Another amazing day has concluded at Marimeta! It’s hard for us to believe that it is already July! Yesterday, our Pioneer campers returned from their trips and we welcomed them back to camp to hear about all the fun that was had. While they were gone, we ran sign up activities as well as a carnival in the afternoon (filled with games, waterfront activities, popcorn, facepaint, canteen, and more)! Meals yesterday included english muffins, soup bar, and chicken cordon bleu. For evening program last night, we had team competition. During Team Comp, campers play with their “little teams” for our Mari VS Meta color war events. Events included; steal the bacon, sideline basketball, 9 square in the air, Marimeta dodgeball, and other activities! 

Today ended up being a beautiful day on Meta Lake! The day commenced with french toast for breakfast. We experienced some rain this morning so after cabin cleanup, campers participated in a jacks tournament, earning points for their color war team through their jacks games. Once the rain cleared, we enjoyed a Marimeta Favorite, Italian Beef, for lunch followed by brownies for dessert. In the afternoon, we had our regularly scheduled activities including canteen and general! Dinner tonight was ravioli and pie for dessert. Evening program was Project Runway. For Marimeta’s version of project runway, campers are divided up into their color war little teams and they dress up a team captain according to the theme. This year’s theme was “Monsters of Meta Lake”. Campers were required to work together to create a costume, backstory, and performance for their Meta Lake Monster. Evening programs such as this help to foster creativity and collaboration amongst our campers. 

The next few days of camp are jam packed! Tomorrow is our second Friday of the summer which means we will play capture the flag and have a campfire. As we enter the holiday weekend (which will be filled with plenty of fun up here) we wish you all a safe and fun time with family and friends. We certainly are excited for all of the fourth of July celebrations that we will have on Monday. 

Love the happy times, 

Jami

While our Pioneers have been out on their trips, we have not been lacking on fun back at camp! Yesterday, we held Al Lewis Day—a long time tradition of sign up activities for each period. Campers were able to gather in the middle of the field before each period and select their next activity. Breakfast was blueberry muffins, lunch was chicken fingers, and dinner was pasta primavera. For evening program, we played Ring of Fire. Campers were divided up onto color teams where they had to go around the circle in various ways (crab walking, skipping, carrying a ping pong ball on a spoon). Each member of their team had to make it around the circle and into the center of the ring!

Today, we experienced some storms rolling through camp and still managed to have an amazing day! Pancakes were for breaksfast and were followed by playing ABC dress up, a game where each cabin dresses someone up based on a letter of the alphabet. We followed it with some CQT (Cabin Quality Time) where campers and staff spent time together in their cabin playing games and hanging out. While the storm rolled through, we provided each cabin with board games to keep entertained! After the storm passed, we had an all camp talent show where campers signed up to perform. During the talent show, two of our campers wrote and performed a song about Marimeta. You can watch it here! The lyrics were as follows:

High ropes you can go very high, it’s like touching the sky,

Then there’s the rock climbing wall, it’s so high and very tall,

Water’s cold sometimes, but it’s very fine,

When the water sparkles in the sunlight, it gives off a nice shine,

The counselors are very kind, they are here all the time, 

We love this camp!

After the talent show, we had salmon and cauliflower for dinner! Campers enjoyed evening canteen with a movie night!

If you would like to view our photos from our picture day on Sunday, you can do so at this link!

Love the happy times,

Jami

It’s hard to believe that our first week of the summer is coming to a close. It has been a fantastic week filled with new friends, new things, and so much fun! Yesterday, we had another beautiful day on Meta Lake. Campers participated in their regularly scheduled activities. Some campers skied Meta Lake, others danced to a game called “Shake and Pop”, while some made it to the top of the climbing wall. Yesterday breakfast was french toast, we had BLTs for lunch, and pepper steak with quinoa for dinner! Evening program was commercial skits. Each cabin was tasked with creating a commercial for an every day item. Here’s the twist; campers are not allowed to advertise for the item with the original purpose. Your campers were incredibly creative turning a ruler into a magic wand, a baton into a teleportation stick, and a lint roller into a mind connector. Many laughs were had by all! On top of this incredible day, all of camp also tested negative on our COVID surveillance testing!

