Monthly Archives: August 2014

So Long, Farewell! Until We Meet Again

Friday, August 22nd, 2014

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Hello All! Snoop Cat here for one last update of the camp season…

This morning all of the counselors helped out with a few last minute work projects around camp. They are trickling out of camp throughout the day, and then camp will be practically empty! Check out these few photos to get a glimpse of what an empty HVC looks like.

As I said yesterday, we’ve had such a wonderful summer and are so glad for all of the campers we were able to spend time with. Excited about next summer already? Find yourself missing HVC’s beautiful scenery? Don’t fret! We will be posting occasional updates throughout the fall, winter, and spring. Stay tuned for posts starting after Labor Day weekend when we will begin projects for next summer.

Farewell (for now) my friends,

Snoop Cat

Safe and Sound

Thursday, August 21st, 2014
Closing Staff Circle

Closing Staff Circle

Hi all! Snoop Cat here with a quick travel update…

All of the buses have arrived safely to their destinations! What a fantastic summer it has been… this afternoon all of the counselors gathered for one, final, closing circle (see above) to reflect on some of the amazing moments we all have shared. Thank you to all who joined us for this magical month, and we hope to see you again next year!

Stay tuned for some more updates in the coming weeks and months!

Catch ya later!

Snoop Cat

Lobster, Pine Grove, and the Funky Chicken: The End is Here

Thursday, August 21st, 2014

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Hey there, folks!

Lady of the Lake here, with one last batch of HVC news. It’s hard to believe that the day is finally here – departure day. Our busses have all headed out nice and on schedule, and in just a little bit the last of our campers will be headed home by car.

We had our final night together last night, and it was truly a fantastic way to commemorate our time together. We began the evening with the ultimate feast: our traditional, infamous lobster banquet. We arrived at our tables to find a spectacular spread of delicious appetizers. There were zesty potatoes, bread and butter, a fresh salad, and Maine coast mussels. We began devouring our food, and in a short time, our lovely waitrons – yes, we were waited on by our kind counselors – delivered our entrees. We had our choice of a chicken dish, spanicopita, or fresh, tasty lobster. We munched on our yummy dishes, and when we were all content, we began waiting for dessert.

At Hidden Valley, there’s a longstanding tradition that we all bang on the tables in anticipation of our ice cream. As we bang and scream and make quite the ruckus, Meg comes out in a cow costume. Yes, a cow costume, complete with spots and a cow head. She then places bags of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream on our table, and we begin the second part of our banquet. We all got to eat our fill of fantastic flavors, highlights including Phish Food, Cherry Garcia, and Chunky Monkey.

With our bellies warm and full, we gathered at the base of Tipi Hill to begin our final evening program, Closing Pine Grove. When we were all there, we began ascending the hill in utter silence, enjoying the fresh air and taking a moment to reflect on our time here at Hidden Valley. Seated around the fire up at Pine Grove, which is, naturally, a grove of tall, striking pines, we waited for the night to begin. As always, the AWACs started the night by singing our candle song and strolling in together. When their song was complete, they placed their candles by the fire and rejoined their cabins.

Next, the Tipis crew took the stage. Those campers that spent time up at our Tipis this session joined the counselors to sing Airplane Over the Sea. Those of us who knew the song joined in to sing the beautiful tune. That was the beginning of our wonderful evening of songs and stories. Nearly all of our cabins performed together, leading the cabin in either a heartfelt song or a ridiculous and funny campfire tune. Avalon sang the classic Pizza Man and Chateau Fiasco sang Lima Bean. Paquatahnee sang Because I Came to HVC and the two counselors organizing the night led us in the Princess Pat. Forbidden took us through a rousing round of the Penguin song, and Wombles sang a short verse of Bumblebee Tuna. We also heard some new takes on some old songs. The Burrow sang an amazing version of These Are a Few of my Favorite Things, tailored to Hidden Valley. Adventures showed us the new spins they put on a number of songs while they hiked. Shangri-La changed the words to the song Can You Dig that Crazy Gibberish to be about one of their counselors. We all had a good laugh at that one!

Other cabins sang songs that captured the mood of the evening just perfectly. Camelot sang What a Wonderful World, and  Taj Mahal sang Daylight. Fiddler’s Green sang L-O-V-E, and Down Under led the whole camp in Lean on Me. Our AWACs gave us a truly touching performance of Hey Jude, and of course all of camp joined in.Valhalla sang House of Gold, and French Quarter sang If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out.

Continuing the mood, Alive sang songs from High School Musical 2 and the Island Song. Camp enjoyed those lighter notes scattered throughout the night. One of our pro staff members also took us through I Want It That Way. It was completely necessary to have some Backstreet Boys at our ceremony. We had a fabulous time when two of our staff members told us the Pickle Story. For those of you who don’t know, the story is a camp favorite. We’re divided into sections, and each section makes a different noise when a certain word is called out. For instance, those who were in one section said “meow” every time the word dragon was said. The story is always a hit, as it’s quite humorous.

As the night went on, cabins began starting the candlelight ceremony. The candlelight ceremony concludes each session, year after year. Each member of camp receives a candle, and we head down in a line saying goodbye to every individual. It’s the perfect way to say farewell to everyone, and to take a moment together to remember special times. As we head down the line, we have the option to touch the flames of our candles, our to embrace in a hug. (Of course, we blow out our candles first if we go for the hug!) As the songs winded down at the fire, the line of candles grew longer and longer. By the end of the evening, every cabin and all our staff had made it down the line. With that terrific send off, we headed back under the beautiful stars to our cabins one last time.

This fine morning, the cabins were awakened by the lovely voices of Taj and Forbidden campers belting out songs. The final days are filled with traditions, and that’s another one of them. The campers sang a variety of songs, including classics like Build Me Up Buttercup and newer pop songs like Roar.

With everyone bright eyed and awake (okay, some of us were still a little sleepy), we had our first breakfast. Shortly soon after, the first busses started pulling up. We loaded them all up, campers and all, and they began driving away. As they headed past, the remaining people at camp sang and danced the Funky Chicken. That’s the last of our very special traditions. We all stand in a line as the busses drive by and sing a very wacky song, and wave our final goodbyes.

Now, most campers are home and staff are working to close down all the areas of camp.

For now, this is goodbye. It has been a truly magnificent summer. Olive Oyl and I are sure to be back in a month or so, but in the meantime, Snoop Cat will be posting one final check in tomorrow. We can’t wait until next time.

Forever yours,

Lady of the Lake

 

 

Packing, Pine Grove, and Plenty of Lobster

Wednesday, August 20th, 2014
French Quarter's cabin activity!

French Quarter’s cabin activity!

Howdy, folks! Olive Oyl here with the Packing Day scoop.

We started off the morning with a delicious breakfast of freshly baked cinnamon buns, hash browns, and fruit. We then gathered together for our epic camp meeting, where we first off thanked all of our amazing counselors and staff members for all their hard work this summer. They received beautiful bright roses, hugs, and notes from the directors. We then discussed the essentials of packing day: cleaning and packing. We went over how to air out our mattresses, clean our cubbies, and find the mates to our lonely socks this past month. After hearing all this important information, we dispersed to pick up art projects, meds, and valuables to pack away before tomorrow morning.

We then headed back to our cabins for a super cabin clean and final pack before fueling up on some lunch. We munched on mac and cheese, salad, onion rings, and cous cous salad. We then took a relaxing rest period before our final cabin day activities. Every cabin did something fun and unique all over camp.

Avalon made paper planes and Loons made, and set off, a smoke bomb in Deer Meadows field. Wombles did an egg drop in the Tree House and LCH went on a hike to the Old Stone Bridge and then went down the Tipi Zip. Chateau Fiasco built a raft from only duct tape and what they could find at the End of the World, which they then took down to the lake. Bermuda Triangle had a challenge scavenger hunt all over camp that ended in ice cream. Forbidden Planet took a hike past Tom’s Trail to the Lost Car to find their Forbidden shirts…awesome!

The Burrow had a gymnastics party in the Rec Hall and did a closing circle activity. Down Under did warm and fuzzies (writing sweet notes) and had a dance party in the Old Dance Studio. French Quarter explored their artistic side with body tracing and Paquatahnee played backyard games and did warm and fuzzies with a cabin photo. Shangri-La shared yarn bracelets and played blob tag while Camelot signed pillowcases. Fiddler’s Green also made yarn bracelets and Valhalla made t-shirts in the Foothills. Finally, Taj Mahal signed warm and fuzzies on a cabin photo and had a candy party. Overall, it was an exciting afternoon that gave cabins an opportunity to reminisce on good times this summer and to create more memories with their bunkmates and counselors before we all head off tomorrow.

