The Sari Diaries- Saturday 8/1/26

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,

I hope you all had a wonderful day! If you can believe it, we are back to a regularly scheduled post…not too many of these in the last two weeks of camp! Here is what I can tell you about our magical day at Chippewa Ranch Camp…

Chippy Birthday Celebrations -Jen Becker (Mary’s Manor) Celebrated her Birthday with us Today!

Our Day at CRC
-White Cap Lake Swim!
-Morning Wake-Up!
-Breakfast- Egg & Cheese Frittata, Breakfast Potatoes, Turkey Sausage Patties.
-Tennis Clinic with Denise- We finished up an awesome tennis clinic with Denise…the girls absolutely loved it!
-Cabin Clean-Up!
-1st & 2nd Period Activities- A morning of full and amazing B-Day activities…the first of this new sign-up!
-Friday Blend Lunch on a Saturday- Chicken & Cheese Quesadillas.
-3rd, 4th & 5th Period Activities!
-Dinner- BBQ & Ice Cream Sandwiches!
-Horseshoe Social at Horseshoe!

Activity Achievements
-Charlie M (Copper Stripes) dropped a ski and crossed the wakes on one ski!
-Cameron R (Boots) is officially a member of the Gold Club!

Everything Matters Moments
-My first Everything Matters Moment is actually from yesterday. It all started on Kahuna Day when I interrupted Maddyn C (C-C) and Maddie K (Trailriders) talking at lunch. Their conversation looked exciting and they let me know they were planning to run a half marathon the following day with Liv K (Copper Stripes) and Sam J (C-C) and they invited me. How could I possibly turn it down?! Quite honestly, I didn’t think it was actually going to happen but I was in. Sure enough, yesterday morning at 6:30am we all met on the basketball court and we did it…I couldn’t believe it. Each of the four of them were determined to make it happen and they did. It wasn’t easy…over 13 laps around camp can be grueling but we supported each other through the whole thing. I am so very proud of those girls- their first half marathon and at CRC- pretty amazing!
-This morning’s lake swim was much anticipated. As I have mentioned before, we have a record number of White Caps this summer. Campers have been motivated to reach the top level in swimming, at least in part for the opportunity to swim to Watermelon Island. And this morning we had 35 campers swim across the lake and back. Alina S (Timber Walk) completed the swim in 30 minutes, which is insanely fast. Each and every camper who set out to swim it, finished! They were on a high during breakfast…they had so much pride for this very cool accomplishment. Shout-out to Amari S (Circle C) for being a fantastic Swim Director this summer- her leadership has without question been a reason there is so much enthusiasm surrounding swimming at #TheRanch2026.

-Before lunch, Sienna R, Sienna K and Clara K (Rafter^X) came by for an office hang. They were making pretend phone calls on my Lego telephone (made and gifted to me by Sadie G (Silverespurs)). I was a part of the hang but I was kind of more of an observer. The three of them were just living in this imaginary happy little world. It was very sweet to see, and a reminder that while CRC is a place for campers to grow-up, it is also a place for them to just be kids!
-Because of Camper Counselor Day, we postponed the Friday Blend Lunch from yesterday to today. This was our final Friday Blend of the summer and it was wonderful. Yes, we are still listening to a killer playlist throughout our Friday Blend Lunches but what made today so special was that it seems to have clicked. Tables have bonded and campers & staff of all ages are comfortable at their Friday lunch home. There was lots of chatter about keeping the same tables for next summer, which is the plan. We will add little sisters to existing tables and deepen the connections we have already formed with our current crew. I am a member of the Middle Trailriders Table and it has really been a blast sitting with this group each Friday!

-For Jen Becker’s birthday, Ruth took her on a special outing, which pulled her out of the Cooking Academy fifth period. Lucky for me, I was her substitute instructor! When I arrived, Reece M and Leah N (Horseshoe) let me know that they were my Junior Instructors Aides. And they killed it- they knew exactly what to do, and together we made it happen…chocolate chip cookies were baked and enjoyed by the entire class. I found two things to be so impressive…the first was that these campers are actually learning to bake- they were using terms like dry ingredients, they knew the process of what happened when, and they even knew how long to let the cookies cool before serving and enjoying them. And the second thing was how the class just flowed- everybody knew what their role was and the campers were so independent every step of the way. They were respectful to the “IAs,” appreciative of the help and they did their thing. I don’t often get to be a part of an activity like that, but I’m glad I had the opportunity today!

That’s all I’ve got for now…I was reminded at lunch that we are already in the “Today is Saturday” phase of the summer…ugh- we are starting to get sad while still embracing each and every moment. Thanks for reading- have a wonderful night!

Happy Camping and Love,
Sari