Camp Woodland Blog

Special shout out to the ladies of  Sunnyside, especially Elena, for writing about the camper reunion!

Before Thanksgiving, the campers and counselors gathered together for our annual Camp Reunion. There were lots of hugs to go around, memories to be shared, and things to be thankful for. It started off as usual: the running into cabin mates’ arms, seeing the Jordans’ smiling faces, and the feeling as though you were back at camp just for a day. Everyone huddled around the TV for this year’s camp video, in a similar fashion to those Wednesday night campfires. Traveling back in time and watching the best moments of the summer from the epic shows, daily activities, and crazy Sunday games. We all sat close to our cabin mates and counselors eating delicious cookies and popcorn, catching up with each other, and going around finding out what new and exciting things everyone has been up to this year. Counselors came around taking pictures of all the cabins and there was nothing that could feel more like camp. Personally, my favorite part was looking at the incredible scrapbooks. A picture is worth a thousand words and so is camp. After that we all took turns writing on leaves of what we were thankful for about camp and, as imagined, the list could go on forever. We may have a long year ahead of us before the summer comes around again but this reunion was definitely successful in showing how big of a family Woodland is and filling that long gap from this summer to next summer.

Couldn’t attend?? Click here to see the rest of the reunion photos on the camp photo site!

Thanks to the CITs for interviewing the rest of the Camp Woodland campers/staff:

• Collette V: taking Spanish; went to Mexico in October; paddle-boarding

• Chelsea T: taking dance (ballet, hip-hop, jazz); went to London in October

• Daphne B: taking tennis lessons and playing the clarinet in band

• Elena K: played volleyball this fall; plays the violin in the orchestra, trying out for a part in Mulan

• Jessica S: in show choir, getting ready for Christmas and Spring Musical (Legally Blond)

• Claire P: taking sailing

• Caroline P: is a volunteer tutor

• Jackie J: school and homework, played on freshman tennis team this fall at Glenbrook North, excited to be a CIT in 2014!

• Amelia D: on Student Council; taking dance and horseback riding

• Molly J: read “Moral Instruments” series in 2 months

• Shelby J: has a bunny (Daisy) and 5 dogs

• Kelly J: Language Arts, enjoying playing club soccer (fall and spring: outdoor, winter: indoor), taking modern and hip-hop dance, looking forward to horseback riding

• Ana DLF: doing physical therapy for her hip, spending a week with Jackie and Kelly and will be going to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving, looking forward to being a CIT

• Sofia DLF (via Ana): plays tennis and does horseback riding at home; looking forward to seeing her friends at camp

• Cayley V: playing club volleyball

• Aubrie B: taking care of baby bunnies; doing competitive ice skating

• Parker H: has a rabbit named “Cinnamon”

• Taylor H: has a rabbit named “Sugar”

• Jenna K: taking “point” dance

• Sofia S: in school choir and is a singer in a rock band; in Chicago Children’s Choir; played volleyball

• Sam M: travel soccer and meeting new people

• Eden A: went to Arizona for a week

• Gianna C: learned to jump in riding

• Nicole C: Cantar! She is also a cheerleader

• Abby S: met Harry Styles (so lucky!)

• Georgia S: plays basketball, volleyball, and soccer

• Libby B: tennis

• Grace G: gives “Catching Fire” 4 stars; plays club volleyball; went to Nashville in September and will be traveling to Vancouver in March

• Lydia M: plays volleyball and the flute

• Irene M: plays the trumpet

• Claire S: on the travel volleyball team

• Grace B: volunteers at a barn for those with physical challenges; taking a creative cuisine class and is learning how to make a variety of recipes; looking forward to being a CIT

• Rachel P: will be a 1st year camper in 2014; does dance (ballet); likes playing and hanging out with friends; is looking forward to horseback riding

• Grace C: on varsity gymnastics team and making college visits

• Alex K: getting excited to hear back from colleges; taking debate; working as a tutor in the reading/writing center; planning to get lifeguarding certification before camp next summer

