What a summer it has been! It is hard to believe that our final night of camp has passed and that tomorrow, all of your campers will be returned home to you. Tonight, we had our traditional banquet dinner and counselor campfire. Banquet was prime rib, salad, tater tots and Red and White cupcakes for dessert to celebrate the conclusion of our second session color war. During banquet, campers received awards, our overall captains gave speeches and we announced the winning team. Nicola did her reading of the points and campers were delighted to add “no bonus” for events where our teams tied. In the end, while both teams were incredible, our Red Team won our 2022 color war. After our announcement, all campers and counselors changed into longs and longs and headed up to Wilderness Point for our final campfire. Each counselor gave speeches to their campers and other staff reflected on our summer. I wanted to include some excerpts of what Nick and I shared with the girls tonight.

How lucky we all are to have a place we love so much, that makes it this difficult to leave. 8 or 4 weeks ago you stepped off the busses. Tears were shed while saying goodbye to your family, your friends, your pets. And tomorrow, tears will be shed leaving your summer home, your summer sisters, your summer pets. 

In movies and TV camp is depicted about the fun, the late nights, the crazy color war events. And while is camp is about this and that makes it incredible, it’s also about each of you growing and becoming the best versions of yourself. You are all changed women than who arrived at camp on your first day. You’ve learned new skills-maybe how to rig and de rig a sailboat, hit a killer tennis serve, or how to ski around lake Meta. You’ve also learned how to perserve through hard things, how to advocate for yourself, and how to communicate your feelings.

To every amazing individual here, remember that. You are special. We believe in you and we will continue to create an environment where you can grow and learn. We can’t promise that things will be easy. In fact, we hope that when you come across challenges, which of course you will, you will think back on how you learned to persevere at camp. When you return home tomorrow, please remember to stand up for what is right even when it’s the harder thing to do, to cheer on your friends, to take care of our beautiful earth, to be honest, to love one another, to put others and your community at the forefront. We will always be here for you, we will continue to hold high expectations for you and to support you to meet them. Each and every one of you is destined to do great things. Go out and do them, do this fearlessly and know that you can’t have happy without the sad, you can’t have easy without the hard, and you can’t have success without failure. 

When tomorrow morning comes remember the best thing about camp is that you have this special place filled with amazing people. And because one summer ends doesn’t mean it’s over. Camp will follow you back home. You now have new friends, new memories, and another place you can continue to return. Instead of focusing on the sadness of leaving, please remember how fortunate you are to have this place that you love so dearly. Please always remember, you are Marimeta and Marimeta is a part of you. We love you, MWAH. 

To review our incredible summer, you can watch our highlight video here. As we close the door on another great summer at Marimeta, we know that it will live on in our hearts forever.

Love the happy times,

Jami

While we are in our final days of the summer, the fun has certainly not concluded. The past few days have been packed with many exciting events.

On Saturday, we had a jam-packed day filled with Red and White events. Due to predicted bad weather on Sunday, we decided to move our All Camp Relay to Saturday Morning (and of course the dome malfunctioned and it didn’t end up raining on Sunday)! Our AC relay took place in the morning ending with our captain’s event of building a fire to burn a rope. The Red Team won with a very close time overall. After our AC relay, we gathered in the mess hall for a favorite lunch of chicken fingers! In the afternoon, campers participated in their regularly scheduled activities. For dinner, we had quesadillas which were followed by The Sing. The Sing is a performance that has been a Marimeta Tradition since its inception. Our Senior Cabin campers teach their teams three camp songs and write a new song aligned with their theme for this summer. This year’s themes were Halloween and Wizard of Oz. Campers practice throughout the entirety of the session, make costumes and learn choreography. The program is entirely camper-led and directed. The creativity, planning, and collaboration are admirable and are one of my favorite things about Marimeta. The way that our oldest campers step up to lead the entire camp is a special thing to witness. We will be posting a video of The Sing so you can see it from home soon!

