Hey, Camp Fans!

A while back in mid-July, I asked you guys to share your camp stories. Ask and we DID receive! We got a great response with nearly 30 entries so we’re happily publishing each and every submission right here on the Blog! Everyone who submitted got $15 gift certificates and seven lucky winners got larger prizes of $25, $50, and the grand prize of $100. Today I’m announcing the second $50 winner. Are you ready? The winner is….

Koda N.! Congrats! You’re the second $50 prize winner! Koda spent his summer at Camp Leelanau where he played an epic game of Leelanau’s version of Capture-the-Flag. Check it out in this exciting entry from Koda:“We were on our way to the flag trip. I was so excited!! It was my first time ever going on the flag trip! But There were only 3 words in my head, “tackle with care”. Although this was a tackling game we were going to tackle with love, not hatred. When we got there we ate lunch and changed into our camo clothes. A few counselors told us the rules of the game and how it worked. There were two flags in the woods, one for each team. The flag was on a rope and the rope was connected to two trees. There was also a jail. The jail was made out of three trees in the shape of a triangle. There was a rope around those three trees to make a triangular prism. There were two parts to each team, offense and defense. The defense watched over the flag and the offense tried to get the flag of the opposing team. The people playing offense ran over to the other team’s base and tried to get past the defense (which was trying to tackle you). If you got tackled you went to jail but if you didn’t get tackled you ran to the other teams flag and grabbed it. Then you yelled, “flag, flag, flag”. If you yelled only two “flags” and then got tackled to the ground you had to go to their jail. But if you yell all three flags without getting tackled you get a point and a free walk back your team’s base. You get out of jail by climbing over the rope and running back to your team’s base. Each base was on a hill and there was a gap in between each hill. That place is a safe zone, so you can’t get tackled and you can’t tackle.

I started off as an offensive player, I ran to a part of their hill where they weren’t looking. I just laid there thinking of a plan to get to their flag. Seconds turned into minutes. Minutes turned into an hour, tons of mosquitoes buzzed in my ear. But I didn’t budge at all. All of a sudden I heard somebody yell “I see Koda!” and then I got up and ran to their flag. I ran past their defense and grabbed the flag, “flag,flag,flag.” I had gotten a flag!!!!! I went back to our base and told my team the good news. We had won the game!!!!!!!!!!”

Thanks again for your submission, Koda. We’re happy to hear about your good times! For anyone else interested in Camp Leelanau, you can check it out right here. As always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

A while back in mid-July, I asked you guys to share your camp stories. Ask and we shall receive! We got a great response with nearly 30 entries so we’re happily publishing each and every submission right here on the Blog! Everyone who submitted got $15 gift certificates and seven lucky winners got larger prizes of $25, $50, and the grand prize of $100. I’m announcing the first $50 winner right here and right now! Today’s winner is….

Hadley M.! Congratulations! You’re our first $50 prize winner! Hadley spent her summer at Camp Hayo-Went-Ha and brought home an unexpected guest! Read all about it in this excellent entry from Hadley’s mother, Debbie:

The Unwanted Visitor

“Hadley enjoyed a full month at YMCA Camp Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha for girls this summer. She was in the Biker group that took an 8-day 140-mile bicycling trek through the upper peninsula of Michigan. These girls were tough, sometimes riding 30 to 40 miles in a day. They even got to take the ferry over to Mackinac Island and spend a day on their bikes exploring. When not on the biking adventure, the girls were able to take part in Life-size Board game super Saturday, Ropes Courses, Sailing, Paddle Boarding, Nature Walks, and the list could continue as there are so many options of things to do at Hayo-Went-Ha.

I guess one of the many lessons learned for Hadley was that of how to care for your belongings at camp. Hadley had decided that it was easier to just leave her trunk open to have quick access to her belongings. Because really it MUST be too much trouble to close that trunk each time you want to change clothes or grab something—right?!

On the final day of camp, we made the 4 hour drive to camp to pick up Hadley. We loaded up her trunk and spent the next 4 hours peppering her with questions about her month of adventure. By the time we made it home, everyone wanted to just relax. So we put off unpacking her trunk until the next day. We had left the trunk on the back porch because as anyone who has had a child go to camp—those things do not smell the best after a month at camp. The next day, Hadley was responsible for unpacking all of her items from the trunk and putting them into the laundry so that everything could be washed. At the bottom of her trunk Hadley found a Momma Mouse and the 5 babies that she had given birth to in the trunk!!!! Needless to say this was a lesson learned (we HOPE). Always close your trunk after getting your things out of it. You never know what might sneak into that trunk!”

Thanks again for your submission, Debbie. We hope Hadley learned her lesson! For anyone else interested in Camp Hayo-Went-Ha, you can check it out right here. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

In mid-July, I asked you guys to share your camp stories. We got a great response with nearly 30 entries so we’re happily publishing each and every submission right here on the Blog! Everyone who submitted got $15 gift certificates and seven lucky winners got larger prizes of $25, $50, and the grand prize of $100. I’m announcing the fourth $25 winner right now! And it is….

Arden H.! You’re our fourth $25 prize winner! Thanks for your Camp Story!

Arden tells us about her summer at“This summer I attended sleep away camp for the first time at a camp called Brown Ledge. When I left for camp, I thought I was fully aware of what my experience would be like. