Well we had the last central of the summer last night, and what a central it was! All over camp bright lights were strung up and the sound of different music genres echoed from the Chapel right down to the Waterfront. All of our specialists and administrative staff rallied together and divided up between the eight stations located around camp.

The setup was as follows:

Hootenanny at the Alumni Plaza, which had country style music, accompanied by straw hats, plaid shirts, square dancing, musical chairs and whole bunch of fun.

EDM (Electronic Dance Music) in the Staff Lounge, which had the alternative sounds of the New Zealand underground pumping, glow stick flowing and good vibes all round.

Hip Hop at the Craft Shop, which had the classic beats by dre, bandannas, black lights and old school hip hop tunes that got everyone involved.

Disco Funk in the Pioneer Hall, complete with disco ball, flare pants and maybe one afro, this was the place to be, to bring back those great memories of Saturday Night Fever.

Throwback Thursday (#TBT) in the Rec Hall, holla back to the good days of nineties pop! The rec hall was playing all the classics and none of the new stuff, getting people up and dancing to all the "oldies and 
goodies."

Beyoncé in the Chapel, which had lemonade, glitter and whole lot of sass, the chapel was full of single ladies (and gents) who were crazy in love.

Reggae at the Beach had a massive bonfire and whole bunch of chill vibes, they were jamming and bringing love to all.

Sock Hop in the Dining Hall, which was complete with flare skirts, root beer floats and so many sixties doo wops that had everyone surfing across the USA.

All the cabins moved around in a rotation to four of these stations last night and had an absolute blast!

It was cool to see that Pioneer and Homestead units come together and dance, I personally had a boy and girl Pioneer group come to the EDM in the Lounge station and danced for the longest time apart,

but by the end they had come together to create a giant dance circle, which I’m sure was the case for other stations. So that was cool to see, hopefully they made a few new friends last night. I think music has a great way of getting everyone involved and it was great to see that happening all over camp!

Overall, this week has been great so far and everything is running smoothly, it has warmed up a little too, but everyone is keeping cool by drinking water and taking advantage of the bay and those free swim blocks! Spirits are up even though all of our campers are leaving tomorrow! We’re going to miss them.

Tonight we have our final Eucharist in the Chapel and Bonfire- our Last Bonfire to be lead by Walt Lafontaine as th Summer Director. It’s going to be an exciting night, the skits are looking pretty good and there’s 
bound to be a few shenanigans from the staff, but it will be fun!

Cheers!
Maddy B (The Office Kiwi)

So we have come to our final session, what a summer it has been! It seems like yesterday we were waiting for our first campers to arrive and now we have our last. It’s been an incredible week so far though, already the camp is in great spirits and buzzing with action in all areas.

The low ropes again has its hands full this time of week, all groups are making their way through with the adventure crew and the waterfront is bustling with campers keen to get on sailboats and the famous banana boat (which is brand new). The pool is also full of kids getting in their swim time, playing nukem and octopus.

The humidity is keeping away this week so far, which has been great for everyone here, it feels like summer in New Zealand. The bugs aren’t really  around either and it’s made everyone a lot happier!

We have a central happening this week, which is a part of all our sessions that gets kids from all over camp to come together and hang out. This week’s central is: ‘Dance the Night Away’. It will take place at
eight locations all over Camp Arrowhead that are themed different music genres, for example; the Waterfront is playing Raggae music, there’s Hip Hop in the Craft Shop and the Alumni Plaza is hosting a blue grass and country station. It should be a fun night, I’m sure it will be pretty cool to walk through camp and listen to all the different music playing at once.

For the meantime, Camp Arrowhead is moving forward into the week. There are a bunch of carepackages just waiting to be delivered - Good job to you parents! The kids are loving them and it’s awesome to see ther faces light up when their name is called. Don’t forget about sending bunk notes, if you feel there isn’t enough time to send a postcard or letter, send through a bunk note and I’ll get them to your camper!

Cheers!
Maddy B (The Office Kiwi)

We are so GRATEFUL for the break in the heat this week.  Of course that meant that there were storms to contend with Monday and high winds Tuesday and Wednesday - but yesterday, yesterday was a fantastic day on the waterfront!  Several staff were down there helping the waterfront crank out some sailing rides all afternoon and during free time.

Last night we held a mini central on the beach.  Arrowhead takes a lot of pride in being decentralized. (Our emphasis is on the individual group experience over planning things out with other cabins.  So, when we do all camp activities we call it a Central because it's really the only "centralized" thing we do) And when we decide to do Centrals - we do it right!   All of our Specialists (non-counseling staff) and Day Camp Staff ran activity or food booths all of the beach.  The Outside Crew spent most of their day rigging up strings of lights between the trees and trees of floodlights to keep it all bright and cheery.  Paul and George , from the Environmental Center, hosted a hot dog bar with our Prep Cooks, Chloe & Roisin.  Kat, Arman, and Wyatt were serving up fresh popcorn.  Morgan and Ellie were scooping up snow cones.  Maddy and Molly from the Craft Shop ran a really silly photo booth.  Carleigh and Nikki from the infirmary were doing face paint with David from the kitchen.  There were tons of games to play and glow in the dark necklaces for everyone!!  A highlight was pie throwing - campers got to throw plates of shaving cream at staff members.  It was EVERYWHERE.  Word of the street is that it tastes minty and clean but no one would highly recommend getting it in your mouth.

We're all a little sad that it's the last day but we're squeezing in all the last moments of fun that we can while we prepare for all of tonight's festivities - Camp Arrowhead (Cheesy) Chicken for dinner, Dirt for dessert, Eucharist with Ginny Wilder from Trinity and Old Swedes in Wilmington, and the CAMPFIRE!!!!  

See you tomorrow camp families!!

peace-
Teri V (The Program Director)

Fourth Session is off to a great start!!  The Ad Staff took time at the meeting last night to check out the weather forecast.  It was promising rain from 3am to 6pm..... so believe you me - we were pretty happy when it only rained for about an hour and half today!!  Yes - there was still thunder to interfere with both free swims but the campers and staff handled it like champs.

Homestead came up to the dining hall and played games with the counselors and all of the specialists who suddenly found themselves free as the storm rolled in.  And Pioneer spent their Free Swim playing Worst Case Scenario with Justin over the loud speaker.  He would read some multiple choice answers to crazy survival scenarios and the campers would cheer for their favorite answers.

Just a few pro tips here - but if you find yourself driving in quicksand - you should follow other tire tracks - NOT slow down or swerve back and forth.  And motorcycle helmets with construction goggles makes better head wear than tin foil in the case of volcanic eruption.  You're welcome.

The weather cleared up in time for Free Time and evening activities are moving along just swimingly - Hay Rides, Drum Circles and a Mariachi Themed Bonfire at the beach :)  We're confident the first day was full and we're sure that all will sleep well tonight.

TODAY IN THE DINING HALL:
BREAKFAST: Pancakes & Sausage
LUNCH: Meatball Subs, Carrots & Fritos
DINNER: TACO NIGHT!!!

peace,
​Teri V (The Program Director)