What a Wednesday Should Be

What a beautiful day!  The outside breeze began blowing in the later morning and the air dried out a bit. The high hit about 82, but the breeze made it feel amazing. The sailors had a blast this afternoon.  It was an amazing day in the mountains.

I had a few things going on in all sorts of directions. Life as a camp director can throw a lot at you. I started with a big trip list for all the activity heads. Technology helps us a lot these days, especially databases.  We have a fairly reliable system we have built to keep up with trips and other scheduling so that we know where all the kids are going. We had 71 boys out on trips today! It is certainly important to know where everyone is located. I had a few adjustments and glitches to fix there, then made sure to get those out.  Just as I was returning to the office, our local data server was down.  Turned out to be dead in the water, but a good back-up and a separate server drive help get that back up and running on a peer machine but it had to wait until after my scheduled morning tour. 

I love giving tours at camp.  It is the best time to see everything in action and see boys their age doing things at camp.  I highly encourage you to have your friends tour while camp is in session if they are thinking about High Rocks next summer. I enjoyed sharing all the details of camp and let the two boys hear from some High Rocks boys and ask questions along the way.  The boys give the best answers. They were a super-nice family from Miami up visiting the mountains and checking out camps.

Back to the hero’s journey.  I was able to get the data server moved to a peer machine with success.  A few computer updates for everyone and we were good to go.  Yellowjackets outside of halfway.  Off I go to save the boys from the fearless yellow jackets.  The meanest bee on the planet.  The bees were foiled, then it was up to lunch to let the guys in on a surprise for the afternoon (see below).  That took me to some AV setup in the dining hall during rest hour so the boys could watch the big game.  During the game Woody and I helped a staff member fix a flat on his tire. He was impressed with us and our skills.  It allowed him to enjoy the rest of his day off and he didn’t even have to put the spare on.

One of the big events this afternoon was the senior age group (Chalet and Overlook) rafting trip.  The were out all afternoon as well as dinner and came back in just before call to quarters. 

Tonight some boys from Flattop I earned an auction prize of “Cookies and Milk with Don and  Zoob.”  Luckily, the kitchen  makes the dough from scratch and then preps the cookie balls and freezes them.  It wasn’t too hard to gather 20 frozen cookie balls and put them in a ziplock.  A gallon of milk and back to the camp house.  Zoob did the rest while I uploaded pictures for the day. I enjoyed my time with the boys as they rolled up for snack.  Zoob found some awesome shark plates and we all had cookies and milk! What a day! Just a little of what I was doing as the fun of High Rocks circled around me.

I sure have seen a lot happening with these boys in just a week and a half. Those Mini I boys have been on a wonderful ride lately.  I really enjoy seeing them head out on trips, build skills, and even make it to all their activities. They are mostly on time, but sometimes a snack overrules the need to get there as quickly as they should.  It’s all part of the plan. As a parent, I must stop myself every time I see that my girls need help or even when they ask for it. I know they can do it, but there are times it makes the process a whole lot faster (like getting to school on time), but it also creates habits of doing things for my kids when I know they can do it themselves. Sometimes I don’t even think about it.  What I have learned is that if I do for them that which they can do for themselves, I am teaching my children they can’t do it. It’s not easy, but I must catch myself and let them struggle through it or at least try to figure it out… Even if we are going to be late.

Again, our four-week boys are just warming up. Their muscle memory has brought them up to speed fast. In contrast to the Mini I guys, there are only nine first-year campers in the four-week session. Several of these boys started in one of our two-week sessions. They figured out the ropes in the shorter session and then decide they wanted a little more. Most of these guys have a sense of the day-to-day of camp, and they are able to focus their energies on some of the activities and skills. The four-week is more of an expedition than a sprint, so the guys find a way to pace themselves. My hope is that some of the Mini guys find that desire just as our four-week boys have done.

Speaking of four-week boys. The three-day hike that left today They checked in on our cool satellite enabled hardware to let me know they made it their campsite and are having a blast but are soaking wet.  They come out of the woods on Friday. We will be ready to pick them…except for the smell.  Can’t wait to see them. I like that our trip leaders can sneak me a quick text on the sly to let me know all is well.  It should be some good stories.