So many awesome things are lined up for the rest of the day. First off, we’re currently having our Major League Luggage Meeting, where campers figure out where to place their luggage this afternoon so that it ends up in the right bus, car, or van tomorrow morning. After this big move, we’ll have evening meeting before the…drumroll please…Lobster Banquet! We’ll feast on mussels, lobster, (or chicken, spanakopita, or pasta, for those of us who don’t eat seafood), and of course, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. We all can’t wait to see Meg come out in her cow costume!

After this delightful meal, we’ll take the lovely walk up to the top of Tipi Hill for our Pine Grove ceremony. It’s sure to be a beautiful evening of music, stories, and old camp traditions. And we’ll get to say goodbye to every person on camp with the candle-lighting ceremony. Pine Grove is always a wonderful way to wrap up the summer, giving us time to reflect on our experiences this summer–the art, friendships, and loving community that we’ve all created.

More to come tomorrow! Be sure to check out pictures as always.

Lots of love,
Olive

Final cabin day activities this afternoon and festivities this morning:

Horse Show, Fair Day, and More!

Tuesday, August 19th, 2014

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Hello, again, dear friends! Olive Oyl and Lady of the Lake here with some Fair Day news just for you!

We’ve had an jam-packed awesome day so far! We started off the day with a yummy breakfast, then headed over to our cabins for a quick clean, then over to our booths to set up for fair day! We then took a nice little walk over to the Brumby Horse Show, which was fantastic and showed off all the hard work that our Brumby campers have put in this summer. After the show we were all released to the fair! We had our classic fair day goodies, like Forbidden Planet’s Fried Dough, Valhalla doing ice cream, and the AWAC Pretzels. Paquatahnee helped out with the chocolate fountain, Chateau Fiasco did the Pizza Oven, and Bermuda Triangle took care of drinks. We also had corn dogs and hot dogs thanks to our kitchen staff. There were also other long-time traditions, like Taj Mahal’s kiss-o-grams and the Horse Drawn Carriage rides. There were tons of other fun activities going on, like Avalon’s Poop Shoot (dunking tank), the Burrow’s jelly bean count, French Quarter’s moon bounce, and the Loons slip n’ slide. There were also the classic pillow jousting and sumo wrestling, thanks to Wombles and LCH. Camelot did face painting and Shangri-La did the marriage booth. There was of course a DJ, thanks to Fiddler’s Green, plus a climbing wall! Wow! It was an afternoon of fun and excitement, where we filled our bellies with yummy treats and played tons of awesome games. We also had the chance to check out the art show happening in the Hilton dance and glass studios, plus pottery in the pottery barn. There were loads of incredible pieces…it was truly amazing to see all of the campers’ creations from the session in one place. The Alive! art show took place in the Foothills and it was spectacular. There were found art sculptures, journals, glass bead wire sculptures, liquid photography, dance photography, a video piece, and fashion design. If there show wasn’t amazing enough, all of their visual art blew us away! We also had a special treat during the fair when our longtime kitchen staff Chris played the bagpipes, clad in his kilt and all! We’ll definitely miss the sweet sounds of the bagpipe when we leave HVC in just a short while…

After our fantastic fair day, we gathered in the Rec Hall to watch some slide shows and videos. The slide show was a great way to reminisce about the fantastic times we’ve had together this past month, and there were many fabulous photos. We also got to appreciate the work of our awesome video classes.

This evening, we have a final dance in the backyard together. There’s sure to be lots of hanging out and white book signing, in addition to loads of dancing. We can’t wait!

Tomorrow we’ll have packing day, where we’ll all get set to head home for the summer. We’ll also get to spend some good quality times with our cabins doing a cabin activity. It’s sure to be a great last day.

Signing out,

Olive Oyl and Lady of the Lake

 

Photos from yesterday’s Roller Rink trip and Hawaiian Day!

 

Now for some Fair Day pictures…

 

And, finally, amazing photos from Alive’s liquid photo!

 

A Very Special Teen Update!

Tuesday, August 19th, 2014

 

HVA back just in time for Fair Day!

HVA back just in time for Fair Day!

Statues come to life!

Statues come to life!

Howdy, folks! Olive Oyl here with an extra special teen update on this beautiful Fair Day morning!

