Friday Night, February 24, 2006: Last Night! Tomorrow you will see some very tired and very happy campers! It was our largest winter camp in history, as large as many summer camps. Tonight at the end of announcements one of the younger girls who was a little homesick, tired and fragile just yesterday said tonight, "I will really, really, really, really miss this place." I think she spoke for the huge majority of campers. I want to thank all the parents for sending their children, and for the huge measure of trust that goes with that. I also want to thank these amazingly hardworking and conscientious counselors for their work this week, particularly finding ways for winter play without snow. I wish you bus parents had also gotten to meet them. (Ask your children about them.) And of course, wouldn't you know it, tomorrow afternoon we are getting a significant snowfall.
Note: Apparently we have published two different bus arrival times in Garden City. We are leaving here at 9AM, so unless we hit traffic we should be at the Waldorf School shortly about 1:15 or so. Mrs. Adams will stay until the last camper is picked up. I (James Madsen) will be on the bus again.
The Hilltop Circus this morning was amazing. Ask your kids about it. Unfortunately it went a bit too long, so our whole day got shortened about an hour. The Olympics were very exciting despite the cold, blustery day we had. China, Costa Rica and Canada did especially well. The head-to-head dogsled race finals was decided by less than a tenth of a second. There were two ties in the hockey matches which were decided by shootouts. The speed skating relays were very fast and furious, and the leads often changed with each baton handoff. There were both pairs and singles figure skating, which were quite original. Ice sliding was also exciting; skaters skated as fast as they could up to a line and then threw themselves onto their bellies on the ice to see how far they could slide. The winner probably won because he could stretch his fingertips out just a bit farther. Because of darkness a few events got cancelled.
We have an early rise tomorrow. I hope to post a few photos of today over the weekend, but just too much to do yet tonight.
Thursday, February 23, 2006 Snow at last!
It is about 3:30PM right now and as I type away most of the boys are out playing football in a fairly heavy snow squall. It looks like one of those games in New England or Green Bay in January when they play one of those southern teams with domes. The boys from Georgia and South Carolina look a bit mystified about it all. We are supposed to get a couple inches, which would be very welcome for our Olympics tomorrow.
The older campers just returned from their horse-drawn hay rides. Mr. Iselin has huge Belgian draft horses named Molly (13 years) and Micah (6 years). This morning were electives as usual--rose windows (translucent stain-glass with tissue paper), woven star ornaments, Japanese lanterns, soccer, hockey, and a walk to the dam with its beautiful ice decorations. This afternoon all the younger girls are off on a hike with their counselors. Many of the older kids have requested more orienteering, so Krista is out setting up a new course for them to run. There is also a ping pong tournament and knock-out basketball going on.
We can definitely feel that we have passed midway now and camp will soon be over. I am not sure how much I can write tomorrow because it will be a really busy day. After breakfast we head to the Pine Hill Waldorf School where their 7th and 8th grade present Hill Top Circus. Pine Hill has an outstanding circus arts program run by former Ringling professionals and the kids perform with great proficiency.
After lunch and rest, the Olympics begin. I forgot to mention one event is the survival race. The goal is to gather just the right amount of kindling and wood to build a one-match fire and bring a can of water to a boil first. Mr. Braden has taught many of them well.
Yesterday we celebrated Maya's birthday and tomorrow is Fiona's day. Maya got a delicious strawberry torte cake with whipped cream. We all enjoyed her good fortune! Kudos to the cooks, Helen and Marguerite!
I don't think I have mentioned all the singing we do after dinner before evening activity. The Glen Brook songbook is famous, and you will probably be hearing many in the days to come. We do hope you hear some of the beautiful ones too, not just the silly camp songs.
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2006 We are hoping for just a bit of snow tomorrow! Cross your fingers for us.
Today was a day of snow tubing at Granite Gorge. The kids had a great time. They came down singly and they came down in clumps, sometimes a dozen tubes at a time. We sent them in two different groups--penguins (the Kindergarten staff kids), arctic foxes (2nd, 3rd) and harbor seals (4th) this morning, bobcats (5th-6th) and reindeer (7th) went this afternoon. While the young kids were tubing this morning the older kids all did an orienteering race course which was very popular. Using a map they raced from control to control punching their cards with a unique punch that was hidden in each location. The winning group did the whole course in 30 minutes, which took some fast moving and clever discovery of the hidden punches. Then they continued with their wool felting, clay, and weaving projects. There was also a football game and lots of Uno, Sorry, jigsaw puzzles and Texas Hold'em during the free time. Board games are very popular! This afternoon while the older kids were tubing, the younger kids did a treasure hunt and played.
As soon as the kids got back from tubing, they rushed down to the lake for more hockey and figure skating. Some of the girls in particular are working on ice dancing for Friday's Olympics. A couple of the counselors played lots of hockey in high school and have been giving the kids pointers. We also have sharpened dozens of pairs of skates with our nifty new $700 skate sharpener. Hopefully your skates will come home better than they came. For those who did not bring skates, Glen Brook's attic if filled with crates of skates of most every size. We are glad the ice is so popular, since our many new snowshoes and skis are sitting idle this week.
Speaking of the Glen Brook Winter Olympics taking place Friday afternoon, the campers signed up today for their event(s). There is hockey of course, ice dancing or figure skating, speed skating relay, "dog sled" race, ice sliding, sled curling, obstacle course, and luge. There is already quite a buzz in the air.
Last night was a star walk, but the stars disappeared. We got a few snowflakes instead.. A night walk in the dark countryside is always fun and exciting. Tonight is "Shopping Bag" Skit Night, where each group gets a bag of perhaps 10 random household objects, props, hats, costume accessories, etc and has to come up with an original skit incorporating every single item. The kids are rather tired by bedtime, as you can imagine.
Tuesday, 2/21/06 We are 24 hours into Winter Camp, so time for a quick update. I will post some photos this evening if I
It appears that we have 61 campers! This smashed our previous record by almost double. We even had to buy 4 more beds before the kids arrived and kept hiring counselors. The counselors who have joined us are really wonderful, and all but 3 are old hands around here. With the year-rounders we total 22 on staff. Half of us are great young counselors with all their energy and enthusiasm and the other half of us are long-time teachers, cooks and of course, Nurse Katy. Speaking of which, Katy has only seen some very minor complaints so far.
The bad news is that we have no snow on the ground and not much in the forecast. The good news is the ice is fantastic! The kids are loving skating and hockey. In fact I had to go to town to buy more sticks last night since more kids wanted to play than we imagined. Who needs line changes when 40 kids want to play hockey at the same time. (Don’t worry, we are not talking NFL here; this is friendly no-check New England pond hockey.) This morning we had some indoor arts projects including felting, candle decorating and weaving projects. These alternated with more skating. This afternoon we will go to a neighboring farm for horse drawn hay rides and to visit the animals. The sleigh will have to stay in the barn.
Food! Lunch yesterday we delicious leek soup and sandwiches; burritos with all the fixings for supper; and bagels, fresh fruit, oatmeal and quiche for breakfast. Don’t you wish you were eating with us? More later tonight.