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)

COLOR WARS WAS AMAZING!!
2016 is an Olympic Year so our Competition Central was too!!  The teams this year were:
CANADA: Captained by Maddy M & Paul
FRANCE: with Stephen G & Matt
PERU: Captained by Michelle and Stephen C
SWEDEN: Captained by Maddie W and Spencer

After an impromptu Olympic torch lighting ceremony on Friday, teams were announced in the chapel. Teams first gathered to plan and prepare for the upcoming events that afternoon.

Saturday started with a lot of excitement. Red, Green, Blue and yellow crafts were flying in and out of the craft shop, as all the teams began to make things that represented their country. A big thing that really stuck out to me was the amount of effort that was going into the team t shirts, they will make great mementos for of our campers to take home. By lunch time, all teams were in the midst of completing those and making banners and practicing for the upcoming events like; horseshoes, archery, (Frisbee) “discus,” and so much more.

Dinner time rolled around, more and more team cheers filled the dining hall as Peru, France, Canada and Sweden rose out of their seats to meet the cheers of the captains. It was surely a great sight to see so much excitement in one room. After dinner the waterfront was open for teams to practice canoeing and kayaking, and to work on other events. As the night went on, all the sites were still in full motion, team captains were busily working to finish their banner, flag and anything else that they had in mind.

As Sunday morning arrived, staff and campers alike came into the dining hall wearing their colors. An excited feeling was in the air.  It was finally Color Wars Day!!  After breakfast, everyone headed down to the council ring to have a very special Eucharist celebration. It was awesome to see everyone getting along and sharing the peace between each other.

When Eucharist ended, all the teams went off to their areas to prepare for the Official Opening Ceremony. Peru was up first with a skit about a group of travelers trying to get to Machu Picchu, they went through a farmers market, where the people there sold tacos, corn, and potatoes (Peru is known to have 3,000 varieties of potatoes and 55 types of corn, crazy aye?). They then went through wild rainforests that had all sorts of animals in it, including an adorable sloth (Michelle) that was climbing a tree (Brad). They then came across a tribe of native Incans, who were holding the original flag of Peru. They then traveled through to Machu Picchu where the whole group came together to sing their chant and song. The current flag was unveiled below the ancient flag, which was awesome to see…I never knew they had two flags! The addition of the llamas was great, including Obama llama and the drama llama, they had some pretty cute Homestead potatos in their group too.

Next up was Canada, their skit started with a hockey team and their coach, Paul, trying to get to their big game.  The team traveled along the ‘only road’ in Canada, but on the way there, a porcupine pops their tire and they have to get out and walk. Through their travels they meet a pack of lumberjacks who have maple syrup and pancakes with them (Canada had great costumes!!).  As the hockey team is asking for directions, the lumberjacks make the team a banner – red maple trees with the letters of CANADA lashed.  The lumberjacks then join the team to travel to Niagara Falls, where they found tourists, bags of milk and a few animals gathered taking photos and milling about. The hockey team then decided to write a giant postcard to Mom & Dad (Addressed to the Lafontaines).  The postcard transformed into their flag, which was then raised above the entire group and they sung their chant at this point. After that, the hockey team ran into more animals and a totem pole, which then told them the way to the big game, they played out a game and then as everyone was cheering them on, the winning shot was scored and they sang their team song.

France was on promptly after, with the team captains arriving by hot air balloon. The Montgolfier Brothers were the first to invent air travel and this tied in nicely. They then continued to fly around France checking out different areas, such as: the aristocratic time period, with Napoleon Bonaparte and Marie Antoinette. The three musketeers were up next, along with some other soldiers. The Hunchback and Notre Dame made an appearance. We also got to see the amazing artistic side of France, they had a group of five surround a person and paint them with actual paint! It was pretty cool. The well-known hospitality industry of France was also shown, with a group of chefs around a big pot with a cute mouse in it (ratatouille). Baguettes and croissants also got a mention with some very well made props. To finish, a giant lashed Eiffel Tower was carried out, with a guillotine in the middle of it. The guillotine had three colored balloons: red, yellow and green (to represent the opposing teams). The guillotine was released and popped the balloons, their song began and the chant followed after. They even introduced “French Kiss” – “French” campers dressed as the band Kiss, obviously.  It cracked me up.

