That’s right, a special edition! It’s special because we have a massive photojournalistic adventure into the last day of Session 2. If a picture’s worth a thousand words, this blog should be worth a quarter-million or so. =]
Today started off with an epic clash of wills, blue Hurricanes versus red Tornadoes in that most intense of challenges, Peace Wars! Several campers attempted to explain the rules of Peace Wars to me.
It’s basically capture the flag with flour bombs. And, um, ghosts. And lots and lots and lots of team spirit. =]
It’s really too intense for words. =]
After the Peace Wars, everyone filed into the Burgin center as families came to pick up their campers. Hurricanes and Tornadoes presented their cheers and the winners of H v. T were announced!
(DRUMROLL!)
In both MAC and TAC, Tornadoes took the win! Way to go T’s! =D
That was much rejoicing (on the part of the Tornadoes, anyway!), and there were more tearful goodbyes.
There was also a cute dog. =]
We had a great time with all of you campers, and we’ll see you again next year! In the meantime, check out our media sites! There might be pictures of you there. =D
Also, we just put the Session 1 and 2 slideshows and videos of the cheers on youtube. Check them out! =]
Today was such a great day for both MAC and TAC. First thing this morning, the MAC’s met on the track for the Marathon. There were all sorts of unusual challenges like bobbing for apples, a watermelon eating contest, wheelbarrow racing, toilet paper wrapping and even oreo-face-stick-slide-eating. (Yeah, it was pretty crazy.)
After lunch, they started Water Wars. They played “drip drip drop” (the equivalent of duck duck goose but with dumping pitchers of water on people’s heads)
Then they had fun in some green pudding slime and on the slip n’ slide:
Later in the evening, I stopped by for the TAC affirmation circle and final campfire. The girls had some really nice things to say to each other and afterwards they cut the yarn and made bracelets:
The final campfire was really fun. The Hurricanes and Tornadoes did their final cheers and the campers sang the campfire songs for the last time. : (
I started out the morning with the TAC’s. They were doing a sports rotation (basketball, volleyball and ultimate frisbee):
Then after lunch I headed to Rutledge Hall to photograph some ESL classtime. In the first class, the kids were building towers out of paper. The tallest won! (But then they had to describe the structure of their tower in detailed English
…It was pretty tricky but looked like a lot of fun)
In the next classroom the kids were working on subject-verb agreements in groups. Check it out:
In the afternoon the ESL campers had some hard earned free time. They could choose to swim in the pool or play basketball in the gym:
For dinner I met up with the MAC campers. They were having a cookout on the Ford Patio. Tim cooked all the burgers and hotdogs. Mmmh:
After dinner, the excitement really started. The kids got the chance to play some games and cool off under the hose!
All in all, it was another awesome day at Mercersburg. Tomorrow is the last full day of camp, and I bet the kids are in for some unexpected treats.
‘By Jove,’ you know? Say it with an English accent, it’s pretty fun. ‘By Jove, By Jove!’
I wonder where that saying came from?
Oh! Anyway, blogness. The MAC campers had all kinds of fun in Enrichments this morning. They made SLIME, painted and did magic tricks, among other things! You’d probably like to see some pictures… Fortunately, I have some. =]
We’ll start this thing off right: with SLIME.
It’s just water, glue and Borax with a little bit of food coloring, but in terms of Fun to Effort, it’s off the scale.
In my opinion, it’s kind of sad that something that looks so cool and is so fun to play with is not edible. Cool things should be edible. Like lobsters. =]
Yup. SLIME:
Yup, it’s great. It sticks, it stretches, it bounces, it jiggles, and it washes out of clothes rather easily. You just can’t beat it. =]
Next, we had painting. Painting clay, to be exact. These campers made the clay figures in previous Enrichments, and today they colorized them. =]
I know it’s a bit of a strange angle, but the figure displayed above is definitely a dog. A pretty good dog, too, though it’s hard to tell in this shot. Just sayin’. =]
Okay, another session. The following are from the Wizard Training Enrichment. Campers learned card tricks…
And had a brief wizard duel!
