The Sari Diaries- Tuesday 7/11/23

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,

Today was a good and long day! We got a lot done and we did it all well. From morning wake-up for Coco L’s birthday until the winners of Stalk the Lantern were announced, we packed in the fun and the spirit. And here are the details…

After a lovely morning wake-up, breakfast and cabin clean-up, we began our A-Day activities. There were some big moments at archery today- with today’s golds added into their count, Elsie G, Emery S, Jacklin R and Bailey F are official members of the Gold Club! Down at skiing, Zoey F & Harlow R got up and around the lake on two skis, Stella S, Mia G & Alexis G lifted for ten seconds, Riley S dropped a ski and got around on one and Quinn M dropped a ski and crossed the wakes on one. At fishing, campers enjoyed a boat ride to fish on the other side of the lake and many fish were caught!

During lunch, we had some insane Tan & White cheering..I mean the lodge was wild! From the lodge, we all headed to the North Field for our all-camp and cabin photos. New this year, we took a second generation photo for all those campers and counselors whose moms are Chippy alumni. And we even had a third generation photo as we have four campers and one counselor whose mothers and grandmothers went to CRC…talk about a family connection!

Because it was Picture Day, we only had fourth and fifth period activities this afternoon. At sailing, we had a special guest instructor- CRC Alum, Kate Bradley, joined the sailing instructors this afternoon and taught our campers some very important sailing knowledge. The feedback I received was so positive that I think we have convinced Kate to come back tomorrow morning!

The real excitement occurred tonight because we had not one, but two Tan & White games! Both Counselor Hunt and Stalk the Lantern are camper favorites and we were lucky enough to have both of them in the same night! Counselor Hunt was a blast…campers ran around camp in pairs trying to find the counselors who were hiding. Abby Cyrluk, Lindsay Adess, Ty Borstein and Diego Douglas were the big staff winners tonight as none of them were found throughout the entire game! Meanwhile, I was found by Stella G and Maya G. I had a sneaky plan of hiding in the office while I was doing work. I interacted with tons of campers before Maya and Stella finally said, “I’m a Tan, I see you.” At that point, I was caught!

Following a short break, we played Stalk the Lantern…a late night Tan & White game that we play each session. Staff sat on the South Field in camp chairs in the shape of a bullseye. There were rings worth ten, twenty-five, fifty and seventy five points. And smack in the middle was the target…where the Neutrals and directors sat…worth one hundred points. Campers dressed in all black and tried to get to the middle without getting caught. Some campers slithered, some ran and some casually walked. There is more than one route to success in this game and everybody has their own method. It was fun, and by the end, everyone was definitely ready for bed!

I should point out that the White Team won both games tonight. I am pretty sure the scores were close but the White Team pulled off the sweep today . One last thing before I end this evening’s post…before bed, I had a visit from Lakeview camper, Emery S. She came to the office with some environmental initiative ideas. They weren’t grand and crazy ideas but small ways that we as a community can better take care of our Earth, and more specifically, these camp grounds that we cherish. It was awesome to talk with her about an issue she is passionate about. She was articulate, thoughtful and realistic. I am excited to work through these with her and other members of #TheRanch2023 world to implement some new green procedures. A big thank-you to Emery for taking the time to talk with me!

Okay, that’s all I got for tonight. I hope you had a wonderful day…I will be back tomorrow night- likely in the form of a podcast! Thanks for reading.

Happy Camping and Love,
Sari