• Natalie B: enjoying her freshman year at the University of WI (Madison) where she is studying political science

• Liz H (via Betty): teaching 1st grade English in Gwang-Jiu, Korea

• Becca H (via Betty): in vet school

• Callah D (via Susan): in her senior year at Concordia College in Milwaukee

• Susan D: working at Uncle Dan’s Great Outdoor Store in Highland Park and enjoying her grandkids

• Kim A: tutoring students grades 3-12+ in Math, presenting workshops at various camp conferences, living in both Georgia and Texas

Reminders of a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

As the last week of November rolls around, I am reminded of watching Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving Special every year around this time on TV.  Charlie Brown ends up serving Thanksgiving dinner for his friends thanks to Peppermint Patti’s self-invitation when he is really supposed to go to his Grandmother’s for a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  Charlie Brown enlists the help of Snoopy to help set up for the feast and, low and behold, a non-traditional fare ensues.

When Charlie Brown’s guests sit down to dinner on an assortment of lawn chairs placed around a ping-pong table, his friends are surprised to find popcorn, toast, jelly beans, pretzels, and ice cream sundaes on the menu.  After a much disgruntled Peppermint Patti voices her opinion about the food selections, Linus reminds the group about the true meaning of Thanksgiving and how important it is just to be together by retelling the story of Myles Standish and the Pilgrims on that very first Thanksgiving Day .

After having recently been to the Woodland Camp Reunion this past weekend, I am thankful for the opportunity to get together with camp friends at the start of the holiday season.  It was so fun to see campers, staff, and alumni gather 3 months after the close of the summer of “All We Can Be in 1-3”.  It was a special time for friends to reunite and catch up on the events of our days away from camp while knowing that the summer of “Dare to Explore in 1-4” is now closer than it was in August!  We were even able to share a similar fare to Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving feast (popcorn, pretzels, cheese sticks, grapes, juice boxes, and other tasty treats!) while huddling close to the TV so that we could watch the highlights of the summer of 2013 on the big screen.  Camp memories were relived and shared, stories retold, friendships rekindled, and plans for next summer were formed!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all campers, staff, alumni, and friends…we are grateful for your membership to the Woodland/Towering Pines Family!  Many blessings in the year to come!

Favorite Things from Treetops

Paula:  I love sailing, especially the mini-fish.  I also like arts and crafts because you can be really creative.  What I like is spoon assassins because it is a game played with the entire camp.  Also, I like to go to Woodland and TP fair because you can do a lot of things. Also, I love campfires and inside jokes and the evening activities.  I LOVE CAMP THE WAY IT IS!!!

Sam: My favorite things camp are meeting new people, doing new things, trying new foods, getting to bond with your counselors and cabin mates, going on canoe trips, the fun evening activities, events (Birthday, Olympics, Spoon Assassins, Banquet, Song Contest, Gold Rush, TP/Woodland Fairs, Shows, Co-Ed Show, Campfires, 4^th of July, etc.)  FUN! FUN! FUN!

Eden: My favorite things about camp are counselors.  I chose the counselors because they are so helpful, entertaining, and caring. Another one of my favorite things about camp is the food.  The food at camp Woodland is awesome! Dan, I bet you will end up on a professional cooking show – that is how good you are at cooking!  The last thing I love about camp is the new friends I meet because they are so thoughtful, and I couldn’t ask for anything better! I LOVE CAMP WOODLAND!

Parker: My 5 favorite things about camp are (drum roll please!):

5. Spoon Assassins

4. Gold Rush! So Fun!

3. Canteen

2. So many activity choices!

1. You also meet new friends and see old ones!

Camp is soooooooooooooo much FUN!

Sofia: One of my favorite things about camp is spoon assassins because it is so much fun!  Another thing is Olympics because we compete at different skills and cheer on a team.  I like Gold Rush because it is very intense and fun.  The Drama, Dance, and Gymnastics Shows are awesome because you can show everyone your skills.  Friends!  Here you meet real friends and have fun with them!

