Hey, Camp Fans!

The camp stories we received for our ‘Share your Camp Story’ Contest here at Everything Summer Camp were so great! It was a wonderful time reading through them all and now I’m excited to share them with all our followers on the Blog and post each submission right here on its own day!

After our ten lucky prize winners, I’ve moved on to the rest of your submissions. The following post is from Lindsey S. who wrote in to tell us about her daughter’s camp experience at Camp Longhorn. Here’s her submission:

“This was my daughters first time at camp. Neither my husband nor I went to sleep away camp as kids. Needless to say, we were all nervous the months leading up to camp. Once a month we did the Camp Longhorn merit questions together. That was fun because there were little details about the camp that made my daughter, Bobbi, excited about what to expect at camp. Once summer started, I knew it was time to start packing for camp. I had no clue how to pack a kid for a week at camp. My friend told me to start with ordering the trunk. Bobbi ended up asking Santa for her trunk and accessories. It was fun to have her pick out and personalize everything. As a mom, I wanted all of her things to coordinate, but she just wanted all kinds of different things. It seemed like every week we were thinking of something that I needed to order to make her stay comfortable. About a week before she left, we started compiling everything. She was very into helping me. She wanted each outfit in a different labeled Ziploc bag and everything to have a place.

The bus to camp came on a Sunday morning to the Target in our town. I knew she didn't know anyone at her camp location and I was excited for her to meet new people, but when the bus arrived and she did not know anyone and it seemed like everyone else had a familiar face to sit by, I felt terrible for her. I had tears in my eyes because I felt guilty for sending her away with no friends but she went on the bus with no tears. I remember checking the website constantly that evening checking to see if there were any pictures of her. I just wanted to see one smile.

Finally, I saw her laughing and smiling with her cabin. We picked her up after the week and she exhausted. When I unpacked her trunk—it was like she was only there for 3 days because most of her clothes were never touched.

The best thing I can say about the camp experience is this story. My daughter is very timid and does not like to try new things. We went to a waterpark the week after camp and she did not want to try anything. I asked her if she did scary things at camp and she said she did because she was having such a great time with her new friends. I knew that camp was the right decision after that. I think camp is important because it gets kids out of their comfort zone!”

Absolutely, Lindsey! As comfortable as our comfort zone may be, it won’t do much for personal growth. Sounds like Bobbi had a great time at camp if she was so distracted with having fun that she tried new, scary things! Here’s to many more fun summers for Bobbi and further steps outside her comfort zone!

For everyone else, you can give Camp Longhorn a closer look by clicking right here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We were delighted to see such a great response to our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest here at Everything Summer Camp and now we’re eager to publish each one right here on the Blog! After our seven lucky winners, everyone else who submitted received a $20 gift certificate to our online store!

Today’s post is from Gianna B. who attended Camp Tapawingo in Maine. Check out her submission on why camp is so great!

“My best memory at camp It was my first year at a new camp and I was very nervous to meet my bunk, but when I got to my bunk immediately I got to know my bunkmates and they were all so nice to me. The next day we had our swim test and when I was getting tired my bunk mate motivated me into finishing it and later that day I was feeling home sick and my bunkmate comforted me and when my friend had to be sent home all my bunkmates comforted me. I actually have a few memories one being when I first got to know one of my best friends and when she got back from her 6 day trip and getting to spend time with her later that day. Another memory that will stay with me is when I got on a horse for the first time. And although I had to leave I will never forget my first year at Tapawingo.”

Thanks for sharing your experience with us, Gianna! I’m glad you found such a welcoming and comforting home away from home in Camp Tapawingo! How cool that you got to meet so many new people! What a great place Tapawingo must be! For everyone else, if it sounds like Tapawingo could be the right place for you, check it out for yourself by clicking here. As always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

Your camp stories were great this year! It was lots of fun to read through them all and now I’m excited to share them with all our readers online! We’re posting each submission right here on the Blog! Since I’ve finished announcing our ten lucky winners who took larger prizes, I’ve moved on to everyone else who got a $20 gift certificate as a show of our appreciation.