Yesterday, we had a normal lazy Sunday. Campers woke up and partook in a big cabin clean-up and had cabin meetings. We had potato bar for lunch including cheese curds, pizza, meatballs, Italian beef, and more! After lunch campers participated in the rest of their regular activities. We then had our regular Sunday cabin cookouts, it was burgers on the grill this week! For evening program, campers were able to get canteen and then viewed our Marimeta Production of Grease! Campers of all ages performed in the show acting as pink ladies and greasers! It was a wonderful production that capitalized on not only the talents of our performers but also included a stage crew, camper assistant directors, costume designers, and more!

Today, our wonderful junior counselors planned a college day! Campers were divided into teams and partook in various events including Tug of War, Lip Syncs, Capture the Flag, All Camp Hide and Seek, and more! Breakfast was lox and bagel. Additionally, we had something occur that has never occurred in summer camp history, it was actually a cold enough day for soup bar lunch! Typically at camp, soup bar always falls on a 100-degree day. But today we broke a summer camp record and had soup bar on a chilly Northwoods day. We had a special canteen treat today from Tremblay’s Candy Shop in town. Each camper was able to order two items as part of our town trip and we distributed them today during canteen! This evening we began our banquet awards and afterward watched the 2022 Highlight Video. We will be putting this up on YouTube as soon as possible so you can also see our summer in review!

Tomorrow we will make the most of our day left at camp while packing up your camper. Please be on the lookout on our social media for our virtual lost laundry (often your campers can have trouble identifying their items so we can use all the help we can get)! Our evening program will be our banquet with prime rib for dinner, awards, and captain’s speeches. Afterward, the whole camp will meet at Wilderness Point for our final campfire where counselors will give speeches to their campers and we will sing camp songs one final time for the summer of 2022.

While Nick and I went around to say goodnight to all of the girls tonight, many of them were crying about having to return home. We reminded them how special and lucky they are to have a place they can call home and that they will miss when they leave. It is a testament to the friendships, love, and fun that exist here at camp. And the best thing about camp is, there’s always next year.

Love the happy times,

Jami

We’ve had a busy few days up at camp! We have been packing in all the fun including regularly scheduled activities, special evening programs, and more! Here are some highlights from the past few days at camp!

Wednesday

Meals: French Toast, Cibatta Sandwiches, Turkey and Gravy

For town night we rented out the Eagle River movie theatre to watch Super Pets! Each camper got a soda and popcorn! The girls loved the movie and it was a fun surprise to get out of camp for the evening!

Thursday

Meals: Blueberry Muffins, Italian Beef, Chicken Schwarma

After a full day of regular activities, we had a social with Menominee! Menominee hosted a carnival for us where campers planned booths and prizes. Jason, the owner of Menominee, runs a podcast and invited Nick and me on it! You can listen to the episode here.  Additionally, some of our campers participated in Camp Kawaga’s 50th annual Waterski Tournament! There were various events including slalom skiing and wakeboarding!

Friday

Meals: Egg Fritatta, Make your own bowls with quinoa, chicken, and veggies, Spaghetti Bolognese

We had a hot day on Meta Lake today. We packed in activities, sing practice, and water games during general including a slip and slide and a water balloon fight. Tonight we played our last game of Capture the Flag for the summer and then had our Captain’s campfire where our color war captains gave speeches. At the campfire, I shared a story that has been shared for many years at Marimeta. You can read it here.  In our final days at camp, I reminded the girls that they can be difference makers no matter where they go. While there’s still plenty of camp left, we spoke about making the most of every remaining moment they have.

Tomorrow and Sunday will be packed with exciting events including our All Camp Red and White Relay, our camp production of Grease, and The Sing!

Love the happy times,

Jami

We are begging for time to slow down over here. It is so sad that we are in the home stretch of the summer of 2022. The past few days have been busy and full of fun.

On Sunday we had our lazy day morning where campers can sleep in until 10:30 a.m. Campers then switched beds for the final time for the session! Breakfast was lazy breakfast, lunch was lox and bagels, and dinner was a cookout! Sunday afternoon, we held our water relays. Water relays are a Red and White event where campers partake in various water-related events. Events include greasy watermelon (grabbing a watermelon covered in shortening and carrying it across the water to the winning area), filling a pitcher with water from water dripping from you from running in the lake, paddleboarding races, and more! After the cookout for evening program, we had Cabin Sing. Campers work with their cabin during this activity to write and perform an announcement, mess hall, or campfire song!

Yesterday was a regular day of activities! Breakfast was cinnamon rolls, lunch was ravioli, and dinner was curry chicken with rice! For our evening program campers participated in the Hatchet Hunt. During this game, cabins work as a team to look around camp for a hidden “hatchet”. We read clues to the campers which are extremely vague at the beginning and get more specific as the rounds pass. Once a clue is read, teams have one minute to discuss where they will send their runners to. Campers then have two minutes to run and check the location for the hatchet. If a team’s runner does not return in time, they lose a runner for the next round. The girls love this game and get very into it!

Today was another normal day of activities! We experienced some rain this afternoon so we had a cabin jacks tournament and had a “candy cart” instead of canteen where we drove around canteen to the cabins! It was a fun change of pace! For evening program tonight we had an egg drop. Campers worked on their Red and White little teams to build contraptions with materials we gave them including a cup, toilet paper, garbage bag, string, rubber bands, paper, and popsicle sticks. We had two rounds of drops, first from the steps near our arts and crafts room, and then eggs that survived were dropped from our high ropes course. Some of the eggs were able to survive even a drop from the ropes course! Meals today were pancakes for breakfast, grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch, and steak fajitas for dinner!

Tomorrow we will continue our normal activities and have a surprise evening program :) Please be on the lookout over the next few days for emails with important information regarding enrollment for next summer as well as transportation details for August 10th.

Love the happy times,

Jami

It’s been a jam-packed weekend already and we still have a lot of fun in store! Yesterday, campers participated in their new schedule of activities. Breakfast was waffles and sausage along with our normal cereal bar. Lunch and dinner were special dishes prepared by Manny for our Indian meals! Lunch was a potato sandwich and dinner was chicken tikka masala with rice, corn, and naan. Senior cabin went tubing down a lazy river in the afternoon while the rest of camp partook in regular activities. We then all played capture the flag and later headed up to Wilderness Point for our Friday night campfire. This week’s campfire theme was gratitude. Cabins 6 and 7 gave speeches about what they are grateful for and so many campers were grateful for Marimeta. Campers spoke about how Marimeta has given them new friends, new experiences and a new home. We reflected on our Marimeta Moral foused on thanking those who have helped you along the way. Additionally, we read this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson; “Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” In doing my own reflection on gratitude I shared with the campers how Nick and I are grateful that each and every one of them is here with us. We are incredibly grateful to you, as well, for trusting us with your amazing girls. We are thankful to be able to provide an enriching experience for them, one that allows them to grow independently and find themselves here at camp.

Today, campers followed a normal morning schedule during a beautiful day on Meta Lake. Breakfast was french toast, for lunch we had chicken patties, and dinner was beef kabobs. This evening we headed over to Camp Kawaga in Minocqua for a “KawagaPalooza” themed social. Campers were able to dance, play paddle, and socialize. Kawaga provided cookies, funnel cakes, and juice! Fun was had by all!

Tomorrow we will have our lazy Sunday sleep-in, switch beds, hold cabin meetings, and we will have our water relays event in the afternoon.