Finally, Sweden was up. They started their skit with Maddie and Spencer arriving through a time travel portal covered in silver glitter from the year 2017, to meet the team from Sweden 2016. They went back in time to the time of the Vikings.  The Viking helmets and swords looked really well made-even though they were made out of cardboard! Thor made an appearance with Oden, and giant Rune Stones were brought out to make Sweden’s banner. The team then went forward in time to look at the royal family and to celebrate the summer solstice with cute fire flames that rushed across the council ring. Maddie and Spencer then travelled forward again to Stockholm to look at the things that make Sweden great, like Swedish fish (even though those are made in Canada), Volvos, Ikea, and ABBA! Sweden then sang their song to the tune of Mama Mia. They ended the skit with one last time travel back to the present day and go everyone in again to finish with their chant, was awesome to see everyone so excited and ready for what the day had in store.

After lunch everyone went back to assemble at their sites once more before the rounds and competition began. Peru was in the lead from the presentations, followed closely by Sweden, Canada and France tied for third place. Walt was saying that he’d never seen such a close point difference from presentations, all the teams did remarkably well and the effort was definitely there from everyone.

Round one started with a burst of excitement and all the teams headed to their events, such as; make my monument, which got groups to make a monument which was well known within their country, Canada made Niagara Falls and France made the Eiffel Tower. Some of the other events were Sudoku, discus- (throwing three Frisbees for distance and control), tug of war, and pool noodle javelin, and the times log saw event.

Round two started shortly after with events such as; a Corn Hole toss relay and Make your Olympic hero - teams dressed up a staff member.  Peru made their only Olympic gold medal winner- Edwin Vasquez and France made Lance Armstrong. The South Pacific water toss, was a fun event that involved water balloons. Ascend the Eiffel tower used the rock wall to time teams going up and down.  And, Camp Curling was introduced - teams use scrub brushes to pass a baseball through a short course, racing for best time.

Round three was the last chance for teams to earn points for events, so this round included; crate stacking at the high ropes course (high score was 16!!), Marshmallow tower construction, and  Sing me back to the start – where teams wrote new songs about their teams to the tunes of well-known camp song.  Nukem was played on the beach.  Fuel to Keep warmed collected tons of pinecones or ‘fuel’ to keep the Nepalese fires going.
 
Finally, it was relay time, the one last chance to get your team on top! All the teams spread out to their positions. From the front of the dining hall, to the pool and all the way to the waterfront, everyone waited eagerly to hear the starting siren. Suddenly it sounded and all the teams raced away from the start line, with the matches for the final fire in hand. Out in front was Canada, followed closely by Sweden. Peru was hot on their heels and then France. As the teams went through the relay activities, it seemed that Canada had it in the bag. As the teams headed to archery and then to the pool, Sweden had caught up to Canada. The teams left the pool to shoot basketballs and to be wheel barrowed onto horseshoes. By the time the first team reached the beach, Sweden was out in front, followed by Peru! Apparently, Peru had the best toilet paper wrapper anyone had seen in a long time. Sweden and Peru headed out in the canoes, followed shortly after by Canada. France was last to reach the beach and the team sprinted out in the bay to be met by Sweden coming back in by kayak to fill buckets. Sweden was first away from the beach, followed shortly by Peru and Canada. Peru had a bit of trouble filling their bucket and that gave time for Canada to catch up. As the fire builders arrived from the ball field, Sweden had gained momentum and had a large fire going as Peru and Canada arrived to the site. As Peru and Canada’s fires grew larger cheers erupted as the Swedes rope snapped!! France then arrived at this point and hurried together to get their fire going. Peru and Canada were then the main focus as both fires were equally bright and raging, who was going to come second?! The flames engulfed their ropes and it was a waiting game full of desperation for the rope to snap! Suddenly Peru’s rope burned apart and a large cheer erupted! Canada’s rope then broke and an equally loud cheer erupted. Everyone then turned to France to cheer “Burn that rope! Viva la France!” France’s rope then broke and everyone looked on as all emotions took over the teams. What a sight!!!
 
All the teams huddled up for one last time together, away from the fires that were burning down. They all came together as the winners were announced:
In Fourth place: France
In Third place: Canada
In Second place: Peru
And in First place: Sweden!!

The trophy was handed over to the team captains, Maddie and Spencer and they held it up victoriously! Team pictures were then taken and as the areas were cleaned up.  Everyone headed down to the beach to have a cookout with good old fashioned hamburgers and hot dogs. It was a pretty awesome view looking down the road to the beach and seeing everyone still in their team shirts, all mixed together and in good spirits.

