Two Weeks Go By So Quickly!

At 7:30 this morning, campers and staff were hugging, loading trunks and sleeping bags into vans, and preparing to head back to the “real world.”  The Northeast Van is already on its way up the coast, and the DC Van just left for our nation’s capital.  Folks flying from Harrisburg are putting together their stuff, and slowly but surely the cars of families are trickling in.  The atmosphere this morning is calm and a little sleepy (that’s what happens when you stay up all night watching movies in the barn), and a little sad that we won’t all be back together for another 11 months.  But we have our memories of laughter, silliness, songs, frisbee games, friendship bracelets, and so much more to keep us going until we’re back again.

A huge shout-out of thanks to our SMA3 parents, who were attentive, caring, and supportive.  We hope you enjoy hearing all of the adventures your camper had this summer!

The updates will slow down for a while as we put the farm back together after the tornado that is camp.  The staff will help clean, organize, inventory, throwing the last specks of energy they have into helping us close up for the season.  They have been a wonderful group of folks, full of enthusiasm and care.  We couldn’t have done this without them, truly.

Good luck to all with the start of the school season, and we’ll be in touch soon with reflection packets, contact lists, and the dates for SMA 2010!

Row Raft, Row Raft, Row Raft Like a Raft Rat Can!

And if you can’t row raft like a raft rat can, then you shouldn’t have a paddle in your hand!  Row Raft!

This and many other chants and songs made up the audio accompaniment to our day on the Youghiogheny River yesterday as we went white water rafting!  After a long van ride to the river, we geared up with stylish helmets and fresh-smelling life jackets and hit the river.  Boats worked on basic skills like All Forward, Left Back, Right Back, Stop, and GET DOWN! while coming up with chants for their boats (“662, we are smarter, prettier, funnier, and better rafters than yooooouuuuu!”)

We really did do some actual rafting.  The water was the perfect level yesterday, making for some sweet white water.  A few times boats got stuck on rocks, but that didn’t stop any of us!  There was some swimming in the beautiful river – sometimes from getting popped out of your boat by a rapid, sometimes because a refreshing dip was just what you wanted, and sometimes because you got thrown in by another camper or staff!

No matter what, the swimming, boating, singing, chanting, van riding, eating, and laughing came together to make an awesome day on the river!  You can check out our pictures at www.wilderness-voyageurs.com  We went on the 12th at 12:30pm.

Halfway through already!

Well when they say that time flies when you’re having fun, they’re absolutely right!  We are already halfway through our first-ever 3rd session, and it has been a blast.  From silly campfire skits (which the groups added their own special flair to) to Invention Convention and Disco Roller Skating last night, we’ve stayed busy and had a ton of fun!

Today at 9:15am, the camp is quiet, but not because everyone’s out on activities as usual – today is our All Camp Day, which starts at 10am!  After a long night of roller skating, everyone (staff included) is making the most of the sleep-in.  Once we wake up, we’ll enjoy a leisurely breakfast of donuts and bagels before diving into bunk clean-ups!  The skits for  bunk clean-ups are always classic, so we can’t wait to see what the 3rd session kids come up with today!

We’ve got another great week around the corner (overnights, dance, white water rafting, and maybe a trip to the county fair?) and we can’t wait to see what random fun the week will bring!

Goodbyes and Hellos!

With heavy hearts, we said goodbye to our SMA2 kids on Saturday.  We had enjoyed an amazing last two days with each other.  Many of our kids finished their SMAM (Stone Mountain Activities Master) on Thursday, our last day of regular activities.

- To become a SMAM and receive the official SMAM water bottle, 2nd session campers must participate in 9 out of 10 of the following activities: Rock Climbing, Windsurf/Sail, Community Service, Biking, Hiking, White Water Rafting, Waterskiing/Wakeboarding, At the Farm (horseback riding, arts & crafts, music jam, Frisbee golf, etc), Sports, and Canoeing.  We had over 15 SMAMs this session!

Thursday night we enjoyed the SMA 2 Talent Show.  It was amazing!  Campers and counselors alike participated and showed their skills.  We had singing, joke telling, magic tricks, skits, and of course performances by the camp band, The Screech Owls.

Friday we cleaned our bunks, packed our stuff, and competed in the 2009 SMA2 Crew Olympics!  Crews competed against one another in a variety of relay races to claim the top prize.  But does anyone know who won?  It certainly doesn’t matter.

Saturday we hopped in van shuttles and family cars to head back to our “real lives,” keeping the spirit of SMA in our hearts.  Can you imagine how great life would be if we all lived like we were at SMA all the time?

With a day of rest, play, and relaxation under their belts, the staff are up and at ‘em welcoming our amazing Session 3 campers!  Already we can tell that this is one special group, with tons of energy and excitement for what’s to come.  Stay tuned to hear how it all turns out!

