The Sari Diaries- Saturday 8/1/15

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,

Today was basically the most beautiful day the Northwoods has ever seen. With temps in the high seventies, a slight breeze in the air and skies as blue as could be, it truly was picture perfect. Not only was the weather magnificent, we also had a really wonderful day in activities around #TheRanch2015.

1. This morning at pottery, campers were glazing their clay versions of the Chippewa sign. There were campers of all ages in the class but they were all excited about their creations. Once they have been fired, I am going to take a photo of all of them together to share with you. Pottery this summer has been outstanding and each time I walk by to say hi, I am more and more impressed with the projects that our campers have spent time making!

2. Today was a sad day at Senior Tennis Team. George Fountain who has spent two amazing summers at Chippewa is unfortunately leaving us on Monday to attend his brother’s wedding in England. While we understand the need for him to be in attendance at such an important family occasion, we will miss him throughout the last week and a half of camp. For George’s send-off, we had a day full of fun games during first period. In the beginning, we played Team Jail which was a blast. After that, we played doubles Champion-Challenger for Cathy’s. This is always a favorite and Cathy’s definitely raised the stakes and the intensity! Helen E and I were on a team together and were on the champion side until the last ten seconds…it was heartbreaking but we were excited for all those that got to go to Cathy’s at rest hour today :).

3. Natalie put a little twist on aerobics today. Each class was broken into groups of two or three and they could either create a workout routine or dance. They then performed them for the entire class. The campers got so into it and loved using what they have learned thus far in aerobics into their routines. Nat was very happy with the outcome and had so much fun watching the campers lead the class.

4. Today was the ideal day for the fishing boats to go to the dam. They headed out there at the start of each period and got off the pontoons to fish from shore. The campers loved the new scenery and many fish were caught out there. This fishing point is Luke’s favorite and I think it is safe to say that the campers agree with him on this one.

5. During third period, I had the privilege of teaching sailing and driving the jet-ski. The class was full of Horseshoe campers and I couldn’t believe their sailing skills. For most of them, they are about to pass into the highest level and they were helping the couple of others who are just learning to sail for the first time this summer. There were a few boats that wanted to capsize and I was so proud of how quickly they were able to recover and get back on the boats. I always enjoy being out on the lake with campers and today was no exception!

6. Tonight we practiced for Songfest which is tomorrow. Campers have been working hard over the past week to learn the new song and new cheer that the Grand and Chief Sachems made up. I am looking forward to tomorrow to see the big performance and find out what the themes are (all of us who judge Songfest do not yet know the themes). The campers are amped for the big show and to see all of their efforts payoff on stage tomorrow night!

To end a stupendous day, I got a visit from Carly Levin and Scott Bernstein. Carly was my camper from 1999-2003 (and now a good friend of mine) and Scott is her fiancé who was a Kawaga & Horseshoe guy that I knew throughout my camp years. I love that two die-hard campers have found each other and will be getting married in October. It was so fun to see them, walk around camp with them and reminisce about our camp days.

So there you have it- today was marvelous! Thanks for reading TSD tonight…talk to you tomorrow :).

Happy Camping and Love,
Sari