Off Season Shenanigans

Hello All!

One way I like to keep myself entertained in the off-season, when there are no kids around to keep Camp busy, is to play trivia downtown on Tuesday nights.  And guess what team won two weeks in a row!  It's a lot of fun, especially when we have someone in the group that knows the sports questions.  Unfortunately that is not my area of expertise.  I play with some folks from the local library and we share some laughs along with random knowledge and good eats.  I think Camp Henry was there this week, but I can't be sure...

This year's Buckeye Leadership Workshop was absolutely fantastic.  I learned so much!  BLW had an amazing guest instructor named Bil Lepp, a professional story-teller.  I highly urge you all to check out his website (leppstorytelling.com) as well as his CDs, books and videos.  He was hilarious, and taught some great classes about the art of storytelling.

I also learned a lot about being productive and some tools that people can use to help stay organized.  I'm very excited to start adopting some techniques into my everyday routines, like the Eat Your Frog First Rule - get the not-so-fun stuff done first - or the 2-Minute Rule - if it can be done in two minutes or less, do it.  It was all extremely helpful.

Here is a photo of my Think Together Group for the workshop for the week.  They were all so nice!

Photo bombed by the tire.

Happy Camping!

The one where you realize you have to pack and have no clean laundry

Hello All!

Buckeye is SO CLOSE!  We will be leaving tomorrow, and I have not even thought of packing yet.  So tonight will be a mad scramble of laundry and panic.  I don't even have a duffle bag or suitcase to put everything in.  I hope I don't forget anything.  Is this how it feels to go to Camp each summer?  Or do you have everything packed a week prior?  I wish I was like that.  Good thing we have toiletries at the Camp store.

Speaking of, we've been working on our ordering for the Camp Store and this summer is going to be AWESOME.  We've got lots of cute plushies, some great shirts, running shorts and accessories.  It's going to be hard to resist nabbing all the CN swag right when it arrives.  I'll try to resist and leave some for the rest of you!

Bonus picture of me on an old fashioned bike at the GR Public Museum:

How did those people not fall over ALL THE TIME?!

Happy Camping!

M-37 Take Me Home

Hello All,

Around this time of year I get very nostalgic for camp songs.  Also around this time of year I realize I've forgotten some of the lyrics and must remedy that problem immediately.  Luckily I have most of them all written down in my trusty song book, but for the life of me I cannot remember the ending to Ragtime Cowboy Joe.  Any help?

I love the fact that Camp has so many songs that each summer we get to "retire" ones that we sang a lot the previous summer and bring back old faves.  And maybe introduce new ones!  The hit last summer seemed to be "Rattlin' Bog" (or "sphagnum bog" as we call it).  Who knows what this summer's hit will be...

As for quiet time songs, those always seem to get into my head right before bedtime or when I'm driving alone at night.  I miss hearing all the harmonies and the warm starry nights on the patio or the beach with the campers and staff, but I know summer is right around the corner.  I can't wait.

Boy, now that I think about it I know the lyrics to so many songs.  I should make a list - I'm sure it would be over 50.  My head is full of music!

What are your favorite camp songs?

Happy Camping!

Spring has Sprung...sort of...

Hello All!

I have a theory that the movie Frozen is somehow responsible for this long and chilly winter.  Maybe now that it's on DVD, the curse will be broken.  Who's with me?

Julia has definitely hit the ground running this past month, and she has made herself right at home!  We are so happy that she is settling in.  She had tea time in Holland last weekend and is heading to Grand Rapids tomorrow for a superhero night.  And in two weeks we all head of to Buckeye Leadership Workshop!

Question:  One of the themed nights at BLW is "BIG."  Should I dress up as Bigfoot or as Bigbird?  One requires lots of yellow feathers, and the other lots of fur.  Either way I will be very itchy.

Here's a bonus St. Patty's Day picture from a Cheerobics class Lora Stevens, Lisa Daniell and I attended:

I mustache you a question - do we look festive enough?

Happy Camping!

Back to the Future

Hello All!

