August 22, 2008

Today was a beautiful day, with some of the sunniest and warmest weather we've had all session.  Today was the final day of classes and was the last full day of Girls Session 2, 2008.  It’s a day when all the last bits of energy and excitement come out and is one of the best days at camp as everyone is trying to make the most of it.  Many girls down at the waterfront passed their swim classes and will be able to further improve their skills next year.

Our final evening program is Candlelight Ceremony, an evening program that focuses on reflection.  Every Candlelight, members of the staff as well as campers will get up and talk about what the different aspects of Character (Service, Worship, Friendship, Health, Beauty, and Knowledge) mean to them.  At the end of the night, Willy T lights the last candle lit at the previous Candlelight Ceremony from the new Candle of Character and each camper and leader will receive their own candle lit from that candle. That candle will lead them back through camp and up to B Field where they have a Circle of Friendship.  From the Circle the girls go back to their cabins for their last reflections before they crawl back into their bunks for the last time.
 

August 21, 2008

Our weather today was beautiful--sunny and bright!  Campers are continuing to build skills in classes, and they are working on awards, final projects, and performances.  As our days wind down, the campers put more and more of their energy into free time and into their classes, pushing themselves for that extra lap in the lake or that extra shot on goal during soccer.

Each camp session ends with two special evening programs that are designed to help campers celebrate and then reflect on their two weeks at camp.  Tonight’s evening program is CT Ceremony, during which Willy discusses the significance of our CT badge. Also, two staff members will receive 10 year jackets; their friends will share memories about the time they've spent here at camp and the impressions they've made over ten years at Takodah.  For many of our girls this will be the first time they see this ceremony and they will be receiving their CT Ones.  For those returning, it’s a great time to see how many other people have been at camp as long as they have and to be able to add another CT onto their chains.

August 20, 2008

Today was an absolutely amazing day, with the sunshine pouring down across camp and hardly a cloud in the sky. Classes ran smoothly today as the girls continued to develop and work with their skills that they have acquired over the first couple days of week 2 classes.

Our annual second week activity is Cabaret! This is when the leaders of the cabins and other staff members put on a show for the campers. Cabaret has been a girls camp tradition for decades. It consists of skits and songs and even stories that put smiles on the campers faces and gets them to see a little bit into the crazier side of our leaders. The show opens and closes with songs that the leaders sing, welcoming the campers, then asking them to "stay, just a little bit longer..." Cabaret is the first in a series of traditional evening programs that will wrap up camp for the summer.

August 19th, 2008

Today’s weather was spectacular and there wasn’t a dark cloud in the sky.  Today was Super Tuesday, which means extended siesta and extra free time.  Today there were many activities run, such as the zip line across the lake, improv games, learning guitar, dead boarding, and even the Camp Store was open today as well as many other event.  The girls charged off into the places they wanted to hang out in during today’s extended free time.

Tonight’s evening program was Cabin Night.  It has been one week since our last cabin night and our girls have had more time to get to know each other and therefore this cabin night can do a lot more trust and relationship building activities.  A few cabins went down to the bog, and many of the Penacooks did some out of camp hiking, such as Gap Mountain etc.  One cabin decided to stay in camp and make a giant giraffe out of cardboard, while another made dinner and pie over a fire in the Monadnock fire pit.

August 18th, 2008

With a few clouds in the sky, our day seemed very ominous and yet the sun stayed shining and the campers remained in high spirits.  Today was also the start of our new classes for the week.  On Sunday the girls picked new classes to have for the next five days and today they began to learn the basics and get to know the girls in their classes.  Many of today’s lessons will be the building blocks and the basis of the entire rest of the week as the girls develop their skills and/or learn new abilities.

The evening program for tonight was You Asked For It.  Throughout the past week there has been a box sitting in the Dining Hall where the campers could put suggestions into it as to what they would like to see their leaders do, such as drinking an entire bowl of gravy, or wrestling one of the kitchen boys.  However the “Ghosts of LITS Past” interrupted this night as the annual Ghost Court came into session.  This is a time when the LITS get to call out the leaders, and many cabins, on all their crazy antics and actions throughout camp and make them do crazy things as “punishments” for their actions.

