Shangri-La campers enjoying Kim and Reggie

Top of the mornin’, folks! Olive Oyl reporting with your Independence Day news!

We had a special fourth of July morning meeting after breakfast, where campers and counselors showcased their place name shirts, spanning from nearby Belfast, Maine all the way to The Grand Canyon, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. We also had a few extra enthusiastic counselors who ran around meeting waving flags and even came up for birthdays to represent the birth of the nation!

There have been some candy drop rumors floating around the air, with AWACs mysteriously lurking around camp and campers noticing empty bags of candy around the backyard and their classes. We’re supposed to get some schvitz today and tomorrow, but after the skies clear up would be perfect flying weather…

Despite general wetness here in Maine, we managed to strategically avoid the schvitz throughout the day yesterday and even had a clear evening for Kim and Reggie Harris! They sang their classics like Dem Bones, Solar Power, and We Come From the Mountain, all complete with sign language hand motions. Shangri-La and Chateau Fiasco joined the dynamic duo on stage for a Freedom song, with the help of Henry from Chateau on the bongos. Everybody was singing and moving and grooving. Kim and Reggie bid us adieu with the HVC favorite Trampin’, as we tramped back to our cabins for a good night’s sleep, still humming along to their catchy tunes.

We’re excited to get back into the swing of things today after a relaxing lazy day. Tonight we’ll have the Staff Talent Show, where counselors and AWACs will get to show off their many special talents and skills. We can’t wait for the music, laughter, and good times!

Don’t forget to check out photos from the Campchella lazy day and Kim and Reggie!

Over and out,

Olive

Good evening, ladies and gents! Olive Oyl here with your second dose of Lazy Day news.

After a chilled out morning by the pool, we got our cabins all sparkling clean. Younger half was inspected by Erma and Ethel, two retirees looking for a new place to stay (they decided on Loons for its tropical vibe). Older half saw Clark Kent and Superman (whose personality was split due to a time travel error), who awarded Shangri-La cleanest cabin and Deer Meadows the scariest, due to a camper jumping out of a suitcase to surprise the inspectors.

After cabin cleans and rest period, we headed over the backyard for our music festival themed activities, included giant splatter paint, a jam circle, face (and body) paint, and flower crowns.

We are currently enjoying our delicious lazy day staple of tacos, complete with churros, an HVC favorite, for dessert. Soon we’ll be heading over to the Rec Hall to listen and sing along with the incredible Kim and Reggie. I can’t wait!

Tomorrow regular classes will resume once again and we’ll finish off the day with the Under the Sea/C (combination underwater and letter “C”) dance, which is sure to be a blast.

Be sure to check in tomorrow for photos of this afternoon and evening’s activities.

So long,
Olive

AWAC shack dance party!

Howdy, partners! Olive Oyl here with your inaugural Trip/Lazy Day update of the summer!

Today started off pretty lazily, as most lazy days do, with both younger half and older sleeping in at least half an hour later than usual. We then had a lazy drift-through breakfast outside with croissants, eggs, hash browns, and of course our myriad selection of cereals and juices. The younger half then left for the lovely and nearby Lake St. George, where they can go for a dip, walk along the rocks, do some beach art, or join in on a reading circle or jam session. After a picnic lunch at the Lake, younger half will return to camp where they’ll be greeted by a special surprise (more details and pictures to come later) and then will have a long rest period, full of cabin cleaning and cabin inspections. The older half are currently soaking up the sun at Pool Activities, where they can cool off, make a friendship bracelet, or go on the Slip N’ Slide. Their afternoon will be full of Lazy Day fun to go along with our Campchella Music Festival theme. There’ll be nature Jewelry, Songwriting, Splatter Paint, Face Painting, Name That Tune, Spoken Word Poetry, and Frisbee. We’ve seen some campers decked out in their festival gear- tie-dye, headbands, flowers, and lots of denim.

All of camp will reconvene tonight for the amazing Kim and Reggie, our performers for the evening, will be on camp early to do a special workshop with selected cabins this afternoon. This group will learn and maybe even write an original song, which the rest of camp will get to see at tonight’s evening program. Kim and Reggie have been coming to camp for ages and are a staple of HVC evenings. There’s sure to be singing, dancing, and of course some good ol’ laughter.

To fill you in on last night, we had an awesome electives, although we did have to resort to some rain plans as it started schvitzing as we dispersed for our activities. Some of our activities were unaffected by the weather, like baking cookies, throwing pots, light painting, pizza oven, tie dye, and the AWAC dance party. Unfortunately some of our outdoor activities like the hot tub and capture the flag had to relocate, so a big group gathered in the Rec Hall and some counselors led us in some camp classics like The Princess Pat and Boom Chick-a Boom. Peter then came on stage to do a safety announcement, which was interrupted by some tunes for a surprise dance! We then danced our hearts out in the shelter of the Rec Hall as the rest of the activities wrapped up and joined in on the boogie-ing. Once we were all back together we shared our electives experiences and Meg helped us to conclude the night by leading us in The Farthest Field.

Be expecting another post late this evening with some more photos and details about today’s Lake trip, Campchella activities, and Kim and Reggie.

Au revoir,

Olive

Snoop Cat here with a sweet update after our slightly drizzly evening!

The AWACs had a night of fun… sorting the candy for the candy drop! Now that this super important task has been completed, all we can do is sit and wait for that magical day when candy will fall from the sky onto the soccer field.

That’s all for now folks! Stay tuned for some lazy day updates tomorrow afternoon…

Peace out,

Snoop Cat

Hey world! Lady of the Lake ready with your news!

