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The day we’ve all been waiting for is here! The energy at Camp is magnetic, and we just finished up our camper orientation in the Dining Hall; Ms. Ada’s famous fried chicken was remarkable! Today seemed to go pretty smooth, thank you to all our families that I got to spend some good time with. It really is an honor getting to spend a week investing in your kiddos.

Tonight we’ll put on our first of four Opening Night Shows. I’m excited to see our counselors in their prime as they step on the stage for a night of funny skits and acts. The theme tonight is a spin off of Freaky Friday, so I believe aliens are going to come to camp to switch the personalities of campers and counselors.

After Opening Night Show, we’ll pack in one more night activity- Capture the Flag (CTF). One of the neat things about our one-week sessions is that we really do pack in the activities if and when we can. So tonight, we actually get two night activities in.

For many of you, this may be your child’s first time away from home. This is their first chance to get muster up the courage to be on their own. I’d love to send you the book “Homesick & Happy” by Dr. Michael Thompson for those of you concerned about your child getting homesick. If you want a copy, please just reply below in this blog, and I’ll mail you one this week. I’ll be blogging on “Homesick & Happy” starting this week so that you and our other camp parents can follow along while your child is at Camp. My hope is that you will understand even more so why homesickness is a great growing opportunity and how camp helps facilitate that.

Rylee & Callie roll into Camp in style.

Alex, Chynna, and her folks take a group pic on opening day.

Kennedy & Dayton snag a pic with Pete.

Session 1 Families painted up their cars in today’s contest.

Huawni counselors posed for their famous staff picture.

Staff Wristband Ceremony

On the Saturday evening before the first Opening Day, our staff celebrates by eating a big dinner at a destination spot on or near main campus. Following dinner, we circle up for our wristband ceremony, where we hand out wristbands that are engraved with our summer motto. This year our wristbands say “LTK” and “Be REAL”. LTK stands for “love the kids” and “REAL” stands for relentlessly encouraging, authentic, and life-giving. These bands are a neat little reminder of why we’re here, and also make us aware that we want to live our values.

Pete hands out staff wristbands to staff last night.