Wow! It’s Been a Great Few Days.
You may think that the 4th of July was the biggest holiday during the past few days, but if you looked at Smugmug over the weekend, you know that the 4th of July took second place to Sunday’s Tribe Day. If a picture is worth a thousand words, the book on Tribe Day would be a massive coffee table edition. Anyway, Tribe Day was pretty terrific. Great weather. Great food. Great spirit. Great sportsmanship. And what you didn’t see on Smugmug is what went on after the swim races ended late afternoon. As if Tribe Day wasn’t enough, next on the schedule was the big Tribe Banquet. All the dining room tables were moved into the Lodge and all the campers and counselors were served dinner by the Rainbow Tribe (all support staff who don’t live in cabins are members of the Rainbow Tribe). After the main course, it was time for the fabulous Ice Cream Sundae Buffet. And the fabulous Ice Cream Sundae Buffet didn’t even end the festivities. Everyone gathered at the flagpole for the raising of the tribe flags which would announce the Tribe Day results. Congrats to the Metigs, who edged out the Mundahmins for the spot at the top of the flagpole. Whew, what a day.
On Monday, Kamaji’s 4th of July celebration began with eight campers shouting, “The British are coming!” while horseback riding around camp. Regular instructional activities were the order of the day. For dinner, everyone headed to the archery field for a really special 4th of July dinner: grilled steak-on-a-stick-but-without-the-stick (you’ll have to ask your daughter about that), corn on the cob, roasted potatoes and salad. And the 4th of July dessert has a nice story attached. Last hursday morning, Sydney Aronson, a camper in Tikinigan approached Kathy. It seems that before camp, Sydney saw a recipe for red, white and blue cupcakes and she thought, “Hey, this would be great for the 4th of July at camp!” She cut the recipe out of the magazine, put duck tape on the back of the recipe to make sure it didn’t tear and brought it to camp. Well, Kathy took the recipe from Sydney, brought it to Marjena. A few modifications were made to make the recipe work for 240 people, and “presto!”– Kamaji’s 4th of July dessert was indeed red, white and blue cake for all. Thanks, Sydney.
As many of you, it is a Kamaji tradition to end the 4th of July with, what else, 4th of July Goofy Relays. Unfortunately, just as the 4th of July Goofy Relays were to begin, a severe thunderstorm warning was issued and we thought better of hanging out on the archery field. A few minutes later, campers and counselors were in the Lodge for this weeks’ O’Naug-She-Nodin program. The good news was that the approaching storm held off until we able to pass out the special 4th of July, red, white and blue popsicles after the O’Naug program was over. And only then, did the rain begin to fall. No worries. It was time for bed anyway. Whew. A great 4th of July.
As mentioned in the last note, Kamaji’s Wilderness Trip Program took the weekend off because of Tribe Day and the 4th of July. On Tuesday, it was off to the races. Cabin 4 Porch 2 left for their four day trip to Voyageurs National Park near International Falls, Minnesota; Cabin 3 Porch 1 went on their three day Crow Wing River trip; Cabin 2 Porch 2 left for their 3 day Upper, Upper Mississippi River trip, Cabin 1 Porch 2 paddled away for their 3 day Lake Andrusia Trip, and, last but not least, the Hatchery gang left for their 2 day trip to beautiful Webster Lake. And all that happened on Tuesday. This morning, Cabin 4 Porch 1 left on their 3 day Crow Wing River trip. When this round of trips end, every porch group will have completed their wilderness trip. Before the session ends we’ll have a few overnight kayak trips and another horseback overnight. Despite the poor weather at the beginning of the session, we hope that everyone enjoyed their wilderness experience.
The camp health situation remains good. There have been a few campers who have spent time in Club Med, however, those parents have been contacted by this week’s camp doctor, Gene Keller. Gene is an ER specialist from San Lois Opispo, CA. This is his sixth tour of duty at Kamaji, although he and his wife, Anne, were last here about 17 or 18 summers ago. It’s really fun having them back. Remember, the Club Med staff will call if your daughter spends a night in Club Med or needs any type of medical treatment in town. So, if you haven’t heard from Gene, Sarah, Kelsey or Katherine, that’s good news.
The weather during the past few days has been beautiful. There’s been a ton of sun, warm temps and light winds. As mentioned earlier, it did rain on Monday night, but not until the end of the day. Today, is the last Adventure Day of the session and it’s absolutely beautiful. The official Kami Thermomi says 79 degrees and the sky couldn’t be bluer. It’s looks just like the a postcard.