Molly: My favorite thing about camp is the people. Everyone is nice to everyone!  All the girls make sure that everyone is included. By the end of camp everyone is really good friends with girls of all ages. Girls become like sisters!

Is your daughter experiencing the “Summer Camp Blues”?  Classic symptoms include:

• Making a caper chart for  your house and always requesting to be “hopper”.
• Eating lunch at exactly 12:30pm everyday
• Skyping with a multitude of friends from all over the world
• “All We Can Be in 1-3!” is thrown into many conversations as an extra push to experience a new activity
• The family computer weather widget is defaulted to “Eagle River, WI”

Yes, these are just a few classic symptoms of “Summer Camp Blues”.  But we at Camp Woodland have an easy cure, RSVP to the Camp Woodland and Towering Pines Camper Reunion in Northbrook, IL (suburb of Chicago).  In less than two weeks, campers will be able to catch up on all the camp news, get a first look at the 2013 summer scrapbook, and see the highly anticipated camper reunion video.  This is such a great time to reminisce about all the good things your daughter experienced and accomplished over the summer.

Also, check out the end of the summer slide show with the CITs from both Camp Woodland and Towering Pines Singing.  I have to admit, the waterfront, the amazing sunsets, and the fantastic camper memories came rushing back in an instant.  Please share with your chidren if they do not have permission to use social media.

If you can’t make it to the reunion, do not hesitate to request a house visit. Jeff and JoAnne would love to see you and can bring the scrapbook and any videos your camper wants to see again.

Reunion Details

Date: November 23, 2013

Where: Jeff and Jenny’s House

Time: 3:30-5:30pm Campers and staff

RSVP: Email us by November 20, 2013 to let us know if you can make it!

Or just give us a call at: 847- 446-7311

Throughout the winter  we enjoy hearing from our campers and find out what they are doing.  Aubrie B, Silverbirch cabin, loved being in farm zoo so much she convinced her parents to adopt Marshmallow and Butterscotch.  They were two of the camp’s favorite female bunnies, or so we thought!  Butterscotch delivered two baby bunnies in early October.  One bunny looks just like butterscotch and the other one is gray just like marshmallow.

Aubrie wrote us a little post about her newest farm zoo experience:
Translation: “The rabbits had babies. One of them looked like Butterscotch. The other looks like Marshmallow. They are three weeks old. They are starting to eat alfalfa. They are also starting to jump. (They were only walking/crawling at first.) They are so cute and so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Thanks Aubrie for sharing!

We Care and We Want to Know…. Email us at campwoodlandtp@gmail.com and let us know what you are doing this year at school, sports, clubs, family activities.

Costumes are not just for Halloween…we dress up at camp almost every day!  Decades Night, 4th of July Games, Pirates Day, Campfires…you name it, we wear it!  We would love to see pictures of you in your Halloween costume, so email us at: campwoodlandtp@gmail.com

Favorite Things from Starshine

Kelly: Bonding over cabin dance parties, spoon assassins because of trusting no one, the joy of horse back riding because I don’t do it at home, meeting new people, and working on Song Contest and Lip Sync Contest together as a cabin.

Cayley: My favorite thing at camp is just about everything! My favorite activity is tennis – I take 2 hours of it!  I love spoon assasins, it is such a rush!  I love banquet even though it is super sad.  Also, my counselors are amazing! Gold Rush is so fun, too!

Isa: Dessert because it tastes really good, spoon assasins because it is a very fun game, my friends because they are so awesome, and sailing because it is fun to act like we’re on the ocean.

Ana Pau G: Spoon assasins, Campfires, Olympics, Friends, Activities, and Riflery.  I liked when we worked on Song Contest as a cabin.

Barbie: All the activities, my friends, canoeing trip, campfire, our counselors (Lindsay and Jenny), the songs and games.  I love Camp Woodland…I just have a lot of fun here!!!!

p.s. The Camp Reunion for the Chicago area will be held on Saturday, November 23rd — we hope you can join us!