The Sari Diaries- 7/4/17 (2.0)

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,
Good morning! Below is a diary entry that has been written from the camper’s perspective on the 4th of July at #TheRanch2017. Enjoy!
Happy Camping and Love,
Sari

Dear Diary,

This was my favorite 4th of July ever! Everyone was right when they told me that today would be the best. We got woken up this morning by Lakeview who is the oldest cabin. They were banging on pots and pans and screaming, “Happy 4th of July!” Normally, I don’t like being woken up, but I was so excited that I jumped right out of bed, put on my red, white and blue, and ran down to the waterfront. When I first got down there, music was playing and everyone was dancing. We danced and sang while we waited for all the other campers and counselors to arrive. It was really cool to see my counselor dancing with her friends…some of them are still at camp and others are visiting and were her counselors when she was younger.

Everyone then started cheering for “Sarah and Ali.” They are two of the best skiers in camp and they are also in Lakeview. They put on a mini ski show for us on slalom skis! I really hope that if I keep working on my skiing, I will get to be on the lake on the morning of 4th of July when I am in Lakeview! Lakeview then quieted everyone down to read a poem that gave us a little preview of the day. We all cheered for them and then headed to the lodge for breakfast.

I had no idea what to expect when I walked into the lodge, but I never could have imagined how great it actually was. Every year, Lakeview chooses a theme and decorates the messhall to match the theme. When I walked into the lodge, I immediately saw an incredible mural which said, “Oh Say Can You NYC.” Their theme was all centered around New York City, but was transformed to incorporate aspects of America’s birthday and Chippewa. The decorations were so neat and I could hardly recognize the messhall. To top it off, breakfast included all of my favorite foods…yes, there was even red, white and blue whipped cream for the waffles! As we were waiting in line for the food, Rebecca F came to hang out with us. She is in Lakeview and has been so nice to everyone in my cabin. The line was kind of long but she made it fun to wait until we got our food.

For the morning program, we played Circle Game, which they have been playing at Chippewa on the 4th forever (I think…). Half of the camp was in the South Field and half was in the North Field. We formed a huge circle and one member of Lakeview stood in the middle. The members of Lakeview on the outside of the circle would tell us to run up if we knew the answer to different trivia questions or if we had certain talents (could do the splits, say the alphabet backwards, etc…). If we were the first to run up and hit the hand of the person in the middle, we got points for our team. I ran up for three different questions, and got there first for one of them! This year they added “Lakeview’s Candy Bar,” which meant that if you got to the center first and could answer the trivia question or do the talent that they called out, you got a piece of candy (don’t worry mom and dad, tomorrow I am only going to eat fruits and veggies ;)).

Then, in the afternoon, Lakeview put on a carnival in the South Field. We danced A LOT and there were tons of different activities to do. My favorite was the slip ’n slide- it was huge and I went so fast! We also got to tie dye which I loved because now I have a shirt that will always remind me of my first 4th of July at CRC. In addition to all of the activities, there were tons of good snacks and a huge waterfight!

After the carnival, we heard that our laundry was back! A bunch of my cabinmates and I decided that we would bring Lakeview’s laundry to their cabin for them. They worked soooooo hard to make this day so fun for us, and we wanted to say thank-you by helping them with this. They were so nice when we brought it in…I think they really appreciated it!

For dinner, we had a delicious BBQ, and then the final part of the day was fireworks. We went to Three Lakes…a town near camp, and we all sat with our cabins in the field and played games until the fireworks began. It was the perfect way to end a splendid day.

I really loved the 4th and am so happy to be spending my first summer at Chippewa. Today made me realize that camp is only going to get better and better as my years as a camper go on. It seems pretty far away but my cabin and I are already thinking of themes for our 4th of July. It will be awesome when we get to plan this day for all of the younger campers…yeah Lakeview 2023!

Now I am laying in bed and exhausted from our big celebration. Tomorrow my cabin and I are going to write Lakeview a thank-you note. I know that they put so much hard work into making this day such a success and we really appreciate it. We want them to know that everyone loved the day and that they are the reason that 4th of July 2017 was the best one ever. Goodnight diary!

Love,

Your Happy Camper