Hello, hello! Humming Bird here! It’s a beautiful day in the Valley, so let’s see what’s going on at camp (in chronological order)!

Yesterday afternoon during Interest Groups we had the Camper-Counselor soccer game! Campers and counselors alike ran hard, and hydrated harder, in the sweltering heat. Spectators gathered around the field with their hot dogs and Blue Sky sodas, whooping and hollaring and cheering and supporting our athletes! The exciting game ended in a tie, due to the beautiful playing by our talented campers and staff! Good job, everyone! Check out photos!

After the game we gathered for CABIN NIGHT!! Our older cabins (Taj Mahal, Camelot, Fiddler’s Green, Treasure Island and Forbidden Planet) walked a mile up the road together for ice cream at Blodgett House with our Community campers. They played games, they stuffed their faces with ice cream, they peed outside in the outhouse– it was a magical night! Check out photos!

Meanwhile, the rest of our cabins organized fun cabin night activities to do! Here’s the list of activities:
LCH made cardboard race cars
Avalon had a pizza oven party
Loons pelted their counselors with the waterballoons they found on their scavenger hunt
Gimme Shelter had an egg drop from the Upper Carriage House
Atlantis did metal working with Brad and made name pieces
The Burrow made splatter paint art from the tree house and then enjoyed s’mores
Wombles left camp for ice cream (a first for a younger half cabin!) and returned to a dance party
Down Under decorated T-shirts and made s’mores
French Quarter did screen printing and had a sing-along
Paquatahnee had a scavenger hunt that led to the pizza oven, where they made dessert pizza
Wabanaki did glass fusing
Shangri-La had a scavenger hunt that led to a cookie-baking party
Valhalla went to the lake and made s’mores
Haley’s Comet had a tie-dye water balloon fight

It was a fun, yummy night for all our cabins! And a perfect segue into…..

JUNK FOOD DAY! Oh boy, here we go again…. donuts and sugary cereals for breakfast, hot dogs and marshmallow fluff for lunch, ravioli and sundaes for dinner. Stay tuned for some of the crazy combos that come around at lunchtime– anyone put fluff and mustard on their hotdog?? You’d be surprised… Check out photos!

Once we were all surgar-ed up from breakfast, we had a fun little surprise at Meeting! Our dedicated fifth-year campers and staff received their Five Year Vests! The Vest is a beautiful symbol of the commitment to our camp, dedication to its ideals, and enthusiasm for all our HVC craziness that these noteworthy community members have demonstrated over the past five years. Thank you all for making this the one-of-a-kind place that it is! And thank you, folks at home, for sharing your campers with us. It really is an honor to work with them, and to see how they shape the community that we create together!

Looking forward, tonight we have ELECTIVES! Stay tuned for some of the madness that will ensue! (I heard someone is going to try to destroy an indestructable nalgene bottle….)

Until then, I’m off to scrounge some extra donuts… wish me luck!

Humming along,

Humming Bird

It’s the broccoli drop!! What?!

Goooooooood morning, folks! Humming Bird here to fill you in on all things campity camp camp! First of all, as you saw last night, WE HAD A STORM OF CANDY SCHVITZ! It was really more like a torrential downpour! Guys, you had to be there. It was amazing! And all you adults out there, don’t worry…. We had broccoli, too! I’m not kidding– Sandy and Olivia dropped actual raw, green, honest to goodness BROCCOLI from the plane! Well done, Sandy and Olivia, we all got our greens!

After the beautiful, wonderful, sweet candy drop, we continued on with our lives as we had a super yummy dinner, prepared and served to us by our Korean campers and Kae Kim (our fearless liaison from Korea, who is celebrating her 20th year at HVC!) And once our stomachs were good and full, we continued on to the HALLOWEEN DANCE! Wait… Halloween?? But it’s July! Well we celebrated everyone’s favorite holiday halfway through the summer anyway! Check out photos of the spooky haunts! We had face painting, costume making, zombie tag, bobbing for eyeballs, a mystery box, a haunted house, and of course the usual basketball and dancing! It was a true monster mash of a time! Check out the pictures!

Now, on this beautiful, hot, sunny Wednesday, we are celebrating the one… the only… JAKE DAY! What on earth is Jake Day, Humming Bird?? Well, folks, Jake Day is the glorious day when we videotape EVERYTHING on camp! Well… maybe not everything, but we videotape our Meetings (with all of the silly personalities and announcements they include!) We also immortalize all of our cabin cheers!! Some of our cabins woke up SUPER early today to stand in front of our video staff, bright eyed and bushy tailed! A HUGE thank you to our video staff, for also waking up super early to videotape everyone! Where do all of these wonderfully videotaped things go?? Well, your campers will receive a package in the coming December, which will contain our Digital Yearbook! That Yearbook will feature all of the footage that our wonderful video people have been working hard to collect!! I can’t wait!

Until then, I’m off to fly through as much of the footage as possible! Catch me in the top left corner of the videos!

Humming along,

Humming Bird

Candy Drop!!

We’ve waited and waited and waited. Has is been days? Weeks? Months? It’s hard to tell in this camp bubble of ours. But finally, after all our patience, candy has fallen from the sky. Our pillow cases are finally full! Happy Candy Drop folks!

Aloha, folks! HAPPY FRENCH-TOAST-AND-ALOHA-TUESDAY-DAY! Humming Bird here with plenty of photos and updates about all things camp! First, an update on Community! Our community-conscious campers have been up to some great stuff! They went to Raven’s Berry Farm and picked berries to bring back to camp. They also helped to build a cob oven and a wall at Many Hands Farm! Finally, they spent the Fourth of July watching fireworks in Searsport, and celebrating camper Tai’s birthday! Sounds like fun!

Next I’d like to talk about our Brumby program! Yesterday the Brumby kids took the ferry to Isleboro to take lessons at Pripet Riding Program with Barton Patrick. They took turns lessoning, trail riding, and relaxing with gorgeous ocean views and a picnic lunch. They ended the day with an ice cream stop at Super Scoops– always a camper favorite!

And back on Main Camp…. We had VALLEYFEST last night!! We had an unbelievable amount of incredible acts! In fact, we had SO MANY acts, that we had to do TWO shows! One shorter show was held before dinner. We took a brief intermission to Meet and eat, and then we continued on to the larger portion of the talent show. Both parts were held in front of our beautiful gazebo in the back yard. It was a wonderful night and we would like to thank you folks at home for sharing your talented campers with us!

We had magic acts, dancing, plenty of singing, violin, and even some stellar gymnastics! We had rap battles, translations from English to different Alien dialects, drumming and a special guest appearance from a Mr. Alexander Hamilton!! Wait hold up, Alexander Hamilton? But isn’t he, like, a million years dead??? Apparently not! Our founding father of financials was alive and well at HVC last night, as some of our campers performed acts from the hit musical, Hamilton! We experienced a Cabinet Meeting with Cabinet Battle #1, and we all sang along to the King’s lament, You’ll Be Back! Check out photos of the rousing acts!

Another exciting act featured campers from Wombles, who performed an improvisation game! They played Snapshot, a game which asks participants to strike a random pose on the count of three. The “narrator” then has to tell a story about the resulting picture. It was such fun! Check out the wacky photos!

Now with Valleyfest receding in the rearview mirror, we have some exciting things on the horizon! Today is the third day of the second round of classes, and campers are enjoying the sunshine! Tonight we’ll have a HALLOWEEN DANCE! There will be a haunted house, costume making, bobbing for eyeballs, and of course there will be an opportunity to show off some killer moves on the dance floor! Stay tuned for photos tomorrow!

In the meantime, I’m going to go look for a costume for tonight… I think I’m going to dress up as a human!

Humming along,

Humming Bird

Find the glove in the goop with your toes…unless you dare to disobey the Queen!

HI HI HI HI HI! Humming Bird here with LOTS of updates regarding the last 24 hours here at camp! First of all– and perhaps most importantly– LAST NIGHT WAS THE WHEEL OF MISFORTUNE!!! What on earth is that, Humming Bird? Shhhh, I’ll tell you! The Wheel is an evening program that’s kinda part performance, part competition for the campers. This year’s theme was a Medieval-y plague-ridden battle between different Houses– all competing for the throne. There were bloody fights, betrayal, murder, out-witting, and a head even got lit on fire!

Before the show even started, we had a ton of incredible outside acts. As our campers milled about around the rec hall (which our Guards were protecting with their lives) some of our counselors and older campers acted as plagued townspeople, bread sellers, and guillotine-victims! People threw water balloons, and everyone was whisked back into the Medieval days of yore!

In between the scenes of the show (during which members of the Houses attempted to outwit and outfight each other to steal the crown) campers volunteered to come up and play some pretty crazy games to help out the cast. We had Gruesome pick out our victims– er– contestants. (Gruesome is a creature who lives in the sewers of camp and only comes out to help with the Wheel) Campers had to bob for secret messages hidden in jello, there was mummy wrapping, they had to find gloves in a bowl of condiments, and (my personal favorite) they made cannonballs of cat food! And of course throughout it all, any camper who said any of Peter’s “magic words” were punished with a pie to the face! It was disgusting and wonderful!!

A side note: for those campers who don’t enjoy the Wheel, there was a “safe space” free of the screams and mess that always accompany the show. Those campers hung out around a cozy fire in the barn with Meg. It was quiet, and there was no gore!

You may be wondering what the “point” of this whole Wheel thing is… well, so are we! Just kidding 🙂 One beautiful thing that comes out of our favorite twisted event is that each cabin wins a prize from our counselors! Not all of the Wheel Prizes have been distributed yet, but rest assured that once they do, I will inform you what each cabin will be doing to– er– with our brave and committed staff (I’m personally hoping to witness some buckets of water dumped on some counselors’ heads in the coming Meetings….) Stay tuned for those pictures to come!

Today, in the aftermath of the Wheel of Misfortune, we have a TRIP DAY! Not a Trip Lazy Day, because there was nothing lazy about it! The whole camp piled onto our five buses– Bus One, Bus Two, Bus Three, Bus Four and Bob– and took a trip into Belfast to see The Secret Life of Pets! We laughed, we cried, we barked and we meowed! I particularly identified with the birds of the movie, but that’s just me!

Tonight we’ll bask in the talents of our campers as we enjoy VALLEY FEST! Stay tuned for photos and vivid descriptions of our wonderful, beautiful, talented acts! In the meantime, I’m going to try and contact the birds of The Secret Life of Pets!

Humming Along,

Humming Bird

Thanks Snack Crew for our second period snack everyday!

Hi Friends! Olive Oyl here with some more details for you on this slightly schvitzy afternoon!

First off, we had an awesome night last night with a whole bunch of activities going on. Our younger cabins partook in Candy Crush. What’s Candy Crush you ask? Well, it’s an evening facilitated by our very own Willy Wonka, Granny, and the Oompa Loompas. Still confused? Well, campers travel around in search of “candy” (colored balls), which are hidden all over camp, to collect them for Mr. Wonka’s factory. Sounds pretty simple, except for the fact that cabins must complete riddles and challenges at each station in order to collect the candy. It was a super fun night and all the talk of candy might even be a hint for some extreme weather in our future…

Half of our middle half (Wabanaki, Atlantis, and Gimme Shelter) was either at Field Day, which featured classics like an egg and spoon race, water balloon toss, and a three legged race. The other half of middle half was doing a cabin night (Shangri La, Haley’s Comet, and Valhalla), which featured s’mores by the fireplace, baking cookies, and a photo shoot. How awesome!

Lastly, our oldest cabins in Taj Mahal, Forbidden, Camelot, Fiddler’s Green, and Treasure Island had the special privilege of watching a movie in the Rec Hall. The oldest Star Wars! May the teenage force be with you.

We had another day of new(ish) class as we dive deeper into our final two weeks of first session. Some classes embraced the schvitz like mountain biking, hiking, and soccer fun, who all had fun getting wet. Other classes stayed nice and dry like wet felting (wet, although done indoors), embroidery, and what is this class? who’s busy asking all the hard questions about camp, life, nature, and philosophy.

Although camp is about halfway over, we still have so much to look forward to. This very evening is a very special one…the Wheel of Misfortune! There are rumors of evil queens and dead kings and very angry people with swords. We can’t wait to see how the Rec Hall will be transformed and all of the gross, I mean, fun! activities we have in store. And of course, the elusive candy drop. There are prophecies, there are rumors, there are guesses, there are estimations. But really, we’re all clueless and we won’t know until that moment we hear the gentle whir of a plane engine over head. I’ll let you know.

And with of all that excitement hanging in the air, there’s something very special on the horizon tomorrow for our lazy day. All of camp is going to see a movie tomorrow in Belfast, and we’re looking forward to snuggling up to some popcorn and a theater all to ourselves.

Well, that’s all for now, folks. Stay tuned for more updates on the fun that lies ahead and of course, don’t forget to check out the awesome photos!

Lots of love,

Olive

Fabulous paraders

Good morning people of the world! Miss Melody here with some wonderful updates to share with y’all!

This morning we started off the day RIGHT when we walked into the dining hall and were blinded by the sheer golden light that was emanating from the tubs (yes, TUBS!) of fresh, local, juicy and gorgeously red Maine strawberries. What a treat! What a sight for sore eyes, I tell ya! And what better way to enjoy them than with some nice, comforting, hot cocoa?! Nothing goes better with strawberries than chocolate…Next to the warm scrambled eggs, corn beef hash and apple-cinnamon oatmeal, this breakfast makes us all champions, ready to conquer the day!

Last night was electives and it was so so much fun. There was a rockin’ dance party, Australian bread making over the campfire, cookie baking, creek walking, a game of capture the flag, random parading, tennis, a game of sardines, and more! It was overwhelming, I wanted to run, sorry, walk briskley, to all of them! Capture the flag, as usual, had quite the crowd and the referees are indefinitely debating who won. The haze of reds and blues filled the dining hall as campers poured in after the game with all of their face/body paint on. The dance party was POPPIN’ with great tunes such as cotton eyed joe and some hits from the musical Hamilton. I heard the Australian bread was delicious, and I could smell the smokiness in the air from the campfire, which always adds to great flavor. Also, the COOKIES. Delicious, as well, I heard!  Maybe I’ll have to scope out some leftovers later…The paraders looked hilarious while dancing around camp, and I heard that sardines was epic. Check out the photos below!

Today, however, is DRESS IN THE DARK DAY! This is a day in which camp is filled with campers, and staff I may add, dressed in super silly clothes. That Hawaiian skirt over those rainbow tights? It works! That sweatshirt placed OVER the schvitz jacket? It works! Those undies used as a fashionable hat and comfortable schvitz protector? Work it!!! Some campers actually got ready in the dark today, it was so hilarious to see all of the different, and creative, outfits this morning at breakfast. It really brightened up a schvitzy day here at camp. Bravo, HVC, bravo.

In other news…there were some mysterious letters from the King’s Council posted all over camp today. Apparently, the King has gone sick and Queen Elora of the West will take over in the meantime! Could this have anything to do with the Wheel of Misfortune coming up? I guess we will have to wait and see! Check it out below.

Tonight is Candy Crush for the younger half and Teen Party at Blodgett House for the older half. I will keep you posted on all the happenings on that tomorrow!!

Have a beautiful day,

Miss Melody

GLORIOUS…FROM HEAVEN

Video Class fun!

After yesterday’s superrrrr lazy day, there is a calm energy that has swept over the camp. It is great to see all of the new faces as well as we welcome the new two-weekers, and I love to see all of the camp spirit with the new HVC t-shirts campers got yesterday! Go camp!!!

In other news, today we are recharged and ready to start new classes! There are so many fun new classes for these next two weeks including nature hiking/”onefulness,” slow-motion destructive art, Xtreme art, spy kids, spoken poetry, a cooking class called “Berry Berry Good Summer,” fanzine, HVC warriors and more! “Onefulness” includes nature art, nature appreciation, hiking, and more. Slo-mo destructive art is destroying things in slow motion while making art…how funny was it when Moses poured water on Rob’s head as an example!! Looked refreshing! Fanzine is making mini magazines with poetry, pictures, writings, drawings, paper clippings, etc, that show an appreciation for something, whether it be television show or family member. HVC Warriors is a fun exercise course as campers pretend to be training to be warriors. We also have a bunch of classes called “minis” in which campers get a chance to dip their toe in the waters of classes and can take two four-day classes in for one period, switching after the four days. Wanna take mountain biking AND glass beads second period? Now you can! How great for us indecisive or very excited people!

Also, tonight is electives! Electives is a fun evening program in which counselors host events for campers to come join for the evening. You could think of it as EXTREME interest groups. Baking cookies in the barn? Dance party in the old dance studio? Pool party at the pool? Sign me up!! We will keep you updated and post photos tomorrow on how that goes. Also, we will have an update on Community tomorrow to tell you all about the hip-happenings up at Blodgett House!

Peace, love, and sunshine!!

Miss Melody

All our fully suited PJ-wearers

Hi friends! Olive Oyl here making another guest appearance on this cozy PJ Day.

First off, we had an AWESOME night last night with Sharing Night. We got to see all that our classes have been up to the past two weeks. We heard from the Musical, which is School of Rock, with “You’re in the Band,” we also got a wonderful mix of music in with traditional African dance, K-Pop, and hip-hop. And we got our musical side satisfied with a beautiful arrangement of the Farthest Field in A Capella, plus guitar and ukulele classes. Aaaaand! Before this all even happened, we rocked out after lunch with Rock Band in the Gazebo.

We also saw Yoga class and some of their favorite poses, we heard from What is This Class? with an answer to their titular question, which was in fact just another question. They will remain ever-elusive. We also got some laughs in with improv class and dramatic storytelling, where campers shared stories from their lives ranging from a disastrous self-haircut to the experience of being adopted. All in all, it was a great night featuring a wide range of different acts showcasing the range and depth of our campers! Way to go!

After all our hard work these past two weeks, we got a nice little sleep-in this morning and the comfy treat of being in our pajamas all day! It’s a little cold and schvitzy today, the perfect weather for some PJs and cuddling up next to our cabin-mates. After camp meeting this morning we all gathered at the pool for some laid back pool activities, featuring friendship bracelets, guitar, capture the flag, and the wonderfully steamy sauna going. And of course, we welcome all of our new two-weekers and signed up for our next round of classes, got a free book, and an HVC t-shirt! What a morning! We then had a nice relaxing cabin clean and rest period before heading off to our cabin day activities!

Lower Carriage House and Loons did an egg drop, Avalon and French Quarter got to do a workshop with the Half Moon Jug Band,  Gimme Shelter baked cookies and played games, Atlantis played ropes games on the Soccer Field, Treasure Island did the Tipi Zip line, and Forbidden Planet did glass beads and glass blowing.

The Burrow had a dance party at the Gazebo, Down Under did a scavenger hunt and decorated their cabin, Wombles got to work in the pottery studio, Paquatahnee also did a scavenger hunt and played welcome games with their new campers, Wabanaki did tie-dye, Shangri-La made t-shirts and had a dance party, Camelot had a spa day, Fiddler’s Green played Capture the Flag, Valhalla did the color personality test and made pet rocks, Haley’s Comet groomed horses, and Taj Mahal had a cabin party.

Oh boy, how fun! Right now, we’re all gathered in the Rec Hall for part two of sharing night, which is watching all the videos that campers made in video classes! We’ll soon gather for evening meeting before a delicious dinner of Mexican food. And then off to an enjoyable evening of music with the Half Moon Jug Band. We can’t wait!

Well, that’s all for now folks, lots of pictures so please enjoy!

Adios,

Olive