The Sari Diaries- Friday 7/4/25

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,
Happy 4th of July! In honor of this very special day at #TheRanch2025, I am changing up the format tonight. I am going to write this diary entry from the point of view of a Chippewa camper. I hope you 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. The day was filled with moments of impact- all day long I was making memories that I know will last a lifetime. Here’s how the day went for me…

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.

At the waterfront, we took photos, cheered and got hyped for the day. And then the Lakeview skiers began to put on a show! Laney K, Emma S, Alexis R and Alexa R were amazing. They slalomed so flawlessly- I really hope I can learn to ski like them one day. We also got to see Liv K and Summer K tubing with an American flag…they were funny and everybody was so excited to be cheering them on!

From the waterfront, we went to the Adler 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, “Red, White & Rodeo on County O.” Their theme was all centered around Rodeos, 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!

For the morning program, we played Circle Game, which they have been playing at Chippewa on the 4th forever (I think…). We all gathered in the South Field, and formed a huge circle with one member of Lakeview 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!

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! In addition to all of the activities, there were tons of good snacks and a huge water & paint fight!

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. I got to see Charlotte H do the worm, which she apparently learned this summer. And the cabin of Cactus was intensely practicing their lip sync. All across the field, cabins were just being together and living it up. 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 2032!

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 2025 was the best one ever. Goodnight diary!

Love,
Your Happy Camper