Love, The Lodge: Presenting…”The Sing 101″ August 8, 2015Hello, Everyone! While we usually post a Weekend Recap on Monday, we decided to write a special post about a big event occurring at Marimeta this evening: The Red and White Sing. Yes, The Sing is here! In the past couple weeks, it is likely that the word “Sing” has appeared in some of your daughter’s letters home. In previous Letters to the Lodge, we have briefly talked about the great deal of practice and preparation that goes into making this event a success. However, you are likely wondering what exactly is this thing. We now bring to you, “The Sing 101”: a crash course on the sights and sounds of the Red and White Sing. The Competition: Throughout the session, each team has been extremely invested in the planning of the Sing. As one of our biggest Red and White events, both teams are striving for a win. Tonight, each team will have the opportunity to present their Sing performance in front of the entire camp. The Lodge will score each team based on presentation, delivery of song set list, behavior as an audience, and team transitions. Win or lose, the Sing celebrates the spirit and teamwork that has been alive for the past 69 years of tradition. The Singing: As its name suggests, The Sing is an event that puts rhythm and harmony on the frontlines of team competition. Prior to team announcements, the Senior Cabin selected a song set list for both the Red and White team. The set list had to include a theme song, peppy song, slow song, and team song. The theme song – the theme song is an original song written by the Red and White captains and Senior Cabin spirit leaders. After choosing a theme for each team, the Senior Cabin works together to come up with a creative tune and lyrics, aligned with their selected theme. The theme and theme song are two of the most well kept secrets in camp. The Senior Cabin stresses the importance of keeping the themes a secret until the moment they walk through the Rec Hall doors, tonight. We will let you in on the secret early by announcing the Sing themes for 2015… (drum roll, please) Red Fashion Show and White Wedding! The tunes for the songs are Summertime Guys for the Reds, and In Too Deep for the Whites. Each team will perform their theme song as they walk in and walk out of the Sing. The peppy song – Following the theme song, each team will perform their peppy song. The peppy song is a traditional Marimeta song that reflects the team’s love and appreciation for camp. As both teams would say, this song is sung with “lots of pep and zest.” This year’s peppy songs are, “We are Marimeta girls and we want to say hello…”, for the Red team, and “We have a camp like no other camp…”, for the White team. The peppy songs are performed with a lot of energy, enthusiasm, and smiles. The slow song – Following each team’s peppy song, the teams sing their slow song. Historically, the slow song has been selected from various sources: Marimeta campfire songs, mainstream music, movies, and musicals. The song’s lyrics are extremely sentimental and meaningful to all campers. Legend tells that the goal of the slow is song is to make Sandy and Terry cry. Moreover, the song is delivered in a slow, emotional manner. This year, both the Red and White teams will be sharing their slow song, which is extremely special. The song is called, “What We Came Here For” from the Disney movie Camp Rock. The team song – Lastly, the team’s will perform their team song. The team song is a previous theme song. Team songs are sung in the mess hall, daily, and serve as a team’s legacy. We sing team songs from the past 69 years of Red and White tradition! This year’s team songs are “Red Bells are Ringing” and “White Team Fantasy.” Fun Fact: “Red Bells are Ringing” is actually the theme song from Katie’s mom’s Sing, when she was an Overall Red captain – how cool! The Movements: As part of Sing tradition, there is a customary set of movements that each camper learns prior to their team’s debut. These moves serve as transitions, between songs, and also highlight the team’s togetherness. Entrance and Exit: In one of the first Sing practices, the captains organized their team in height order. Once arranged, each camper is assigned a partner that they will enter and exit the Rec Hall with. Tonight, each team will line up outside the Rec Hall with their partners. Each partner pair links their inner arms, together, and leaves their outside hand in “fours”, which placed down by their side. Once the captains cue their team, each pair begins to walk into the Rec Hall. The girls even try to step with the same foot, in order to be totally in sync. The teams both enter and exit in this fashion. The walk-in and walkout is one of the most iconic features of the Sing! Ups and Downs: Ups and Downs are movements that are used strictly for transitions. They’re one of the most worked on components of the Sing, because the whole team tries to perform these movements in unison. There are three levels of Ups and Downs that the captains teach their teams. It takes a great deal of cooperation and collaboration to perfect these motions – the