That was ended pretty quickly, though. There was a magical mixup right after these pictures were taken. The first duelist (top picture) turned into an albino ocelot, and the second (bottom picture) shrank to roughly half his usual size.
Both duelists took the situation very well, and we had them changed back within the hour. Now if we could just get the first camper to stop chasing squirrels…
We hope to try again in a few days, hopefully with better results.
One day, I hope to get one of the aspiring wizards to turn my slime into a lobster. Now THAT would be magical! =]
The teens spent the afternoon at Cowan’s Gap today. They played games in the water and on the beach. They also hung out on their towels and bathed in the sun. It was tons of fun!!!
Derek caught a fish and showed it off to the kids:
Here are some updates on TAC, ESL, and the MAC juniors:
Today, Derek and I followed the TAC’s around for a few hours to check out their exciting enrichments. I started at “Iron Chef” where the kids made their own specialty pizzas and cooked them in the Ford Dining Hall with the help of Sarah Jean:
They took some funny photos when they were waiting for the food to be ready:
I also visited the “Art Attack” classroom where Rachael and the kids were working with clay:
They showed off their cool tie dye t-shirts that they made earlier in the week:
Derek caught some great action at the “Mad Science Lab”:
“The Laugh Factory”:
And the “Adventure Camp Record Room”:
All the classes looked like a lot of fun! After hanging out with the teens, I stopped by Tippets Beach to photograph the ESL campers having a blast on the slip n’ slide. Check out the fun below:
For dinner, I met up with the MAC juniors on the ford patio for a delicious cook out.
Some of the boys played four square while they waited for the food:
It was a jam-packed day and we can’t believe how quickly time is flying by! (There are only three full days of MAC and TAC session two left) : ( But we know that the campers have tons of fun-filled adventures ahead before they go!!
Some of the MAC campers went geocaching today. They learned how to follow a GPS and had lots of fun searching Mercersburg’s bushes, english ivy and other nooks and crannys to find the hidden containers. It was pretty exciting, especially when they were filled with goodies!
Dinner was another exciting event. The kids had a theme dinner on the Ford Patio (some of the campers were dressed as barbies, and others as pirates.)
The counselors had a big surprise in store after everyone finished eating. Cassie, Kip and Elena showed up on a pirate ship! (Well..technically it was a golf cart…) BUT they did a great job transforming it into something awesome and piratey!
Then the campers headed off to practice their Hurricane and Tornado songs and cheers. The evening ended with movie night in the Burgin Center! The campers got to continue the pirate theme with the movie “Hook.” They got all bundled up with their sleeping bags, pillows, and stuffed animals. What a great end to the weekend!
Yesterday the MAC girl campers had some crazy hair and outfits during meal times. At lunch, the junior girls showed up with awesome hairdos. They had some unique ideas for how to keep their hair sticking straight up (plastic waterbottles) and some even sprayed green dye into their hair!
The TAC’s just got back from a two-day adventure! They left early Thursday morning for an unknown destination with their sleeping bags and some warm clothes.
A few hours later, we arrived in Ohiopyle Pennsylvannia. It turned out that we were headed onto the Youghiogheny river to go white water rafting!
It was a great trip. The campers got to experience class 2 and 3 rapids and see some beautiful scenery. After the river, we had a pizza dinner and then headed to the Laurel Caverns campsite for the night. The campers played some games and then had a campfire. Jordan and Alex played some songs on guitar before bed time:
In the morning, we all walked over to Laurel Caverns to explore the largest cave in Pennsylvania.
Everyone had lots of fun exploring the caves and getting wet in the underground streams. (Although it was a little chilly!) Hopefully the teens will be well rested for the next adventures in store for them tomorrow!
Mercersburg Summer is a one of a kind experience where kids from all backgrounds can come to expand their interests. Be sure to check out one of our programs today! Learn more!