Love the happy times,

Jami

Second session is flying by up at camp and we are packing in all of the fun over the coming weeks. Yesterday was a normal day at camp with regularly scheduled activities. The day commenced with scrambled eggs and English muffins for breakfast, lunch was grilled cheese and tomato soup and dinner was meatloaf! Our evening program was First Line Last Line skits. Each cabin is given a different first dialogue line that they are required to start their skit with. In the end, all cabins must end on the same line; “And that’s why we are here at Marimeta!” Cabins got creative with costumes and performances in front of the whole camp in the rec hall! In activities like these, we see campers working together to create a final product. Often, these evening programs can prove challenging for cabin groups and lead to disagreements over who has what role or what the overall plan is. We know this going into it and have incredible staff who support the campers in communicating through decision-making. It is our goal that through these programs, the campers learn how to work together to create a shared plan and have fun along the way!

Today was a cool Northwoods day and we partook in a Red and White Event; Manny and Pan’s Treasure Hunt. Our beloved Tennis Pros, Manny and Pan, have been coming to camp for 22 years. Each summer they plan an epic treasure hunt filled with riddles, difficult puzzles, and clues that campers must solve on their red and white teams. It takes teamwork, collaboration, and critical thinking in order to get to the end. Campers had a wonderful time participating. It is incredible to watch the girls bounce ideas off of each other, problem solve and get creative to figure out a solution to each piece of the puzzle. The treasure hunt takes the majority of the day! For evening program, campers partook in Team Competition where they rotated with their little teams between different Red and White events. Breakfast today was donuts, lunch was tacos, and dinner was fettuccini alfredo!

 

Each evening at 9:30 campers are required to be in their cabins and we play taps throughout camp to signal the end of the day. Tonight after Taps, we played a camp favorite, Stalk the Lantern. During Stalk, campers dress in all black and we turn off all the lights in camp. Campers have the goal of getting to the center of the field from various points around camp without getting tagged by a flashlight which are called “Lanterns”. Depending on how closely the campers make it into the lantern, they earn a different number of points for their color war team.

Tomorrow we will resume regular activities but campers will receive their new schedules after re-signing up. We will hold our regular Friday night evening programs and have a ton of fun in store over the next few days!

Love the happy times,

Jami

Another couple of amazing days have flown by on Meta Lake! Yesterday was a normal day with regular activities. Meals included frittatas for breakfast, BLTs for lunch, and lasagna with apple pie for dinner! We played a Marimeta favorite game for our evening program, Chaos VS Control. In this game, counselors are the “control” while campers are the “chaos”. Campers have a goal of getting to various checkpoints with their slip of paper. If a counselor tags them, they must hand over their slip of paper to the counselor and head back to the base to retrieve a new slip. While doing so, campers are also searching around camp for the hidden bugle to earn more points for their team. Campers can also steal a counselor’s flag belt from around their waist to earn points! It is a very large game of all-camp tag with some extra features! In the end, campers can earn points for their red or white team!

Today, we had a broadway themed day for our music for wake-up and changing periods! At flag, the daily quote followed the theme and was from The Sound of Music. It read; “Follow every rainbow until you find your dream.” We continued with regular activities throughout the day. Breakfast was pancakes, lunch was burgers on the grill, and dinner was BBQ chicken. For evening program, we played the Trunk Game. Campers are required to bring 20 items (not knowing what questions they will be asked) from their cabin. Teams must then use the items they have to creatively make those items into what is asked. For example, teams may be asked to show a Britney Spears CD and will have to use the items they have to come up with a creative solution to fit the requested item.

We will start our new activities this week as we continue with all the fun at camp!

Love the happy times,

Jami

We have had an amazing start to our second session! As soon as the busses arrived at camp, the fun began and has continued through this evening.

Yesterday, campers participated in our regularly scheduled “Tasty Day”. During this day, campers partake in safety rotations around camp with treat themes. They learn about waterfront safety, fire safety, take our swim test, set goals for the summer, visit our amazing health center for lice and health checks and enjoy many treats along the way. Our senior cabin girls began dressing up in red and white anticipating the announcement of our second session color war! It was a hot day on Meta Lake so we made the day as water-oriented as possible, even setting up a large slip and slide! For evening program we played the senior cabin Gunk Game. During this game, cabins are asked trivia questions. If they answer correctly, the cabin selects a member of the panel to “Gunk” with things like spaghetti, flour, egg, and dyed pudding. It is filled with laughs and a bit of a mess in the best of ways! Breakfast yesterday was pancakes, we had sub sandwiches for lunch and lettuce wraps for dinner with brownies for dessert!

