News

Dear Parents & Friends,

Another great day for D session at Gwynn Valley.  We just finished our campfire for Brookside campers , however many of them are camping out tonight at this hour and I’m sure are sitting around the campfire after a meal and some smores.  What is a campfire without smores.  I’m always amazed at the variety of ways in which campers “roast, toast or nuke” their marshmallows for the smore.  I haven’t concluded which is the favorite cooking method for this summer’s group.  Food is always an item of discussion at camp whether it’s the food in the dining room or the foods we don’t have at camp.  As you parents know GV is free of those junk foods that most of us at least try once in a while when no one is looking.  I myself have a thing for the spicy Doritos but go a whole summer without because we don’t have them here.  Even in the off season I partake in moderation.  Our food is really good at camp but there are picky eaters among our ranks.  Rest assured, that we will not let any child go hungry and if we can’t find something suitable at the meal we’ll wait till afterward and search the kitchen for something that the picky eater will eat.  This doesn’t happen often but it does occur.  We also live in an age where many children are allergic to certain foods.  The days of sitting a container of peanut butter on a serving table with bread for those that don’t want what is being served are long over.  I’m actually glad because I love peanut butter and would probably have it several times a week.  At any rate, we had pizza tonight at dinner along with salad and quartered oranges.  For dessert there were brownies.  Certainly this was a meal that most any camper could sink their teeth into.  But let’s go back to those oranges.  Did you know that you can take a simple orange quartered, eat the orange down to nothing but the skin and you have the beginning of an orthodontist’s nightmare.  With the care of a surgeon and a plain ole table knife you can create orange teeth that will make your mother howl that her daughter or son is changing into an alien (see photo at dinner tonight).  This is a skill that I learned many years ago working at camp and I always pass along whenever orange quarters are served.

There were some very nice scarves being made today at Yanderside, which is one of our Arts Arena areas.  Marbling was the design they were going for as you can see from several of the pictures.  Bikers from Main Camp are going out tomorrow to Dupont State Forest and I’ll know they will have a good time.  The Mountainside Bikers were over there today as well as the Mountainside Paddlers, who spent the day on larger than life Lake Julia.  Deep into Dupont is Julia the blue gem of water where the MS paddlers are learning their strokes and trying their luck with canoeing.  Pottery was all abuzz today as several campers tried their hand at throwing a pot on the electric wheels we have in the pot shop.  It’s harder than it looks and a skill that I’ve never been able to quite get a handle on.   Tree climbing continues to be a popular activity both in the realm of arborist climbing and regular old tree climbing at camp.  The view from the top is amazing as one camper noted about 60 feet up in one of our giant poplar’s.  We added two new climbs today and expanded our arborist climbing to another tree just in front of the gatehouse.  If you noticed a picture of your child tree climbing over the session be sure and have them show you the trees on closing day.  It’s a great activity.

Campfire tonight was Mountain Dancing, but we took it to the next level and invited Leo from Brazil and our camp baker, to show us the wonderful dance he taught during international day on Tues.  It was a great way to end the dance as we did so sweating profusely.  Then we lowered the lights and I read  the story of Jumping Mouse.  It’s a Native American tale of compassion, acceptance, faith, with some adventure thrown in.  Debbie played the piano as I read and her music really adds to one of my favorite stories to be read aloud.  Before Leo’s Brazilian dance, we danced to Going to Kentucky, Circle Round My Zero and Patty Cake Polka.  I think camp allows the children to drop their guard and really enjoy the childlike nature of these dances and not think about who you’re dancing with or how silly you might look, but just have fun.  Camp is all about saying “I can” as well as saying “I will”.  It’s a child’s world here at Gwynn Valley and we’re trying our best to keep these youngsters child like in their imaginations and getting them back to the simple joys!  Stay tuned!

Dear Parents & Friends,

It’s Twilight Play tonight here at camp.  There are quite a few cabins on cookouts and campouts tonight so a good many people didn’t make it to the dining room.  They will do their dining around the campfire.  It’s a good night to campout because we had a shower during signups that cooled things off for the evening.  Twilight Play is an extended after supper activity period.   It’s a great time to take part in some activities that you maybe haven’t participated in or want to spend a bit more time in.  There was soccer on A-field, a lot of Arts & Crafts going on, Lacrosse on the Green, Archery, Pottery, Mountain Biking (they just rode by my window), Kayaking, Climbing at the Wall, looking for the Tajar, a Creek Hike and several others that were listed.  On this evening we really don’t have a campfire and campers just spend a bit more time in their cabin before bedtime.  It’s good cabin bonding time for the new campers as well as the ones who are returners.

Mountainside had a day off from their routine today and spent some time doing Main Camp activities on their own.  They will be going out again tomorrow and Friday on mini-adventures and should go into the weekend with an idea of what activity among the four that they want to focus on.  They participated in a number of activities today, one of which is called slack lining.  It’s when you tie a piece of tubular webbing between two trees and get it tight enough to walk across.  It’s only a couple of feet off the ground but is very good for balance and the fine art of slack lining.  Many climbers use the skill as a way to improve their balance that transfers to the rock.  There are so many athletic endeavors that rise up from the outdoor skills that we rarely come in contact with in our traditional sports world.  As one who has seen the middle age years, I know how important it is to maintain your balance as you get older.  Riverside is still out in Linville Gorge dodging raindrops but getting some good climbing in.  If you’ve never been to Linville Gorge it’s spectacular and is a beautiful place to boot.  The climbing is perfect for our group and that combined with the ruggedness and beauty makes for a super trip.  They will all be returning on Friday.

Did you see the pictures of mask making?   They are coming along very nicely.  It’s a  better use for plaster paris here at camp.  You also notice a group of young Huck Finners who made a raft with Levi and Taylor.  Making a raft is not that easy and it takes some intricate tying to get it so it’s water worthy.  Then you have to be sure you have enough buoyancy to keep it afloat.  They did well on the construction but it didn’t quite float in the water as high as they wanted it to.  It went from building a raft to building a submarine.  In any event the task overall was fun especially when they christened it and set sail (well almost).  Just getting a chance to build something like that is what being a young boy is all about.  We hope to have some girls working on future rafts as well.  Gwynn Valley is an equal opportunity builder.  Stay tuned for more projects!

Dear Parents & Friends,

We’re getting a well timed shower just after the campers have left the Lodge from International Day which celebrated Australia and Brazil.  A great campfire tonight complete with slides, dancing, storytelling and music.  I love Tuesday’s at camp because we learn so much about the rest of the world.  Leon, who is from Brazil, worked with us last year and is one of our bakers in the kitchen.  He works in advertising back home and makes cakes on the side.  He led us all in a wonderful carnival dance that was so much fun.  When not in the kitchen he jumps into program quite a bit and helps out with various activities.  He came through another Brazilian staff member who was here for many years but couldn’t return this year.  Did you know that Rio is hosting the Olympics in 2016 as well as the 2014 World Cup! Exciting!

Jamie Lee, Alenta, and Jacob are all from Australia and helped us to celebrate the evening with lots of stories, many facts and good music.  Did you also know that Australia has 17 of the twenty most deadly snakes in the world, not to mention the Great White Shark and the Box Jellyfish.  I’m having second thoughts of visiting!  But never fear, Steve Erwin, came to the rescue of our crowd in the Lodge tonight and saved us all from the Emu’s, Wombat’s and Crocodiles that were pestering the crowd.  It was a fun evening and adds to the diversity of Gwynn Valley making for a great day.  There’s not many places where you can wake up in the US and come down the hill to breakfast and be greeted by G-day mate and be in an entirely different country.  Dinner tonight was a Bar Bee on the Green, Australian style.  Many thanks to the SIT’s for helping to serve during dinner.  They are a great group and very dedicated to camp life.  We’ll talk more about them at a later time.

We talked yesterday about our youngsters taking Life Guard Training.  Today we held a mock training exercise for our waterfront staff.  We do at least one of these each session and it’s meant to simulate an emergency at the waterfront.  It’s good training for our staff and keeps everyone including us and our med staff on our toes.  Speaking of water based activities, water polo has become a great activity this summer both as good exercise and helping to improve swim skills as well as a good way to beat the heat.  We have some polo nets on the side of the pool that work well and play in the deep end of the pool (only 5 feet) but enough to keep everyone moving and treading water.  Mountain Biking while not a cool sport does take our groups into the trees above camp on our trail that goes for over a mile into the forest on the east side of our property.  We’re working on another trail that may be ready soon that will be more friendly as far as the elevation change that’s located across the road.  It will be longer than the other trail and will incorporate a few more features that our original trail.  After a long ride, cooling off in the lake is well deserved.  Looks like Erin, our biking staff member will be taking a trip out of camp on Friday with Main Camp.  We hope to possibly get some video on that day if it’s not raining.  Speaking of exercise, Sophie the Dog provides plenty of exercise to those who are willing to chase her as she plays keep away with anything she can find.  Here lately it’s been a variety of balls from our sports cabinet.  We haven’t been able to teach her that the air should remain in the ball.  She’s only eight months old and slept through campfire tonight because of her full day of playing with campers.  She’s a yellow lab and is probably the most popular “counselor” here.  I’m sure you’ll be hearing and seeing more of her.  It’s been a full day and thanks for sending us such great kids.  Stay tuned!