Aaaaaaaand camp is continuing its fantastic start! We woke up this morning to a sparkling, warm sunny day and whisked through cabin chores in competition for the coveted Cabin Cake. After a game of tetherball or two, we headed on down to find a delicious smell waiting for us at the bottom of the hill: scrambled eggs and mini potatoes for breakfast! Even better, we got to sing two silly camp favorites at the end of the meal– “I’m a Villain” and “I Love Little Willie”–but the excitement didn’t stop there… we had a surprise announcement that tonight’s evening activity was going to be Apache Race! (A super fun camp-wide relay race between tribes.)

Some skilled kayakers and climbers left to go on trips for the day, and the rest of us walked with each other up to chapel to hear Anne Dillon’s talk. She told us a hilarious story about a time that she spilled gross rotten coffee on the pottery teacher, Anna Potts, and how Anna forgave her and loved her just as much, in the same way that God loves us unconditionally. Then we headed right over to tribe meetings to get to know each other and learn some new songs. Soon it was time for activities!

First period brought team building challenge courses for backpackers, trotting for riders, and crossing the traverse wall for climbers; in second period we saw cooking make s’more pockets, pottery learning technique, and knitting start to make scarves! After that we were all hungry for lunch and could not have been more thrilled to find TACO IN A BAG–a camp classic– waiting for us there, in addition to chocolate chip cookies. The meal was made more exciting by Olvey announcing that the winner of last night’s activity, Color Wars, was……the blue team! Another surprise was a sudden thunderstorm at the end of lunch that kept us from leaving the Tucker Inn. But Merri-Mac-ers never have a bad time: we just turned rest hour into a dining hall dance party and went all out with our best dance moves! The storm passed, and it was back to the cabins for rest time and Trading Post. The rain cooled us off, and the warm sun came back out just in time for third period. Archery got to shoot, gymnastics was tumbling all over the place, and paws got to take the puppies for a walk.

In the last period, dock activities were having a blast: kayaking worked of their paddling, swimming practiced strokes with a fun game, and diving really made a splash. We were all worn out, though, and ready to eat, so thankfully we had a warm dinner of spaghetti, meatballs, and vegetables served out in the Tucker Inn. Now we have plenty of energy to fight for our tribes in Apache Race, from the back green, to the riding ring, to the chapel, to Windy Hill, to archery, back down to the flag pole, and every activity in between. Who will win? Check back with us tomorrow for results, and the details of another wild day at camp!

Robyn Newcomb

Dreams Begin Counselor