Today was the American Camp Association’s Camp Kindness Day. The day set out to focus on the work we do at camp to teach kids about the impact that kindness can have on one another. To celebrate at Marimeta, we began the day with blueberry muffins and spent our morning completing cabin activities. Cabins were able to sign up, as a group, for activities together. Lunch was chicken fingers and salad and was followed by our kindness day afternoon. Campers had the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities including; painting kindness rocks to be viewed throughout camp, writing kind notes to campers or staff who have been helpful to them, participating in a kindness video which you can view here, or having fun on the waterfront with friends.

This afternoon, the whole camp then partook in a color run in honor of camp kindness day. Campers ran (or walked) from the waterfront to the end of camp, around the backside of cabins 6 and 7, and finally between the health center and cabin 1 to the middle of the field. Along the way, staff was stationed to surround campers in colored powder. At the end of the run, we gathered for an all-camp photo, and campers were then surprised with red and white powder being thrown on them for our red and white team announcements. Little red and white teddy bears were labeled with each camper’s name and spread onto the field for them to find out their team assignment. Once that occurred, we announced our captains and little captains for the summer of 2022 Red VS White. Red and White will continue throughout the remainder of the session with various events (some sports related, some creativity related, some teamwork related). The winner will be announced at the end of the session. One of our favorite things about our color war leagues is that every camper gets a place to shine. For some campers, they shine in the all-camp relay while others get to display their jacks skills in a rainy day tournament. After the announcement, we had an all-camp rattlesnake, where campers hold hands and run into the lake in their clothing! Campers then showered before dinner which was ribs, spinach, and tater tots!

The evening program tonight consisted of our T-Shirt relay where campers must pass the team shirts around, silently, around the circle until each team member finds their shirt and puts it on. Whichever team can complete the task more quickly, wins the event. This was followed by our red and white hunt, a hilarious activity where red and white disks are hidden around camp. The goal is to collect the disks but team members can only call over their captains to get a disk by yelling “moo” or “oink” to get their attention. No one is allowed to use other words to instruct their captains on where the disks are hidden. The team that can collect the most disks, wins the event.

One of my favorite parts about our red and white competition is the sportsmanship and life lessons it teaches our campers. When the winner of an event is announced, the first thing a team does is sing a cheer to congratulate the other team. When dressing up for an event, each team member ensures to include the other team’s color in their dress-up to show their support. When our captains are announced, their cabinmates pile on top of them to hug them and congratulate them. Marimeta has always been a supportive and loving environment. It is through this event, even in times of competition, that girls are able to take risks and hone their skills. We have a saying that on the field we are red and white but in the cabin we are pink. At the end of the day, we compete for fun, and we are here to support each other and have an incredible summer.

Tomorrow we will begin our regularly scheduled activities. Campers will receive their individualized schedules based on their sign-up sheet and will travel to their activities independently! We are looking forward to more fun times ahead!

