The Sari Diaries- Friday 7/11/14

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,

Visiting Weekend is officially under way and the first night was fantastic. Here are today’s details…

1. Throughout the day, we had a Dance Show dress rehearsal, a super-duper cabin clean-up, and did a little bit of packing. We unfortunately had to let the campers know that the first session was coming to an end this weekend…some were surprised, most were excited to see their parents, but all of them were extremely sad to hear that this amazing session is coming to a close. During both lunch and dinner, everyone tried to get in their last cabin cheers and the spirit remained quite high. It is always interesting to see that as the final hours of camp approach, friendships grow stronger at an even faster rate than they do throughout the summer. I believe it is because we can all feel our moments together dwindling, and we sense an urgency to appreciate those around us ultimately leading to these relationships tightening.

2. Families arrived this evening at 7:01pm. The gates opened and camp was flooded with parents, siblings and friends eager to see their campers. There were hugs, kisses, tears of joy and lots of smiles. Our staff were excited to meet their campers’ parents and campers were equally excited to introduce them to their counselors. We all mingled for about an hour and campers showed their families around camp.

3. At 7:59pm we all gathered in the theater for the 2014 Dance Show. The theme was “All About Chippewa,” and it was an amazing performance! Each age group had a dance, the Chippy Choir sang “Good Riddance,” and there were two advanced dances (a modern and a hip-hop). The families loved the show and the campers were thrilled to show off their skills and hard work.

4. The evening concluded with refreshments in the Adler Lodge. Jen the Baker had an incredible spread prepared for the 500 plus people in attendance. Everyone was raving about the s’mores bars, loving the cheesecake squares, scarfing down the apple pie slices, and enjoying Oreo balls. The efforts that our kitchen staff put into each and every meal is admirable, and tonight was further proof that they are truly dedicated to creating a delicious environment for our camp community.

So that’s about all for #CRC2014 today. It was so nice to see all of the families- both new and old. I am consistently impressed with our campers’ compassion toward one another, and I am reminded each Visiting Weekend that the apple does not fall far from the tree.

We are looking forward to tomorrow when we get to spend the morning showing off camp and all of our activities to the camper families. It should be a wonderful day and a lovely way to cap off the camp portion of Visiting Weekend.

Thanks for reading- it was great to see so many of you tonight!

Happy Camping and Love,
Sari