Letters From the Lodge

Dear Mom and Dad,

OMG!  We played a new game last night for evening activity!  It was a Hunger Games themed water fight.  It must have been 100 degrees last night, and the evening activity was perfect for cooling down!

The camp was split up into 13 districts…just like the hunger games.  We were all given squirt bottles full of water.  The object of the game was to be the district with the most dry members at the end.  Each camper was assigned points, so the districts wanted the bigger points to stay safer.  If you got squirt  by another camper, you had to sit down until a counselor wearing grey taps you on the head.

This game sounds easy so far…but just wait.  Some counselors were “tracker jackers.”  They had black shirts on and purple colored water.  If you got squirted by a tracker jacker then the counselor got your squirt bottle and you had to sit in place.  Another person from your district could go up to the tracker jacker and get your bottle back…then you are back in the game.

There were also counselors dressed in purple…these people were the games makers.  If you got tagged by a games maker you had to go to jail, until the jail was freed.

In the middle of the field was President Snow.  President snow had a super soaker.  If you got shot with the blue water in the super soaker, you are out for the rest of the game.

As if that wasn’t enough fun…there were also grenades all thoughout camp.  Grenades were water balloons filled with red water.  If you found a grenade, you had to turn it in and then you could take it and get another camper with the balloon.  The grenades were worth 100 points each…more than anything else in the game.

District 8 won the hunger games.  The odds were in there favor.  It was a little confusing at first, but once the game got under way, it was SO much fun!!!!  I hope we get to play it again on another hot day!

Today was regular activities!  We even got to have waterfront activities after dinner because it was so hot outside!!

I’m having the best time!!!

I love and miss you!

Love,

Your Campers

 

There were some counselors in camo.  Those counselors were traps.  The traps had dodgeballs.  If you got hit with a ball, then you had to follow the trap around for 2 minutes before you could play again.

 

Dear Mom and Dad,

Today was safety day!  On safety day we go around to 10 different stations.

1. Activities: pick our activities for the 2nd four weeks.

2. Bank: give our money to the lodge so we don’t lose it.

3. Heath center: get our lice checks

4. Athletics: play games in the middle of the field

5. Pontoon: go on the pontoon

6. Ski: learn safety at the ski area

7. Swim: take the swim test and go on the summit

8. Riflery: learn safety at riflery and also get to shoot one of the guns

9. Climbing Wall: learn safety at the wall and get to climb it

10. Archery: learn safety at archery and shoot an arrow!

 

It was a really fun day!  Tonight we are playing a new game.  It is a water fight mixed with the hunger games theme.

Well, I gotta go.  This is my meal ticket.

I love and miss you!

Love,

Your Camper

Dear Mom and Dad,

I know I just saw you yesterday, but I just wanted to write you a quick note to let you know that the busses are here!

I love my 2nd session cabin and cannot wait for the fun to start!!

Tonight is the counselor hunt.  All of the counselors dress up and hide around camp.  As cabin groups we have to walk around and try to find them!

The counselors all dress up in funny costumes as well.  Check the website tomorrow to see what they were!

I am having so much fun!

I love and miss you!

Love,

Your Camper

Dear Mom and Dad,

I’ve been having so much fun, I’ve barely had time to write!  I have so much to tell you!

Sunday we had a normal sunday.  A sleep in until 10:30, potato bar for lunch, cabin activities, cook out for dinner, and of course a Sunday movie.  We watch parent trap!

Monday was so hot out!  We had normal K day activities for the morning.  In the afternoon we had the TC competition.

The TC Competition (or Terry Cohen…or Total Camp) is a Mari/Meta event.  Each camper is given 3 activities.  There are three periods.  At each activity the people there do the activity, but with a twist.  It is done in teams and while keeping score.  For example, the climbing wall becomes a relay.  So there are 4 Maris and 4 Metas at the wall.  One by one, the Maris will all climb and be timed as a group and then the metas climb one by one.  There was Mari/Meta soccer, canoe races, war canoe races, swimming races, newcomb, poms competition, volleyball, skiing…and many many more.

After the TC comp, the Mari/Metas had the captains event.  It was “mail” themed.  They had to get letters from the mail house.  Open all the letters to find clues.  Run to where the clues were to get stamps.  Write either Mari or Meta on the pioneer captains shirts.  Then, the overall captains had to write a letter to the lodge and run to the mailbox.  It was really fun!

For dinner we had something new…enchiladas…arriba!  They were delicious.  For sure my new favorite dinner at camp.

After dinner was the BEST game!  Chaos vs. Control.  The counselors are the control and the campers are the chaos.  Basically, the counselors dress in all black and wear flag football belts.  The campers dress in all white.  The campers have to get paper from in front of cabin 5.  They can either run to the tennis courts or to the messhall to get their papers “stamped” for more points…then they have to run to in front of cabin 12 to turn in their tickets.  Sounds pretty easy, except the counselors try to tag the campers while they are running to deliver the paper.  The campers can also try to get the counselors belts and bring those to cabin 12 for even more points.  And if that isn’t enough…there is a bugle hidden in camp somewhere.  If someone finds the bugle and brings it to cabin 12 without getting tagged by a counselor then they get 100 points!!  No one found the bugle this year because CJ hid it in a really good place.

I slept really well because I was so tired from the great day I had.

Today I woke up and had delicious banana muffins for breakfast.  Of course my favorite thing occurs after breakfast…cabin clean up.  Normal G day activities until lunch.  We had a new lunch today!  It was chicken wraps with hummus and cucumber salad.  Yummy!  The food has been amazing this summer!!!  Then we had a long rest hour.

After rest hour we played a new version of the song game…the riff off.  There was a spinner with all different categories and the little teams had to sing a song with the theme on the spinner.  We did it as a bracket.  It was really fun.  I felt like I was on pitch perfect!

Now we are going to watch MTV on the big screen.  Tonight is MTV awards…the CIAs will hand out the awards and the counselors will mock the camper MTVs.  It is normally really funny!!

Also, I heard a rumor that tonight is first four 5 year night.  Which means all 5 year and up campers and counselors will get to go to Alexanders for pizza.

That’s all for now.  I can’t believe that I get to see you on Friday.

I love and miss you!

Love,

Your camper

Dear Mom and Dad,

Sorry I didn’t write last night, but I was having so much fun playing Quidditch that I forgot to write.

We had so much fun yesterday. First, the lodge announced that we were going to be doing science experiments all morning.  Did you see the pictures of me making a bouncy ball and flubber?  We made fantastic foam, a color symphony, Oobleck (it is like a goo that dances when you play music under it), bubbbles and we made crystals, but they take  a day or two to set up.  There will be some pictures when they’re done to show you. Once we had a chance to try all the experiments, there was a grand finale of Diet Coke and Mentos.  It looked so cool shooting up in the air.

Can you believe I did all those experiments before lunch?

At lunch we had a talent show again. There have been some really cool hidden talents and I showed off all my talents.  You can see them when I get home. Tess’s talent was poetry.  Her poem was so great I decided to include it in my letter!

You know that song about Marimeta in 1946,
How this all started as a lake and cabins made of sticks,

It all started with Edna oh so long ago.
But what keeps us coming so many years in a row,

Sandy and Terry are always there,
Without Nic, Jacqui and Mari we wouldn’t be anywhere,

Frankie, Ted and CJ are important too,
And Jocelyn can get a laugh out of you.

The Nurses, The Kitchen Staff, and even the dogs,
The CIA’s and counselors who made such spirited songs.

We owe a big thank you to all of our staff,
Who help us through tears and brings us some laughs.
In the afternoon, we did “Al Lewis Activities.” Al Lewis activities are when we get to pick whatever we want to do that day. I got to ski, tube, kayak, canoe and key log. I also played some tennis with Manny and Pan.  It was fun!  I practiced all my tennis skills and we played new games!  Manny and Pan make tennis so fun!

After dinner, we were split into teams of houses (like Harry Potter).  I get to stay in the same house every year, but only while the pioneers are gone. But don’t worry, I already have a t-shirt of my team color, so please do not send a new one. There are 6 “houses.”  Three that are colleges in the USA and three that are colleges in the UK.  The houses are: Yale, Princeton, Harvard, St. Andrews, Oxford, and Cambridge.

It was really fun!  We got to cheer on all of the other houses from the same country as our own houses.  This was a great new game. I can’t wait to play again next year.

Well, got to get back to lake. I hope you are having as much fun at home as I am here.

THANK YOU so much for sending me to camp.

I love and miss you!

Love,

Your Camper

Dear Mom and Dad,

Wow! What a great day up at camp!!!  I cannot believe it is July 1^st…there is still sooooo much to look forward to in the First Session of camp but time sure is flying! I have so much news to tell you from camp today…so please make sure you are comfortable and enjoy the information from beside Meta Lake!

Our Pioneer trips all left today! The Senior Cabin girls are so lucky. They get to go sailing on Lake Superior for 3 days on beautiful sail boats…and they get to sleep on the boats! They have captains with them to teach them all about how to sail! It sounds like a blast! And the weather is going to be beautiful while they are there! I hope they bring back lots of great photos so you can see how awesome it is up there!

Speaking of beautiful places, the second oldest campers are going to Macinaw! They are staying in a great hotel- right on the beach! They get to swim, go to Macinac Island, tour one of the coal mines (so cool), and go to the Mystery Spot. I have no idea what happens at the Mystery Spot, but I hope I will get to go there one day!

The youngest Pioneers went to the Wisconsin Dells. They get to see the Tommy Bartlett Ski Show, go to Noah’s Ark (the largest waterpark in the world!), go go-karting, and ride roller coasters! Wow! What a fun filled trip!

If you think we are sad to be left at camp, well we are not at all!  We have such a great time when the older girls are away, we get to try tons of new activities. The weather was perfect for the lake today, so the ski boats were running all day long. There was lots of paddle boarding, windsurfing, sailing, swimming, kayaking, and tubing going on. We also got to climb the wall, do arts and crafts, archery, drama, aerobics, and so much more. Then, the most fun was our evening activity. We got to ‘gunk’ our counselors. You HAVE to check the photo’s- it was way too funny!

The Lodgies have asked that we remind you that our internet is not so great…and they are trying to put up as many pictures as possible but it may take a little while longer. They are busy working on the problem!

I cannot wait for tomorrow…I have hear rumors that the theme is ‘Blow your Mind’ and I have seen all sorts of items in the lodge that I think are going to be used for crazy science experiments. Tomorrow’s Letters from the Lodge are not to be missed!!!

I Love and Miss You!

Love,

Your Camper

Dear Mom and Dad,

How was your day?  Mine was great!  I woke up to a yummy breakfast of cinnamon rolls!  As always, after breakfast is cabin clean-up.  My FAVORITE time of the day.  You won’t believe how clean my room is going to be when I get home.

It was a little cloudy, so we got to do special activities all day.  We had MTV practice.  I can’t wait to show you my dance and for you to see the video.  We perform MTV the last weekend of 1st Session.

After MTV we got to do a cool new Mari/Meta Event!  Mari vs. Meta…Bring It On!  Each little team came up with their own cheer.  We practiced with our little teams until lunch.

Lunch was my favorite!  Chicken Patties!!!!  Yummmmmmy!  After lunch we had rest hour.  I wrote you a whole bunch of letters.  Then, we played Taboo with our cabins.  Taboo is a game where you have to get everyone else to guess a word.  The hard part is that there is a list of 5 words that you cannot say.  For example, one of my words was Sleeping Bag.  I couldn’t say camping, blanket, cover, hike, or tent. So instead I said, the thing that everyone brings to Marimeta to use on the last night.

After Taboo, we had our big Bring It On performance!  The winning Mari little team and the winning Meta little team will be used as team cheer for years to come!  How cool is that?  We did the competition just like they do NCAA basketball competition with a bracket and the winners moving on to the next round.  The final round was the whole team doing the final cheer.

On the Maris Shaps’ little team won!  On the Meta’s Dani’s little team won!  I think they are going to put up a YouTube video of the winning cheers!

After dinner, we had a social with Horseshoe!  Monster Entertainment was here to DJ the social.  I won a t-shirt for dancing so much!  It was so fun!

I’m gonna go to sleep now because I’m so tired from the busy day!  I can’t wait for tomorrow because Sunday is sleep in and cabin day!

I think the pioneers are leaving for their trips on Monday…

I love and miss you!

Love,

Your Camper

Dear Parents,

We are so sorry for the delay in the pictures.  As you know, the North Woods is far from civilization and sometimes it is hard to get internet out here.  We are working on it and will have more pictures and letters from the lodge ASAP!

Thank you for understanding!

Love,

The Lodge

Dear Mom and Dad,

I had another great day at camp.  Yesterday was K Day.  We got to do all of the regular activities.  It was so hot out that jumping in the lake was the best part of my day.

At general, I went tubing and I showered.  I went to flag and then it started to storm.  Don’t worry, I wasn’t scared because I had my thunder buddy.  A thunder buddy is a friend for when there is a storm. We were all in the messhall for dinner so I didn’t really need my thunder buddy.  It was Kebobs for dinner…one of my favorites!!

After dinner we played the trunk game!!!  It is so fuuuunnnn!!!  Every cabin puts 25 items into a “trunk”…since no one has trunks anymore, most cabins use duffle bags. The lodge sits up at the front and calls random items.  If your cabin has the item, you stand up and get points.  If your cabin does not have the item….you have to be creative.  They give extra points for creativity.

For example, the lodge said jump rope.  We didn’t have a jump rope, but we did have a cord for charging my ipod.  I picked it up and started to jump rope with it.  I got extra points!!!  Some other items that were fun: pony express from Ojibwa, a green tutu, anything with a monkey on it, and something from Liverpool.  (Nic loved the one about Liverpool…and cabin 1 pointed to Nic for that item.)

The winners were cabin 1 and Senior Cabin!  They  won a movie in the rec hall…complete with popcorn, pop, and candy.  It is one of the best prizes ever!!

After the trunk game, we had a short MTV practice.  I love MTV…it is like having the most fun dance class ever!!!!

Today is going to be regular G Day activities, and it is also meal ticket night…so expect a letter from me!

I’m having such a great time!

I love and miss you!

Love,

Your Camper

Dear Parents,

I’m sorry for the delay in pictures.  Our internet is not functioning properly.  I will try my best to have them posted ASAP!

Thanks,

Mari