After our lovely day of classes yesterday, we had Llamapalooza (also known as Meg’s Rodeo). During this evening program, cabins rotated through different activities. There was marker fencing, where kids tried to keep their marker chains in tact while fencing. There was also a Sherif’s Laugh station, where kids worked together to make a counselor or AWAC laugh. Few cabins were successful, but many were quite humorous and creative in their attempts. There was an elephant march station, where campers wore elephant trunks and used them to knock over cups in a relay race. There was an obstacle course, and also a dizzy bat station, where campers carried cups of water on their head and spun around a bat in a relay. There was also a rock tree bridge station, where campers in teams worked to cross the finish line first while posing as rocks, trees, and bridges. The campers had to go over the rocks, around the trees, and under the bridges. There was a water balloon tops, where campers had to use a tarp together to catch water balloons flying through the air.  There was blind llama sculpting, where blindfolded campers sculpted different objects and shapes and their cabins had to guess what they were making. Lastly, there was also tissue box dancing, where campers danced vigorously to shake balls out from a box. Once each cabin completed all the events, we gathered for the counselor challenge. Each cabin elected a counselor or AWAC to participate in the challenge, which included eating a bowl of cereal with no hands and reciting the alphabet backwards. Cabins cheered on their counselors quite enthusiastically. After all the fun and games, we headed back to our cabins to have a peaceful sleep.

Candy drop rumors have been floating around. Yesterday’s fake fact at meeting (where one counselor announces a random fake fact) was about the candy drop’s invention. James the PD also was spotted wearing his candy drop t-shirt. What does this mean? When will it be?

Since we’ve had three days of classes, it’s time for a Lazy Day! These days happen every 3-4 days and give campers a chance to have a break, sleep in, and relax a little bit. Tomorrow is our first Trip / Lazy Day. The younger half of camp will be headed to Lake St. George, where there will be lots of activities for the campers to engage in. Back at camp, the older half will have Campchella, HVC’s own music festival with music, dancing, art and poetry! There will be loads more information about the day tomorrow. Since it’s a lazy day, the Justin dispatch will come in a little later in the day.

Meanwhile, over the past few days our Community group, one of our teen programs here at HVC, has been getting settled into their new home. They live at the Blodgett House, which is about a mile away from main camp, and participate in community projects both around camp and in the surrounding area. So far, they have visited a local nursing home and begun a collaborative herb garden with our Tipi Village group. Shannon the PD gave the campers and counselors a bread making tutorial the other day, and they have even gotten to climb the ropes course! Expect more updates (and photos!) about Community as the summer progresses!

The program directors had a furry visitor at their meeting this morning – make sure to check out some pictures!

Signing off,

Lady of the Lake

Hello all! Lady of the lake here with all the latest HVC news!

We had a truly fabulous first day of classes yesterday. It was steamy, so some sports classes found their way to the lake or the pool. There was an unbelievable lunch of pasta with pesto, sandwiches, fresh fruit, chips, the salad bar, English muffin pizzas, and mint rice. After classes ended and we had interest groups and evening meeting, we had another wonderful meal for dinner. We ate outside for dinner to enjoy the last few rays of sunshine. Then, each cabin had their own special cabin night. Wombles made cardboard and tinfoil robots and then zipped the Tipi Zip-Line. Avalon dyed eggs. Lower Carriage House had an egg drop (an egg theme among these cabins!). Loons swam across the lake, played some frisbee, and then made s’mores. Bermuda Triangle also made s’mores and had a scavenger hunt and played bull rush on the soccer field. Chateau Fiasco had a cookout with delicious homemade pizzas and deserts. Wabanaki played an epic game of Knock Out on the basketball courts. Forbidden Planet made signs and decorations for their cabin. The Burrow had a Mythical Creatures Parade, since their theme is Mythical Creatures, and then made fairy houses all up and down the creek. They made malls and swing sets and gazebos, too. Paquatahnee had a scavenger hunt and then a pastry shop, where they produced delicious cupcakes. French Quarter tested out the new Dragon Pizza Oven and also made gigantic flowers, since their theme is Through a Bug’s Eye. Fiddler’s Green made glass fused jewelry. Shangri-La had a S’mores Extravaganza (it wouldn’t be camp without lots of s’mores). Valhalla also tested the pizza oven to make desert and made t-shirts, which they are all proudly wearing today. Camelot made memory jars and played games. Dear Meadows had a choose your own adventure scavenger hunt. Taj Mahal had a big circle night in a dance studio and then made S’mores pizzas (the Smoritza!) and ended up singing quite a few musicals. Taj also invented some other Smoritza combinations, like the S’mores Calzone, which are sure to catch on throughout camp. Halley’s Comet, in true Halley’s Comet style, played horse games. After these packed nights, campers headed to their bunks and got a good night’s sleep.

Today is a beautiful and toasty day, so we are making sure we all stay hydrated and cool. We’ve set up a sprinkler so that campers can run through it between classes. There will be a slip-n-slide down Tipi Hill during interest groups, too. We’re also having interest groups at the lake, so that everyone can hop in and enjoy the lovely lake. Many classes will also be taking advantage of the lake and the pool during the day, too. It is sure to be a great day.

During meeting today, Paquatahnee came up and presented No Mail, No Meal, which is where campers must write a letter to have dinner. Don’t worry, if they forget Paquatahnee will have postcards ready for them at dinner tonight. Paquatahnee campers held the letters up to spell No Mail, No Meal, and then Peter had some fun rearranging them to spell different words. Who knows what will be brought to dinner tonight after those rearrangements!

Tonight is Meg’s Rodeo, so make sure to check back tomorrow for new updates.

Over and out,

Lady of the Lake