We had a great second Monday at sleep away camp! We began our day with some yummy breakfast, and then headed back to our cabins to get ready for the day. After sunscreening and filling up water bottles, we met at the camp field for some energetic songs and games to get all woken up! Then, the one-week campers headed over to the meeting hall to decorate their water bottles and do some fun teambuilding activities, including Magic Hoop and Flip the Tarp, while the two-week campers headed out on their Adventure Tracks! The backpackers headed out of camp, while the hikers learned how to read both a compass and a map. Meanwhile, the climbers climbed on Wally–some did it blindfolded!–and learned about climbing knots. We all met again for lunch, which was delicious grilled cheese and tomato soup.
After lunch, everyone headed back to their cabins for a nice relaxing rest hour. It’s nice to have that quiet hour in the middle of the day! Then, the one-week campers had a chance to do some Choice Activities. Several chose to sketch and do artwork with Counselors Kyra and Catie, while others worked with Counselor Dana on a camp service project. With our service projects, we really enjoy leaving camp better than we found it! Meanwhile, the two-week campers continued their Adventure Tracks: the climbers scouted bouldering sites around camp and learned about belaying, while the hikers explored the trails around camp, learned about scrambling and going down scree, and even did some “off-road” hiking!
At 4:30, we all came together for some great popcorn for snack and some nice chill free time. Campers enjoyed playing games in the lodge, playing volleyball and tetherball outside, and hanging out and talking with each other and with the counselors. After free time, we all washed our hands and headed into dinner, which was barbeque chicken! Yum! After filling our stomaches, we headed back to the cabins to put on some warm clothes, and then had our first ever AO Camps Carnival! It was great fun–all of the counselors dressed up in costumes, and acted as the carnies 🙂 We had a ring toss, a bean bag toss, a softball challenge (knock the cans off the bin with a softball!), a ping-pong challenge (get the ping-pong ball into one of the cups of water!), a hula hoop challenge (get the hula hoop around the two-liter water bottle!), and a volleyball challenge (toss the volleyball into the bucket!). We also had face painting and the opportunity to make some awesome paper crowns. It was tons of fun!
After carnival, we sang our end-of-day song, and headed back to the cabins to brush teeth and get ready for bed. Tomorrow’s another big day at sleep away camp!