Hey, Camp Fans!

It’s the Everything Summer Camp ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest! We’re in full swing for this year, announcing our lucky winners and sharing their stories right here on the Blog. Today, I’m announcing another one of our $50 gift certificate winners! Today, the winner is….

Claudia B.!

Congratulations, Claudia! You win a $50 gift certificate to our one-stop camping gear shop! Claudia enjoyed her summer stay at The Pines Catholic Camp. Read about it in her Contest entry right here:

“When I first got to camp, I dropped my trunk off and went to my cabin. It was brown with a purple tin roof. When I got there, a few girls were already there. I unpacked my stuff and me and the other girls talked and got to know each other. The rest of the day, we got to know the rules. That night, I really missed my parents. The next day, we had a very great breakfast and then we went to our first activity of the day. It was SLOBSlide/blob! The blob was so fun. The slide was so big.

The Pines (my camp) named it the Hail Mary because they wanted kids to say the Hail Mary before they got to the water. After that, we went back to our cabin to get changed. After that, we had one or two more activities before lunch. Then we had VillBo (village bonding time) and then we went to Paradise. Paradise is where we can do almost whatever we wanted to do. I bought candy and swam. The pool also had a waterslide. Then, we had dinner, then nightgames. Nightgames are camp games we play like Capture-the-Flag and Tag. The next day, we ate breakfast and then we did our first activity. After lunch, we had power club in which we talked about God and Gospels and other stuff like that. Also, we did fun activities.

The very last day, we packed up. My trunk was a huge, huge mess. It was so messy I lost one sock. We carried our trunks away. After that, we had mass. Then we said our goodbyes and left. Over all, I had a great camp experience.”

So cool, Claudia! It’s great to hear all of the fun things you got to do at camp! The Pines sounds like a fantastic place for summer camp filled with amazing activities and cool traditions! I’m glad you had so much fun. To anybody else interested in The Pines Catholic Camp, you can check it out by clicking right here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

The ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest is in full swing for this year. We’ve been announcing our lucky winners and sharing their stories right here on the Blog throughout September. And today, I’m announcing our first of the three $50 gift certificate winners! Today’s winner is….

Anne M.!

Congratulations, Anne! You’re our first $50 prize winner! Anne had a great time at Camp Nakanawa. Read about it in his Contest entry right here:

“My name is Anne M. I am 11 years old. I have been going to Camp Nakanawa for the month of July for the last four years. Nakanawa is in Eastern Tennessee and has been around for 100 years! This summer was its 100th summer. My Mom, Aunt, Great Aunt, and Great Grandmother all went to Nakanawa. I had a lot of fun this year. One of my favorite activities is horseback riding. The counselor who runs the barn, Wyeth, is one of my favorite people at camp. I really enjoy being at the barn and doing activities with the horses. This year I got to do something very special. I was in the horse show! It was a lot of fun. Thankfully I got to ride Skipper, not Cola. Everybody knows that Cola is a slowpoke! We walked and trotted on the horses. In the end I got 3rd place. I had a lot of fun at camp this summer and the horse show was just one of the many fun adventures!”

Nice work on placing 3^rd in the horse show, Anne and thanks for sharing with us how your time at camp went! Sounds like you and Skipper have a special bond! Congratulations to Camp Nakanawa as well for its 100^th summer! If Nakanawa sounds like the right camp experience for you, give it a closer look by clicking here. Tune in tomorrow when I reveal who our next winner is. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

The end of summer’s always bittersweet, but year-after-year, we’re excited here at Everything Summer Camp to keep with our traditional ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest! We saw an excellent response with your submissions since we’ve upped the ante this year, making the grand prize $250. 

Today we have the last of our $25 winners. And that winner is….

Eli E.!

Congratulations, Eli! You’re our fourth $25 prize winner! Eli had a great summer stay at Camp Onas this year as he has for the last three years as well! Read all about it in his entry right now:

“One day, I was hanging out in another bunk and my friend started talking about how many caterpillars he had killed that day (11, which seemed like a lot at the time.) At first, I was against it, because I believe in animal rights, but then a LOT more caterpillars came. That afternoon, I looked up and the ceiling was COVERED with caterpillars! There were at least 500! People's beds were crawling with caterpillars. There was a caterpillar infestation--and it spread to my bunk! Whenever I was in the bunk, caterpillars would rain down from the ceiling. When it got really bad, and other bunks started getting caterpillars, too, the counselors started noticing it. Two counselors were put in charge of caterpillar-killing.

We made a lot of jokes about killing caterpillars—for theme night, I had to dress up as a villain and I wore my sleeping bag to the dining hall to be an evil caterpillar. There were caterpillar activities where groups of us went to kill caterpillars by the dining hall. The last night of camp, it was so bad, we even had to put all of our mattresses onto a truck and move to the barn to sleep there.

The caterpillars won the war against us on the last few days—one even got into my camp trunk and my mom found it when we got home! But we still had a great summer!”

What a swarming submission, Eli! I have never seen so many caterpillars nor have I ever heard of a caterpillar infestation before. How crazy! I love that this didn’t put a damper on the fun at summer camp. When life throws you caterpillars, make butterflies, I guess! Your evil caterpillar costume sounds hilarious and rather clever. Sorry the caterpillars won the war, but at least you brought a pet home with you!