Today was our first lazy Sunday of the summer. On Sundays, campers are able to sleep until 10:30. For our early risers, we offer a self serve breakfast. Campers can hang in the lodge to play jacks, cards, games, write letters, make bracelets, and more! Campers also can play outside at the tetherball courts, play 9-square in the air, spike ball, or paddle! For our runners, our Marimeta Milers met at the half court at 9:30 to run part way around the lake. After wake up, campers switched beds within their cabin. At Marimeta, we switch beds each week to give the cabin a fresh start and to help facilitate new friendships! Lunch today was the famous Potato Bar which included chicken fingers, mac and cheese, tater tots, chicken wings, onion rings, and more! After lunch, all campers and staff returned to their cabins for their cabin meetings. Each Sunday, counselors lead a cabin meeting to reflect on the week and set goals for the week ahead. Each camper was asked to reflect on something amazing that happened this week, a challenge they faced, and to identify a goal for next week. Additionally, these meetings allow for an open forum for cabin collaboration and discourse around things that may be going on within the cabin. Campers and counselors work together on reflection and goal setting, During this time, counselors facilitate conversation that helps to develop your camper’s social and emotional learning.

This afternoon, campers learned their MTV groups! Each summer, our Senior Cabin campers lead small groups of campers in learning a MTV dance. Groups work together to learn choreography, create costumes, and a backdrop. On July 9th, all groups will perform their dance and earn points for their MariMeta League team. You can watch last summer’s MTVs here. 

This evening, we had a cookout for dinner with hotdogs, brats and veggie burgers. As always on Sundays, we had ice cream for dessert!

Tomorrow, our Pioneer Campers (8th, 9th, and 10th graders) will head out on their trips! Our campers at camp will be busy with Al Lewis day; a day where campers get to sign up for their activities rather than attending their regularly scheduled ones.

Camp is in full swing and we could not be happier your camper is here with us to experience all of the fun!

Love the happy times,

Jami

We’ve had a busy couple of days here on Meta Lake! Yesterday was our first full day of regularly scheduled activities. Campers received their schedules and participated in all they signed up for! It was a beautiful, energetic day! For evening program last night we played The Chocolate Game, a Marimeta classic in which campers have to roll dice and race to put on a life vest, socks, and more to eat a chocolate bar with a fork and a knife. At the end of the chocolate game, we surprised the campers with our color war announcement! All campers got their own mini chocolate bar with their name on it showing them what team they are on (Mari or Meta). Our color war (which is purple and yellow this summer) will last throughout the whole session. Campers have already begun participating in events and they will be peppered into our program throughout the remainder of the session. On the field and in events, we encourage team spirit and completion and as soon as the games end, campers know that we are all Marimeta campers and each event is about the effort you put in and the fun you get out.

Today was another fun day filled with activities! Breakfast was eggs and bacon, lunch was make your own bowls (with rice, quinoa, assorted veggies and proteins), and dinner was chicken! We had our first Friday night of the summer which was a busy one. The evening began with the t-shirt relay, which was followed by our first games of capture the flag and after followed by a campfire. At the campfire, our 5 year campers gave speeches about what Marimeta means to them and we sang campfire songs. As we do every year, we also recited the poem “Don’t Quit” by Edgar Albert Guest. The poem reads as follows:

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
when the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
when the funds are low and the debts are high,
and you want to smile but you have to sigh,
when care is pressing you down a bit – rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns.
As everyone of us sometimes learns.
And many a fellow turns about when he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow – you may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than it seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up when he might have captured the victor’s cup;
and he learned too late when the night came down,
how close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out – the silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
and when you never can tell how close you are,
it may be near when it seems afar;
so stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit – it’s when things seem worst, you must not quit.

