Our weather odyssey continued as Monday morning dawned with thunder, lightning and very heavy downpours. Fortunately, the thunderstorm passed well before most campers even woke up so all that remained was a rainy walk to a french toast breakfast. While we were filling our bellies, the YMCA staff were hard at rearranging our schedule to still make the most of a soggy morning and a swollen St. Croix River that has temporarily wiped the swim beach from the map. Plenty of groups enjoyed more hang-out time in their comfy cabins but the steady rain couldn’t put a damper on two groups enjoying their outdoor cooking time slot. Mostly cooked brownie batter tastes perfectly good in any sort of weather!
After our first lunch of Camp Oz we had our first rest period – the quiet time where most campers say they won’t take a nap but when push comes to shove their bed starts calling to them pretty strong. With an extra boost of energy and actual, though intermittent, periods of dry skies, the afternoon was a blast. We saw our first couple of cabins go to visit the horses and as wild as it sounds, actually had the perfect weather to get some riding in too. More treats were made at outdoor cooking, teams were built in the Enchanted (Team Building) Forest, and the comforting thwack of arrows hitting their target rang out at the archery range.
A satisfying turkey and mashed potatoes dinner was followed by our very own Counselor Pageant, where each cabin dressed up their counselors and helped them perfect a dance routine and a talent demonstration. You can already tell how bonded and close each cabin feels with their leaders and the YMCA staff set an excellent example that life is so much more fun when you don’t take yourself too seriously. We saw focused choreography, plenty of makeup, goofy costumes, magic tricks, feats of strength, crafting skills and so much more.
Speaking of counselors, it is time to bring back by popular demand Camp Oz’s Person or Horse guessing game. Camp St. Croix staff all go by a special camp nickname that is bestowed upon them based on their personality. If you can correctly identify which of these names is one of the horses that we met today and NOT the name of our great counselors, you will be the lucky winner of a new Camp Oz water bottle! Is it Jupie, Loops, Worm, Sauce, Styx, Jets, Crash, Stretch, Sunny, Scooter, Rhythm, Mako, Slime, Bingo, Picasso, Notes, Ink, Sapis, Teddy, Nacho, Goose, Power, Yelson, Buck, Fish, Dino, Loaf, Mojo, Dougie, Carb, Rakel, Selfie, Chap, Velvet, Strings, Bambi, Aerial, Shuffle, Toothless, Lollipop, Ellie or Ollie. Find me at check-out on Friday to submit your guesses! 🙂
It’s time to sleep now but our dreams will be filled with all of the exploring that we get to do for the rest of the week. Exploring new activities, exploring new friendships and exploring the newfound confidence that comes with putting ourselves out there at Camp Oz.
Talk soon!
Erik
Camp Oz Co-Director