This year, the first day of Summer Camp is July 4th!
And what does that make July 3rd?
Why, it makes it CAMP EVE, of course!
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We even had a batch of campers in early, |
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After our Lantern Family BBQ, |
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To celebrate Camp Eve, And an early start to Session #1. |
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We started with some campfire songs (of course)... |
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And then called for the Camp Spirit (safe in our lantern from last season) to light the fire. |
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Wait. Who had the lantern last? |
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It was Tyler, right? T-Nivi, you had the Lantern? |
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But Tyler says Nurse Tosti had the Lantern last! |
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And oh no! Nurse Tosti says I had the Lantern last! |
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Me!? |
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We should have known better than to leave the Lantern with me! I can't remember where I put it! |
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Fortunately (as always) our Coordinator of Fun, Julia Langone has a pile of clues to lead us to the Lost Lantern of Camp Spirit. |
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We assemble into groups. |
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First step of Camp problem solving is always to assemble into groups. |
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So we dispersed! |
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Into the twilight lit Camp... |
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In search of our missing spirit. |
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That's a pretty smiley face for a serious spirit-hunt, Curtis! |
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That's more like it, McBride! |
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And so, treated with a lovely Lake Shawanni sunset... |
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We waited. |
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As the groups scavenged. |
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And then, just when we were losing hope our Lantern would be found... |
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Wait, what's that glow!? A lantern? |
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No, several lanterns! |
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That's right! Now we remember. |
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We put the spirit in many lanterns this off-season to be sure we'd keep track of it. |
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That plan kind of backfired. But it's okay! Because we found them all. |
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And followed the final instructions of our Scavenger Hunt clues to all converge at the Waterfront bridge. |
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Which, it just so happened... |
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When lined with campers holding spirit-filled lanterns, turned out to be the perfect setting... |
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To tell the true (actually true) tale of the very first Camp Eve... |
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When the waterfront bridge was completed by lantern light, just in time for the first campers to arrive on the first day of Camp in the summer of 1951. |
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And so we too again prepared, by lantern light, on yet another Camp Eve, for yet another summer, and yet another very first day of Camp. |
Thank you so much for these wonderful posts! I was a 4H camper growing up, and this is my daughter's first year at camp - it is so great to see her and the others having such a great time! :)
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