What Are You Most Excited About?
As the early sunshine melted away any residual mist from the previous afternoon’s showers, we could already tell it was going to be a beautiful day of 2-Week camp. Yesterday morning after a Morning Watch message from our camp chaplain and outdoor adventure instructor, Dusty, we fueled up with a big breakfast. Everyone enjoyed scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes, and yogurt with oats. During Morning Assembly right after the meal, we sang songs, laughed while counselors performed “If I were not at Falling Creek,” and listened to announcements. It was shaping up to be another big day!
While several more Cabin Adventures were heading out for their chance to make memories and experience something new together as a group, we also had our daily activities going on all over camp. In the morning, I saw Ryder, Charles, and Edward playing disc golf together, trying to get the tricky hole located under the old office. I was asking campers all around camp the same question: “what are you most excited about doing this session?” Edward said, “probably disc golf, this is my second time playing here already!” The three of them ran off, eager to get to the next hole.
At the turf field, Crocker was running flag football exercises, so the boys could practice their catching. In the gym next to the field, Dan and Trevor were also teaching skills, with the boys lined up on the half court line, ready to run down to shoot a basket. Charles was one of the boys at basketball, and he was looking forward to his afternoon. “I’m most excited about riflery,” he said. Riflery is one of our most popular activities at camp, so I’m sure he’s not alone in that enthusiasm.
In the woodshop, the boys were working on creating nametags. They were cutting out a rectangle, smoothing the corners and sanding them down, oiling the wood so it stayed smooth, and drilling two holes in the top for p-cord to go through. Brandon showed me his nametag as he chose a good piece of sandpaper. He wasn’t quite sure what he was looking forward to most at camp, since it was hard to pick just one thing. Daniel was also working on sanding his nametag, and said that the climbing wall was his favorite part of camp. I asked if he had a particular goal to reach, or if he had already made it to the top. “I climbed to the top of all four walls in a single day yesterday!” he exclaimed proudly. He was looking forward to climbing again later that day.
Over at arts and crafts, Sunny and Alex were teaching a lesson on drawing eyes, and using pastels to blend colors. Wade was trying to blend a good skin color for his self portrait, and Alex was explaining how different colors could create subtle changes in the way the pastels looked. Wade said that arts and crafts had been the activity he was most looking forward to, and that he often does it at home. “Mostly I do origami,” he said, showing me his Star-Wars themed origami book. He also showed me the star wars finger puppet he had already folded out of paper that day. “Maybe if we had an origami day here I could help teach it!” he said excitedly.
Graham was also working on the self-portrait of his eyes nearby, and had just finished it. “My favorite thing at camp is blacksmithing,” he said, showing me the metal arrowhead he made the day before. “I’m wearing it as a badge of honor,” he explained, proudly wearing what he had forged around his neck. Cameron was busy shading his pastel drawing, but said that he was most excited about getting to ride horses soon. “I haven’t signed up yet, but I want to soon!” he said.
Since it’s just the beginning of the session, everyone is very excited to think about all the fun activities and trips there are to do over the next several days. There’s a lot to look forward to! We’ll be spending the rest of the session not only having fun and enjoying the outdoors in activities and on trips together, but also building skills, growing deeper friendships, and gaining more self-confidence and independence. Here’s to the next week and a half!