Love the happy times,

Jami

We’ve had a busy few days and will continue to pack in all of the remaining fun for the remainder of first session! Yesterday was a favorite day for many of our campers, MTVs! During the day we ran a normal program and enjoyed avocado toast for breakfast, make your own salads for lunch, and dirkee chicken (crunchy onion-coated chicken breast) for dinner! For evening program, we had our MTV performances. Throughout the session, campers are assigned to MTV groups based on their Mari or Meta team where our senior cabin campers choreograph and lead incredible performances. During the session, sometimes during general or for a rainy day activity, MTV groups will gather and practice choreography, make costumes, or practice their lip-sync. The entire production is entirely camper-led, no staff participates in the planning or execution. Campers work together to cut music, make costumes, design backdrops, choreograph dances and get performance-ready. Watching each group perform their final product gives me the chills and brings me to tears each summer. To watch a group of campers, of all different ages, come together to work toward a shared goal and have fun is an incredible thing to witness. To me, it encapsulates exactly what makes Marimeta so special. At Marimeta, campers of all ages and abilities can come together to have fun, cheer each other on, and take leadership roles. Our oldest campers put in an extreme amount of planning, effort, and dedication to include and support campers of all ages. They find innovative ways to feature campers with various talents, get creative with their backdrops, and cheer on their competitors. The spirit and teamwork that goes into the performances is electric and inspiring. We can’t wait to share the performances with you soon!

Today was our last Sunday of the session. The morning consisted of our running club, sleep-ins, and lazy breakfast. After our potato bar lunch, we had team meetings for our Total Camp Competition. During TC Comp, campers are assigned to various competitions for their Mari and Meta league teams. Events include everything from skiing, sailing, and swimming to climbing, soccer, and tennis. After all events are finished, we hold the captain’s event. The event begins with each team partaking in a hula hoop pass among all team members. Then, captains must run around camp to retrieve various items needed to build a fire to burn a rope. All captains then work with their co-captains and little captains to light and build a fire strong enough to burn through a string before the other team can. This year, our little captains had the opportunity to shine given their newfound knowledge from their camping skills classes. Our rancher captains were able to teach their older captains how to use a flint to light a fire. Sunday night finished with a cookout and watching last year’s MTVs due to a storm that passed through.

This week will be a busy week packed with regular activities, Chaos VS Control, banquet, making cabin plaques and our final campfire. And we know that when Friday approaches, we will want to linger, a little longer.

Love the happy times,

Jami

It’s hard to believe that we are over halfway through our first session! Time is flying here in Eagle River filled with fun days and amazing nights!

Yesterday campers participated in their scheduled activities. Our kitchen staff prepared an amazing meal day centered around their home country’s cooking! Breakfast was make your own breakfast burrito, lunch was tacos al pastor and dinner was chicken flautas with rice and beans! It was a beautiful day on Meta Lake making it perfect for waterfront activities and more! Our Friday night consisted of Mari VS Meta capture the flag (finishing in a staff versus senior cabin game)! At our campfire, cabin one and two campers gave speeches about bravery. Campers spoke about their fear while getting on the bus and how at camp they have met new people, tried new activities and had new experiences. Each of your campers have displayed bravery at camp this summer through facing challenges and working towards new goals. We also spoke at the campfire about our Marimeta Moral; “Stand for what is right, even if you are standing alone.” Of our many goals at camp, we aim to foster brave, strong women and talk with the girls often about standing up for the right thing, even when it is the hard thing to do.

Today, we had another normal day of activities. Lunch was macaroni and cheese with pita sandwiches and dinner was chicken kabobs. During our general activity sign up at lunch today, we had a camper display exactly what Marimeta is about. General, our camp free period, is when our campers can choose what they want to do each day. We have open activities that all can attend, a few sign up activities, or campers can shower, play games, write letters, or hang out with a friend. One of our campers signed up for high ropes during lunch. Afterwards she came to our lodge staff and asked if she could give her spot to a friend. When we explained that she is also entitled to have time at the sign up activity, she explained that she has participated in high ropes a few times already and her friend had not. Camp is a place where the girls learn not only to take care of themselves but also of each other.

This evening, we had our very special tradition of 5 year night. When a camper has attended Marimeta for 5 summers, she receives a special 5 year jacket and partakes in a traditional ceremony of receiving it. This tradition has been occurring for many, many years and it is extraordinarily special to watch generations of Marimeta campers learn to call this place their summer home.

Tomorrow is lazy day filled with sleep ins, cabin meetings, MTV practice, cabin activities, a cookout, and more!

Goodnight!

Love the happy times,

Jami