Before reading, Don’t Quit, Nick and I spoke about the first week of camp. Camp has been amazing this week, and it has been challenging. Campers have made new friends, tried new things, some have gone away from home for the first time, we dealt with extreme heat the first few days, and we had so much fun! This poem was a great reminder that camp is amazing, and it is not perfect. Things can go wrong here AND it is a safe place to learn, grow, and become the best version of yourself. 

A few reminders on some camp policies that were sent previously:

PACKAGES

We do not allow packages at camp.

Prior to putting this policy into place, we received an excessive amount of packages. If there is an essential item that your daughter needs (clothes, a book, equipment) please email the Lodge to receive permission to send the items. Many necessary items we are able to provide for campers through our canteen and can get it much more quickly than you sending from home.

Do not send food or gum in packages or letters. We inspect all mail and confiscate items that are not allowed.

Unpermitted packages will be returned to the sender at your expense.

EMAILS

We allow one way emails from parents, siblings, and grandparents to your camper. Please list your daughter’s name in the subject line. We request that you do not include any photos in the emails as it uses a lot of ink and we offer this convenience to you free of charge. Emails may not be sent from aunts and uncles, cousins, or friends.

Today we received some much needed relief from the heat! And, we COVID tested our entire Marimeta community and are thrilled to report that we had no positive results! Campers arose today for flag where we shared the following quote:

“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, and become more then, you are an excellent leader.”–Dolly Parton

Breakfast consisted of rainbow pancakes (a variety of chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes) and of course our cereal bar and cream of wheat. Last night before bed, cabins signed up for today’s cabin activities. They ranked, as a cabin, their preferences and were scheduled today for five periods based upon those choices. And, truly it was a beautiful day. Campers were engaging throughout camp in kickball, waterskiing, swimming, high ropes, walking, aerobics, arts and crafts, and more! Lunch consisted of grilled chicken sandwiches followed by vanilla ice cream with peaches!

After lunch, campers returned to their cabins for rest hour. Today during rest hour our cabin meeting schedule began. Weekly, your camper’s cabin will meet with a member of our lodge team while your camper’s counselors will separately meet with a different member of our lodge. In these meetings we reflect, share, collaborate, and problem solve. For your campers, this meeting is an open forum to discuss what is going well, what has been challenging, and how we can work together to support each other in reaching individual and shared goals. We place a large emphasis on open communication and believe strongly in teaching your girls how to celebrate achievements, address stumbling blocks, and move forward together. During this time, your camper’s counselors have an opportunity to do the same. We facilitate a conversation for our staff to problem solve through challenges, give and receive feedback, and recognize accomplishments. These conversations are then supported and followed up on during cabin meetings that are run by counselors each Sunday.

Today canteen was a choice day (sweet or savory). Dinner was turkey with tater tots and green beans! Campers then played Charades Relay, a spin on the classic game of charades. Campers are required to run and get the clue, bring it back to their group, and then act it out. They then have to race back to the center of the game to beat the other teams to the answer!

All in all, it was an incredible day. Tomorrow, we begin regularly scheduled activities!

Love the happy times,

Jami

Our first full day of the summer was a fun one! It was a hot day here in the Northwoods. Today started with cinnamon rolls and throughout the day our campers rotated through our annual safety day, known as “Tasty Day”. Cabins rotated through health checks, swim tests, tennis, a s’mores session to learn about fire safety, volleyball, 9 square in the air, and more!