The following post is from Garner F. who wrote in to share her summer experience while her sister attended Camp DeSoto for nearly a month. Here’s what she wrote:

“Hi! My name is Garner F. My sister, Anna F., attended Camp Desoto during the month of July. I missed her so much. During the weeks she was away, I learned some important lessons. One lesson I learned was what it was like to not have my sister around. She has been away for a week, but that is different than 3.5 – 4 weeks. This was a whole new experience for me and my family. While she was gone, I realized just how big a part of my life she is. I missed her funny jokes and hilarious remarks, her artwork everywhere, and, yes, even her comings and goings in and out of my room without my permission. I noticed that I missed the little things that she does that I’ve never really noticed before. Now, even though my family and I missed her so much, I had the opportunity to grow closer and spend extra time with my youngest sister, Dorothy. I am so thankful for that opportunity. It meant a lot to me and I think it meant a lot to her too. However, even though I grew closer with Dorothy, I stilled missed Anna a ton. I missed her sarcasm and sass. But her being away taught me that I should not take the time I have with her for granted. She is a very special part of my life, and I couldn’t wait to see her again. Finally, pickup day arrived. I eagerly walked into the camp and stood waiting and looking. Then I saw her. My sister. We ran and hugged each other. It was awesome. I missed her more than I thought I did. Getting to be there for pickup was great. I was so happy to see her and couldn’t wait to hear all about camp.”

What a sweet submission this is, Garner! We’ve heard from campers and their parents before but this is the first time we’ve gotten the perspective of a sibling’s account of a summer camp story. Our siblings are easy to take for granted—they’re always around…until they leave for somewhere. It’s nice that you saw her time away at summer camp as a lesson to appreciate her as well as an opportunity to bond a little better with your younger sister. Sounds like you’re fortunate to have such close siblings and likewise they’re fortunate to have you. Thanks for sharing, Garner.

If anybody else would like to give Camp DeSoto a closer look, take a peek when you click right here and, as always, thanks for reading. Happy Camping!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We were happy to get the turnout that we did this year for our annual Everything Summer Camp ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest! Your camp stories were great! I had such a fun time reading through them and we’ve been having a blast publishing them here on the Blog to share them with all our readers online! We’re posting each submission with their own individual post right here on the Blog!

Since I’ve finished announcing our ten lucky winners who took larger prizes in September, I’ve moved on to the rest of your submissions. The following post is from Ava S. who wrote in to tell us about her summer stay at Camp Ozark. Check it out:

“Hi, I’m Ava I’m going to tell you about my awesome, and funny Camp Ozark experience.

SUNDAY: When I got off the bus I was SO excited to finally be at one of my favorite places besides the couch, Camp Ozark! It was my second year and I was was pumped. As we were heading to our cabin a girl walked up to me and said, “Hi I’m Harper!” I answered back “Ava nice to meet you.” Harper smiled and said “It’s my fist year here and I’m a little nervous but excited.” She raised an eyebrow “What year is it for you?” she exclaimed. “Second,” I said nicely, “And don’t be nervous, it’s really fun”. We got to our cabin, my trunk hadn’t come yet and I wasn’t worried because I had just gotten off the bus.

Before I knew it, Mish Mash had started! Mish Mash is a fun supervised free time where all things in camp are open. Harper and I had been talking and we needed to take our swim tests. One of our counselors Kate had come with us to watch us. We passed our swim tests in the FREEZING cold water. We went to the slides and had a super fun time. Then I saw a slide labeled “TOILET BOWL”. I said to Kate and Harper “We HAVE to go on that slide!” They agreed and we headed over there. Though I was nervous, the slide looked SO fun and I couldn’t resist. Kate and a few other kids from our cabin had already gone down when it was my turn. I didn’t have second thoughts, and the next thing I knew I was headed down the long tube. The water from the beginning had already blinded me so I tried to wipe my eyes but a big “BUMP” had stopped me. I started heading down the whirly part of the slide. Once I FINALLY got a chance to wipe my eyes, “SPLASH” into the cold water I went. As soon as my mouth kissed the surface the girls started talking and asking me questions. I couldn’t hear yet because of the water still draining out of my ear so I just nodded and said yes.

After dinner we went to our cabins to get ready for Theme Night, I started to get bit worried because, well my outfit for theme night was in my trunk. It was later and my trunk still hadn’t come yet. “No biggie I don’t have to wear a costume” I thought. So after theme night which was SO COOL we went to our cabin and my trunk STILL HAD NOT COME IN YET. Ok, so at this point I was PANICKED I asked my counselors if they had seen it, no from them, cabin mates, nope. I WAS IN A SWIMSUIT. Well I didn’t take shower that night. I WAS VERY COLD. I was fine though, (thankfully) 😅.