We had an amazing evening last night with the Alive! show! The show was created entirely from scratch and the campers have been working on it all summer. The concept was a museum brought to life, where the story followed four students working on a school project in a museum who ended up in the “restricted” area of the museum. This restricted area contained art works brought to life, like moving sculptures and living portraits. The students lost one of their friends to the restricted area, so throughout the show they were journeying throughout the spooky museum in hopes of finding their lost comrade. They ran into many characters along the way, like a band that was stuck playing only two songs and who were yearning to be free. There were also the two jesters, both claiming to offer help, but one actually trying to get the students into trouble, as they posed riddles and stumped the students. The finally brought back their friend with the help of a living Lichtenstein  portrait, who had the power to bring drawings to life. Unfortunately, one of the students also drew a demon, who was brought to life, but then thankfully erased and no longer in the living world. With their lost friend returned to safety, the students headed to school the next day to hand in their assignments. What a whirlwind! Not only was the story captivating, but the sets were unbelievable. There were famous art pieces all around and human statues on pedestals as we filed into the Rec Hall. There were giant picture frames for the band and the other characters throughout the show. The music was unbelievable and the acting was excellent. All aspects of the show were truly superb. It’s so impressive that everything from the original idea, to the costumes, and the makeup, where all created by the Alive campers. We’re so proud and can’t wait to see all of their other incredible work in the art show today!

Our other teen program, HVA, have also been busy! They just got back this morning from their trip to Canada, where they stayed in Jacques Cartier National Park. There, they enjoyed a day hike and made a trip to a waterfall. After that, they spent lots of time exploring Quebec, which I’ve been told was really fun. They ate plenty of junk food and tried their best to communicate in French (although most of the time it didn’t really work). Quebec was a change of pace for the Adventure campers, who are used to living in the woods. After Canada, the group headed off to Adventure Bound, where they were greeted with good food, cabins, a hot tub, and real beds. How luxurious! They then took off rafting, which was an overnight trip through the white waters of Maine and was constant fun. Next was rock climbing, which was challenging, but rewarding. They climbed up cracks, overhands, and steep cliff faces. They were able to belay each other and then repel down a cliff. As a camper recalls, it was terrifying, but fun. Now the whole gang is back just in time for Fair Day, what an awesome way to end their time at camp!

That’s all for our super amazing teens! They can all inspire us to be more alive and adventurous! Check back later for pictures from yesterday’s lazy, plus all the Fair Day details!

Lots of Love,
Olive

Sharing Night Details and the Very Last Lazy Day!

Monday, August 18th, 2014
A beautiful rainbow appeared yesterday afternoon

A beautiful rainbow appeared yesterday afternoon

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! Olive Oyl here with your Lazy Day dispatch.

We had a spectacular evening last night with our very final Sharing Night! We saw a whole variety of acts, with lots of movement like gymnastics, hip-hop, swing/salsa and choreography. We also heard a lot of beautiful music, with tunes from ukulele, guitar class, songwriting, and HVC songbook, who shared the camp classic The Princess Pat and also Goodnight Irene. We had some silly videos from animal care and archery class, plus a surprise appearance by a few of our llamas friends with extreme llama care. There was also a mysterious skit by our Liquid Smoke class, which had the rest of camp still guessing as to what the meaning of the class was. Theater Improv class had us laughing and we also had two special performances by campers on the piano, doing a postponed Valleyfest so that they could use the piano indoors. All in all, it was a wonderful way to wrap up the end of a productive and creative two weeks of classes. There’s so much talent here at HVC that it’s truly amazing to see it all together in one night!

This morning we embarked on our final lazy day of the summer, with the younger half going to the roller skating rink and the older half staying on camp for Hawaiian day. The younger half will spend the morning skating around and munching on some yummy snacks before they head back to camp in time for lunch. Meanwhile, the older half is busy doing a super cabin clean before they head off to lazy day activities, where it will almost be like they’re on tropical vacation in Hawaii. There’ll be a ukulele jam, grass skirt making, lay making, a pineapple ring toss, tiki torch limbo, surf n’ slide, and a hula hoop contest. This afternoon younger half and older half will reunite for a reloaded pool activities! They’ll be swimming, of course, plus some backyard games, parachute games, writing haikus, and capture the flag, plus the classics like friendship bracelets and reading circle. It’s sure to be a relaxing afternoon with plenty of down time for signing white books, exchanging addresses, and reminiscing about all the good times we’ve had so far this summer.

Tonight we’ll have another amazing pizza dinner, with flavors like Hawaiian (how appropriate!), bacon and blue cheese, Greek olive and feta, white pizza, and pesto pasta. Yum! After filling up on a delicious dinner, we’ll head over to the Rec Hall for the Alive! show! It’s always an amazing evening of music, dance, and theater. We can’t wait to discover what the theme is this year!

