A Day at Camp Wilderness/Last Day of Camp

Hello future readers,

For our last day of camp, Doug and Kerry decided that the Yellow Canaries, (my cabin), should spend a day with the boys from the Trailblazers cabin at Camp Wilderness (that's Danny, Jason, Kyle and Kevin). So after lunch, we walked over to the far side of the lake and over the bridge that connects the 2 camps. When we got there, the guys were waiting on the main field for us.

Camp Wilderness is set up differently than our camp. Camp Echo Hill is for girls ages 6-10 years old.  Kerry's little sister Velvet is one of the younger campers. Their cabins are the Ladybugs, Bumblebees, and the Grasshoppers. When you get to be 8 years old, you can move to our section of camp which has the Red Robins, Blue Jays and Yellow Canaries. But here at Camp Wilderness, it's for boys from 8-14 years old. If your age 8-11, you sleep in a cabin, like the Trailblazers do. (and the Explorers and Adventurers).  But when you turn 11, you move up to a tent. (like the Eagles, Wolves and Bears) I don't know how I'd feel if that's how we did it. Camp Echo Hill campers all sleep in cabins. I think I'd like a tent for 2 or 3 days, but not 2 weeks!

Anyway, the boys suggested we play a little baseball, and Jason ran back to their cabin to get their stuff. Now sports is really not my scene. The Olympics were OK, and I was only signed up for one event, but all I know about baseball is that it's a lot like kickball. In fact the only one of us who knows how to play baseball is Raychel (and that's 'cos she has a big brother). Danny told us all where to stand and we got the game started.

None of us girls had any gear, but we still had a pretty groovy time, even though some of us goofed up on the rules!  When we were tired of playing baseball, the boys took us to their Rec Hall.

It's a lot like our Rec Hall, but instead of a stage, they have a pool table, and a lot of posters of things boys like; sports, monster moves, cars, stuff like that.

Raychel and Danny played Perfection:

Jason and I played Booby Trap. (hey, like at Lisa's house!):

Kyle and Lisa were playing ping-pong:

And Kevin was teaching Shante' how to shoot pool.

We played games and rapped for a couple of hours and then it was time for dinner. We walked to the Dining Hall and the Camp Wilderness cook had prepared a great feast for us! There was barbecued chicken, ribs, 3 kinds of baked potatoes and salad! Outta site!

Before we ate we all sang "Johnny Appleseed" as grace:

"The Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need, the sun  and the rain
And the apple seed, the Lord is good to me,
*shouted* JOHNNY APPLESEED! AMEN!"

Then we dug in! Man was it good! I wish the cook at Camp Echo Hill could cook like this! Danny told me they don't normally eat like this. It was just because we were visiting. Hey...maybe we should visit the boys' camp more often!

After dinner, we ate ice-cream, and sang the "Chick-a-Boom" song. It was so funny! Especially the parts about the squeaky voices and singing underwater! When we were all done singing, us girls had to go back to Camp Echo Hill. We all had to pack and turn in early, 'cos the buses would be here at 10a.m. to pick us up. The boys were staying a few more days. I'll bet they'll miss us!

Camp has been super-groovy this year, future readers! I really had a dynamite time! We did so many outta site things! And I won 2 medals! Too much! If you still go to camp in the future, I hope you had just as good a time as I did.  My next entry will be from back home in Springfield.

Until then, future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman

Inter-Camp Olympics- Part 4: Red Rover

Hello future readers,

Well this is it, the last event in our inter-camp Olympics! So far, the girls are ahead 2 events to 1, and today will decide if we win or if we tie with the boys. For this event, we went over to the boys' camp, since they're main field is bigger than ours. Now since you don't see Red Rover on the Olympics, or ABC's Wide World of Sports on television, you may be wondering how we play this game as a sports event. Well let me clue you in. Each team has 3 players. On the girls' side are Shante', Jennifer and April. On the boys side are Kevin, Kyle and Jason. Each player gets to run to the other team's chain to break it. If they can't break it, they get 2 more chances. Each break counts as a point. The side with the most breaks after each team has tried 3 times, wins. Get it? So Kerry had to lay down some safety rules to the players.

Each player had to run with their hands straight up in the air. That way, no one could say you cheated by punching your arms down across someone's wrists to break the chain. And absolutely no one was to run and jump into the chain, hitting someone's wrists with their whole body. Kerry warned all the players that if any of these things happened, she'd stop the game right there, and the girls would win 2 to 1. Once everyone understood the rules, both teams lined up. The girls called first.

"Red Rover, Red Rover, send Kyle right over."

Wow...he didn't even need another chance.  The boys called next.

"Red Rover, Red Rover, send April right over."

Rats, she ran 3 times, and didn't break the chain. Girls turn.

"Red Rover, Red Rover, send Kevin right over."

Uh-oh! This wasn't good for our side! Kevin broke through, no sweat. I started the girls chanting ,"Echo Hill! Echo Hill! Echo Hill!" over and over again.

While poor Danny, the only boy NOT playing, had to scream super loud "Wilderness! Wilderness! Wilderness!" Man, was he ever outnumbered!

"Red Rover, Red Rover, send Shante' right over."

ARRRGGGHHH! She couldn't break through either. Right then, Kerry stopped the game, and announced that since the girls hadn't scored a single point, Jennifer got to go next.

*sigh* Well, we knew how that would turn out, darn it! Even though the boys already won, Jason got to take his turn.

Well, sports fans, there you have it; the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. Actually no one lost. The boys won 2 events, and so did the girls. So like I said before, we proved that we're just as good as the boys. My mom said that's what Women's Lib is all about, so I think we were outta site!

Congratulations guys!

Until next time, future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman

Inter-Camp Olympics- Part 3: Swim Race

Hello future readers!

Today is the big swimming race between Kyle and Cheryl. I think it's pretty groovy that they're swimming against each other, because Cheryl is from San Clemente, and Kyle is from Laguna Beach, both beach towns in southern California. They're both super swimmers and I can't wait to see how this race turns out!

So Kerry laid down the rules. They weren't going to swim where the platform is, because it's kinda shallow and not good for racing. Both Cheryl and Kyle would dive off the pier, swim around the marker in the water (I think it's called a buoy), and swim back to the pier. The first one who touches the pier wins.

So Kerry yells, "On your mark, get set...GO!" Both Cheryl and Kyle dive off the pier and start swimming like crazy! (I wish I could dive, the most I can do is bellyflop! Ouch!)

At first, Cheryl was ahead of Kyle. Kyle can swim pretty fast, but Cheryl makes longer strokes with her arms.

Then Kyle caught up to her, and passed her (well, a little, he was just a few inches ahead), He was swimming really fast, but Cheryl was holding her own.

Now they were coming to the marker. Kyle was closer to it, and Cheryl  was catching up beside him. It looked like a really close race!

I could hear Danny, Jason and Kevin yelling from the pier, "Go Kyle! You can do it!"

 But Cheryl was catching up fast!

As they circled around the marker, I could see Cheryl was ahead of Kyle. Kyle looked like he was getting tired, but he kept on going. Cheryl kept swimming with those long strokes, and finally made it back to touch the pier ahead of Kyle!

Outta site! The girls win again!

Kerry presented Cheryl with the trophy. Kyle looked like he was ready to drop! He's good, but I guess Cheryl is a stronger swimmer!

Tomorrow is the last event. If the girls win one more time, we're the camp champs! If the boys win, we tie, which I guess wouldn't be too bad. It would prove to the boys once and for all that we're just as good at sports as they are! (But I'd still like to say that we're better at sports than they are!)

Tomorrow's last event...Red Rover!

Until then future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman