The latest fashions from Down Under!

Goooooood morning, friends! It’s a wonderful, sunny morning in the Valley! And I’m Humming Bird, here to tell you ALL about our BEAUTIFUL night of…………………………………. BAZZINGA!

What is Bazzinga, Humming Bird? Well, let me tell you! Bazzinga is an exciting evening program that involves switcheroos, new and exciting activities, and hilarity galore! During Evening Meeting our campers all closed their eyes, and on the count of three everyone yelled “BAZZINGA!!” really really loud. When the campers opened their eyes once again, they had DIFFERENT COUNSELORS! Whaaaaaaat!?!?!?!? It was craaaaazy! Cabins ate dinner with their new counselors, and then went with them to their eveninng program activities! We had Man Hunt (LCH, Avalon and Loons), Capture the Flag (Gimme Shelter, Atlantis, Treasure Island, and Forbidden Planet), Newspaper Fashion Show (Wombles, Down Under, Paquatahnee, French Quarter and Wabanaki), and a Late Night Talk Show of improv games (Shangri-La, Valhalla, Camelot, Fiddler’s Green, Taj Mahal and Halley’s Comet)! At the end of the night, we all gathered in the Rec Hall, and campers were once again reunited with their original counselors! It was SO much fun– check out the photos!

But even BEFORE Bazzinga started– way back before the big switch– we had an extra long Meeting…. why, do you ask?? Well, we had to taste test some BABY FOOD!!!!! Check out pictures from all the antics and disgusting mooshy gooey gloopy-ness! It was amazing! We had two camper rounds and one counselor round. Everyone was blindfolded and fed babyfood, and they had to guess the flavor (which the audience knew, of course!) It was gross. And amazing. And disgusting. And wonderful! Who got the big spoons? Check the photos to find out! And you’ll see that poor Kev the counselor got slimed with a whole BUCKET of baby food!! Have your campers tell you all about it!

Now it’s a brand new day, and what a day it is! It’s the LAST day of our FIRST round of CLASSES!! You know what that means…. tonight is Sharing Night! All our performance-based classes (and some not-performance-based classes) will get on stage and show the camp what they’ve been working on for the past two weeks! I’ll be sure to tell you all about it and show you the pictures– our campers and counselors have been working really hard to put this show together! I personally can’t wait to hear the acapella class’s work!! Stay tuned for more on that.

Until then, we’ll all be mozying around camp, checking out all the candy wrappers and pictures that the AWACs left for us to find… Forecast looks bleak for today, but I can see candy schvitz on the horizon, folks!! Keep your eyes peeled, and your pillowcases open!!

I’m off to check the candy wrappers and see if the AWACs left any treats for me 🙂

Humming along,

Humming Bird

What could it all mean?

Good evening, friends! Olive Oyl making a special appearance as I’ve made an incredible discovery!

Sometime in the middle of the night…the AWACs appeared…as did a giant mountain of candy.

Who knows what these pounds and pounds of sugary goodness could possibly be used for? Is that the sound of a plane engine whirring I hear?

Well, I’m going to have all my senses on alert for the sounds, sights, and smells of the fated Candy Drop and I’ll keep you posted…

Sweetly and inquisitively,

Olive

Gooooooooooooood morning! Humming Bird here! Up first, an update on yesterday! We enjoyed some YUMMY cake (check out pictures below!), and then we all headed to the rec hall or the foothills dance studio to watch our movies! We had Pan in the foothills, and Inside Out in the rec hall! It was all very emotional and lovely!

Now, on this beautiful day-after-Independence-Day, I am here to chat with you about something we do every day, but which doesn’t get mentioned too much on our blog…. INTEREST GROUPS! What on earth are interest groups, Humming Bird?? Well, I will tell you! Interest groups are not our classes– they take place during our fifth period, after snack of course. Counselors announce during Morning Meeting what activities they’ll be running, and when fifth period comes, campers can mozy around between activities, or they can hang out on their own for the hour and a half before Evening Meeting.

What kinds of activities are there? I’m getting there! I’m getting there! We have your typical letter writing or friendship bracelet making, there’s always basketball, and campers can play with the animals (did you hear about batch 2 of baby bunnies??). But we also have some ~cRaZiEr AcTiViTiEs~ like spooning the tree (where you have to throw spoons at a tree until one gets stuck in the branches), singing love songs to Dexter, and revealing candy drop conspiracies!!! Normally campers can go swimming at the pool, but unfortunately today the pool (FUN!) is closed 🙁

BUT THE LAKE (FUNNER!) IS OPEN!!! So today, and today only, we will have interest group activities at the lake, like frog catching and cards and such! It’s going to be a beautiful, sunny time… except I’ve been told there’s a chance of schvitz…. of candy schvitz, to be exact… Hm… We shall see! If you want to see how interest groups period works, check out this video that our counselor, Rob, made. He’s been doing some REALLY cool stuff with video this summer, including introducing a green screen! We’ll get to see some of his work at the end of the session!

On a totally different note, we’ve named our dragon! What dragon, Humming Bird? Wow you have a lot of questions this morning! Well, we have a HUGE dragon on the ceiling of our dining hall. It watches over us as we eat our food, and absorbs some of the noises we make as we munch! Every few years we as a camp have the daunting task of naming our beloved dragon, and folks, the year has come. Wombles has been heading up Operation Dragon Name, and this morning we took the final vote and named our friend Sparky. One past name we had– chosen by our current PD, Grace, when she was a camper– was Rock-On Party-On Drag-On (geddit??) Well… we’re excited about Sparky’s new name this year. There was a bit of controversy regarding the name, so you may hear campers referring to the dragon by other names, but we know that at least Wombles will be waving hello to Sparky at lunch today! What would you name the dragon? Let us know!!

I’m going to go chat with Sparky now about it’s own preferred name. You know, birds of a feather flock together…. Rather– creatures of a feather? Well we both have wings, anyway! Anyway, I’m off to interview Sparky!

Keep humming along,

Humming Bird

Hello from the United States of America! Humming Bird and Miss Melody here to wish you all a very happy 4th of July! We have a MASSIVE blog post today, what with all the exciting happenings here at camp! Not only is it the Fourth of July, but it is also a trip lazy day! Let’s hear all about it, starting with last night’s evening program!

Last night was the Staff Talent Show!! Campers got to see all the wonderful talents their counselors have been hiding! There were some hilarious skits, cool dance moves, beautiful songs, and creative numbers! Elise sang the National Anthem with her mouth closed– how patriotic! Anna did some super sweet juggling, and we even had an improvised sketch by Theo, Jeffrey and Maddie! (It involved lots of water, comedy, and hilarity) We sure do have a talented staff. The night ended with a SURPRISE dance. After a long day of classes and fun, we all got to Shake it Off with some Taylor Swift, among other talented artists. It was so great to see the CAMPER’S great dance moves after seeing some of the counselors’!

After a nice long night’s sleep last night, we awoke this morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed, for our TRIP LAZY DAY! What did we do? Well, let me tell ya! The older half woke up at the normal time, for an 8:30 breakfast prepared by our wonderful kitchen staff. They shipped off (on buses, of course!) to Lake Saint George, where they spent the morning swimming, tanning and enjoying some leisurely sports, books and friendship bracelets! What a beautiful time they all had! And now that they’re back, they’ve cleaned their cabins, napped for rest period (or written home to you folks!) and they are CURRENTLY, AS I WRITE, enjoying a Hamilton-themed dance in the Rec Hall! It’s good to be in the older half, folks!

Meanwhile this morning at Main Camp… the younger half slept in and mozied on down to the dining hall for a 9:00 breakfast, which was followed by a SUPER CABIN CLEAN! After that, they made their way to the gazebo for PARADE DAY! Cabin groups went around to different stations all morning that would prepare them for their parade– there was a station to make posters and signs; a station for marching practice/a dance party; some camp-wide decorations; a costume/face painting station; an instrument-making station; and a station to practice our cabin cheers. After the preparations were… well… prepared, we marched together from the basketball court to the gazebo! We had music and dancing and marching and lots of fun! You really should’ve been there! But since you couldn’t be, we took LOTS of photos– enjoy!

It has truly been a beautiful Fourth of July! Everyone is wearing their reds, whites and blues– or their T-shirts with the names of locations around the United States! Looking ahead to the rest of the night, we’ll all gather again for Evening Meeting, where we’ll hear the results of the cabin inspections– as for me, Humming Bird, I’m hoping to win Cleanest Nest! We’ll also hear the answer to Peter’s quizzes from yesterday! Will any campers be able to tell us how many sentences are in the National Anthem, and of those sentences, how many are questions? Who knows… maybe Elise can tell us! Then tonight after Meeting we’ll enjoy a yummy yummy all-American feast crafted by Chris and Lilian. Get to grillin’ friends! We’re having PIZZA! And cake of course! Happy Holiday to us all! Then after dinner, we’re watching a movie! What’s it going to be? We’re still in discussion about what it should be… We may never-never-land on a movie to watch (hehehe!!) We’ll update you tomorrow on how it goes!

Until then, we’re off to find our stars and stripes. Humming Bird’s gotta decorate her wings, and Miss Melody is preparing America the Beautiful for her HVC debut! Stay tuned for updates on tomorrow’s regular class day, BAZZINGA, and more!

Hello all!

Last night was a fun night of cabin night galore. We had SO much fun watching all of the fun activities go on…the barn was full of smiling campers, the front yard was full of smiling campers, tipi hill was full of smiling campers!

LCH went on a creek walk to the treehouse in which they all worked on an art project.

Avalon went to the pool to play some fun game.

Loons played the fun game of capture the flag.

Gimme Shelter zipped on down tipi hill on the tipi zip line.

Atlantis went bowling. Fun!!

Treasure Island did the adventurous activity of the leap of faith.

Forbidden Planet made clay talismans. Some good vibes in Forbidden Planet!

The Burrow made brownies in the farm house. That’s right folks, BROWNIES.

Wombles made glass beads with Carmi. You could say their cabin night was on FIRE.

Down Under had a birthday party for all the lovely ladies in their cabin who don’t have birthdays this session…funfetti cake galore…yes please!

French Quarter had a refreshing night at the lake and went for a dip.

Paquatahnee participated in glass fusing with Dani. Fusing glass, bonding friendships.

Wabanaki made containers to keep their eggs safe while they dropped them off of the top floor of the Upper Carriage House. Thank you ladies for keeping them safe!!

Shangri-La made DELICIOUS (delicious looking, that is! I wanted some…) pizzas in the pizza oven. Their cabin theme is fruit salad and there were definitely lots of fruit on these DESSERT pizzas. Chocolate, and cinnamon, and sugar, too!!

Valhalla did metal working with Brad. These girls are on the move!

Camelot had a campfire in which they made banana boats and then rolled down tipi hill…brave girls!

Fiddler’s Green used the pizza oven as well. Yum, I want pizza!!!

Taj Mahal made FABULOUS jewelry. Can you say easy, breezy, beautiful?

Haley’s Comet went camping! My mouth is watering thinking about the ice cream and s’mores and burgers they ate. Also, waking up in the woods is so refreshing! Ahh!! Mother Nature does it right.

We also have some more fun photos of the cowboys vs. aliens dance from the other night and of the latest happenings in Community! Check them out!!

Tomorrow is another laaaaaaaazy day in which the younger half will be enjoying “Parade Day” and the older half will be going to the lovely and beautiful Lake St. George. I will keep you posted on how that goes tomorrow! It is also the 4th of July tomorrow so we encourage everyone to wear a shirt from a different place in the U.S. to show our spirit!! What fun!!

Until then, I will be searching for leftovers from last night’s cabin night,

Miss Melody

Good morning everyone in this beautiful and colorful universe!

Last night we had a ROCKIN’ time as we brought together aliens and cowboys to dance the night away!! The Rec Hall area was filled with cowboy aliens and alien cowboys and people just wearing crazy clothes, havin’ a fun time- it was like an intergalactic UN! Yee-haw! For those people who didn’t want to dance, there were some fun activities like green screen photography to transport campers to the Milky Way or a rodeo, flying saucer frisbee, cowboys vs. aliens basketball, and some stellar face painting. We saw some SICK dance moves, and at the end of the night, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” helped us get out all our dancing energy for the night to end the dance right.

In other fun news…tonight is cabin night! This is such a special evening program that really gets the cabin together to bond and have a great time as a cabin community. The counselors have planned some fun activities for their campers, but they are a surprise so I will have to let you know tomorrow how it goes!

Classes have been going smoothly and we have had such beautiful weather here. Clear enough skies for a plane to see PERFECTLY in the air. Hmm…

Stay you, stay true!

Miss Melody

Gooooooooooood MORNING! Humming Bird here on this beautiful, sunny day in the Valley! From what I hear, the forecast today is sunny with a 82.37 % chance of candy schvitz… We shall see…

Let’s talk about Kim and Reggie! They. Were. Amazing. (As always!) They performed their CLASSIC hits, such as Wade in the Water, Trampin’, I Knows It, and One Blue Sky. How fortunate we are to enjoy a private concert with these incredible musicians, who also sell out entire stadiums! We at Hidden Valley are truly in the presence of stardom!

And speaking of stars…. tonight we have an “aliens and cowboys”-themed dance! Campers will get to dress up as either theme– or both! And we’ll have some fun activities, like Flying Saucers Frisbee, Cowboy Face-Off, Alien Face Painting, and a station where campers can design their own sheriff badges and space helmets! It’s gonna be a great night– one could even say, “out of this world!” (Hahahaha!)

Well with that, I’m off to find some leftover water balloons from yesterday– a bird’s gotta cool off somehow! Stay tuned for pictures of the dance and more!

Humming along,

Humming Bird