Be sure to check in tomorrow for lazy day and Alive! show photos…for now, check out sharing night!

Adios,

Olive

 

The Basketball Game Scoop, All About Shrek, and Lots More!

Sunday, August 17th, 2014

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Good morning, friends! Olive Oyl here with loads of camp news just for you!

First off, yesterday was very exciting with the camper versus counselor basketball game during Interest Groups. It was an amazing game, with incredible endurance by the campers who played the entire time. The camper team was leading up until the very end when Luke B. made an awesome three-point shot, making the final score 36 to 35. Although the counselors ultimately came out victorious, it was a challenging game for all that really showed off the skill and determination of the camper team. The counselor team did have some secret weapons in their lineup, like the infamous Team X, made up of the Program Directors and Peter, all clad in ridiculous  attire and playing with lots of attitude. There was also team ZoScoMo, consisting of our three super cool counselors, Zach, Scotty, and Moses.

The excitement didn’t end after interest groups, though! We had a fantastic evening with Shrek the Musical! It was truly an awe-inspiring performance full of laughter and heartwarming moments. It was clear that all the campers and counselors involved put in so much hard work and passion to produce such an incredible performance. Everything from the set, to the costumes, to the acting and the singing, were all amazing. Princess Fiona had a beautiful tower with a painted window and all of the character’s costumes were spot on, like the Gingerbread Man’s purple buttons and Donkey’s cloppity hooves. These two characters provided lots of comic relief, and the princesses all amazed us with their beautiful singing. Everyone went to bed with a smile on their face after a performance full of lots of talent and joy.

This morning got off to a great start with our final Bagel Sunday, where we enjoyed warm bagels with homemade cream cheese, like lox and garlic and herb. We also had soft-boiled eggs, melon and kiwi, and of course our selection of yummy cereals. We then started off morning meeting to the beautiful sound of Meg and Tom’s dulcimer playing. It’s hard to believe that it’s the last day of doing this lovely camp tradition. We also had our final interest groups, with the classics like Dynamos, who are going hunting for Bartholomew the monster this afternoon. We sang the Meg’s Planet song, with some special dance moves thanks to Celie. We also gave a big thank you to Cassie, our wonderful counselor who has been coordinating Interest Groups all summer.

A lot of cabins have also been cashing in on their wheel prizes as the end of camp is rolling around. Yesterday, our counselor John dressed up as a fairy for the day…check out the pictures, it was amazing! Cassie had a bucket of ice water dumped on her head and many counselors are baking cabins sweets or cleaning bathrooms for other cabins.

After enjoying our last day of classes doing things like grouting mosaics pieces and putting the final touches on dance routines, we’ll all gather together this evening for Sharing Night! We’ll see songs, videos, dances, and surely lots more. More to come on that tomorrow!

Be sure to check out the pictures as always!

Signing off,

Olive

 

Wonderful, Wacky W News!

Saturday, August 16th, 2014
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Who, What, Where, When, and Why at the W Dance!

Hi friends! Lady of the Lake with another round of exciting news.

After our exciting, adventurous morning yesterday, all of camp headed to the pool for a lovely, relaxing afternoon. There was such a great vibe, having all of camp hanging out together. Campers relaxed, chatting and reading together. Other kids had a blast making friendship bracelets and hair wraps. Folks played tennis and sent frisbees flying over Deer Meadows. For the gamers amongst us, there were fun card games and an exciting magic tournament. Of course campers splashed around in the pool and headed down a super slippery slip-n-slide. We also had a parachute out so that kids could play around together while jamming to some great music. Everyone had a fabulous afternoon enjoying each other’s company.

For dinner, we had a Mexican feast. We munched on delicious tacos and burritos filled with our choice of ground beef, chicken, tomatoes, cheese, refried beans, fresh corn, guacamole, salsa, and other great toppings. For dessert, we had our famous churros. It’s hard not to go crazy for these churros – they’re just so delicate and delicious!

After dinner, we headed over to our W dance! We danced the night away in our wacky, weird, and wonderful wardrobes. We saw western folks, watermelons, weather guys, weekends, and wizards. For activities, we had wardrobe and costume making, war and other card games, wizardry and witch crafts (where campers created awesome dream catchers), a whopper count (stay posted for the results to come tomorrow!), wicked face painting, and a game of W-evenge knockout – formerly known as revenge knockout. Kids had a great time dipping in and out of the dance, where we heard mostly songs starting with the letter W. Waka Waka, Who Let the Dogs Out, What is Love, We are Never Ever Getting Back Together – there sure are a lot of great songs starting with W! When we were all danced out, we curled back up in our cabins for a deep sleep.