There was a lot of comradery amongst all participants of color wars and this really helped the overall feel of the competition. It was an incredible day and it could not have been possible without the amazing team captains; Michelle, Steven, Maddie, Spencer, Maddy, Paul, Stephen and Matt. And for all the staff that rallied behind them! And of course all of our remarkable campers who really got into it and gave it their all!
 
Friday night some of the staff on Team Sweden sang a silly song giving the other teams a hard time… but last night they interrupted dinner to share a rewrite of it: 

Oh, Team Peru, Oh, Team Peru,
We  hope we did not offend you!
Oh, Team Peru, Oh, Team Peru,
We hope we did not offend you!
We did not mean to cause drama,
We really like your pet llama!
Oh, Team Peru, Oh, Team Peru,
We hope we did not offend you!

Oh, Canada, Oh Canada,
We really are fans of ya,
Oh, Canada, Oh Canada,
We really are fans of ya,
Your hockey players have great hair
And we liked your polar bear!
Oh, Canada, Oh Canada,
We really are fans of ya!

Oh, Team France, Oh Team France,
We really liked your french accents!
Oh, Team France, Oh Team France,
We really liked your french accents!
You had a great hot air balloon, 
Can you take us on a ride real soon?
Oh, Team France, Oh Team France,
Hunh, hunh, hunh, hunh, hunh, hunh, hunh, hunh!
 

Cheers!
Maddy B (Camp's Kiwi in the Office)

This summer at camp we’ve been learning about what it means to love God and love our neighbors through service and gratitude. We start our week by learning Jesus’ greatest commandments: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and You shall love your neighbor as yourself (as you might imagine we’ve been singing Love Round II quite a bit this summer). Then throughout the week different groups lead chapels with different themes such as serving others, practicing patience, kindness and forgiveness, as well as working together. This week H-8 gave a really great skit about helping others using John Cena and The Rock, and tomorrow’s chapel includes some very interesting renditions of some of our favorite chapel songs by P2.

Along with our summer theme, we have activities that campers complete to help engage with loving God and their neighbors. Campers have filled out ‘fruits of the spirit values posters’ which ask campers to think about problems in the world they would solve (so far my favorite has been the JFK assassination), kind people in their lives (a lot of campers have been listing their counselors and fellow bunkmates!) and things they are good at so they can brainstorm ways in which their talents can serve others. On Tuesday’s, we fill out chapel cards, where campers give a small portion of their store cards to our chapel fund. The chapel fund helps campers who might not be able to come camp otherwise as well as funds a young girl in the Philippines with medicine, general hygiene products as well as school supplies and tuition. So many people are grateful for the money the campers have donated, and we hope they feel proud knowing that even at such a young age they can help make a difference.

One of my favorite activities we’ve done this summer has been top secret service missions, where groups perform intentional acts of kindness for other groups around camp. Last session P8 created a nature center piece and name plates while they set P1’s table, and P7 cooked out and gifted P8 with homemade banana boats. Meanwhile this
week the SPF girls are planning to serenade their secret service target, the SPF boys with a homemade song. It’s been a blast watching groups plan and scheme ways to brighten someone else’s day. We’ve also been sending groups out on Random Acts of Kindness Scavenger hunts, where they run about camp giving people compliments, helping specialists clean their areas, and learn fun facts about some of our staff members! These scavenger hunts end by the whole group ringing the friendship bell, and golly is it exciting to hear the groups recount their scavenger hunt adventures and the new friends they’ve made. Last week H-5 was particularly excited as they ran throughout camp and complimented our dining hall supervisor Lexie’s hair. Aunt Doreen has also been in a
bunch this summer helping groups make cards to give to staff members, as well as making boxes filled with nice notes and sweets to be distributed to local police and firemen, as well as sent abroad to family members of campers who are in the military.

We are so excited that we are getting to spread the love of camp to those who do so much for us each day.

One homestead camper affectionately called me the chapel lady last session, however, a more accurate title may have been the labyrinth lady. since every group comes to the labyrinth to do a great activity called U Rock. We usually do this activity towards the end of the week, and have campers walk through the labyrinth blowing bubbles and saying things they are thankful for, popular ones have included their
families, friends, pets, camp, nature, and pizza. When campers get to the center we pass around a rock, and campers tell one another why they rock. Last week with P8 we did the compliment throne and everyone in the group complimented everyone else, and H6 last week ended with a smiley, giggly, group hug (and a few tears from their counselors).