Humans are so cool - we can control time!  Although who knew time jumping would be so tiring.  Did anyone else feel the time change really hit yesterday morning?  I was really wishing for that hour back when I hit my alarm clock.  It was nice to have lots of sunshine in the evening, though!

This week I am working with all of the awesome people at TrueNorth Community Services while Camp is rolling along with its Spring schedule.  TrueNorth has some great programs and services that affect 61 counties in Michigan - that's over two-thirds of the state!  Camp Newaygo is just one (amazing) service that TrueNorth offers.

Julia and I visited chilly Grand Haven over the weekend and we took a trip out to the pier for her first sight of the frozen lake!  It was hard to tell where the beach ended and the water actually began, but we could definitely tell when we passed chunks like these!

Ice.  Deal with it.

Next up on Julia's winter to-do list: snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling.  I don't think melting snow will be an issue for a while...

Happy Camping!

The Winter That Wouldn't End

Hello All!

A ton of new and exciting things are happening here at Camp!  I've got so much news to share!

Winter came in like a lion at Camp Newaygo, and it looks like it will be going out like one, too.  Our newest addition to Camp Newaygo is Julia Burger, all the way from Atlanta Georgia.  She's our new Assistant Program Director and will be in charge of lots of different things during the year - from recruiting in the spring, evening programs in summer, to wedding assistant in the fall.  She brought a refreshing outlook to the rest of the office with her excitement about snow - without her, I think we all would have perished from Cabin Fever by now!

Check out her handiwork at the gates:

I knew those flamingos would come in handy for something.  She put about forty all over the giant snow piles.

Our winter events were amazing, starting with my favorite, the Murder Mystery Dinner.  Camp Newaygo "classmates" joined together for an 80's themed class reunion complete with 80's cuisine and a live DJ.  Daddies and daughters danced the night away at our annual Daddy Daughter Dance, and we tested out couples' knowledge on Valentine's Day at our Date Night Challenge.  Lang Lodge was a hoppin' place this winter!

Camp Fairs and shows are in full swing right now, and we are heading out to some awesome schools for teambuilding days.  On the homefront, we are gearing up for our spring events and our open house - hopefully there won't be any snow left by then...

Happy Camping!

Five Things Every Counselor Knows

Hello All!

Long time no see!  Our summer season is officially over, but we've been delightfully busy with school groups, weddings, and our G3 environmental program.  It was very sad to see our summer staff go but we are excited to get started with promoting our upcoming programs!

In honor of our excellent summer staff, I thought I would write down five things that every counselor knows by the end of the summer.

1) Camp food is your friend - and boy does your body let you know if you miss a meal!  Counselors have to keep their energy up to take on those waterfront stairs and trails every day.  After camp your belly knows the meal schedule down the the minute, and complains very loudly if you don't feed it on time.

2) They know what goes bump in the night - and it's usually just acorns and frogs.  Having a flashlight handy is always a good idea, but by the end of the summer counselors can navigate all the way back to their unit in the dark - and sometimes with no moon.  What was that sound?  Oh, probably just Bambi hanging out in the woods.  No big deal.

3) They know at least five "waiting games" to play during camp outs and between times.  Whether it's mafia, chi-master, slaps or ninja, they've always got something in their back pocket for those times when the fire needs their co's undivided attention or when everyone's waiting for the next activity.

4) Parents can get just as homesick for their kids as kids do for their parents.  Some kids may be away from home for the first time, and a week can be a long time for a parent not to see their child.  Counselors know that the best way to combat that empty-nest syndrome is to be as up-front and friendly as possible on check-in day to assure the parent that their child is in good hands for the week.

5) Very few people outside of camp understand just how awesome and crazy it is.  So many counselors I've talked to say their friends "just don't get" the weird hours, the song singing, or the crazy desire to go tromping through the woods ("what if there's poison ivy?  Or a raccoon!?") and set up camp in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of campers.  But once you've gone through it, it's easy to see why we all come back again the next summer - the hours may be long, and the weather may not cooperate all the time, but man is it a good feeling to know that what you do makes an impact on someone else in the world.

Happy Camping!