It’s hard to believe but a week from today, the first session campers will be packing to head home. Yikes! If your daughter is a first session camper, we have a favor. Below is our tentative flight schedule for next Thursday. Please find your daughter’s name and make sure we have the correct travel info for her. As you can imagine, sending over 100 campers to 20 different cities can get confusing, and we want your daughter to get home as planned. If our information is correct, don’t do anything, but if you have flight/travel information that differs from what’s below, please write ASAP. Thanks for your help. (Note: The times listed are departure times from Minneapolis.)
Yes, it is hard to believe that some of our campers will be packing in a week. Our opinion is that it’s been a pretty great session. We hope your daughter’s letters are filled with wonderful stories about her adventures on the shores of Wolf Lake.
More to follow. . .
Mike, Kathy and Kat
CAMP KAMAJI TRAVEL SCHEDULE JULY 14, 2011
1:00 DL 1496 NY-LGA: Emma Brafman (um pd)
1:00 DL 1832 Chicago ORD: Rachel Abraham, Clara Aeder, Jane Agler, Abby Aronson, Lindsey Aronson, Samantha Aronson, Sydney Aronson, Ali Cahn, Posey Cohen, Grace Dockstader, Illana Dutton, Kayla Dutton, Izzy Einhorn, Sawyer Fleishman, Sydney Fleishman, Grace Gardner, Ashley Gimbel, Dani Gray, Callen Griffin, Emma Hanig, Kelsey Harlow, Kalie Hirt, Moriah James, Mia Kalt, Sophie Kalt, Maddy Karp, Haley Katz, Hannah Kissel, Rebekah Kissel, Jessica Kubert, Nikki Kuper, Joia McKinney, Olivia Morison, Tyler Morton, Sloan Paschen, Leah Rivkin, Megan Rivkin, Paris Rosenthal, Edie Salk, Leah Shulman, Elizabeth Sorensen,
Anna Steinmeyer, Kimmi Tan, Madie Thall, Molly Weinberg, Shulie Weinberg, Megan Zanders (Lindy Beham and Meredith Goodale -escorts)
1:02 DL 1864 Wash Reagen: Leilani Fitzpatrick (um pd)
1:05 DL 2428 Philadelphia: Caroline Glaser, (um pd) Rachel Posener, Annie Winkler, Eva Timoney (um pd), Caroline Timoney (um pd), Adelaide Hocking, Clara Hocking, Elise Hocking (um pd)
1:20 DL 860 St. Louis: Emma Barnes, Emily Braverman, Adrianna Calhoun, Ellie Cook, Ellie Goldman, Haley Horowtiz, Megan Kerr, Susana Kibel, Kalliope Kornfeld, Jordan McClendon, Lizzy Mills, Alex Rendleman, Kate Rendleman, Katie Riley, Julia Sachs, Sally Sneider, Hannah Suffian, Mykael Snider, Ellie Tomasson, (Rosie Kopman – escort)
1:33 AT 876 Atlanta: Raina Levin (connecting to AT 75 to Miami)
1:40 AA 1616 Dallas: Katie Dock (connecting to AA 1476 to Washington Reagan)
2:05 SW 2190 MDW: Kate Stolar, Elizabeth Nemerovski
2:20 DL 2029 Salt Lake: Lily Phillips
2:20 DL 1151 San Francisco: Rebecca Strull, Joanna Gold (um pd)
2:30 DL 1005 Austin: Emily Klein
2:30 DL 1781 Atlanta: Lexi Markham (no bags,um pd), Imani Wilson-Shabazz
Fernanda Elizondo (um pd) (connecting to DL 5042 to McAllen)
3:00 DL 1223 Orlando: Malaina Myers (um pd), Bella Swan (um pd)
3:05 SW 738 MDW: Piper Batey, Sissel Batey (connecting to SW 2722 Detroit)
Amy Morris (connecting to SW 1042 to LGA)
3:10 DL 2625 Wash. Dulles: Sofia Bogucki
3:20 DL 5693 Nashville: Adena Rosenbloom
3:20 SW 2644 Phoenix: Kiyah Smalley
3:35 DL 789 St. Louis: Leigh Dennis, Olivia Martin, Angelique Parker, Christina Parker
4:10 AA 1415 Dallas: Ana Lucia Chavez, Eugenia Chavez, Paulina Prestamo (Connecting to AA 3363 to Loredo)
4:25 SW 807 Denver: Josie Clark, Averi Eisen, Cora Galpern
Picked up at Twin Cities Airport: Amelia Forman, Andrea Zerbe, Rachel Barnett, Lucy Groover, Kendall Kuzminskas, Ellen Dexter, Julia Peksa
Picked up at Camp: Ella Whalen, Isabella Finley, Daisy Mack