It’s a great thing to watch so many groups reflect upon their week and the ways in which their cabin mates have helped them out and made them smile.  When we close each session, we tend to do it in style with a Eucharist service. Each group has a part in making the service successful, from making bread, to singing songs and performing skits. This summer we’ve heard great renditions of Justin Bieber’s “Love
Yourself”, and Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” rewritten to talk about camp and chapel. However, the greatest part of eucharist is definitely our closing song, “Lean on Me” when campers circle up and put their arms around one another, it’s a great reminder of the family each unit forms in their time at camp.

I hope that when your kids venture home they will keep the lessons of loving God, and their neighbors close to their heart, we’ve definitely seen it’s impact on our community here at camp.

Peace,
Bethany (Our Christian Education Director/ Chapel Lady)

Camp Arrowhead experienced almost all seasons yesterday, it started with a beautiful sunny morning. Although a little humid, the Waterfront was full of people into the mid-afternoon. After dinner, the grey clouds began to roll in and the temperature began to drop…a storm was coming into camp. As soon as free time began after dinner, the sky began to fill with lightning strikes and thunder rumbled and bellowed louder. As the rain started to pour many campers ran to the Dining Hall to  to play board games and to hold an impromptu Talent Show.  Lead by Counselor Simon, or MC haggis (because he’s from Scotland) and myself (Maddy B!). First up we had five Homestead share a dance dance routine to Fight Song by Rachel Platen. It followed by some camper stand up comedy and a beautiful renditions of Dona Nobis Pacem and Fight Song (again!). The ‘Teacup Crew’ also got up to sing I’m a little teacup and more comedy from two boys from H3. Our staff also got involved with a Sam and Michelle (the pioneer unit leaders) building up the suspense with a high octane foot high five, and Sophie, H10’s CIT preforming her Mickey Mouse impression.

Overall it was a great success and was a great distraction from the storm outside. Other indoor areas were also in use; the Chapel hosted a Corn Hole Tournament with Bethany,the CE Director, the Craft Shop made coffee filter flowers and colored in mandalas. The Environmental Center watched the fork lightning over the marsh and checked out the animals there, including the new chameleon! Who is yet to be named. Any Suggestions?

The storm did clear up and moved further down the bay shortly after free time. Down at the Waterfront a bonfire was lit, the volleyball came out for a few rounds of nukem. H1, H3, H4, and H8 all roasted marshmallows when to fire died down a bit and then settled down to listen to a scary story told by Oliver, the Sailing Instructor. It was the perfect setting for a scary story, as Oliver was telling the story, the sun was setting to the West and fork lighting reached out intermittently across the sky to the East. Was quite the sight and a perfect end to the first day of this already great two week session.

I should also add, the Adventure Staff had their hands full with all campers completing the Low Ropes course yesterday morning and into the afternoon. Everyone is now moving onto the High Ropes and the Rock Wall today. Its great weather today for it and the storm took the humidity 
with it, so Camp Arrowhead is in good spirits. The Pioneer units are starting their lashing projects also, with P1 and P7 making a camp classic- a Shower, which will save them going to the CATS. P3 is making a swing set/ makeshift Jungle Gym, APF is making a ping pong table and P6 is making a swing bench. Will be a great addition to the sites, they have two weeks to get it done  So it better look cool!

Color Wars is on all our minds at the moment and people are quietly gearing up for the weekend. The theme is still under wraps and captains are yet to be announced, but this session is off to a flying start and it’s great to see so many familiar faces and new faces too around camp. Bring on session Three!

Cheers!
Maddy B

On Wednesdays we cook out.... and that often means, as the laws of nature go, that it will probably rain.  There are even superstitions that if we sing the Johnny Appleseed grace at lunch it WILL rain.... so obviously there are opposing superstitions that if we don't sing it.... it will rain....  Tradition goes that the Dining Hall closes to thoroughly clean and we call it blitz.  And to let it all totally dry we keep out for the evening and everyone cooks out dinner.