Lunch consisted of the famous Marimeta grilled cheese and tomato soup. We had an outdoor rest hour that was filled with sprinkler fun, mail, and campers hanging out (writing letters, making bracelets, and even some playing the guitar)! After we finished Tasty Day rotations, we had our first Canteen (sweet) of the summer followed by our first general activity period. General, our all camp free period, allows our campers to choose what they need that day. Some campers prefer to read outside, take a shower, or color with a friend while others were found swimming on the water trampoline and waterskiing! General was followed by steak kabobs for dinner and Staffingo as our evening program. Staffingo allows our campers to get to know our staff by guessing facts about them to fill in a bingo board. Our cabins were led by our incredible senior cabin campers, all dressed up in various colors from head to toe (we love a dress up moment at camp).

Tomorrow, cabins will participate in cabin activities throughout the day and we will play charades relay for evening program!

Thank you again for trusting us with your campers this summer. We are off to an incredible start and are so excited for all the fun that will continue to unfold.

Love the happy times,

Jami

Summer of 2022 has officially begun! We would like to begin with a note of gratitude for our incredible camp families. Whether you are a longtime Marimeta parent or 2022 is your first summer at camp, we are thankful that you have chosen to trust us with your camper and for working with us to provide a fun and enriching camp experience for your daughters.

And now it’s on to the fun and excitement of camp! By 3:42 pm, we were gathered at the half court to announce the cabins and staff. The big hugs and smiles were a reminder of the pure joy that camp gives every one of our campers. And as the girls headed off toward their cabins, Marimeta’s 75th summer was officially underway.

The girls are now unpacking and new campers are receiving a tour of camp. By the time they go to sleep tonight, they’ll have played games with their cabins and met some of the other campers in their age group as well.

Dinner this evening will be pizza, as always, plus the ever present salad bar and Wow Butter and jelly. And of course sugar cookies for dessert. Immediately following dinner, the campers will choose their first week’s activities. Tomorrow is our “tasty day” our treat themed safety day, Wednesday will be cabin activities, and then the girls will have their full slate of elective instructional offerings from there.

Tonight’s evening activities will be followed by the cabin meetings led by each cabin’s counselors. They will share their goals and expectations for the summer, while continuing to get to know one another. This will be the first of many cabin discussions that are an important part of the team-building goals that we have for each cabin group, and helps develop the strong sense of community that we strive for at camp. Our expectation is that every camper goes to bed tonight knowing that they have at least one counselor that they are already comfortable enough with to wake her up if they need something in the middle of the night and that they have made one new friend that they can play with in the morning.

The pandemic has left the girls missing opportunities for socialization. Not only will camp provide that, but we are determined to work actively and intentionally with the campers to make up for lost time. During orientation we worked with experts such as Sara Lewis (a camp parent and therapist) and Michael Brandwein (a camp training and leadership guru) to learn the ways in which campers can be taught the skills that make them independent, resillient, and problem solvers. When we send the girls back home to you at the end of the summer, we know that you will see a difference in their social skills and their emotional intelligence.

Tomorrow the kids will have a busy day as our amazing medical team checks in each camper. The campers will also take a swim test and we’ll find time to play several games. Evening program tomorrow will be Staffingo, where campers will get to know our staff. First thing on Thursday morning the girls will begin their first week of regular activities.

FOLLOW CAMP ONLINE
From here on out, you can follow along with the summer of 2022 on our website at https://marimeta.com/blog/. We will also be posting updates on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/campmarimeta/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/campmarimetaforgirls/.

We post pictures online on a regular basis, and you can access those directly from your CampSite account. We have a wonderful facial recognition system that works with your camper’s CampSite profile to email you whenever a photo is posted of your camper. Please see the attached document for instructions on how to access and share the photos this summer!

As always, if you have any questions or need our help with anything give us a call in the office! We will always call you if we have any concerns regarding your daughter, or any issue that we need to discuss such as health issues, or problems with cabin mates. We are grateful for the trust placed in us, and love having your girls with us for the summer!

