Friday Photos and Last Post

I'm so sorry it took me so long to get this post up.  Due to the Friday rain we were unable to pack the shelters (all 21 of them) so a crew of us have been at the lake packing them down in the sunshine yesterday and today.  I appreciate your patience.

Thank you for sharing your campers, LIAs, and CAs with us this week!  We believe camp is a magical experience where kids, teens, and adults grow by leaps and bounds and we feel privileged to have them/you join us to do it together!  

This will be my last blog post for this camp year and I have an important piece of advice to share with you.  Put February 1st on your calendar as a reoccurring event to check back here on our blog.  You'll find important information about when camp will be, when registration will start, or when we expect to know these things.  Every year we get email from people who forgot to check and then they missed registration.  Camp fills fast so be sure to check here to get the important details.

Be on the look out for a future email from us sharing a link to all the photos our volunteers took at camp this week.  We have hundreds and hundreds of them to share (when we finish getting them uploaded).

We do other fun things throughout the year with the Girl Scouts in our valley (such as a really fun Halloween party and Encampment, our awesome two night overnight camp in spring).  If you would like to join us for other things throughout the year connect with us through https://www.girlscoutsww.org/ or email me to help you get more info.

Now, back to Fabulous, Fun Friday!

We started our day with songs led by some of our amazing adult volunteers who were all campers and CAs at camp when they were younger.  This was followed by an extremely entertaining skit done by our CAs.  

On the last day of camp we have a big party all afternoon!  Instead of staying in their units our campers are free to choose what activities they want to do and how long they want to do them.  We set up a variety of CA run stations with things like face painting, dress up, boondoggling, crafts, games, water play, parachute, and more.  

These are the "Traffic Cones" a self chosen group name based on the color of their camp shirts.  I'm guessing our CAs hadn't been asked to paint traffic cones before...and they did a great job!

While these "What We Did Today" posters were made on Thursday, not Friday, I enjoyed knowing what the campers had Discovered, Enjoyed, and felt like they Belonged. I thought you might enjoy reading them too.   

 

We ended our wonderful camp week with an All Camp Game, Flag Ceremony done by Unit A, singing the song "Linger" and a Girl Scout Friendship Circle.

The LIAs, CAs, and adults stayed to celebrate our amazing week together and to begin to pack up camp.  We finished with a beautiful campfire sing-along.

🎵For love is for those who find it, I found mine right here.

Just you and I and the campfire and the songs we love to hear.

Da dum, da da da da da da dah

Da da dum, da da da da da da dum, da, daaaa🎵

See you next year!  ❤ Pagemaster & Mr. Pagemaster

If you're hoping for a secret word that will also give you a hint at next years theme I've got one for you...AHOY! 

 

Throwback Thursday

I'm sorry to be late!  It's been a fabulous but long day!  Can you believe Friday has come so soon?!  

We distributed the Valley Day Camp Collector Buttons today. 

Each year we have a new button to represent the theme for that year!  

We also have buttons for 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, and 20 years (we'll add on as we age).  There is one for being a LIA and one your first year as a CA as well.  

Take good care of your buttons because we don't replace lost buttons.  Some people keep them on their name tag and keep it in a safe place.  Some people put them on their bulletin board, store them with keepsakes, or keep them with their other Girl Scout memorabilia.  Maybe someone keeps them locked in their safe?  

If collecting buttons isn't your thing, no worries, we'll still give you one each year and it's yours to do with as you please.

We started our day with a flag ceremony by Unit C.

Unit H and the LIA Unit had lunch together.

Some units got to take their forest animal tracks home (since the clay had dried)

The LIAs made a fabulous poster for the Alumni Celebration.

Today was our last day of having Team Time (because tomorrow we have a big afternoon party).

A few of our amazing CAs, (Kazoo, Roly Poly, and CHEEZPUFF) enjoyed our matching hoodies.

We ended our amazing day with an evening sing-a-long with some of our Valley Day Camp Alumni!

I wanted to give an extra special thank you shout out to all of our amazing volunteers!  Thank you for all the mowing, blackberry clipping, packing in camp, setting up camp, spending your whole week with this fabulous group of campers, and then packing it all up again!  You are a truly AMAZING group of people! 

Tomorrow I'll stay laaaate at camp and won't be able to get back to the blog until this weekend.  But please do check back as I'll have more photos, lost and found items, and information about next year.

The secret word for today is omnivore...what do you think it means?  

We Didn't Get Wet Wednesday!

Hooray, we didn't get wet today!  Great job being prepared!  Let's all be prepared again tomorrow so we can keep the rain away again!

Have you heard the story about the skunk?  Never mind, it stinks! (Thanks Lucia and Lanie!

Tomorrow evening the blog post will be late, maybe even after some people's bedtime, by 8:30.  If you can't check it after 8:30 you can check it the next morning.  (Sorry for that, but it's the Valley Day Camp Alumni Sing and Share Event so I'll be at the lake extra late).

Unit E led our opening flag ceremony

Campfire Songs with Honey Bunny!

Awesome times on the trail!

Unit C...played possum???  LOL!

Luckily they recovered in time to make friendship bracelets!

We had a lovely All Camp Picnic!  It's so fun to be able to mix up and eat lunch with people from all different units.

The Red Fox Team played Forest Animal Bingo today.

Unit H learned fire safety and practiced lighting matches.

Unit D roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.

They also had fun in Games with Mr. Pagemaster and Fixit!

Unit B made and flew kites!  It was a perfect day for it too!

Even though out day started off with lots of coats and a little shivering it did warm up in the afternoon and water play was a perfect way to cool off.

Even pool turtles enjoy water play!

The secret word for today is crepuscular (it means is active most at dawn and dusk).  Do you know any forest animals that are crepuscular?  

Don't forget the blog post will be late tomorrow.

See you all tomorrow!

Pagemaster

Terrific Tuesday

This was a terrific Tuesday!  We enjoyed so many activities and experiences we can't share them all!  We played, sang, danced, gamed, hiked, cooked, had popsicles in the middle of a hot/humid afternoon, searched for wildlife and trails (evidence) of wildlife and much more.  I  hope you enjoy this glimpse into our day.

Thank you all for being patient with us at drop off and pick up!

For the rest of the week the weather is looking iffy.  Every weather app has a different forecast.  Please be sure to come prepared for being outside and possibly cold and wet.  Even though the temperatures aren't predicted to be too low, once we're wet we tend to stay wet and then we're cold.  We get a lot of breezes at the lake.  Send warm layers, a change of socks, anything water resistant, etc.

Today we saw the return of the Valley Day Camp Owls!  There are three of them and they hide around camp waiting to be found.  When a unit finds one they get to help it hide for the next group.  

Unit D did our opening flag ceremony!

Units C and D both went to cooking and made Possum Bread!...No possums were harmed in the making of this bread.

Most of Unit G got drenched in Water Play, while some of Unit G enjoyed the "Dry Zone".  Can you tell which side is which?

Unit E enjoyed their time at the Games Station!  Plus they finished finding all 10 of the Forest Animal Hide and Seek animals!

Unit A played Quack-Diddly-Oh-So while waiting for their turn to be loaded into cars to go home.

Units C and D discovered cool things about owls at Animal Discoveries!

CARPOOLERS!