So, yes.  It rained.  And it thundered.  And then it rained some more.  
They were even calling for possible flash flooding - but that didn't happen.  Homestead did not venture out to their homes in the woods at Outpost - but instead set up games all over the Dining Hall.  Matt, Oliver and Brooks grilled all of their burgers on the deck of the Dining Hall.  Cat, Bethany, George and Ali ran an impeccable assembly line for campers to get their buns, cheese, condiments, chips, fruit, veggie burgers, and peanut butter & jelly options.  Teri called the groups up two by two while the groups continued to play games and sing.  Everyone had a grand old time and even finished early.  Cat & Brooks set the boundaries for an epic game of capture the Counselor.  Connor, the Day Camp 2 counselor, skillfully hid under a pile of mulch but was ratted out when Day Camp's adopted specialist Kat was captured.  Alec, the H1 Counselor, managed to successfully camouflage himself deep in the fig trees by the Log Cabin.  Stephen, the CIT Leader, joined the game late and used the anti-strategy of just running.  He was most shamefully cornered and captured behind the Rec Hall.

And then there was the Pioneer Potluck.  EVERY UNIT STILL COOKED OUT and had a pretty fun time doing it!!  P1 made monkey bread.  P2 made french toast with fruit compote.  P3 tried their hand at making quiche.  P4 made pans and pans of trainwreck - a breakfast skillet scramble and camp cookout favorite.  P5 made loads and loads of potatoes.  P6 threaded tons of fruit kabobs. P7 made dutch oven biscuits and sausage gravy.  And P8 made a mountain of dessert pancakes.

Meanwhile in the Adventure Pathfinder Site - they went ALL OUT.   They rotisseried (I'm sure that's a verb...) chicken over their fire.  They made bruschetta as an appetizer and sauted vegetables from the camp garden.  AND they made brownie cupcakes using orange rinds as their muffin tins.  Way to go APF!  As their counselor Simon has been prone to say, "Can you smell that?  It's.... a d v e n t u r e."

All the thunder subsided and everyone got to attend their regularly scheduled free swims - THANK YOU, LIFEGUARDS!!!!

All in all, it was a wild and wonderful Wednesday Night Cookout!!

peace-
Teri V, The Program Director

Session two has kicked off with an exciting start, the weather this week has been amazing and all the areas around camp like the Waterfront, Craft Shop, Pool and Low Ropes course have had their hands full with enthusiastic campers. Since it was the beginning of camp, the adventure staff were taking all our campers through the Low Ropes course yesterday, which consisted of P3 getting across the tire traverse, H5 getting across the giant spider web and, H2 trying to balancing their group of eight on a small block of wood. It presented a few challenges but all our campers made it through and all grew closer in the process. 

​The Pool was another great spot to be in the sunny weather, P1 was there to cool down after their Low Ropes block. They were also joined by P2 and P4, which made the game of octopus a whole lot of fun. All of Girls Homestead ended their day there with a girl’s free swim, which was a great way to get our campers to interact and make new friends.
There was activity in all areas of the camp, H8 painted with sand at the God Shack in the morning and P8 spent their time after low ropes and free swim to play a few ice breaker games on the ballfield. The Archery course has a lot of people come through to hit bullseyes all day, Day Camp 2 used the course in the afternoon and the Adventure Pathfinders and P7 used the bigger compound archery course near the High Ropes course to practice their aim. H11 finished their day with a hay ride around camp, the camp songs they were singing could be heard from a mile away… and they were pretty good.

H1 was in the Craft Shop before lunch making their pirate costumes to wear.  Meanwhile P6 and H4 were making their tiles with Maddy, the Craft Shop director. There were so many colors to choose from and that made for an exciting environment for all involved. I can’t wait to see how they turn out!

The Waterfront was another awesome spot as the sun was out, the humidity was minimal and the wind was rolling through the bay just enough for a Sail. P5 was out on the sail boat, as well as H6 who also wrote their chapel cards at the beach. H7 took the banana boat out for a spin just after lunch, followed by Day Camp 1 who all jumped off! It was a thrilling afternoon. H9 were out canoeing in the afternoon and had a blast heading to Santa Clause Island for an adventure and to look at animals around there. H10 did the same and went for a quick swim and play on the blob (the Waterfront’s newest addition is an inflatable tube with a floating mat attached to it). H5 and the rest of Boys Homestead finished their day at the Waterfront with a Pirate themed bonfire, which got campers to make a pirate skit, sing a pirate song and then tell the rest of the group a joke.  It was Arrrghsome!

Overall, the week is off to a great start. Today is another great day with even better weather! We are all hoping it lasts. The Waterfront is in a constant hum with all campers doing at least an activity, if not two down there and the High Ropes and Rock Wall are moving people through at a steady pace, I was up the top watching P5 climb the Wall and go down the Zip-Line. It looked like a lot of fun.

