Monthly Archives:July 2013

The first session has ended and there is a flurry of happiness at the waterfront.  Girls are passing swimming levels left and right!  We follow the American Red Cross Swimming program and all girls at Camp Woodland  get to take instructional swim class until they  pass out of level 6.

• Level 3 – Jillian
• Level 4 – Amelia D, Isa C.
• Level 5 – Natalie, Regina P, Claire P, Adri, Paula P, Jenna, Sofia G
• Level 6 – Cayley V, Ana Marta, Sofia D, Ana Pau T!

Great Job Ladies!!!

Yesterday evening, as the sun started to descend on another beautiful day in the North Woods, the fun here at Towering Pines and Woodland was only just beginning. Right after dinner, the girls piled into vans to go and visit the boys for a wonderful and very special 4^th of July campfire right on Lake Nokomis. The campfire leaders for the boys – The Referee, The Trojan, and The Slave – joined up with our Woodland campfire leaders Luanne, Hazel and Napoli to keep our campfire moving along and to entertain us all. Great work, campfire hosts!

All sixteen cabins from both camps performed and enjoyed a night of fine entertainment. Each cabin group performed a skit, and boy, were they hilarious! There were some camp classics, but also a few original creations. Treetops, that was quite the production! It’s always great to watch all of the campers work and perform together – and it’s especially fun to see how the boys do things!

We also had some very special musical performances from the gentleman of Towering Pines – what a treat! First, the boys from the Towering Pines Band evening workshop performed The Lumineer’s “Ho Hey.” Great job, guys! The youngest Dellingers, Calla and Willie, sang “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons, and the Sorkins, Jessica and John, teamed upfor another family performance with Phillip Phillips’ 0“Home”.Andoni a0nd Michael Palmer performed a duet and serenaded us with the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Under the Bridge”, and later Andoni followed up with a solo performance of Mumford and Sons’ “The Cave”, and we wrapped up the evening’s concert series with Jeff Jordan and John Sorkin singing and playing “The Cape.” Amazing  musical selections!

We closed campfire as always with our friendship circle and closing songs, then headed over to the waterfront for some Ooh, Ahh, Wonderful fireworks. Each burst of sparks was dedicated to a different aspect of life here at camp, including our amazing kitchen staff, the hard-working CITs, and finally, to a great summer – and many more to come – here at Towering Pines and Woodland. What an amazing way to celebrate our nation’s independence!

Usually, we have our weekly campfire on Wednesday evening. We cookout our burgers and dogs, grab our letters home, and file down to the waterfront for a fun evening of songs, skits, jokes and challenges. This Friday, though, we had a very special and very different campfire: Cabin Unity. Cabin Unity campfire is an annual tradition at Woodland, and it is a time for cabins to join together, focus on each member’s strengths, and bond as one group. It’s always a memorable and moving time, and it marks a point in the summer where the girls really “clique” together within the cabin.

            This year, Cabin Unity was hosted by the girls of Hilltop, and they started the festivities at morning assembly by assigning each cabin a color to dress in for campfire. At Rest Hour the plans continued, as each cabin composed their “cabin pledges” on sheets of birch bark. These pledges spell out the promises that the girls of the cabin make to each other, about respect, kindness, enthusiasm and cooperation. Finally, that evening, the cabins walk down to campfire, dressed all in the same color and ready to bond! Hilltop organized several bonding games, including a Compliment Circle (in which every girl both gives and receives a compliment to and from another girl in the group), the Machine Game (in which the whole cabin works together to silently represent a machine), and name games. Hilltop led us in singing “Make New Friends, But Keep the Old” – a camp favorite! We closed as usual with our friendship circle, and it was extra special after our evening of connection and community building. Thanks for hosting us, Hilltop!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Horseback Riding –  Taylor H and Aubrey B.  won “rock collection contest” at the arena.  Picking up rocks is an essential responsibility of horse caretaking.  If there are even the smallest stones in the arena, the horses could hurt themselves. Way to go girls!  They both got to choose their favorite horse to ride in their classes today!

Sailing – Nyki made her first Mooring!

Archery- Nyki passed White Yoeman in Archery.  Way to pass your first level!

Riflery

• Izzy O. passed  promarksman
• Sydnie passed Marksman
• Victorisa passed Marksman
• Paige passed bar 6
• Nicole C. passed pro marksman

Way to go ladies!  Can’t wait to see your skits at the Red- White – and Boom Camp Fire tonight!

This is what 4th of July at Camp Woodland means to one of our Alumni, Alice Decker Burke:

The Fourth of July is the time of year that most reminds me of summers at Woodland. From my very first summer at 10 years old, I always, always loved the Fourth of July TP/Woodland campfire. I loved the change of setting from Woodland’s beautiful campfire spot to TP’s, with Nakomis Lake, so windy by day, suddenly still as glass. I loved the campy skits, inevitably puzzling me because boys sometimes find things so funny that strike us girls as so dumb! (On the other hand, sometimes they’re totally, legitimately hilarious.) I loved hearing guitar played in the fading summer light, appreciating how beautiful it is to hear men and women singing together. And I loved waiting – and watching – and waiting…. and waiting… and waiting…. for each solitary firework and answering each one with a sleepy chorus of “Ooh… ahh… wonderful!”

So as I prepare to watch fireworks over Lake Michigan with 1.3 million of my closest friends, I know they’ll be a spectacular symphony of light. I know they’ll be over the top. I know the Tribune will say they were perfect. And I also know they won’t be what I really want. Because I will always prefer my fireworks on Lake Nakomis – one beautiful burst of light at a time.

– Alice Decker Burke (11 summers at Camp Woodland)