Welcome to the first typical day of this week! Campers rose to the early morning sunshine and an enthusiastic Polar Bear call this morning. Our Polar Bears hopped right out of bed and headed down to jump in the lake for a quick dip before heading back to their cabins to clean up for morning inspection (that’s right, your campers know how to clean their rooms!). Morning Stretch was led by cabin 21 today, and they talked about believing in yourself and those around you.

After a delicious breakfast of local strawberries and blueberry breakfast cake, campers headed off to CORE. Darers all gathered together on the Green Acre to learn more about one another and then learned the self worth song! This new addition to camp has been a big hit all summer and goes something like this:

I’m big, I’m strong, I’m ready for whatever comes along

I have great friends, we’ll stick together until the end

I like myself, I’m worth a lot

And you can’t tell me that I’m not

‘Cause you can’t see inside of me

Self Worth

Morning Interest Groups kicked right off after CORE and campers headed out to make some Fairy Houses, Microwave Mania crafts, dance in Zumba, go Climbing, and begin working on Pottery among many other options. After lunch, campers took a Rest Hour and then headed up to Assembly where they learned the Crawdad Song and got their tribal t-shirts. Afternoon Interest Groups had campers Sailing, Chilling with Chelsea, Horseback Riding, doing Harry Potter activities and so much more. During Free Time, campers ran down to Lake Michigan for some beach time and searched Girls Camp for the elusive paddle.

After dinner, campers gathered together for Soldiers and Spies! Each tribe worked together to pass small notes and win tribal points. Spies from the tribe have a small colored piece of paper they hide somewhere on their person. If they can make it from one of their bases to the other with the note, they win a point for their tribe. Soldiers try to tag the spies. Once tagged, the Soldier has three guesses to try to find the note. If they receive it, they get a point for their tribe. This is one of the most fun and exciting Night’s Doings and we had so much fun with it. Tonight, the Dune Tribe prevailed with an astounding 258 points!

We ended our day watching a beautiful sunset over Lake Michigan as cabin 26 led our Evening Reflection about growth. The cabin invited everyone to write ways in which they hope to grow in the next two weeks here at Miniwanca and will hang the poster boards for all to see. With that peaceful end to the day, we’re ready to tackle another great one tomorrow!