Help reverse the caterpillar-to-camper ratio at Camp Onas next summer and check it out for your summer camp experience next summer! Be sure to come back a couple days from now on Sunday when we move on to announcing our $50 winners. And, as always, thanks for reading!

 - John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We’re announcing the winners to our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest right here on the Blog. Keep tuning in to see who else won; it might just be you. And, now for our third $25 winner—congratulations to….

Josie E.!

How about a round of applause? Josie is today’s winner! She wrote in to tell us about her time at Camp Newaygo. Here’s her submission:

Hello, my name is Josie. I am 9-1/2. This year I went to Camp Newaygo. When I got there, I just knew that I was going to have fun because I had been waiting since Christmas to go. I was in Cabin 9, and my counselors were Audrey, Joyce, and Laura. Joyce came all the way from Africa. There were 6 girls in cabin 9 and we got to wear purple scarves for our cabin. Since we were at Mini Camp, we got to try a lot of different things. Some of the things we did were canoeing, gymnastics, swimming fun, and games, fishing, and more canoeing :). I found out at camp that I really like to go canoeing. When I went canoeing Laura, our counselor, sat in the middle while my friend Izzy and I were paddling. At night time we played marshmallow paint wars, we zip lined and we had ceremony by the waterfront. If you go to Camp Newaygo you will have SO MUCH FUN. I hope I can go next year.

Thanks for this great submission, Josie! It’s wonderful to hear that you had SO MUCH FUN this summer! Camp Newaygo sounds like an awesome place filled with awesome people. I’m glad you enjoyed yourself so much—especially during your time in a canoe. I too love canoeing! If any of our readers want to take a closer look at Newaygo, check it out by clicking right here.

Come back tomorrow for our fourth $25 winners of this year’s ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest! Who knows?! It might be you! If your entry is announced a winner, you’ll receive an email with the gift certificate code once all other winners have been disclosed. Have a great weekend and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

It’s that time of year again! Yes, it’s sad to say goodbye to another camp season, but at least now you get to look back on all the fun! That’s what the Everything Summer Camp ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest is all about! Yesterday we announced Harper S. as our first of the four $25 winners. And, now, I’m about to announce our second winner.

For today’s winner we have….

Elliot H.! Congratulations! You’re our second $25 prize winner! Elliot wrote in to tell us about his own camp experience at Camp Huawni. Here’s his submission:

When my Mom told me that I was going to camp, I thought spending one of the last weeks of summer at a camp would be the most dreadful thing EVER! I would be away from my friends and away from my computer.   But, Camp Huawni wasn’t what I was expecting. I’m Elliott Harper - artist, 5th grader, and aspiring writer (or engineer...or artist - to heck with it, mom said I can be what I want). Although, maybe I should start from the beginning. This is my story of Camp Huawni, the surprisingly fun place I never thought I’d end up.

When I walked with my Mom and brother towards my cabin, Honey Suckle Hollow, I didn’t have high hopes.  It is Texas and it's hot.  Upon entering, the empty bunks, and a couple of flies didn’t help my mood.  I unpacked.  ‘ Well, I guess it’s time for me to leave,” said my mom. “Thanks for helping me to get settled in,” I said.  “I guess we’ll see you in a week,” said my brother. “Yup,” said my mom. I so desperately wanted her to take me and my brother back to our grey Toyota Camry, telling me this whole thing was a joke - but I knew that was unrealistic.  Plus, my upset stomach had other plans (the fast-food we had on the 3-hour ride to Camp Huawani did not help). After mom left, I bolted to the restrooms.

An hour later we were called to the dining hall for dinner. It was pretty okay. After finishing my meal, I talked with my cabin mates my brother, Cooper, Kevin, Tristan, and Maddex. Tristan was a tall kid who wore glasses. Maddex had on a ball cap and jersey...I knew he loved sports. All of them seemed cool. Anyways, lights out came quickly. I was tired, it had been a long day.  But I couldn’t sleep. Do you know how they say ”the first step is always the hardest”? Well, I couldn’t sleep the first night... at all.  I was so happy when the first days light shone through our cabin.  It was still an hour before everyone woke up.

I went through numerous fun activities throughout that week; Archery, swimming, fishing (although I caught nothing), etc. I was actually… having a good time?

It turns out my favorite activity was the one to fill me with the most anxiety.  I cringed when I first heard someone mention ... the Critter. The critter? Here’s the critter in a nutshell; it’s this big rubber floaty in the middle of this pond. You climb a ladder and then jump off onto the floaty. If you’re not careful, you fall off… like I did several times (please ignore my sulking). Usually, the bigger kids would get on the critter with us, complicating things. I made alliances with others to stay on, but the inevitable always happened… I fell off.

Overall, I had a great time at camp Huawni. I made new friends.  New experiences are good ways to discover new things you love, and I think that everyone should try something like camp every once in a while. I’ll definitely be coming back next year!  I plan to stay for two weeks.

Loved to get your submission, Elliot! Most kid’s camp stories don’t include their leeriness about heading off to camp. But I’m willing to bet a lot of first-time campers have that same skepticism. Summer camp almost always wins kids over, though. I’m glad you ended up having a good time!  Thanks for your submission, Elliot. If any of our readers are interested in Camp Huawni, you can check it out right here.

Come back tomorrow as I continue to announce our prize winners. And, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans!

- John