The Sari Diaries- Wednesday 6/11/14

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,

It has been a looooooong day at camp, but we got a lot of great activities in throughout the day and night. Here are some of the highlights…

1. Early this morning, all of our 36 lifeguards went to Lakeland High School for a lifeguarding inservice led by our lifeguard trainer, Kate Bradley. Each lifeguard practiced different saves, deep dives, and ensured that they were comfortable in the water. Skills were checked (as we do throughout the summer) and we are officially ready for our waterfront to be open :).

2. Once the lifeguards got back to camp, we all met at the Center Fire Circle and announced what cabins the staff would be living in this Summer. Everyone moved their belongings into the cabins and got settled in. There was a huge amount of excitement as people reunited with co-counselors, met new ones, and began to form their summer home together in anticipation of #CRC2014.

3. This afternoon was both incredibly fun as well as useful. Each summer during pre-camp, we have an afternoon that we call “Practice and Participate.” We run three activity periods and during this time, staff get to participate in different activities (climb the wall, go waterskiing, play tennis, etc…) as well as practice teaching the activities- going through the safety procedures and their first lessons. It is always nice for the staff to get to try new activities and it is quite helpful for staff teaching activities to have a chance to actually go through a mock class before the campers arrive.

4. Dinner tonight was obviously a BBQ (we have BBQs every Wednesday and Saturday). The food was delicious, there was lots of it, and people were very happy. After dinner, we had cake and sang the birthday song to Andrey- one of our new staff members who is working in the kitchen this summer.

5. Finally, the evening everyone had been waiting for had arrived…Walmart Wednesday! The Wednesday of pre-camp, we always take an all-staff trip to Walmart. Staff get a ton of “necessities” for the summer and we stock up on a number of essential camp items. It is always fun to go up and down the aisles knowing familiar faces in each one of them.

That was about all for today, but it was definitely a FULL day that everyone enjoyed. Thanks for reading- have a good night (although hopefully most of you are reading this in the morning).

Happy Camping and Love,
Sari