Day Five- Is Camp Really Ending Today?

Royal Family Kids’ Camp 2012 Counselors and Staff

One of the questions that seemed to be asked by most of the counselors and staff that I spoke to was, “Is camp really ending today?” Camp always seems to end more quickly than we think it should but this year’s camp seems to have flown by.

Today was a time for wrapping up all of the lose ends. We completed our teaching lessons and had the final two installments of our drama program, which this year was based on an Olympic theme in honor of the 2012 Olympic Games. The storyline follows several athletes who take their own paths to what they will hope will lead to Olympic glory.  At first, most of them do not listen to the advice of their coach.  Over time, they learn that listening to their coach helps them improve their standing and ultimately ends with all of the athletes winning gold medals. The life lesson of this drama is learning about God and seeking his “advice” for how we live our lives will end in fulfilling the destiny he has planned for us.

 

A good example of someone seeking to fulfill their destiny can be found in both our Camp Director and his wife.  Twenty years ago, this couple was given a vision to build a camp that could serve children at risk in the Boise Metro area.  Through extremely hard work and perseverance, they took the vision and made it into the reality of the camp we have today.

Early in the week of this year’s camp, one of the campers told their counselor, “I feel safe here.”  We’re so thankful this couple heard the call and took up the challenge to provide a camp for these young children where they can come and have fun, feel special, and feel safe.

Day Four- Skimming The Waves On A Speed Boat

 

The day started off briskly with our annual Polar Bear Swim.  The counselors started us off with the first heat of of the swim meet, followed by the boy and girl

campers, which made up the second and third heats.

To make Polar Bear status, the participants must swim from the far dock to the beach. If that sounds like it’s a little too much for 7:30 in the morning, there is the option to wade into the water at  knee height and the participants who accomplish this feat are awarded the Penguin status.  

Congratulations to this year’s Polar Bears and Penguins.

Face painting is always a favorite activity for the
campers and the counselors.  Many of these paintings have turned out with award winning quality.  It would not be unusual to see lions, tigers and bears walking about the camp as well as a few pirates and robots.

At the lakefront, the campers were treated to speedboat rides. the campers really enjoyed skimming across the surface of the lake with the wind flying through their hair.  When they weren’t on the speedboat, many campers spent time on the beach making sandcastles complete with water in the moats.

We held our graduation this evening. Our camps are for children in Foster Care between the ages of seven to eleven. The graduation is for those campers who will turn age twelve before the next camp.  We wish our graduating campers many blessings, a happy future and hope they have fond memories of the time they spent with us at camp.

Day 3- Hello Sunshine

We woke to a beautiful sunny day today. We didn’t waste a minute getting back to our favorite outdoor activities. The woodworking, face painting, beads and pond were buzzing with

activity. In addition to our crafts and sports the campers had the option to take a sailboat ride on the lake during their swim time. This is a great time to experience the silence and beauty of the creation around us here at camp.

 

If you’ve been following our camp blog over the years, you’ll

know that we like to have a joint camp birthday celebration.  Today was the day for that celebration.  We opened presents, sang the Birthday song to each camper and had cupcakes and ice cream.

Of course every Birthday party has to have decorations and ours was

no exception.  Tables and walls were decorated with all sorts of décor that let the campers know that we were serious about celebrating their birthday.

 

You could tell that the campers definitely enjoyed themselves by the smiles on their faces.  In fact the counselors and staff members had pretty big smiles as well.

 

Our camp grandma and grandpa travel from Australia every year just to be a part of our camp and spend time with our campers.  The campers quickly connect with  Grandma and Grandpa and love to spend time with them showing them what they have made as well as listening to Grandma and Grandpa as they read books to them. This year our grandparents had quite a time reaching us.  Due to missed flight connections it took our grandparents almost seven days to reach us.  Many people would have given up with these type of trials facing them but not our grandparents.  They persevered and they were welcome by the cheers and hugs from the campers, counselors, and staff.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for going to such great lengths to spend time with us.

Day Two–Gray Skies

 

The campers woke up to gray skies and quite a good deal of rain this morning. But we didn’t let a little moisture ruin our fun.  The campers were able to spend a lot of one-on-one time with their

Cloudy skies at camp

counselors and the staff.

  They spent time making bead animals, playing ping pong and took a  preparatory Archery class with instructor Lee with an eye towards being ready to hit the archery range tomorrow.

 

Once the rain let up, the              

 campers headed out to do their favorite activities.  Football games sprang up on the field and the pond was occupied by a lot of bug and tadpole hunters.

Camper and counselor making bead animals

Campers hunting for bugs and Tadpoles

This evening we had a special guest, the band Undignified, who entertained us and lead us in songs. Tomorrow promises to be a sunnier day.

 

 

Day One–Welcome To Camp

It’s finally here. The campers arrived midday today and an Idaho Ground Squirrel was at the door to greet them.  As you

can imagine the little squirrel is already a big hit with many of our campers.

 

Another big hit with our campers is swimming at the lake.  The

stage was set for a spectacular day of swimming. the Sun shown brightly and there was just enough breeze to keep the campers on the beach cool but not so cool that it kept those who wanted to swim out of the water. 

Swimmin’ and splashin’ and havin’ a good time… line for RFKC theme song

As is customary of all of our camps, this first evening was dedicated to awarding our new campers with handmade quilts provided by the Idaho Chapter of the Linus Project.  We want to thank this generous organization for the many quilts they’ve offered our campers over the years. These quilts become prize possessions these children that are cherish long after the camp has become a distant memory. Camp has wound down for the night with the promise of more fun tomorrow.