August 17th, 2008

The weather was nearly perfect today, only a few small, white, puffy clouds in the sky and plenty of sunshine.  Sundays mornings at Takodah are more relaxed days and are times for personal reflection on the past week and thoughts about the upcoming week.  Every Sunday we hold a small Chapel service, its a non-denomination service and is a time when leaders and campers, if they would like, can share a thought or a book or anything that means something special to them and why it does.  Chapel is also a time when 10 year jacket recipients will get a small ceremony in order to commemorate the 10 years they have been with Takodah.  Today we had only one recipien, one of our LITs, Caitlin Blanchard.

Tonight's evening program is Peter Pan night.  This is a stations evening program where the campers must go from station to station completing certain events, such as Capture the Croc, Trust Falls, Faerie Tag, and many other events.  After completing every event, the girls headed down to the water front to witness the final battle; Captain Hook vs. Peter Pan.  The girls cheered for their favorite character and the one with the loudest cheering section won the final battle.  Naturally Peter Pan defeated Captain Hook and saved Wendy.

August 16th, 2008

Today is Blue and White Day!  Every mid-session Saturday the entirety of camp splits up into the Blue team and the White team, the Camp Takodah colors.  The girls go all out, wearing their teams colors and using body paint to further support their team.  Throughout the day the girls can do various activities and challenges to add points to their teams score.  Different challenges include dodgeball, basketball, swimming races, sink the chief, even a tug-o-war, and many other different events.  At the end of the day, the team with the most points wins.

Tonight's evening program is Movie Night.  We set up the dining hall so that everyone sits on the floor around the main part of the room and we pull down this massive screen and project a movie onto it.  Tonight's movie is Hook, it's rated PG and is about the life of Peter Pan after he grows up and has kids.  About halfway through the movie we have an intermission where the kitchen crew gives out a snack and some juice.  With a very energetic day before movie night, many of the girls bring down pillows and sleeping bags and get some rest while the movie is going.

August 15th, 2008

The day was overcast throughout much of it, yet we were not hit with rain. The girls carried on their classes and the sun remained hidden, showing up in small amounts throughout the day. Our Project Adventure class climbed the Tpac Chimney today and began learning about the different knots that were involved with belaying and general rope tying. Our Candling classes began making crazier candles, dipping into the water fantasy candles and twist candles. Today our friends from Hornets Nest showed up today and played in A field during the morning.

Tonights evening program is Finding Nemo Night. The girls roam around in their cabin groups, traveling from station to station gathering clues and outrunning sharks. At each station the girls had to do a challenge in order to pass and receive their next clue and directions on where to go from there. The stations included simple challenges like throwing tennis balls into hula hoops, and more complicated challenges such as arranging entire teams by age without being able to speak. Our local LITs and LCs were sharks and if a group got captured by them then they had to do an extra challenge and afterwards one or two members of their team had to do something extra for the rest of the night, such as walk like a crab, or hop from place to place.

August 14th, 2008

Another glorious day here at Takodah, the sun was bright and shining throughout all of the day.  Classes were in full swing, doing more advanced things as campers become more and more comfortable and skilled in them.  Some archery classes even began doing some trick shooting, such as shooting at a moving target, a bucket on a rope, and doing a few double arrow shots.  Not only do the classes start to become more advanced, but so do the cabin activities as they begin to become more and more comfortable with each other.  One cabin decided on using the War Canoes to pull their leader around behind them in a tube!

Tonight our evening program is rather secretive, well at least from the campers until it starts and is a Camp Takodah version of Blue Man Group known as Green Girl Crew.  This is a show done in T-Pac where a few of our leaders dress up in black clothing and green paint all over and put on a small performance for the entirety of camp.  They had a house band and even played a few camp songs on a "tube organ" made out of pvc piping.  At the end they had a massive dance party, including black lights, strobe lights, and massive amounts of toilet paper being streamed through the crowd.

August 13th, 2008

Today was a much better day than yesterday as far as the weather was concerned.  We had loads of sunshine all day long, with hardly a cloud in the sky.  With this fantastic weather, nearly all of the campers took to the lake during Free Time and many of the classes moved indoors to stay cooler, or down to the lake for a quick dip.  The Camp Store was open today during free time and many of the girls took time out to go down and browse the Camp Takodah selection.