We had so many care packages for campers today, Thank you to all the parents who have put together care packages this week, the kids are loving them! And for all the letters, our outgoing mailbox has been filled up two days in a row! Hopefully you will be receiving one in your mailbox soon :)

Cheers!
Maddy B, The Office Manager

What a weekend! We had central on Saturday which had a good old fashioned State Fair theme. So the corn hole was out, the freedom fries were flowing and the waterfront was full of campers running around in the great weather.

Walt set up an inflatable obstacle course and another bouncy castle for the campers to play in, which was a smash hit with people racing with all they had to reach the end. There were a number of stalls set up to entertain the kids as well such as; whack the skunk, football toss, a photo booth, skee ball, water balloon catapult from the water tower and the famous dunk tank.

Most of these stations rewarded participants with state fair dollars, which they used to buy sailboat rides, funnel cake, and face paint and fortunes from the great beyond. Overall, it was an amazing day and with all our campers and staff getting into the festivities, it was very successful central.

Monday brought more excitement with 4th of July festivities taking place first thing in the morning. The whole camp headed to the beach at 7am, to watch a goofy role play created by the Waterfront and Environmental staff. The section of the declaration of Independence was read as our resident British man, Luke (or King George) was put in the stocks. The whole camp then proceeded to walk to the front of camp to the dining hall, led by Walt and his drum. Once there- the national anthem was sung and an improvised salute commenced as the American flag was raised.

Chapel followed breakfast at an alternative and exciting location- The Pool lead by the Sailing Pathfinders.  Will, the SPF’s Counselor, stood in a canoe holding an American flag on a thick branch of Burch. Chapel
commenced with a patriotic medley and ended with all the SPF’s jumping in the pool and Will gracefully exiting the canoe without getting his hair or the flag wet.

The afternoon was met with rain, but we all made do and opted to cook the BBQ dinner at the dining hall. It was a merry occasion with everyone eating burgers and hot dogs on their paper plates, and the
ice cream afterwards hit the spot. Later, all of camp headed down to the waterfront again to play volley ball, play ladder tennis and sit by the bonfire. Glow sticks were handed out as the sun went down
and all of the beach was filled with the iridescent glow of red white and blue. Fireworks lit up the sky across the bay and campers sat watching on the dock and water tower. It was a great end to an epic day full of American Pride and Camp spirit.

This week has been great so far, with the tasties (4 day campers) arriving yesterday, as well as the rest of Homestead. Camp Arrowhead is full of campers.  H-5 is in the middle of disc golf around camp, trying to make par, but everyone is just trying to hit the 7th hole without missing, it’s a bit tricky. Today the craft shop is busy, with P-1 making watercolor artwork with Maddy and P-2 and H-7 making tie dye outside on the picnic tables with Molly. Those are going to look so cool when the rubber bands come off.

P-5 are doing Archery and came back from their overnight along with the rest of men's pioneer last night this morning looking ready for another day. H-6 is also doing Archery this afternoon and then free swim. H-2, H-4, and H-8 are also joining them at the pool for some water aerobics, octopus tag and free swim time.

The Environmental Center is full of animals, with two giant wolf spiders that were found a few days ago by the Adventure Pathfinders and a black rat snake that was eating an egg out of the chicken coop. P-3
was there this morning learning about the animals around camp and P-6 is going to be there this afternoon to explore the nature trail with Paul. H-1 is also going to be there learning about the chickens and also exploring the nature trail with George, the Environmental Assistant.

The Waterfront is all go too, with P-4 sailing this morning with Matt, the Waterfront Assistant. The Sailing Pathfinders are also out on the water. After cooking out lunch, they ventured to Treasure Island (actually Thompson's Island, but Treasure Island sounds way more adventurous) yesterday, which is a beach across the bay, it usually takes an hour to get there, but the wind was on their side and they made great time. H-3 are canoeing this afternoon before their free
swim and P-2 was out this morning with Oliver, the Sailing Instructor.

Finally, the low ropes are being used by H-9 and they are heading to the Labyrinth after to talk about how their group rocks and working on making a fun and positive environment. H-10 is heading to the rock wall his afternoon to climb the wall and go down the zip line, its great weather for it and the zip line has a great view into the bay.

Cheers!
Maddy the Office Manager