The Sari Diaries- Friday 7/21/17

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,

Another incredible day has come and gone at #TheRanch2017. Fridays are my favorite and today lived up to the expectations! Read below to learn about some of the amazingness that was today…

We had two birthdays- both of wonderful staff members. Becca Keidan and Ally Schulkin have been celebrating their birthdays at camp for a long, long time (nine summers to be exact). A couple of awesome things happened that were pertinent to their special days. The first occurred after second period when Ally came into the office. When I asked her about how her day was going, she immediately replied that it was great. I then asked if anything special happened, and she told me that three girls on her ski boat passed levels. It was such a selfless response…what made her birthday good was that campers were accomplishing things on her watch…I just love it! Later on in the day, Shim and Becca came into the office to tell me it was the best day ever…they weren’t sure why but positive vibes were everywhere. And literally as they left the office, Aaliyah I came running in with her hands in the air and said, “This is the best day!” I was clearly in the right place at the right time to experience this all in a short time, but it was the perfect reminder of how lucky we are to constantly be experiencing best days!

At lunch, there were many announcements for activity achievements…I am amazed that so early in the session, campers are excelling at their activities! Marissa Y got a shout-out for archery, which her friends were very excited to cheer for her about. Ryan is actually in the process of moving the archery range in order to give Chippewa campers an even better archery experience. The range will be longer for our more advanced archers and there will be more targets. Archery has become so popular this summer and we are appreciative of Ryan who is helping move our program forward!

Tonight’s campfire theme was “Advice From a Tree.” Rebecca Field did an amazing job leading us in this important campfire, and many other campers and staff participated. The Chippy Choir sang “Where Do the Children Play,” and an excerpt from The Giving Tree was read by Holly G. Overall, it was a really nice evening that ended with a key log ceremony in which many, many camp big sisters were thanked. Before the Creed, we handed out Growth coins to all of the new Chippy campers this session. Lisa explained that taking the leap to go to overnight camp for the first time is a big deal, and one that demonstrates an huge amount of growth…we called each new camper up and congratulated her for her bravery!

And then, as campers went back to their cabins, Blackfoot headed over to the HNS. They had pitched their tent before the campfire and were excited to roast marshmallows, hang out and eventually sleep in their sleeping bags in their tent. Tripper Lindsay along with Turner and Josh joined Blackfoot and their counselors for the night of fun. The campers had a blast and loved their first (for most of them) camping experience.

So as I am sure you can tell, we had an outstanding day at CRC…I am thrilled to be the one reporting to you this evening…I hope you enjoyed tonight’s edition of TSD…thanks for reading!

Happy Camping and Love,
Sari