Almost done? No way!

So much has happened in such a short amount of time!

Friday night was ROLLER SKATING!  The whole gang loaded up in the vans, dressed up in our finest Bunk Junk, and skated the night away.  A limbo competition added a little extra flare to the night, and we all came home happy and exhausted!

Saturday was our All Camp Day, which includes the necessary and silly bunk clean-ups!  Each cabin cleaned their bunk and presented a skit to earn points for their bunk – congrats to Rothrock, the winning bunk, who earned themselves ice cream cones at the lake!  After bunk clean-ups and lunch, we all went out to Greenwood Furnace to play Frisbee, swim, run around in the torrential but temporary downpour, and enjoy a delicious bar-b-que.  We ended Saturday with SMA Candle Meetings, a time to reflect with others about the SMA experience.

Sunday night we braved the chance of rain with two overnights – waterski/wakeboard and mountain biking!  Both overnights were a huge success, as was the campfire and movie back here at camp.

Last night we put on our dancing shoes for the Stone Mountain Adventures DANCE!  This session’s theme was SPACE: The Final Frontier.  The black lights were on, the glow sticks were out, and aluminum foil was the fashion accessory of choice.  It was a great time, with tons of energy, which we got to carry into today for…

WHITE WATER RAFTING!  This morning at 7:15am (ouch!) we woke up, piled in the vans, and headed out to the Youghiogheny River, 3 hours away, for a day of white water rafting.  We’re scared, but excited!  It’s definitely one of the best days in camp!

2nd Session!

Well 2nd Session has started off with a bang!  With more than half of our group being new campers, we are having a great time introducing them to all the wonderful things SMA has in store!  We are all now officially swim checked, and we’ve all learned how to belay a rock climber.  The first of our overnight adventures went out last night and will return home today with stories of campfires, canoeing, wakeboarding, and s’mores.  For those of us who stayed behind at camp, we had a great time playing silly games in the barn and then going out for ice cream at the Cafe!

Tonight we will put our creative thinking and dramatic powers to the test during the infamous SMA INVENTION CONVENTION!  It’s always sure to be a great time with lots of laughs and tons of silly photos for the slideshow!

Thanks to all of the amazing SMA2 parents, sending e-mails, letters, packages, and love.  Your campers are doing great!

Another Session!

How did this happen so soon?  Our AMAZING first session has ended, with many tears and lots of laughs, and now we are welcoming our Second Session campers!  We are so excited to get to know everyone and jump into our first ever 2-week session!

Off to meet and greet and maybe play a pick-up game of volleyball!

New Bunk Names!

It’s official!  Our bunks have new, awesome names!  Introducing…

The Furnace (formerly Upper Boys)

Tussey (formerly Middle Boys)

Rock Bottom (formerly Lower Boys)

Little J (formerly Left Girls)

Mattawanna (formerly Middle Girls)

Rothrock (formerly Right Girls)

Session 1 Update

At the official mid-way point, it seems like a great time for a 1^st session update.  We have already had so much fun, and there’s so much more left to do!  This session started off with a bang, with the now-classic combo of campfire, ice cream, and silly Jud games!  We played a great game of Capture the Flag, went on waterski and rock climbing overnights, watched the 4th of July fireworks, and had the first of our two amazing All Camp Days.

As usual, the Invention Convention was a huge hit.  This session’s inventions included Camper Busters, a Ghostbusters-type invention to get unruly campers into line, as well as a device which will make your SMA counselors obey your every whim!

This week we danced the night away at Disco Bowling and impressed our friends with our vocal stylings at Karaoke.  Today is our full-camp trip to Hershey Park, for a day of roller coasters, water rides, and lots of chocolate.

Something new this session: our campers are working towards becoming Stone Mountain Activities Masters!  If they participate in each of the following 9 activities, they will become a SMAM, and receive a commemorative Nalgene-style water bottle!  The activities are:

Hiking / Biking / Canoeing / Windsurf & Sailing / Waterski & Wakeboarding / Community Service / White Water Rafting / Rock Climbing / At the Farm (like Arts & Crafts, Frisbee Golf, or Horsemasters)

It’s already been a great week and a half, and we can’t wait to see what’s coming around the bend!

Name that Bunk House…

This will be our 27th summer of camp and we have decided it is “Time for Change” here at SMA.  This summer that change will come in the form of renaming our camper cabins.  For all you SMA alum I know this may come as a shock as it will be hard to image “Upper Boys” being named anything else.  However, we are committed to this change and we welcome your ideas for each cabin.  The best way to share your ideas is to comment on this post .

The cabin formally known as "Upper Boys"

We hope to announce the new cabin names by the opening day of camp, June 27th, 2009!