Playday, Uprising Talent Show Pics

Camp is picking up speed this week. Here’s a few more pictures from Huawni Uprising, Playday, and last night’s Talent Show.

I didn’t go into too much detail yesterday, but Huawni Uprising was a hit. While the girls are playing their traditional Playday games, boys camp goes to the woods for a giant, outdoor game of capture the flag. Uprising is perfect for boys because it allows them to get out in nature, get their hands dirty, and pretend to be military heroes. Whether it’s a mission sneaking down the creek past enemy lines, or protecting your medicine women (who give life back to your teammates who’ve been hit), boys love this afternoon. These were memories I still cherish today as an adult; I still remember games and missions from my camper Uprisings.

Last night we hosted the Talent Show. Talent Show show is all about encouragement, and dozens of campers mustered up the courage to get on stage, in front of their peers, and perform. The really neat thing about Huawni Talent Show is that every single act is applauded like a rock concert. We’re cheering because of the effort and because of a child’s willingness to be on stage. Campers were encouraged again last night by both their counselors and fellow campers.

Today we surprised campers once again with Connect, a day where we give campers a “crummy schedule”, only to have their cabin counselor scrap it and let the campers choose their schedule for the entire day. Tonight is Skit Night. You really see cabins come together on skit night. This will be camper’s fourth full day together, and they really are starting to know one another at this point in Camp. After Skit Night we will officially begin Tribal Competition with our Tribal Fire Team Announcement Ceremony. This is a special time, especially for our campers who will be selected onto a team for the first time. For our parents, I will post teams later this evening via the blog. I know many of you are anxiously awaiting our Tribal Competition team results. Regardless of which tribe your child joins, there’s two healthy perspectives to be prepared for. Many of you want all your kiddos on the same tribe; that’s how it is for some of our camp families. Others of you have a divided house, with one child a Caddo and the other a Tejas. No matter what happens, either has their pluses, and we’ve seen that play out with multiple families. I am actually a Tejas, and my wife Mandi was recently inducted into the Caddo tribe. We are both very competitive, and we embrace that and have fun with it. It’s a friendly family rivalry that creates some fun competition otherwise not possible. If your children do end up on the same tribe, that is special too because they get to be with one another and cheer for one another throughout Tribal Competition. One thing to note— siblings who are on different tribes still end up encouraging one another and competing with one another none the less. This makes either situation, in my book, a win. We’ll keep you posted on how team inductions go tonight. Until then…enjoy your day!

Mike’s team congratulates him after he found the flag and scored!