The Sari Diaries- Wednesday 7/15/26

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,

I hope you all had a wonderful day! We definitely enjoyed our time here at #TheRanch2026 in all sorts of ways. As I write this diary entry, I am still hearing screams of excitement across camp (don’t worry, it’s not even 9pm)- this day was a good one! Here’s what happened…

Chippy Birthday Celebrations
-Annie F from Lakeview’s 15th Birthday!
-Lexi K from Trailriders’s 14th Birthday!
-Coral S from Trailriders’s 14th Birthday!

Our Day at CRC
-Morning Wake-Up with a triple birthday wake-up!
-Breakfast- Waffles, Hashbrown Patties and Scrambled Eggs.
-Cabin Clean-Up- Congrats to Wagon Ridge and Copper Stripes on their perfect scores!
-The cabin of Lakeview departed for their camping trip!
-Morning Activities- We ran mostly normal morning activities for the first time this session. There were a few adaptations due to environmental circumstances but we had fun regardless!

-Lunch- BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches and Fries.
-Afternoon Age Group Fun- Slight adjustments were made today due to the impact from the fires in Minnesota and Ontario. To play it safe, we did mostly indoor activities with a little bit of chilling outside. Rafter^X, Blackfoot and Silverspurs enjoyed cooking with Jen and doing an awesome Random House project with Niamh. The rest of the camp rotated between a CRC Bingo Game (with amazing prizes), a dodgeball tournament, playing cards and Train of Thought Skits, which were hysterical!
-Dinner- BBQ & Ice Cream Sandwiches!
-Pirate Night- This is an evening activity, which has stood the test of time. Sure there have been changes over the course of the last fifteen years, but the main premise of the game has remained and campers love it. C-C found the buried treasure and won the evening!

Activity Achievements
-Willow K (Lakeview) and Ivy R (C-C) are officially the newest members of the CRC Ski Team- the Chippy Bats!
-Ava L (C-C) caught seven fish this morning!
-Ellie C (Bowed Legs) caught five fish!

Everything Matters Moments
-The Random House project that Rafter, Blackfoot and Silverspurs embarked on was to create an item that is essential to their Chippewa experience. As is typical for Random House, this left things wide open, and let me tell you, the creativity was flowing. As Rafter was heading back to their cabin, they sprinted up to me to show me their creations. While their enthusiasm was certainly heartwarming, what really got me was their counselors…they were so proud of these unique and cute items that their campers were showing off. They saw all the hard work and thought that the campers put into it, and regardless of the outcome, the effort is what mattered and those counselors knew that. I just loved it!

-Down in the Adler Lodge, Lily Zirin and Julia Block were running the CRC Bingo show…and they were rocking it. Instead of just calling out the Chippy themed squares, they were giving clues for the campers to guess. I expected that the younger campers would be super into this…they love anything our counselors are excited about…and add in some prizes, what could go wrong?! But when I walked in to see Bowed Legs and C-C (13 year-old campers) enthusiastically yelling their guesses and taking their CRC Bingo game very seriously, I knew that Lily and Julia were amazing…they made this afternoon fun and happy for everybody…campers of all ages!
-Pirate Night was full of spirit this evening. As I mentioned above, this game has lived well for a long time at Chippyland. I will never forget the first summer it was brought to Chippewa by new counselor, Naomi and Program Director, Samara. It was new and generated a lot of excitement, which isn’t always so easy for a new program. Year after year, campers have indicated that Pirate Night is one of their favorites- it is one of the few programs that we do both first and second session. And each time we are planning it, I wonder if the hype will fade…but it hasn’t and I am so happy. Even the Trailriders campers were running around camp searching for flags like their lives just might depend on it. Staff who were pirates were decked in costume and face paint, and younger campers had the most serious looks on their faces as they tried to evade the pirates and stay within the safety of their counselors’ arms. Each session, this is a night that makes me smile…I never got to play this as a camper…it didn’t exist…but I absolutely love how for over fifteen summers, Chippies have been loving and living Pirate Night…it’s pretty cool!

And there you have it- another unique day at 8258 County O. We really believe that tomorrow will be regular…temps should be ideal and the fire impact is slated to clear up. Stay tuned for a post from Soph-Aloaf tomorrow night…thanks for reading!

Happy Camping and Love,
Sari