Hello everyone, and welcome to Kindle 1 camp! This week we have kids from grades three to six for six days, which is a few days longer than our first week of summer that we called Mini Kindle. As family and friends of the campers already know, these kids are adorable, and although sometimes they can be a handful, they are almost always a ton of fun. And judging by the first day of camp, I think it’s going to be a good week.
Unlike Mini Kindle week, a lot of these kids have already been at camp before, and their excitement levels were very high as they ran through our staff arch.
We seem to be developing a trend for the first day of every camp, and unfortunately that trend is rain. The weather did eventually clear up later in the afternoon, and the rain was really only a slight drizzle; however the campers still needed to get their swim tests and waterfront orientation done.
Through times like these, cabin bonding is sped up ten fold, and Emily and Erin’s cabin already seem to be the best of friends. So I guess in the end, the rain ended up being a positive thing. And then eventually the rain went away, so everyone was happy.
Because of the rain, our outdoor BBQ was moved inside. In Pine Lodge, campers enjoyed some delicious sausage burgers, and took some time to get to know their new cabin mates, who will most likely become their new friends in a matter of days. According to the pictures, things look to be going quite well with that.
Mealtimes are simply hilarious.
Another example of campers getting along can always be found in our weekly cabin pictures. Although we encourage them to smile, they never seem forced, and Trembling Aspen seems to already have this whole cabin unity stuff figured out. And look, they’re also staying warm.
Although there are a lot of orientation sessions going on throughout the day, the kids were still able to both choose and participate in their two skills for the week. After meeting in the chapel to choose skills, the campers met up at the skill areas and learned the how-to for everything they signed up for. This girl was the first brave climber to attempt the climbing wall, and she made it all the way to the top. I’d say a good start for the Wall Climbing group.
The Fishing skill didn’t end up with any luck catching anything yesterday, but they took the first steps to success by learning how to cast, and other techniques on catching fish in our lake. Hopefully they will find more success as the week goes on.
The canoers made sure they learned their strokes before they got on the lake yesterday, which meant that even though the boats didn’t get in the water right away, they did. It’s probably best to learn how to paddle before you’ve got to figure out how to get back to shore. They did however take the canoes out eventually, and there were no problems at all. Practice makes perfect.
There wasn’t much of a how-to tutorial for the Arts and Crafts gang, as they got right into making crafts, and will make new crafts every day. The first craft of the week was bowls, and although I didn’t get a shot of the finished product, I’m sure they all turned out lovely.
The afternoon came to a close and the kids settled down for supper, which happened to be some very tasty honey garlic chicken. After supper it was time for the campers to meet their Big Brothers and Sisters who are made up of their counsellors and the support staff who work here at camp. Campers split up into groups of two or three and hang out with the big sibling in the evening, and do morning devotionals with them after breakfast (more on that tomorrow).
The final activity of the day (other than snack) was chapel. This week our speaker is Lorne Meisner, who introduced the campers to Jesus, and what can happen when you choose to follow Him. We’re looking forward to what Lorne has to say this week, and we ask that you pray for God’s wisdom to speak through him.
Overall, it was a great first day of Kindle week. The campers all seem happy, and everyone is safe and sound. We have however been having trouble with our internet connection and phone lines due to what has been described to us as solar flares interruption our satellite signal, so there’s a possibility that these posts will not come as frequent as we would like. However, I’ll still be writing them, so when our connection goes back to normal, I’ll be able to post them all at once. To receive updates on when we have new posts, follow our Facebook and Twitter pages, which we will normally update multiple times a day when the internet is working properly.
For more pictures of Kindle week, sign into our eCamp account for photo galleries and other camp resources. Sign in information would have been sent with your registration packages.
