Good afternoon, and welcome to Camp Merri-Mac’s coverage of the Olympics, or as we call them here, Tribe Fest! This morning dawned beautifully, and the busy yet happy girls of Merri-Mac skipped down to breakfast donned in their tribe jerseys. In Tucker Inn, they gobbled down French toast sticks and bacon to charge their bodies for the active day ahead.

Next, we’ll move on to our lakeside chapel, where the mist rose over Lake Doris as Sunspot counselor Lauren Britt described Jesus Christ as “the way” as listed in John 14:6. The girls listened intently and quietly to Lauren’s analogy to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

The sun glittered over the girls as they painted their faces and bodies in preparation for the first Tribe Fest event of the day: Swim Fest. This began with a salute to the American flag and the singing of the National Anthem in true spirit of the Olympics occurring in Londonat this very moment. Our lovely LakeDoris, almost as lovely as the Olympic Village, was the scene of dozens of swim races for girls of all ages, including a Tweedle Life Vest Relay and a Staff Relay, which featured lovable Trip Staff member Red. The girls decorated signs and made up clever swimming-related cheers for their tribe, such as “Swim, baby swim, Seminole’s gonna win!” ChoctawHamilton I. says of swimming for her tribe during Swim Fest: “It was tiring but worth it.” Moonmist camper and swimming superstar Sarah C. says enthusiastically, “The best part was everyone cheering you on and you knew while swimming, you were doing something for your tribe.” She made the Seminole tribe proud today.

After laughing at the tribal leaders’ funny relays that included eating a donut off of a string, we move our cameras to a bird’s-eye view of camp to watch the girls search for trash during Tribal Trash Pick-Up. This is a great way to keep our Olympic Village looking great while simultaneously earning points for our tribe! Zooming in on the lake, we can see girls lined up at the diving boards working on their bars for Diving. Marquesa C. earned her Bronze bar in Diving today, and after years of hard work, Sunnysider and Iroquois chief Madi S. earned her Silver bar in Diving!

Today’s lunch of sub sandwiches and carrots were welcomed into the girls’ hungry bellies, and the full hour of rest hour, usually reserved for Sundays, was happily used for napping. The skies had begun to darken at this point, and some showers fell this afternoon and evening, but our Olympians were not fazed one bit. Sock War continued on this afternoon as the athletes battled to tag the other team with socks and attempt to capture their own tribe jersey on the opposite side. Comet camper Holly H. succeeded in doing this for her tribe, the Seminoles!

Now, our news team rests as the proud and spirited athletes of Camp Merri-Mac prepare for tonight’s dinner and evening activity of Field Day, where more points will be awarded towards the Banner-winning tribe. In the meantime, we thank you for sending your gifted and lovely girls to Camp Merri-Mac. They are having a wonderful time and will see you in a few short days!

Maddy Mallory

Counselor-In-Training

Passionate Seminole

P.S  Maddy also took all the beautiful  Merri-Mac photos for today… she is a great photographer!  ~Wendy