The Evening Program of the night is Olympic Night.  During this night the camp is separated into 3 teams, not necessarily by division, the teams being,Hungary, Mexico, and England.  Throughout the night the girls will travel, freely as in not in any particular order, from station to station where they will complete challenges and competitions to win their team points.  the activities include footraces, gymnastics, a boffing station, an obstacle course, curling, and even a competitive thumb wrestling arena.  At the end of the night, the team with the most points wins the gold medal and the Olympics.

August 12th, 2008

Today was an awesome day in the morning, and quickly snapped off into much worse weather towards the middle of the day.  Our classes ran their first day activities today and were met with crystal clear skies and plenty of sunshine.  During lunchtime we were hit with a small blast of rain that made everyone glad they were in the Dining Hall.  It cleared for roughly 2 hours and so we began Super Tuesday.  Super Tuesday is every tuesday here at Camp and it is a time when we have an extended siesta, which happens right after lunch, and then we have an extended free time, with each leader running a different station for the girls to go to.  There were the normal drawing and dance choreographing electives and than our Nature Guy Dr. Doug ran a small Dungeon's and Dragons session for roughly 8 girls.  It was during Super Tuesday, when the activities were just getting under way, that we were hit with a torrential downpour that lasted for about 30 minutes, and then cleared up and we've had blue sky since.

Tonight the evening program is Cabin Night.  This is much like Division Night, however each cabin does their own special activity and knits the campers closer so they will learn to trust and care for eachother, as they will be living together for another week and a half.  Some of the Cabin Activities that were ran were Homemade Ice Cream Making, "Crossing dangerous swamps", and having a Ninja Scavenger Hunt.  These activities are designed to bring cabins close together and thus improve everyone's time here at Takodah.  

 August 11th, 2008

Today was class sign ups day, and the morning was absolutely beautiful. Cabins went down to the Hobby Nook and signed up for classes they wanted to take. Our mornings, after breakfast and Kapers (Daily chores), are separated into 3 periods. The girls can choose what they want to do during those three periods, yet have to stick with that class throughout the entirety of the week. We offer classes such as Rock Climbing, swimming lessons, archery, riflery, comic book making, flag football, and many other awesome things. Our classes run about 50 minutes each and have a 10 minute window for the girls to get from class to class.

Tonight's evening program was Division Night. This is a time for the girls to get together with their entire divisions, Cherokee, Monads, Penacooks, and break down the awkward feelings that many people get in new situations. This brings the girls in touch with campers outside of their cabin, and a chance to meet almost everyone in their division. Tonight also consists of learning division cheers.

August 10th, 2008

 

Today we welcomed in a brand new session's worth of girls campers.  With only two cabins not being used during Second Session, this is already looking like one of the biggest sessions that Camp Takodah has had.  The sky threatened with some dark clouds, yet we prevailed as the sun shone bright throughout most of the day.  With a new arrival of campers, a swap of leaders, and another session of fun in the sun, Takodah is looking more energized and excited than ever.

 The evening program for tonight, each night we have a different activity for the girls to do from after dinner free time to reflections time, was our traditional Opening Campfire.  This is when the cabin leaders and other staff put on plays and songs in order to get the girls into the camp life again and getting them to have fun and get to know their leaders on a different level.  Tonight's show consisted of a choreographed dance by Claire, Katie Steele, Kristen LaPlante, and Mary Tenero, cheers were taught to the girls, and Ashley Schillhammer taught an old camp song.  At the end, Willy T told the story of how Camp Takodah got it's name and why the motto is Friendly To All. 

August 9th, 2008

Today was a gorgeous day, yet filled with an overtone of sadness as we said goodbye to our Session 1 girls.  We had our last breakfast and Kapers today followed by the long checkout period.  Campers hugged and sung their last songs together as they cleaned up their cabins and packed their suitcases.  The Camp Store was open today, showing off their merchandise for the parents and we had a large crowd sign up for next years sessions already!

Tonight is Changeover, which is when the LITs, Leaders In Training, take over camp and manage the girls who are staying over for both sessions.  Tonight will consist of small group games and a movie shown in TPac.  The leaders are off for the night, for a much needed siesta of their own, and this is a great opportunity for the LITs to show off what they have learned and to put it to use as they take care of a cabin full of 4 weekers.  Tomorrow we start it all over again!