WEDNESDAY: Everything had gone by so fast, and the next thing I knew it was Wednesday. It was also TEAM COMPETITION TIME. I’m OSAGE the blue team I WAS a competitive swimmer and lucky for me the competition for that day was swimming. We CRUSHED the CADDO they were almost five people behind us. IT WAS SICK (In a good way).

THEME NIGHTS: The Theme Nights Are basically Camp Ozark’s let go, fun time, unique, nights. It is one of the things that make Camp Ozark, well, Camp Ozark. They’re different outfits for different theme nights, settings, and even costumes. For me since I’m a one week camper these are my theme nights One: State fair, Two: Planet Ozark, Three: Disney, Four: Red, White, and Blue Five: Totally Ozark Six: Disco Daze. Those are the theme nights that make Camp Ozark incomparable.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: Mission Impossible sounds REALLY cool; right, well IT IS. Not everyone knows this but… mission impossible is ALWAYS on Disney night. You know why, well on Disney night we do our thing, and then we have a show on the lake. After our usual theme nights end its late, but with Disney, it’s still light out. Everyone goes to their cabins and then on the speaker they say “That’s right, everybody its Mission Impossible!!! We all get dressed and start. There is challenges that you have to do and the winning cabin gets a PIZZA PARTY!!!!!!!!

Well that’s all.

Sincerely,

Ava”

Hi, Ava. Thanks for writing in to us this year! I’m glad you had so much fun during your summer camp stay. Sorry your trunk didn’t make it to camp when you needed it. I guess your swimsuit WAS your costume for Theme Night. Anyway, it sounds like you had fun regardless. Sounds like Camp Ozark is a super cool camp. For anybody interested in Camp Ozark, take a closer look by clicking right here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

There are more stories to share from the Everything Summer Camp ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest! Your camp stories were so great and were such a fun time reading through them all and it’s been exciting to share them with all our readers online! We’re publishing each submission individually on a post right here on the Blog one by one!

We had ten lucky prize winners and now it’s time to publish the rest of your submissions. The following submission is from Taylor P. who wrote in to us about year #5 at Camp Sloane:

“My name is Taylor. I’ve been going to Camp Sloane YMCA for 5 years. How my story starts is a little unusual because I’m a 3rd generation camper at Sloane meaning that my mom and uncles went to camp as well as my grandma. My cousins(8 & 9) also fly in from California and South Carolina to attend camp with me each year, 2022 was their 2nd year and my little brother(12) who also submitted his story attends camp with me, 2022 was his 4th year. Out of us 4 I’ve been going the longest since I’m the oldest but it's become kind of a family tradition and it's really fun. This year started off a little rocky and was a year like no other, but turned out to be the greatest year I’ve ever had at camp. The day that I was supposed to go to camp I tested positive for COVID and wasn't able to go to camp, I was absolutely devastated because Camp Sloane is truly like a 2nd home to me. I never had symptoms and would have never tested if it wasn’t required by camp to start camp and all I thought was why now. I hadn't ever had COVID since the pandemic started and if it was going to happen, why did it have to happen now. One long week later I got to camp, still wearing a mask for a few more days but I was there. One of my favorite things about camp has always been the people and as soon as I got there, everyone was super friendly. I reconnected with old friends and made new ones pretty quickly. As soon as I checked in, my village director Maeve brought me up to my village, helped to get me settled in and then helped me get my schedule. I said my goodbyes to my mom and Maeve brought me to my first activity which was soccer. Later during lunch, Maeve introduced me to my tent counselors and my tentmates, it was a little awkward at first but not for long. I went out to oval (kinda like recess) after lunch and there I got to reconnect with some of my friends from previous years. The session was over a week later but I was still overall happy with how the session went and felt back at home. The next session started and unfortunately pretty quickly I started to get made fun of for the way I dressed, looked, and acted. It happened a tiny bit last session but not nearly as much. I tried not to let it get to me as it was little kids mostly not understanding that everyone doesn't need to fit into all the stereotypes but it was really hard. I lived in Student Hill(a village for 9th and 10th grade campers and staff that are female identifying or non binary) but little kids from Pios(village for 3rd and 4th grade campers) and Juniors(village for 5th and 6th grade campers) kept insisting that I lived in the Valley(villages for male identifying campers and staff). I understood why they thought that and I was okay with them asking questions but when they refused to believe I lived in my respective village because of stereotypes that really bothered me. My first week I didn’t truly connect to any staff members so I didn’t really tell anyone how I felt but as I became closer with my tent and my tent counselors I told them how I felt and they tried to help as best they could but nothing really changed. In session 3 I was part of PA camp which was a specialized camp focused on acting, singing, dancing and the camp culminated with us putting on a play for the rest of the camp. It was a lot of fun but there were still issues going on outside of this specialty experience. Kids were still making fun of me and refusing to believe that I lived in Student Hill but one night something happened that changed the rest of my experience. It was PA overnight which meant we watched a movie and did karaoke and lots of other stuff together as PA camp. At the beginning of the night I was struggling because I had just had a rough day but I talked to an amazing staff member named Spiegel and that changed the rest of my experience. Spiegel is our adventure director which means that they are in charge of all the adventure activities such as Mtn biking, climbing tower, outdoor cooking, and stuff like that. Technically they could have gone the entire session without interacting with me but they didn't. They became one of my biggest support systems for the rest of the session. I had talked to them before a few times and instantly honestly felt safe and comfortable with them but I had never really talked to them about anything super serious or regarding my mental/emotional state. That night everything changed though, they just listened to me, they listened to how I felt, acknowledged my feelings, and did everything they could to comfort me even if they wouldn't change anything. That night, they helped me out more than they'll ever know. The rest of the session I would talk to them almost every day, they would sit with me at meal times and just always be there to support me. The day we had to leave, I was hysterical. I didn't want to have to say goodbye to someone who had supported me so much and made my experience just 10x better. I literally cried all morning, dreading when I would have to say goodbye but I knew it wasn't goodbye. It was just see you later because I already signed up for 2023 and I’m just hoping that Spiegel will be there again next year with me. They helped me so much and did so much more for me than they’ll ever know and that's okay but they were a big part of my story this year. Another huge part of my story was another staff member named Genevieve. Genevieve was the Pio(3rd and 4th grade) and Junior(5th and 6th grade) Hill(female identifying and non binary campers and staff) village director however I knew her prior to 2022 as she was my tent counselor in 2018. Every single day at Oval I would talk to her and hang out with her as I was also best friends with her cousins who were younger so we would all hang out together but as I was struggling and my cousins were also struggling because they were homesick and I was trying to help them and it all just became so stressful, she was always there to talk to and help me out. These two amazing staff members were so, so hard to say see you later to and both just continued to show me why I love Camp Sloane so much, how amazing the community is and remind me why I come back year after year. There were so many other people that were there to support me always, shoutout to the PA staff, my tent counselors Eszter and Mitch(Session 3) and Lou and Mitch(Session 2), all the Student Hill counselors and honestly everyone who just said hi to me and offered to be there to talk. I wish I had the time to give everyone a full story as to how they helped me but Spiegel and Genevieve were just such a huge part of my camp story this year that I really needed to hit on them. Anyway after that night, my experience was changed, I had so much amazing support around me and I made so many friends that I just started to be able to drown out these kids that just wouldn't understand. I was surrounded by such a positive group of people that reminded me why Camp Sloane is just truly such an amazing place. My story this year definitely started out rough but the reason I share it is because I know not everyone’s camp story is magical, there may be some bumps in the road and it's not always the perfect model story but I know everyone still gets something out of their camp experience. I got amazing relationships with people that I still truly miss so much. I know many stories people read about camp are either magical or horror stories but so many of those stories aren't going to be close to yours. So if you are thinking about going to camp I encourage you to keep an open mind. Your story will be different from mine and it will be different from everyone else’s. While as you can tell at the beginning my story was rough, it got so much better and I was crying when I had to leave. I’m in for 2023 and if you are interested in joining the Camp Sloane family and writing your own story then please check it out. It is truly my home away from home and although my story this year is different than any other, as I said earlier even with the bumps in the road, this year was my favorite year ever. 297 until camp starts again and I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to go back for my 6th year at Camp Sloane. I’m in Summer ‘23 at Camp Sloane!!!”

Hey, Taylor! I’m glad some really good folks could come through for you and redeem your camp stay after the rocky start. While not everybody at camp can be as understanding as others, it’s great to hear that you’re happy to be a part of the Camp Sloane family! Having fun, making friends, and all-around positivity and growth are what summer camp is all about.

Thanks for your submission, Taylor. For anybody else interested in Camp Sloane, check them out right here. And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

P.S. Only 239 days, now!