Day Five - It’s Friday Already?

 

What a great time we had at camp. It seems like the days flew by. As is the custom, the campers performed some of their favorite camp songs for their foster parents.  Counselors, campers, and staff all said their good-byes. The good-byes are always hard to say.   

We fourteen new counselors this year. They did a great job and all performed like seasoned vets.  We felt very blessed to have them join the team.  We had other counselors and staff celebrating 5, 10 and 15 years of service with the camp.  It was exciting to see the expanse of experience we have on our team.

Planning for RFKC 2014 is already underway.  Our leadership will be meeting to discuss camp improvements. Can’t wait until next year.

Day Four- More Fun Under The Sun

What a great day. The campers were treated to a sailboat ride on the lake this afternoon. The campers enjoyed the sun on their faces and the wind in their hair. There’s nothing more peaceful

than sailing across the lake with a light breeze blowing.  The campers took turns riding in the bow of the boat as well as taking turns holding the tiller and guiding the boat as our captain prescribed. One of the campers built a little wooden boat in the woodshop during activity time.  He worked with our captain to get it attached to sailboat and it trailed behind.  As you can see (picture below) he did a really good job putting it together and it was seaworthy.

The speedboat was also on the lake giving the campers another opportunity to skim along the waves and experience the wakes,

  waves and spray from being behind the boat. It was a pretty adventure packed afternoon.

We wrapped up our day with awards and graduation. The awards are created by the counselors and usually fit the campers interests. Awards range from topics like Best Smile, Greatest Bug Catcher to  Super Hero Zip Line Rider.  The only limit is the counselors’ imaginations.  These awards contribute to our goal of

encouraging our campers and building the confidence. 

Graduation is for those campers who have reached the upper end of our age range and will not be able to return to camp.  This is always bittersweet for us. We are excited for the campers as they take the next steps in their lives.

On the other hand, we’ve grown close to the campers during the week and are sad to know that we won’t be seeing them at next year’s camp.  Sometimes we’ve had graduating campers attend our camp for several years and have watched them grow.  Our hope and prayer is that the children will be able to grow and achieve their full potential and we hope that we were able to influence them in some small way. 

Day Three- Here Comes the Sun

Midmorning the sun began peeking through the clouds.  The campers raced for some of the activities that were more difficult to do when the rain was coming down. 

They gather around the pond and began searching for bugs to fill the bug boxes they created during the previous days.  Water Skippers, tadpoles and snakes were
other popular prey for their hunt.

The sports fields were also buzzing with various games underway.

 

 

There was a new attraction on the waterfront.  The host camp has added a ski tube to their waterskiing boat. Many a lucky camper enjoyed trailing behind the boat in the tube. It was the main topic at the water front today.

 

Right after the boys’ time at the waterfront, was the Birthday Party. As mentioned in posts of previous years, the camp throws a Birthday Party for every camper

.  The Birthday song is sang for every camper and they each receive a Birthday gift.  On the count of three, everyone opens their gifts at the same time.  There was a smile on every campers face throughout the whole party.

The evening was topped off by our Give It A Go Show.  The show gives every camper a chance to display their talents, which are wide and varied. We had singers, gymnasts, dancers and a few other more unique talents.  Each child was both cheered on and
applauded for their efforts.  it’s an early morning for most of us tomorrow. The Polar Bear Swim is the first thing on our agenda.  More to come on that topic tomorrow.

Day Two- A Great Day For Making Bubbles

From a weather perspective, Day Two went pretty much along the lines of Day One.  We had periods of time where the rainfall was

quite heavy.
With  that in mind we stuck to activities that meshed well with the rainy weather.

We spent time kayaking the lake and swimming. 

We  used the time during our visit to the Activity Center to take on projects we’d not gotten to yesterday. 

The Activity Center has  a Project of the Day to ensure campers always have something new to do.  In addition to the Project Of The Day, many campers took advantage of the face painting activity.  We had Spiderman, the Genie from the film Aladdin,

plus several cats and pirates wandering the grounds.

Our Camp Director declared it was a perfect day for making bubbles and demonstrated his point by making a long series of bubbles that hung in the air for quite a long time.  One bubble
slowly float across the camp baseball field and  out of sight.

The Bead Center is always popular and today was no exception. Many campers spent a good portion of their time pouring over pattern books hoping to learn how their animal of choice is created and then hooked to a keychain ring or clip to be proudly displayed on one of their backs, shirts or belts.

But not all of our time is spent in the great outdoors. We spend some of our time indoors learning positive life lessons. Our teachers Sue and Carolyn taught us about making the right choices and not bowing to peer pressure.

We wrapped up our day by being entertained and encouraged by the Pirate Band, A.K.A. Mellatonic.  It was a perfect end to a great day.

Day One – A Little Rain Won’t Dampen Our Fun

Each year we tend to start Day One with a bus photo on our blog. To many, every photo is seemingly the same from year to year.  But for us, each busload of children represents a new opportunity to bring a little happiness into a child’s life. It is with that anticipation and excitement that we welcomed our kiddos to RFKC 2013 camp.

 

Almost as if on cue, the rain started within minutes of the campers’ arrival.  There were just a
few drops at first,  but increased as the day went on.  I am proud to say that this didn’t stop the campers, counselors, and staff members from having fun. 

 

The Activity Center, was manned and ready,  humming with
creativity as campers move from station to station.  Many campers flocked to the Woodworking Center, wanting to get a jump on building their bug boxes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Building Bug Boxes in the wood working area

 

Others gravitated towards painting ceramics and creating beaded Geckos in the Bead Center.

Whenever the rain let up the campers and counselors would venture over to the zip line to get in as many rides in
as                       Painting Ceramics
possible before they were called into dinner.

Counselor and camper racing down the hill

By in large  the first day can be declared a success if the smiles on the campers’ faces are any indication.

The camp is very peaceful right now with the wind lightly blowing through the tops of the trees. The sun warms the early evening air and the scent of pine is everywhere.  The team has worked hard to prepare for the arrival of our campers.   Activity tents have been set up to house the beads, ceramics and wood that will later become treasures pieces of artwork by our campers. Stages have been set and songs practiced.  We’ll are excitedly anticipating the time when the silence will be broken by our campers’ voices and laughter.

 Tomorrow is Day One. Let the fun begin.

Gearing Up for RFKC 2013–Won’t be Long Now