Love the happy times,

The Lodgies

(715) 479-9990

www.marimeta.com

office@marimeta.com

Our third week of the Marimeta summer literally started out with a BANG!!! The 4th of July is always fun at camp!  Waking up with both senior cabins banging pots and pans and running thru the cabins in red, white and blue is always the best alarm!  This is a tradition that goes all the way back to the beginnings of camp.  The captains of Mari and Meta met for the fierce Water Balloon Captains Duels in the middle of the field.  Each team cheered on their captains!  After which we had an amazing BBQ buffet luncheon outside.  The afternoon had Message to Martha, a Mari Meta favorite where you try to get the most points across the camp by land and water!  Dinner was a Burger/Hot Dog/ Corn Dog meal.  The finale was Fireworks on the shores of Meta Lake.  Everyone loves a great firework show on our lake!!  

Monday was a lazy day morning to recover from late night fireworks.  Pancakes are always a delicious breakfast and because the sun was shining we had regular activities throughout the afternoon.  We feasted on meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner.  The Gunky quiz was the evening activity. The more questions we get correct the more the lodge staff gets gunked up. Lastly we finished the night of a fun game of Stalk The Lantern.  Sssh no one say a word….

Tuesday morning we had regular activities as it started to turn cold and rainy. Grilled cheese and soup are the perfect lunch for a cold day. Even though the weather didn’t want to cooperate, it didn’t stop us or get us down because we jumped right into the Mari-Meta Jacks tournament.  An all time classic meal of chicken Kiev and banana cream pie filled our bellies for our dinner time meal. The evening consisted of a rousing game of Balderdash, followed by MTV Practice! 

Wednesday continued to be cool so we played the Big Challenge in the morning. We get to compete in many silly games and activites to see who is the fastest, smartest and most skilled. As the day started to dry up, we were able to back outside playing team competition.  Chicken fingers were demolished at lunch by a hungry group of girls followed by Lasagna at dinner.

Thursday brought some more cool weather but it was nice enough to do regular activities with Chaos VS Control as the evening activity.  Sandwich bar for lunch and Omar’s famous Mexican night for dinner.  The girls here love their chef and his meals!  

Friday brought sunshine and warmth back to the grounds of Camp Marimeta.  We were thrilled to be back in the water and every other activity in the Marimeta sun.  As MTV was only a day a way, we had a short practiced, followed by the all time favorite evening program of Capture the Flag.  To wrap up the evening we had our traditional Friday night campfire lead by our campers going into 6th grade. Everyone went to bed anxious for the following day for MTV!  Ravioli was for lunch and Shabbat dinner was lemon chicken on the grill!  

Saturday was a day that campers waited for almost two years for.  We had a gorgeous day with regular activities and our final MTV practice.  Lunch was chicken breasts on the grill and Pizza for dinner.  Then came a history making MTV.  The girls were amazing. The staff was stupendous.  The costumes were perfect and the dancing even better as our Mari and Meta teams performed in the first Live Streaming MTV of Marimeta history!  A great time was had by all!   

Another wonderful week has been completed on the gorgeous grounds of Camp Marimeta. As a result of good weather, we have been enjoying the majority of our meals outside at tables of mixed ages. We were thrilled to receive the news that all COVID tests were negative! Consequently, this allows us to loosen our restrictions to have girls of all ages eating together, expanding “pods” to age groups, and ditching masks while outdoors.

Mari-Meta League teams were picked and announced at the all camp Water Balloon Hunt. We all had so much fun as the team captains were rewarded with their titles. We had little rain on Monday which allowed us to all participate in Project Runway Marimeta Style with recycled goods! Tough interview questioning was provided by our new associate director Nick Kasle including, “If a wood chuck could chuck wood, would it? Please elaborate on your answer”!  Most importanly, our Marimeta models handled the questions beautifully and represented their teams well.

First thing on Tuesday morning we had our portraits and cabin pictures taken for the photo album that will be released following camp. Our ladies looked lovely! Secondly, due to the inclement weather, we played an activity called Get Stuff, Do Stuff and Find Stuff Out. It is a treasure hunt type of activity. Lastly, to round out the day, we played Scattergories in the evening.