girls work extremely hard! Turns: Turns are an exit transition that the teams use to leave the Rec Hall. When prompted, the entire team pivots outwards…at the same time! Once turned, the teams begin to walk out. Captain’s Cues: Prior to the Sing, the captains prepare a set of cues that are used for various purposes: starting songs, performing ups and downs, etc. The cues are memorized by the captains and are recited in front of the entire camp. They are usually written in rhyming fashion. The Costumes: The costumes for the Sing are one of the most captivating parts of the performance. The Senior Cabin works tirelessly to craft costumes for the entire team. Using an array of materials, they produce, truly, professional costumes. The costumes reflect the team’s theme. Captain Costumes: Every pioneer captain designs a costume that is larger than life! These costumes are usually the main symbols for their team’s theme. This year’s captain costumes are: Red Team – Fashion Show Katie: Fashion Designer , Sophie: Runway, Leah: Vogue Magazine White Team – Wedding Emma: Bride, Lily: Wedding Invitation, Lacey: Wedding Ring Top Row: The Top Row is composed of the Senior Cabin girls and a few campers of taller stature. These costumes are also elaborate and usually involve a lot of glitter. The two centers of the row are the campers who have been here for the most amount of years. This year’s top rows are: Red Team – Fashion Show Fashion Sketches and Sketchbook Cover + Models and Head Model White Team – Wedding Bridesmaids and Maid of Honor + Groomsmen and Best Man Paper Costumes: The rest of the team dresses in white shorts and a white t-shirt. Additionally, their hair is styled in a traditional Marimeta French braid. Once outfitted, the team is given a paper costume that has a decorated image, in relation to their theme, on it. Campers who are in the middle of their rows – “centers” – are given a paper costume that is glittered. Collectively, the paper costumes add a lot of glamour to each team! We know that was a lot of information, but we hope you gained a comprehensive insight of the Red and White Sing. We are all so excited for tonight and cannot wait to see what the teams have put together! We will be posting pictures later this evening! Love, The Lodge P.S: Here is a throwback to some of our most memorable Sing performances, these past couple years. Enjoy!
Love, The Lodge: Let the Games Begin! July 22, 2015Good morning! Another bright and sunny day here at Marimeta! Yesterday, we began our first full day of regular activities. Just as a reminder, activities that occur on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are called, “K” Day activities, which is short for “Kindness.” Conversely, activities that occur on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are called, “G” Day activities, which is short for “Gratitude.” Look out for this special lingo in the letters you receive from your daughters! After a delicious dinner, we announced the evening program, “Mudpie Relays.” With bursts of excitement and curiosity, the campers gathered in smalls groups in the middle of the field. The objective of the game is to collect an array of items with the goal of building a “mudpie.” The items are collected by figuring out a series of clues, which all lead to a different location around camp. The items included: graham cracker crust, chocolate pudding, Oreos, gummy worms, licorice, sprinkles, frosting and whipped cream. After collecting all the items, the groups competed in a mudpie decorating face-off. Our judges scored on the most creative pie versus the most visually appealing pie. This led our girls to come up with some pretty unique treats! One of our favorites was a messy pie that followed one of our Marimeta sayings, “It’s what’s on the inside that counts.” It was a great evening activity! Now for the moment you (and your daughters) have all been waiting for…RED AND WHITE ANNOUNCEMENT 2015! Following the evening activity, the counselors quickly, and subtlety, got their cabins settled in early. Every night, we play a bedtime song called, “TAPS” which signals the end of the evening. Upon the conclusion of TAPS, all of the counselors ran into their cabins, wearing black face paint and bandanas, with whistles blowing. In military fashion, they ordered their cabins to line up, single-file, and to start marching. Shouting, “left-right-left”, the entire camp marched towards the High Ropes course. Arriving at the High Ropes course, the Senior Cabin girls got into a circle and anxiously awaited to find out their teams and captains. Suddenly, the entire Lodge staff emerged wearing camouflage holding a pole filled with military style dog tags. Each individual dog tag had your daughter’s name on it, and the color of the yarn signified what team they were on. Before announcing captains, Sargent Terry commanded our Senior Cabin girls to complete some quick bootcamp training to make sure that they were truly ready to lead camp. After passing their drills, the announcement of the captains began. Congrats to our overall captains – Katie and Emma – and the rest of the our 2015 Red and White captains! We are so proud of all of you and cannot wait to watch you lead your teams. Let the games begin! After an exciting evening, the whole camp went to bed in all smiles. Looking forward to another fabulous day! Love, The Lodge
XOXO, Your Happy Camper: “Incredible” June 26, 2015Hello, from your lovely daughter! If I could sum up today in one word, I would definitely choose the word incredible. I know I tend to start every letter with, “Camp is great” but today it was truly incredible. Let me tell you about it… By 8:30 A.M. , my day was off to a great start! The smell of warm croissants filled the mess hall air, which quickly made up for the rainy weather outside. After breakfast and Cabin Cleanup, we played a game called “General Headquarters.” Basically, the Lodge gives every cabin a task to fulfill, ranging from “make up a new evening program” to “design a fashion line complete with a night and day outfit.” Cabins are awarded points for creativity and also for completing the round the fastest. It was so fun! My cabin created a fashion line out of pure duct tape called, “Forever Fashion Tape”: a full line of couture made out of the finest prints and patterns of duct tape. After General Headquarters, we started working on our “Cabin Sings.” As a cabin we came up with original words for a new Marimeta song. We had so much fun thinking of the lyrics! Hopefully our harmonious voices will pay off and our song will end up in the mess hall – I will keep you posted! After lunch, the sun came out, and I got to go skiing! I am currently trying to master crossing wakes, which is pretty tricky! I know by the end of my summer I will be crossing wakes effortlessly! Practice make perfect, right? Now for the most exciting part of the day…MARIMETA LEAGUE WAS ANNOUNCED! I was so surprised!! You’ll never believe how it happened! At dinner, we were waiting to find out what the evening program was when, all of the sudden, Lillie said, “before finding out what we are doing tonight, you must unscrambled this word: Truoc Sennit. We were all looking around in confusion until Table 14 yelled, “tennis court!” Screaming of excitement, the whole camp sprinted out of the mess hall, across the field, until reaching the tennis courts. There, I found a puzzle piece with my name on it and a yellow smiley face sticker on the other side. I found my other teammates with matching smiley face stickers and sat down with them. Our little team’s counselor poured out a cup full of puzzle pieces, which we then had to put together. It was a challenge, but the pieces formed the letter “I.” The tennis court was covered with little teams trying to figure out what their pieces spelled. It was so cool! The Senior Cabin, the oldest cabin in camp, was seated in a huge circle. They had a much larger puzzle to figure out. It ended up saying, “Mari + Meta = Marimeta. 12 little letters = One Big Word.” The Senior Cabin then scrambled to put together all of the little teams’ individual letters. After arranging and rearranging the letters, the puzzle spelled out “Climbing Wall”… yes the space caused a little confusion, but we got it nonetheless :) Again, the whole camp sprinted to the climbing wall to await the announcement of the captains! This was crazy! The overall captains were Morgan and Nicole! I am so excited for them and can only hope to be like them when I am in Senior Cabin one day. It was such a great announcement! We ended the fun-filled night by playing “Team Comp” (a.k.a Team Competition). I played dodge ball and had so much fun cheering and competing with my little team! Well, that marks the end to my incredible day, I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings! Off to bed, night all. XOXO, Your Happy Camper
MTV Awards! July 9, 2014We had an amazing MTV this year! For those of you coming up for visiting weekend, the video will be playing pretty much all weekend. For those parents that are not coming up for visiting weekend, your campers will be getting a video of MTV in the mail during the year. MTV this year was one of the best ever. The senior cabin worked exceptionally hard and put on a fantastic show. Mari 1: Proud Mary Meta 1: I Don’t Dance Mari 2: Down To The Sea Meta 2: Fixer Upper Mari 3: Revolting Children Meta 3: Let’s Go To The Mall Mari 4: Thriller/Heads Will Roll Meta 4: Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’ Mari 5: Juicy! Meta 5: Seize the Day Mari 6: Sadie Hawkins Dance Meta 6: 50 Ways to Say Goodbye Mari 7: Welcome to Wonderland Meta 7: Biggest Blame Fool Last night was the MTV awards. During the awards, the counselors imitate the campers’ dances and awards are received. MTV has five awards: best costume, best lip sync, best dance, most creative, and best overall. The winner for best costume was: Meta Group 2 – I don’t Dance The winner for best lip sync was: Meta Group 7 – Biggest Blame Fool The winner for best dance was: Mari Group 3 – Revolting Children The winner for most creative was: Mari Group 2 – Down to the Sea The overall winner was: Mari Group 4 – Thriller/Heads Will Roll
