Monthly Archives: July 2015

THE CAMPERS ARE COMING! THE CAMPERS ARE COMING!

Saturday, July 25th, 2015
Meg meeting with our Fiddlers Green staff!

Meg meeting with our Fiddlers Green staff!

Hello, hello!! Camp is really HUMMING with excitement today! I, Humming Bird, am here to give a few brief updates on this lively time at camp!

As you know, today is our second session Arrival Day!! We will have some more pictures and information about that once all our campers have finally arrived, later this evening. For now check out a few preliminary photos of the fun activities we have going on around camp! I also have some information about what our counselors have been up to, and our new cabin themes!!

Yesterday we spent a lot of time talking to Peter and Meg about counseling issues that may arise during the second session, and how this session may differ from the first. We also got to know our new co counselors, and spent time learning about our new campers! We came up with our new cabin themes, and made corresponding bunk tags, welcome signs, and cabin decorations!!

Here are our new cabin themes!

Team LCH!
The Periodic Table of Loons! Their showers are protons and neutrons!
The space cowboys of Gimme Shelter will be helping Snack Jack at the International Snack Station, when everyone gets their snacks during Interest Groups!
The Avalon Pirates!
The Chateau Fiasco conspiracy theorists will be sharing different conspiracy theories with the camp during Meeting!
The interdimensional time travelling zen masters of Atlantis!
The Forbidden Planet of the Apes will be walking around camp like Apes!
The Winter WOMBLE-land will wake up each morning to Walking in a Winter Wonderland!
The Down Under Dinosaurs!
The French Quarter rock stars!
The Paquatahnee pet rocks have a mascot named PaquaTony, who they’ll keep in the cabin!
The Fiddlers Green Farmers will be sharing Farming Tips of the Day with the camp at Meeting!
The Shangri-Llamas of Shangri-La have llama bunk tags and and the “bale of mail”!
Camelot is emulating the Divergent book series!
Valhalla will be celebrating the Val-Holidays in the cabin!
The Taj Mahal tacos will be making tacos for their cabin night!

We have some amazing cabin themes this session, and we can’t wait to share how each cabin embodies and celebrates their themes throughout camp!! Stay tuned for photos tonight of Arrival Day and Opening Night Skits!

Humming along,

Humming Bird

Intersession Update! Also, Goodbye, Olive Oyl…

Thursday, July 23rd, 2015

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Good evening, folks! Olive Oyl here with a quick intersession update and, sadly, a final goodbye post.

We said goodbye to our four-weekers this morning and a few staff members have stayed back to absorb our committed and adventurous six and eight-weekers. After lunch, we went for a trip to Moose Point State Park, where we walked along the beach, played on the playground, and read in the sun. When we arrived back at camp we joined forces with all of our fantastic AWACs! We’re now busy cooking personalized pizzas in the pizza oven before a movie night and sleepover in the Rec Hall. It’s been a long day for all campers (that 5 am wakeup seems so long ago…), so we’ll head off to bed early so we can be well rested for our busy day tomorrow!

We’re headed to Wild Acadia Fun Park, where campers will have an option of doing a ropes course, go-karting, and swimming. We’ll have a picnic lunch there before we make our way to Fort Knox, an old army base and park where we’ll spend the afternoon. Once we’re back at camp, intersession campers will join their counselors in their new cabins for second session. And before we know it, it will be arrival day all over again! Can’t wait!

Well, that’s all the news for the folks still on camp. As for me, I’m so sad to go. It’s been a pleasure and an honor delivering news and photographs to friends and family back home for the past few summers, but I’m off to new challenges and adventures here at camp. The blog, our dear friend Justin, will always be in my heart.

Until we meet again,

Olive Oyl

Departure Day!!

Thursday, July 23rd, 2015

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Hello, friends!! Humming Bird here with photos of our departure day!!

The camp was woken up this morning by our oldest campers, of Taj Mahal and Forbidden Planet, who sang us into consciousness. What a beautiful way to wake up at 4:45 AM!!!

We ate a yummy breakfast, with hot chocolate provided for all campers and staff!! And then hung out around the back and front yards until the buses came! Once they were here, we all lined up along both sides of Camp Road, and said goodbye to our friends in the best way we can… THE FUNKY CHICKEN!!

Check out pictures of us dancing the Funky Chicken, and other goodbyes and departure images below!!

Cat Nap and I will be taking a short– well– cat nap! Hehe! We will be back to update the blog on Saturday, when we will also be greeting our second session campers!! Check back in with us!

Always humming along,

Humming Bird

 

 

PACKING DAY MADNESS!!!!

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015

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Hi Kittens! Cat Nap here giving you the scoop on all things Packing Day! Camp started the day by sleeping in with a half hour later wake up! Those extra z’s definitely came in handy when campers had to pack all their things away, and do their SUPER.CABIN.CLEANUP. Now you may ask: Cat Nap, what is a super cabin cleanup? And I would be happy to tell you kittens! Super Cabin Cleanup is when each cabin does a top to bottom, corner to corner, every inch of the cabin, cleanup SO next session’s campers can move into a clean and beautiful cabin like first session’s campers did.

As fun as cleaning is, everyone needs a break every once in a while amirght? Heres a list of all the super fun last cabin activities each cabin did!:

Wombles: Tipi Zip and Mafia
Avalon: Pizza Oven Fun!
Lower Carriage House: Dance Party
Loons: Rube Goldberg Machine Construction
Bermuda Triangle: Magic and Music
Chateau Fiasco: Creek Walk and Rock Sculptures
Wabanaki: Yoga
Forbidden Planet: Bonfire
Down Under: Tie-Dye T-Shirts
Gimme Shelter: Ice Cream at Super Scoops
Paquatahnee: People Posters
French Quarter: T-Shirts
Fiddler’s Green: Baking Cookies
Shangri-La: Handprint Pillowcases
Valhalla: Compliment Books
Camelot: Writing Letters to Each Other
Dear Meadows: Time Capsules
Taj Mahal: T-Shirt Swim
Halley’s Comet: Obstacle Course and Closing Circle

Now onto the best part of the day: LOBSTER BANQUET! Humming Bird and I live for this day. The salads, yummy baked potatoes, and of course the lobster! Once everyone enjoyed a delicious meal, thats when the fun really began. To summon the spirit of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream each and every person in the dining hall must bang their hands on the table and scream, creating an insane vibration throughout the dining hall. Then Meg and Holden magically appeared wearing cow costumes! Holding the beloved ice-cream in bags for each cabin!

After Dinner with full bellies, camp made their way to the bottom of Tipi Hill to make their final tip up for closing pinegrove. The night was filled with classic camp songs, even some new songs, and memories from the past few weeks.

Once the number of performances got lower, cabins made their way to receive candles for the candle lighting ceremony. The candle lighting ceremony is when each person on camp has a candle, and with this candle each person gets to say goodbye to every person on camp by creating a line and touching candles. Once you get to the end of the line, you just add on so the person behind you in the line can say goodbye too. Watching the row of brightly lit candles from the bottom of Tipi Hill was one of me and Humming Bird’s favorite parts of the day.

Check back in tomorrow for departure day updates, and then again on arrival day, Saturday, for some of the craziness that will begin our second session of the 2015 summer!

Have a purr-fect evening!

– Cat Nap

Brumby Horse Show, Fair Day, and Rock Band!

Tuesday, July 21st, 2015

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Hello Kittens! Cat Nap here to update you on today’s Fair Day festivities! Before Fair Day, all of camp gathered at Deer Meadows to watch the Brumby Horse Show! The Brumby Horse Show is a performance by the campers in the “Brumby” program. During this show campers get to show the rest of camp the hard work they’ve put into horseback riding during the past 3 weeks. Humming Bird and I were amazed by how talented all the riders were. Jumping, acrobatics, and tricks! Oh my!

After the Brumby Horse Show it was finally time for Fair Day! Humming Bird and I stuffed our faces with fried dough thanks to Forbidden Planet, ice cream with Wabanaki, and grabbed some pretzels from the Awacs! The music was bumping thanks to Deer Meadows, faces were fun and colorful because of Camelot’s brilliant face painting skills, and everyone was staying cool in the hot weather at Chateau Fiasco’s Slip n’ Slide!

Unfortunately the fair had to come to a close, but the fun wasn’t over yet! After the fair, camp gathered in the Rec Hall to relive some of our favorite memories thanks to Eden’s amazing slideshow! Campers got to see pictures from this past month’s events, what some of their counselors looked like as campers at HVC, and even what camp looks like in the winter!

Tonight we put a spin on our usual camp meeting by adding two wheel of misfortune prizes! At evening meeting tonight, Gimme Shelter and Fiddler’s Green collected on their prizes! Throughout the mayhem of the Wheel, each cabin receives one “prize”-an offer put forth by another counselor. Wheel prizes range from ice bucket dumps to good night songs, and tonight’s meeting was graced by two show-stealing prizes. Fiddler’s Green collected on a camp classic: pieing a counselor in the face! Gimme Shelter won a prize a bit more out of the box…they got to blend a smoothie made of anything (edible) they could imagine, and watch one of our counselors drink it in front of the entire camp! Sarah (the lucky recipient of the gross smoothie) took the clam juice-garbanzo bean-hot sauce and more mixture in stride!

Tonight’s evening program was the Rock Band Concert and Dance! While siting outside at the Rec Hall Stage, campers got to listen to their fellow campers rock out to some of their favorite songs! Humming Bird and I loved that the campers in Rock Band combined their individual talents to create one unbelievable sound! After the Rock Bands performed, the dance began! Humming Bird and I put our dancing shoes on and danced the night away with the rest of camp! After today’s festivities, I’m going to need a long cat nap….hehehe

 

Have a purr-fect evening!

– Cat Nap

 

P.S. More Fair Day photos to come-stay tuned!

 

IT’S FAIR DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (And Lion King pictures!)

Tuesday, July 21st, 2015

 

Circle of life!

Circle of life!

Greetings, earthlings!! Humming Bird here with the pictures from The Lion King, as promised!! BUT FIRST!! I have the privilege of introducing our new Justin writer!! Her name is Cat Nap, and she’s not “kitten” around! (Geddit?? Like “kidding!” But “kitten” because she’s a cat!! Hahaha!) Cat Nap will be writing with me for the next session, and don’t worry… contrary to popular belief, cats and birds CAN work together (we hope!!) Now back to camper news!!

Check out some photos below of our incredibly talented cast of the musical last night!! They did an excellent job, and we’ve got the pictures to prove it!! Look at those theatrical thespian campers!

Last night at Evening Meeting we had another Wheel Prize!! What’s a Wheel Prize, you ask? Why, Wheel Prizes are the best! At the Wheel of Misfortune, every cabin gets a prize from a counselor! Prizes include getting to pie a counselor in the face, getting to turn a counselor into a sloth, or even a classic lullaby before bed! Last night, Down Under got to wash Elise’s beautiful hair with ANYTHING THEY WANT!! Their “shampoo” included ketchup, mustard and maple syrup! EW!! Check out pictures below of Elise’s new hair regimen!

TODAY IS FAIR DAY!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every cabin is currently setting up their booths, so that Fair Day can start up in full swing at 11:45! Cabin booths will be as follows:
Forbidden Planet will provide us with yummy fried dough!
Taj Mahal will be making Kiss-O-Grams!
Wabanaki will dish out ice cream!
Deer Meadows will DJ our day!
Valhalla will run the marriage booth!
Avalon will hand out drinks so we can all stay hydrated!
Paquatahnee will man the chocolate fountain!
Fiddlers Green will be painting nails!
LCH will run pillow jousting!
Loons will do the poop shoot!
Gimme Shelter is facilitating sumo wrestling!
Chateau Fiasco will run the slip & slide!
Camelot will be painting our faces!
Wombles will regulate the moon bounce!
Down Under will be running the name changing station!
Shangri-La will take guesses in the Jelly Bean count!
French Quarter will be telling fortunes!
Bermuda Triangle will be drawing caricatures!
Halley’s Comet will run pony rides!
Community will be weaving the Earth Loom!
The AWACs will be running around with the pretzel cart!
We will also have non-cabin staff leading a horse-drawn carriage around camp, and the kitchen staff will provide us with yummy yummy hot dogs!

We started off this beautiful Fair Day with the first annual Hidden Valley Hill Run!! Selected, willing campers got up early this morning to eat breakfast at the wee hour of 7:45, after which they took a mile-and-a-half run together down Camp Road! Their run ended right in front of Camp Meeting, where the rest of the camp was energetically waiting to congratulate the athletes on their success!! Photos will go up of this wonderful new tradition later today!!

For now we have so many exciting and delicious and fun things to look forward to today, including the Brumby Horse Show!! Before we run off to enjoy our booths, we will all gather together at Deer Meadows Field to watch the Brumby campers demonstrate all their hard work this session! After waking up early to feed and care for the horses day after day, Brumby campers finally get to show the camp all the wonderful horse-y tricks they’ve learned and perfected during their time here! And the rest of camp will cheer and applaud their talent– with silent golf claps, of course!!

Stay tuned for pictures and more updates about Fair Day coming at you later today!!

We’re off to scrounge some pre-Fair food!!

Tweet, hum, meow!!

Humming Bird and Cat Nap

Lions, and Sharing and Fairs, OH MY!!

Monday, July 20th, 2015

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Salutations on this beautiful, hot day at camp! Humming Bird reporting for duty to tell you all about our final Trip/Lazy day of the session!

But first!! Let’s chat about yesterday! At evening meeting we had some more campers receive their five year vests!! Check out the picture below! Then last night we enjoyed a beautiful Sharing Night! Our classes ended yesterday with a bang!! So many classes shared what they have been working on with the whole camp, and they were super impressive!! Our Hipster MCs led us through some incredible acts!! Check out photos below of our über talented campers!

Our younger half went roller skating this morning, what fun!! Check out pictures below of their time at the rink! Our young campers got to spend some time roller skating or blading– their choice– with built-in eating time! They were each provided a yummy slice of pizza and a soda! Lucky ducks!! Roller skating ducks, that is!

The older half stayed here at camp for Decades Day!! Counselors had activities set up around the Rec Hall, each lauding and paying homage to either the sixties, seventies, eighties, or nineties! We had some super groovy activities like Daisy Chains, Tie Dye, Pet Rocks, a Stayin’ Alive-themed game of Man Hunt, a Whitney Houston Dance Party, Decade-themed hair styling, a Grunge Jam Session, 90’s card games like the ever popular Magic the Gathering, and Aerobics!! Camp felt like we had all travelled back in time today!! But we’re glad to have returned to the present day, where the air conditioning is a little better!!

Tonight we enjoyed an incredibly riveting performance of The Lion King!! The whole musical cast’s hard work certainly paid off tonight, the show was so beautifully performed!! The Backstage Ninjas did it again– another seamless backstage performance by our speedy helpers!! The cast was energetic and had beautiful diction and projection, so we heard every funny joke, every heartbreaking song, and every sizzling cackle (provided for the most part by the hilarious hyenas)!! Unfortunately I don’t have pictures to show you of the performance tonight, but they are on their way and will be ready to post hopefully by tomorrow!!

Speaking of tomorrow…. It’s FAIR DAY!!! OH MY GOODNESS I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING!! I’M SO SO SO SO SO SO EXCITED!!! Stay tuned for pictures of all the wacky, crazy things we’ll have going on!!

There’s so much to look forward to here at camp, so keep checking back in with us!! I’m off to make final preparations for my Fair Day booth!

Humming away,

Humming Bird

What a crazy few days we have coming up!!

Sunday, July 19th, 2015
Our amazing cast!

Our amazing cast!

Hello, fellow human and bird inhabitants of Earth!! And HAPPY BAGEL SUNDAY! Humming Bird here with some faaaabulous updates about yesterday, today, and the future!

Last night we enjoyed a wonderful performance of Roald Dahl’s The Witches!! Our talented campers portrayed the escapades of a young Boy, who learns that the world’s Witches– cleverly disguised as the “National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children”– are plotting to exterminate all the pesky children of England by turning them into mice with a special formula they plan to put into chocolate! When Boy gets turned into a mouse, he and his hungry friend, Bruno, must enlist the help of Boy’s grandmother. The unlikely team sneaks the Witches’ formula into their soup, thus turning them into mice and eradicating the problem of Witches in the world!!

The Backstage Ninjas did an unbelievable job of running tech, props, and generally helping out backstage during the show! Clad in all black, they were hardly noticed by the audience, and made the whole play run smoothly– the noble goal of any ninja!!

Our Hidden Valley actors portrayed the characters’ trials and tribulations with empathy, humor and grace! They even dealt with the tricky situation of turning children into mice on stage!! They had small (fake) mice on the stage, moved by the narrators, with the actors playing the mice projecting their lines loudly from offstage! There was a real ensemble feel to the show, and it was very evident that our young thespians had worked really hard together to create this excellent final product! Check out photos of the show!!

Beyond our impressive theatrical production, Olive Oyl and I want to give an update on a new building on camp! Our staff have been hard at work making The Beehive! Located between the Foothills dance studio and our Rec Hall, The Beehive is the home of our new Glass Blowing program!! Check out some pictures of the beautiful new building on camp!

Camp is beginning to wind down now, in preparation for the ever- teary Departure Day. But don’t break out the tissues yet!! We have some incredible things to look forward to in the coming days! This afternoon we have the Camper-Counselor Basketball Game!!! All of camp will come out to the basketball court to watch as the campers of the Basketball Team (which is a class that has been practicing all four weeks of camp) and the PDs, counselors, and even Peter and Meg of Team X compete against each other in a grueling, ruthless, perilous game of basketball!! Who will win?? No one knows! (But my bet is on the campers, they’ve been working really hard. Don’t tell the PDs I said that!!) Stay tuned for a report on the outcome of our game!

Tonight after dinner we have the second Sharing Night of the session!! We’ll see performances from classes ranging from dance to guitar, ukulele, theater, poetry, and even hiking!! We are all so looking forward to seeing what our campers have been working on for the last two weeks! Then tomorrow night we will gather yet again in the Rec Hall to watch the musical, The Lion King!! I’ve heard it’s pretty excellent, so I’m really excited to see what the cast has been up to!

Then we have a much-awaited Fair Day!!! Cabins will set up fun booths and eat ice cream and fried dough, and celebrate the incredible month we’ve all shared together, and the lasting friendships we’ve made and maintained here at Hidden Valley!

We have an exciting few days ahead of us!! But for now we’re enjoying our final day of classes!! I’m off to practice my dance moves!!

Humming along,

Humming Bird

Another MAGICal day at camp!! (Hehehe!)

Saturday, July 18th, 2015

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Good morning, friends! Olive Oyl reporting for duty on another fabulous day of classes!

First off, let’s talk about the fantastic magic show we experienced last night with Peter Boie! After doing workshops in the afternoon with Wombles and Shangri-La, Peter wowed all of camp with his mind-blowing tricks. He guessed the right card, made iced coffee disappear, and squishy balls duplicate seamlessly. Crazy! We also witnessed him break free from thumb handcuffs, put the right halves of a cut-up playing card back together, and make a cut up rope un-cut before our eyes. It was an evening of mystery and wonder, and we all left the Rec Hall with the question “how did he do that?” floating through our heads. We were then off to bed early for a good night’s sleep as we’re back into the swing of classes today, starting to wrap up our projects and perfect our sharing night acts.

We had a special treat this morning when instead of our usual wakeup bell, we heard the lovely drone of the bagpipes and snare drum, thanks to Timmy and Chris in the dining hall. Due to the schvitz, we had morning meeting in the Rec Hall, where we heard a special message from Peter and Meg regarding the end of camp. Today’s the day for white books (blank notebooks that everyone receives to jot down addresses, other contact info, and goodbye notes) and camper addresses will be posted outside the Red Barn. We were reminded to cherish our camp friendships during the last few days and to make an effort to maintain these beautiful connections during the year. On the staff side of things, Meg came to talk at our staff meeting about counseling issues that arise towards the end of the session, the logistics of packing, plus all the fun and meaningful cabin activities that happen towards the end of our time together. At the end of meeting, Peter also met with our oldest campers on camp (13 and up) about their options for next summer, our amazing teen programs! There’s Alive!, our art-focused program, Community, based on simple living and community service, Adventures, an opportunity for wilderness camping and travel, and Apprentices, a chance to “intern” in a program at camp, whether that’s in an art studio or at the horse barn.

But next summer is waaaaaay in the future. For now, we’re super excited for our next few evening programs and special camp programs on the last few days. We’ll be watching the play, Roald Dahl’s “The Witches” tonight. Our campers have been working super hard on this production and we can’t wait to see what they’ve got in store for us! Then we’ll have some other killer performances with Sharing Night and The Lion King the following night! And before we know it, it’ll be Fair Day! Can’t wait!

Quick community update: the group just got back from nearby Acadia, where they went camping and did some trail maintenance. It was a really awesome trip and the gang is now back on camp doing their thing (cooking meals, gardening, etc) up at Blodgett.

Well, that’s all for now folks! Be sure to check out the photos and stay tuned for more camp wind-down updates…

Lovingly,

Olive

Yuck! Yum! So much going on here at HVC!

Friday, July 17th, 2015
Who is the grossest of them all?

Who is the grossest of them all?

Hi there! Olive Oyl here with lots of Lazy Day news for you! It’s an exciting day here at camp with the older half voyaging to Great Skates for some roller blading and skating fun, and the younger half staying on camp for the HVC favorite, Gross Day!

First off, we had a fantastic evening last night with electives! We had a whole range of super fun activities, with classics like Capture the Flag, a pool party, a creek walk, and glass beads. We also had some lake adventures, soccer fun, basketball, and baking cookies. We also had Peter’s Secret tour, where campers had the chance to ride around in the Green Pig, traveling to all the forbidden spots around camp, like the roof of the dining hall, the basement where we store all the Blue Sky, and our awesome, but dwindling, stockpile of snow at the end of the world. We also had some mini birdhouse making, glass blowing, and making pendants out of rocks. Lastly, we had some touch rugby led by our international counselors, Quidditch, and the Tipi Zip. We all gathered up at the end of the night in the Rec Hall, to share what type of fun we were up to and to sing a camp classic, The Farthest Field, before heading off to bed.

This morning the older half got dressed in their best long pants and high socks for Great Skates! They’ll be skating around all morning, munching on some roller rink snacks, and will be back at camp shortly in time for lunch. They’ll then have cabin clean and rest period and join the younger half for pool activities in the afternoon.

Our younger had a nice sleep-in this morning, had a quick cabin clean, and then headed to the backyard area for gross day! There’s a bunch of yucky activities going on, like the gross obstacle course, condiment twister, shaving cream barbershop, and the mystery box. There’s also slime balloons, the dunk tank, and of course, a slip n’ slide to wash away all of the grossness. Or, for those who remained covered in all their gross glory, we have a Gross competition, where the Grossest Camper is chosen and awarded a giant hug from their fellow gross companions. We’ll soon be having the “counselor carwash” where counselors will line up and wash kids off with hoses…it’s a lot of fun for both parties involved. After getting all nice and clean, we’ll have lunch, rest period, and spend the afternoon down at the pool, joyously reunited with the older half.

This evening we’ll chow down on our delicious lazy day feast of Mexican food before headed off to watch some wacky magic with Peter Boie! We can’t wait to see what tricks he has up his sleeve…

That’s all for now, folks! Check back tomorrow for Roller Rink pictures and news on all the exciting things coming up for the end of camp and how we’re (sadly) starting to wrap things up. For now, check out all the awesome photos of electives and gross day! (Plus a special spotlight on survival class, where they learned which types of potato chips burned the best in a campfire!)

With gross amounts of love,

Olive

 

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