Wednesday was a gorgeous day where we were all out at our regularly scheduled activities. The evening was our first Mari-Meta League Team Competition. Who do you think is going to win the first ever Senior Cabin 2020 versus Senior Cabin 2021 Marimeta League?

During Thursday and Friday we had great regular activity days with nice weather. Everyone loves it when it’s sunny outside. After Thursdays fun filled day we decided to watch a movie to rest our tired bodies.

Marimeta League 2021

Additionally we had so much fun on Friday night!  It was the annual Mari-Meta T-shirt relay followed by everyone’s favorite evening activity….CAPTURE THE FLAG!  The girls were amazing and the spirit was super!

Saturday was a hot day filled with waterfront activities. After lunch, we had an all camp General Waterfront to cool off in Meta lake. This was followed by a full evening including the Trunk Game, MTV practice, and our 5 year campfire! Additionally, s’mores were enjoyed by our new 5 year campers!

MTV PRACTICE 2021

Of course we cannot have a blog without talking about Marimeta meals!  Grecian chicken, burgers on the grill, tacos, fried shrimp,  dirkee chicken, sub sandwiches, chicken patties, BLT’s, chicken and beef kabobs, firecracker salmon and turkey and gravy were all on the menu this week!

We hope you have amazing 4th of July. Enjoy the weather and we hope you have an fantastic week.

Always with Kindness,

The Lodgies

A fabulous first week at Camp Marimeta is nearly complete and what a wonderful week it has been.  Our lovely ladies arrived mid afternoon on Monday to one of the coolest days of the summer (weather wise). This didn’t stop our girls as they were ready for camp after a year off due to COVID-19! Campers were assigned to their cabins and were very excited to settle in!  That night the girls had an opportunity to meet the staff, as they went around camp in our usual opening game of Staffingo!  It is a version of Bingo interspersed with questions to ask the counselors. It helps campers find out interesting facts about each staff member as they move through the grounds of camp. 

Tuesday was a little warmer and a great day to get oriented to camp. On what we like to call “Tasty Safety Day”, the girls were able to learn about our activities and safety procedures while snacking throughout the day on S’mores and other tasty treats.  We ate all meals outside on our new picnic tables throughout the week. This enables us to all eat together and sing without being inside the mess hall as we work through our COVID protocols.  Everyone is enjoying the outside dining experience and we want to continue this all summer long!  We capped off Tuesday evening with all cabins participating in the famous Charade Relay!  Wednesday and Thursday we were able to do regular activities throughout the day with two famous Marimeta evening programs including the Chocolate Game and Commercial Skit Night! With a drizzly morning on Thursday, the girls kept busy with ABC Dress up, a favorite rainy day program.  

The girls are grouped by cabins for activities until we have our third round of negative COVID testing returned. We are looking forward to grouping all ages together at tables and activities once the testing is complete. Speaking of testing, our first round on Thursday all came back negative and another round was completed today. We are just waiting on the results.

Friday night campfire

Friday morning we awoke to a gorgeous morning followed by regular outdoor activities. This gets everyone out skiing, swimming and paddling around Meta Lake. Great land activities were also running throughout camp such as tennis and yoga. We ended our evening with our traditional Friday night campfire led by our youngest campers. They talked about courage and what that means to them.

Meals have been nothing short of phenomenal.  Omar pulled out his recipe book and made many of the campers favorites, including breakthrough breakfasts such as pancakes, chocolate chip muffins, bacon and eggs, cinnamon rolls and french toast.  Lovely lunches have included chicken salad, grilled cheese sandwiches, wraps, Italian beef sandwiches (a camper favorite) and chicken wings!   Pizza, ribs, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken souvlaki (on the grill) and Friday night steaks rounded out our dinners meals.

The weekend is upon us and we are prepared for rain or shine!  Please take a moment to view our online photos and enjoy!