Town Day July 31, 2013Dear Parents, Today is town day. For the afternoon, the whole camp goes to Minocqua. The campers will buy you presents, eat a lot of fudge, and have a great time. We also go see the ski show at the end of the day. It is a very fun day. Just a little heads up, your campers might try to call you from town day, if they can find a pay phone. (Pay phones still exist?) If they do call you, just remember there is probably a line of other kids waiting to use the same phone. If you are not home, hopefully they leave you an awesome message!! But, unfortunately, you cannot call them back at camp. We are having such a great summer and cannot believe it is going to be over in a week. Time flies when your having fun! Love, The Lodge
Backwards day was a blast! July 31, 2013Dear Mom and Dad, Yesterday was backwards day. It was so fun!!! We woke up to Taps, then we lowered the flag. We had dinner for breakfast. (It was ribs…not my favorite in the morning) There was fruit of course as well. We then had an evening activity of Sing Practice and Charades. Then we started 5th period. Then it was time for lunch. We had Chinese chicken salad. It was so good. After lunch we had 4th period. Then rest hour. Followed by 3rd period and 2nd period. Then we had Breakfast for dinner!!! It was so delicious. Eggs, bacon, cereal, and more! I love breakfast for dinner. Maybe one day we can go to Walker Brothers (or any breakfast place) for dinner time and get chocolate chip pancakes! After breakfast, we had 1st period. Then obviously my favorite part of the day…Cabin Clean Up!!!! After cabin clean up, we had a quick sing practice because we had some time. It was an amazing day!!! Today we are having regular morning K day activities. I’m having so much fun!! I love and miss you! Love, Your Camper
5 Year Night! July 25, 2013Dear Mom and Dad, Last night was 5 year night! 5 Year night is so cool. All of the 6 year and up campers and counselors give 5 year campers their jackets! It was a really cool ceremony. We all walked in to the rec hall to all of the 5 and up campers and staff singing the 5 year song with candles. Then the lodge gives the normal 5 year speech. This year there was 24 people that received their 5 year jackets! There was a lot of people that came from all over to give 5 year campers their jackets. There were aunts, cousins, sisters, and friends. It was amazing to see some of the Marimeta traditions. After the ceremony, the 5 year and up campers and staff get to go to denoyers. I don’t know that means or what they do there, but I am excited for my 5th year and getting to be a part of the special club. The 4 year and under campers and staff got to stay at camp and have a dance and ice cream party. It was so much fun! Today we had a sleep in until 9:00. We had 4th and 5th period G day before lunch. We had rest hour and then we are having 1st, 2nd, and 3rd period G day! I heard there is a really fun evening activity tonight…I wonder what it is going to be? I am having the best time! I can’t believe there is only 2 weeks left of camp. I hope I can be like Danielle, Molly, Lillie, and Mari and become a 10 and 11 year camper/counselor. I love and miss you! Love, Your Camper
The New and Improved Ojibwa Social July 22, 2013Dear Mom and Dad, I had the best time ever at the Ojibwa social. This year we did something new and cool for the social. The dudes and ranchers stayed at Marimeta and all dressed in different colors. Just like our rainbow relays. Each camper was assigned to a team either Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Black, White, or Grey. The Ojibwa boys were also put into teams of the same colors. When they got here all of the teams met and lined up. We then had a ton of fun relay races. We did holding an egg on a spoon while running, we did wheel barrel, the whole team skipping, one boy and one girl sprinting, and tons of other fun relay races. It was the best social we’ve ever had!!! I not only got to see my brother/cousin/best friend, but I had so much fun too!!! The Pioneers all went to Ojibwa and had a normal social there. They were so jealous of the amazing social we had at Marimeta. Yesterday we had a regular Sunday: sleep in, potato bar for lunch, and cabin activities. There was a cook out for dinner and after dinner a short sing practice. Then we got to watch Bride Wars as the movie. It was a great day! The first week of second four was amazing! I am having the best time ever! I love and miss you. Love, Your Camper
