best I am afraid. Some campers really went for it, and as part of the challenge is making choices for themselves, we do not stop them. However we do ask them to still write down every bit of their mushroom and cheese burger followed by lava cake. Often that, rather than disapproving looks from the staff, really brings it home to them and we have a few remorseful faces tonight! That said, others did brilliantly and will be ready for the challenges of home.

Whilst they were gone the rest of camp played hide and seek (yep the oldies are the best!). After the success of Capture the Flag last night and hide and seek tonight, I think a whole camp game of Stuck in the Mud should be tomorrow’s activity.

Have a good night,

Jude.

Labels: costumes, dine-out, hide and seek