This morning, we had some exciting business to take care of at morning meeting. We took a lobster count, where we put in our orders for the final banquet on packing day. We chose between lobster, chicken, or spanicopita.

After that was all sorted out, we had some brave souls participate in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. For those of you who don’t know, there’s a viral trend going around encouraging people to dump a bucket of ice on their head and donate to ALS research. We had some very special people at camp get nominated, including Meg Kassen. The counselors and staff nominated took their icy showers like champs, and all of camp enjoyed looking on.

It’s a beautiful day of classes today, and we’re all looking forward to the musical tonight!

That’s all for now, folks.

Lady of the Lake

Electives, Amazing Skates and Other Lazy Day News

Friday, August 15th, 2014

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Hello folks! Lady of the Lake here with the latest HVC news.

Yesterday, we had some brave souls head up to the ropes course for some extreme ropes. These campers ventured up for their second time this summer, and embraced new challenges. Some climbed the high ropes course blindfolded, others with their legs bound, and others with a hand tied around their back. A few campers even climbed with a combination of the obstacles! Check out the amazing pictures of their incredible feats.

Last night, we had our final set of electives for the summer. There was an extensive array of options for campers to choose from. To begin with, there was the ever classic game of capture the flag. The two teams – Blue and Red, played long and hard to win, and all were very enthused about the game. Along the same lines, campers could play around with some ultimate frisbee.

A few folks headed up to the hot tub to have a relaxing night soaking and enjoying each other’s company. Campers seeking something slightly more active played a rousing game of sardines in the red barn. Adventure seekers could take an exciting zip down the Tipi Zip-line or go on an exciting creek walk.

For those evening food cravings, some campers made delicious cupcakes in the kitchen while others crafted extreme s’mores. These were no ordinary s’mores. Instead, these were based on chocolate graham crackers and had white chocolate insides. There was even caramel to melt on top. Wow!

There were also loads of options for anyone feeling art-inclined. Folks headed over to the glass bead studio to design and make their very own beads. Others headed to one of our dance studios to work on some amazing light painting. We even had candle making as an option! For those campers who wanted to really throw themselves fully into art, there was a splatter paint party. Those kids came back excited and covered in paint. Particularly notable last night, we had an elective for pot throwing. Those who participated threw pots in the traditional sense, and then quite literally threw them outside. They had a blast constructing and then destructing their pots!

On the musical side, campers created awesome loops and sounds in the elective sound escape. Others enjoyed a high-energy dance party. Finally, our very own AWACs hosted their AWAC shack, where they played fun games and hung out with a great group of campers.

After the night’s activities, we all gathered in the Rec Hall to sing a few tunes and then head off to bed.

Today has been an eventful day here at HVC! The older half headed off to the roller skating rink for an amazing, fun filled trip. Once the older half piled off the buses, they got to choose between classic roller skates and more modern in line skates (otherwise known as roller blades.) Then, folks took to the actual rink and began skating around. Experienced skaters helped out their more novice companions, and soon everyone was having a blast. Campers and counselors skated around and around, dancing and singing along to the various pop tunes that came on. After everyone had their share of skating and a yummy snack, they headed back on the buses and came back to camp.

While the older half were out on their roller skating adventure, the younger half had an adventure of their own. The campers gathered in the backyard by the gazebo and were told that they were about to participate in the “HVC Amazing Race.” Each younger half cabin was given a secret envelop containing clues which lead them all over camp. Throughout their journeys they participated in various team challenges such as creating a cabin sign out of art materials while blindfolded, slinging tennis balls out of the giant Angry Birds slingshot in Deer Meadows, and doing a cabin leap frog from Meg’s Planet to the Hilton. Some cabins also zipped down TIpi Zip and had noodle races in the pool. Other challenges included finding all of the water fountains on camp (the highest number was 7!), creating a beautiful cabin totem pole out of boxes and tissue paper, and completing a puzzle in the tree house. At the end of all of these challenges, each cabin found a special object with their cabin name painted on it and presented it in front of the rest of the younger half. After exploring all the corners of camp, the cabins felt accomplished and were ready to chow down on some lazy day lunch!

This afternoon, the younger and older halves are joining together for pool activities. Tonight, we’ll have a W themed dance, which is sure to be loads of fun.

More news to come,

Lady of the Lake

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