The Sari Diaries- Sunday 8/2/26

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,

Good evening to all of you. I actually have the chills as I write this because I believe that this is my final entry before the last day of camp. Tomorrow will be a podcast (at least that’s the plan), Soph-Aloaf will write for her last time of the summer on Tuesday, and then Wednesday is it…I typically post Wednesday’s entry on Thursday after the dust has settled and I have had some time to reflect. All of this is to say, I truly cannot believe we are here…at this point in the summer…I blinked and that was it…ugh!

We had another amazing day at #TheRanch2026 and I shall now tell you all about it!

Our Day at CRC
-Sunday Morning Breakfast- Pancakes, Omelets and Scrambles were devoured and enjoyed!
-Fudd’s Challenge- Our traditional Sunday morning cabin clean-up…an extra special cleaning and sheet changing!
-Tan & White All Camp Capture the Flag- It was an intense one. Campers and counselors alike put on their Tan & White gear and did their best to either defend their own flag or capture the other team’s. More on that below!
-Sunday Lunch- Corn Dogs and Mac & Cheese…yum!
-A celebration of Ruth Lissner- 20 Years at CRC!
-Celebratory Cathy’s, Tubing & Chippy Awards Prep!
-Pizza Dinner!
-Chippy Awards- Lakeview planned and implemented one of the most popular awards shows known to man. Forget the Academy Awards or the Grammy’s, Chippy Awards is an incredible program that has been a tradition at CRC for a long time. Lakeview killed it tonight- their theme CR-Cities was so creative and they nominated campers for & handed out tons of unique Chippy Awards!

Everything Matters Moments
-I would like to start by thanking Ruth Lissner for being an incredible human, co-worker and chosen family member. Ruth has been at CRC for 20 summers and over the course of these past 20 years, she has given so much to our community. There is the what she does here that is big time and tremendously impactful. But more than that is the who she is here that is so important. She is a smiling face, a helping hand, and a truly caring soul. Working with her and forming a friendship with Ruth throughout these last 20 years has been an honor. I have learned from her so many things and I have felt so much love from her heart. So Ruth, I hope you enjoyed your celebration today- thank you for making Chippewa your home for all of these years, and for making your presence felt in a way that is so very significant to the Chippewa community including me!

-I had the great privilege of driving Sam J (C-C) and Noa B (Timber Walk) to the airport this morning. Their planned but early departures from camp were definitely a bummer and the crowd at the Top of the Hill was large, sad and sweet. But what I loved about this little trip to Rhinelander was being a part of the interaction between Sam and Noa. While they are from the same town and they have been at camp together for a number of summers, they are four years apart…and in camp life, that’s a lot of years. Sam is old-ish around here and Noa is kind of middle-aged-ish. Noa brought up the fact that Sam was her counselor on Camper Counselor Day when she was in Blackfoot, which led us to talking about their former camp big sisters, who was in Lakeview their first summers and more. In this context, it was so cool to listen to Sam be the wise older camp person…she was thoughtful in her responses to Noa and it was obvious that both of them were into the conversation. This was one of those moments when we all just thought we were taking a drive to the airport, but I have a feeling that we will all remember that car ride (despite it being fairly ordinary) for a long time…it will have been a bonding moment that they might point to sometime down the road as the impetus of their camp friendship…we shall see!
-Capture the Flag was exciting this afternoon. Rosie H (Timber Walk), Zoe C (Lakeview) and Ava L (C-C) all scored for the Tan Team and Noa G (Wagon Ridge) claimed the sole White Team score. It was quite a battle and I think everybody really enjoyed the morning version of capture…new for us at CRC. All Camp Capture is a big deal because staff play along with campers. This makes it extra cool that two of the four scores came from campers…not easy to get out of the box and across the center line with the other team’s flag with campers and counselors hunting you down. The best part about Capture the Flag is the team camaraderie. The unity on a day like this is strong and the celebrations for teammates are ginormous…it is so awesome to see. And those four who scored will be go down in history as “scored in capture” legends!

-Chippy Awards 2026 was a night to remember. Lakeview killed it in their final cabin production of the summer. Campers were enamored with the oldest campers on stage- holding onto every word, laughing at the skits and obviously loving the Chippy Awards treats! I’ve got a top three EMMs from Chippy Awards:

1. Watching campers’ genuine excitement for one another when a friend received an award…I mean this is happiness for others that cannot be faked…it is special!
   
2. The between the bricks (or in this case awards) moments- songs were playing and each song felt like a whole camp inside joke…we sang the Chippewa words to many of them, belted out the real words of others and danced Chippy moves to pretty much all of them. The whole camp felt unified with each song that played through the theater.
   
3. Watching Lakeview on stage was really something. These girls have grown up before our eyes- they have come so far and they have truly come together. I feel all sorts of emotions as I have a front row seat of their final days as campers. I am so very proud of this group, I am so very grateful to them and I am in complete & utter disbelief that they are living this part of their camp careers already. Thank you to Lakeview for continuing to serve as wonderful role models for the entirety of Chippewa…tonight was just another example of your leadership and commitment to making this CRC summer so memorable for each and every camper!
   

That’s all from Dam Lake for today. We are loving life and appreciating each & every moment we’ve got left in this epic summer of 2026! Thanks for reading- have a lovely night!

Happy Camping and Love,
Sari