This wonderful new week at Camp Merri-Mac began once again with a clear, sunny sky and girls chatting excitedly as they waited on the porch steps for breakfast to begin. With a grand breakfast reveal: baked oatmeal, the girls were certain that this Monday was sure to be a fantastic day.

The directors of Merri-Mac, Adam and Anne, have instructed all of the Merri-Mac staff to emphasize the girls’ growth in all the aspects of their activities. The counselors, in turn, encourage each and every one of their campers to pursue new goals. Many campers are dedicated to achieving these goals and have been working incredibly hard to attain at least one of the three bars in their activities. In Lacrosse, the instructors began the class by having the campers run for their warm up, moving on to the skill “Ground Ball Pick Up,” and finishing by challenging each other in a fifteen minute scrimmage game. Just up the pathway from Macky’s Green where Lacrosse practices, the campers in Camp Craft loved making s’mores in the “wilderness” and challenged themselves on the low ropes course. Right up the road in the Barn, one could find many of our campers learning to love the thrill of riding. Lake Doris was of course full of excited, smiling faces ready to jump into their activities. The girls in Canoeing, worked on the difficult skill “rolls,” while competitive swimming campers worked on achieving their bars.

Straight up the long hill, sits the Mike, which houses both the Gymnastics and Climbing activities. Today in Gymnastics, the girls were broken up into smaller groups by the counselors and worked on perfecting their cartwheels, back-walkovers, holding handstands, and scales for Bronze on the Floor. Another favorite event is the Uneven Bars where the girls improved on their pull-overs and back hip circles. Also in the Mike, the Climbing instructors taught the girls how to tie knots for their various bars and climbed the exciting Over Hang and the Traverse Wall.  In Guitar today Julia S. and Andie K. earned their bronze bars by playing “22” by Taylor Swift.  The girls in Guitar class also learned how to play “What makes you beautiful” by One Direction.  From the porch of Little Dipper to the Lodge, the girls in Dance also worked very hard on their bars today and worked on poise and grace in dance.  Also in the Lodge, fitness class ran the trail and then came back and used their exercise mats to perform yoga and breathing exercises outside with the Mountain View.  The girls were so excited in cooking class today.  They made Christmas spaghetti which was a combination of red And green noodles and marinara sauce.  On the patio outside of cooking, the girls had so much fun seeing their progression while knitting their scarves and head bands. Tennis is such a joy to watch. The girls also worked on their bars today in tennis and played “jail” in order to improve their serving skills and getting the ball in the correct box. Archery and Riflery are so much fun for campers. Today they worked on perfecting their techniques in shooting and hitting their targets.  After activities finished up the girls were ready for dinner and even more ready for the evening activity “Cabin Night.”