T-Shirt Relay, “Peanut” Hunt, and Mission Impossible July 19, 2013Dear Mom and Dad, I have been so busy, I’ve hardly have time to write you. Red and White started on Wednesday! I already told you about the way they announced it. Wednesday the evening was packed with such fun things!! First we had the t-shirt relay. This is when each team sits in a circle and has to be silent. The captains start with a box of shirts…omg! Our shirts are so cute this year. They say Marimeta Police on the front…and on the back of the Reds: The Reds are Super…and on the back of the whites: The White are Great. The backs are lyrics from a camp song that goes “Oh the Red are Super, and The Whites are Great, and together as a camp we’re really first rate.” Anyways, the captains start with a box of shirts labeled with everyone from the teams names. We all keep silent and pass them around. When you find your shirt, you stand up and put it on. It was a really close race, but the Reds beat the whites by less than 5 seconds. After the t-shirt relay, we had the “peanut” hunt. We don’t really search for peanuts anymore, just in case anyone is allergic. This year we had a “mint” hunt. Each team is given an animal sound. The reds were hee-haw and the whites were cah-caw. When you see a “peanut” you have to stand over it and make the sound until a captain from your team comes and picks it up. You are not allowed to make any gestures or any motions…only allowed to say the animal sound. It is very funny to watch. I heard there was going to be a youtube video posted about the peanut hunt later. After the peanut hunt, we had taps and went to bed. But, we didn’t really go to bed. The senior cabin went into every cabin and made us get in all black. We were then instructed to go the rec hall. Of course, everyone thought that it was stalk the lantern, but it was not! We played a new game called mission impossible. Basically, the idea is similar to stalk the lantern because you want to get past people with flash lights, but it is completely different. Each person got a black piece of paper. They had to get that paper to a bucket located by a lodgie. The lodgies had flash lights and were waving them in the same pattern the whole time. If they got someone with their flash light then they walkie-talkied to the rec hall the persons name, and then that person was in jail. You could get as many black pieces over in the time period as possible, until you got caught. While this was going on, the captains were going around looking for clues to unlock a locker and get a walkie-talkie to say mission complete. The coolest part was that there were obstacles all over the field so that the people trying to get the paper in the buckets had stuff to hide behind. It was kind of like all the the movies where people are trying to escape from jail without getting caught by that big rotating light. It was a fun filled night! I was so tired, but we got a sleep in Thursday morning. I am having such a great time! I love and miss you! Love, Your Camper
Five Year Night and MTV Awards July 10, 2013Dear Mom and Dad, The MTV awards were so funny! The counselors made mixes of the songs and kept repeating all of the funny parts. Plus we got to find out the winners of MTV. Best Costume was Meta Group 8 – I’ll Make a Man Out of You Best Lip-Sync was Meta Group 3 – My New Philosophy Best Dance was Mari Group 3 – I Got You Most Creative was Meta Group 1 – Positive Best Overall was Meta Group 5 – Thneedville After MTV awards, five year and up campers got to go to Alexander’s for pizza. The campers that stayed at camp got to have extra fun activities. Some cabins watched movies in the rec hall, some cabins got a story read by Frankie, some cabins got tucked in by Ted, and some cabins got to watch TV in the lodge. I think everyone had a great time! Today we had a little bit of a different day. We had 4th and 5th G day activities in the morning…followed by general before lunch. It’s fun to switch it up sometimes. This afternoon is town day. All first four week campers get to go to Eagle River and go shopping. I think some of the 4 week campers in my cabin will bring me back some fudge. The campers that stayed at camp had Al Lewis activities. Al Lewis activities are where we can do whatever is offered. The counselors volunteer to teach different things and the campers get to pick what they want. It is always fun to get to do stuff that is not normally on my schedule. Tonight we will have Team Comp…followed by a very special activity. Tonight we get to play Stalk the Lantern. Stalk the Lantern is such a fun game. It was created when there was a power outage for a long time back in 1999. All of the power is turned off in camp. The Lodge tries to plan Stalk the Lantern for a night when there is no moon. Campers are given starting points: riflery, archery, tennis, and the ski shed. Everyone dresses in all black. The counselors have chairs that are set up in a bullseye around camp. You have to try to get from the starting point to the “lantern.” The lantern is the lodiges with flashlights. If you get caught by a flashlight you go to a counselor and get the amount of points. No one has stalked the lantern in years. But a lot of people get pretty close. I’m so glad we are getting to play this year! Tomorrow will be normal activities and packing for the campers that are leaving. I am sad to see my friends leave, but I am excited to see you. Tomorrow night will be first four banquet. They give out awards and the captains of Mari and Meta make speeches. And of course they announce the winner of Mari vs Meta. It is a really close race this year. This will probably be my last letter for first four weeks because I will see you on Friday!! I can’t wait to give you a big hug and kiss! I have missed you so much. I love and miss you! Love, Your Camper