Leadership Weekend! Success!

This past weekend we had our very-first-ever-never-done-it-before-so-therefore-this-was-the-first-one-ever Leadership Winter Weekend at Camp.

This weekend offered Volunteer Counselor Training and Interviews for last summer's graduates of the CIT program, and was run by our Senior Staff and  second year volunteers, some of whom are applying to be full-fledged-best-of-the-best summer camp staff this summer.

We played in the snow (slushy snow), looked at the stars, cooked meals, ate the meals we cooked, worked work projects, played play projects (learned more about wilderness trivial pursuit than anyone truly wanted to know), talked camp talk, share camp thoughts,  slipped on ice but never fell down (mostly), and told some riveting stories around the campfire. I could type about it a good deal more, but I think it'd be more fun to just show some pictures.

Thanks to all the Senior Staff, Volunteers, and CITs who made this weekend SO much of a success that we just might do it again next winter...

(Photo Credit goes to x-tra special-super-secret guest Lauren Kabis.)

This picture does nothing to demonstrate how slippery this landscape was.

No Snowballs were harmed during the making of this weekend.

Now isn't that nice?

The Intimation Station.

Seriously. Every step was a gamble of whether you'd slip and fall down or not. Preparing to catch each other was essential team-building.

Well, this just looks fun.

It's never too icy for free ice cream sandwiches. (There's no such thing as a free ice cream sandwich.)

Counselors in the making.

A snowman in the making. (Or is that some sort of a hippo?)

See! We promised sledding!

For ONCE this winter, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

I mean, this is like the definitive picture of a winter weekend.  Any winter weekend that passes without a group photo around a snowman is missing something important.

And here is Sarris's Friendship Bracelet Art Exhibit...

As Promised...

Look at these. Tyler's perfectly maintained frienship bracelets. 

As pristine as the day they were...spun? Knitted? Threaded? Twined? Crocheted? Braceleted? Friendshipped? Made? What's the word for the construction of a friendship bracelet?

Made? Made. We'll go with made.

As pristine as the day they were made.


Plus! As a special addition, here's a picture of our counselor Robyn's 2013 Exhibit from her Friendship Bracelet Museum:

We're quickly approaching our Winter Leadership Weekend for volunteer training! It's the first official summer camp program of 2014, so I'll have updates on all of that next week. Or as I like to call next week...MARCH. Come on thaw.

The 5/9ths Point (AKA - Past the Half Way Point.)

So, I like winter.

Nope, that's untrue, felt false as soon as I typed it.

I don't mind winter. I can tolerate winter. For a bit. November is all "Oh it's chilly, the leaves are gone, isn't that interesting". December is seasonal and the holidays and if it flurries and looks all pretty with no effect on the road conditions as Christmas music plays, that's very pleasant. Then even, even, for a bit of January as you endure the cold and FEET of snow you can think "wow, aren't I tough, I'm like a viking or someone from Minnesota living through all this winter, that must be very impressive to anyone watching."

All of that I can deal with. Except now that's over, and it's February, and it's neither interesting nor cheerfully seasonal nor impressive, it's just cold and old and time for spring, and time for spring just means it's almost time for summer. (Just once I'd like the Groundhog to declare six more minutes of winter, and then on February 2nd at 7:06 am it's 78 degrees and sunny. Is that too much to ask?)

But anyway. Getting to the point. (There was a point? Yes. Kind of. No, not really.)

Getting to the point! We have rounded the bend. We are past the midway. Next summer is closer than last summer is further away. Last summer is September, October, November, December, and January behind us, where next summer is merely March, April and May ahead of us. Seems like a doable journey.

Yes, there is no evidence as clear to how close next summer is than how far last summer is removed, and how can I tell how far we are from last summer? 

The same way so many camp people do.

 The sorry state of my friendship bracelets.

Look at these. 

In fact to call them bracelets (plural) is wholly inaccurate, they have fused and merged into one single solitary bracelet. The colors are slowly fading to a muted grey.  One will start to fall off, and then you are involved in perpetually re-wrapping it around the others to hold on for dear life. (Unless you're our friend and former-Shooting Sports Coordinator Tyler, who daily  separates his individual bracelets and very well might clean them with a special tooth brush only designated for the maintaining of friendship bracelets. Actually, Tyler, send me a picture of your immaculate friendship bracelets. The internet needs to see them. ACTUALLY, anyone send me a picture of the state of your friendship bracelets. That could be interesting. Or not interesting at all. It'll definitely be one of the two.)

And here's the thing: I like well worn and beat up friendship bracelets.  In fact, I think it should be a federally enforced law that you have to wear them till they fall off.  They constantly remind you of what last summer was. And the more and more beat up they get, they remind you of how close around the corner next summer is.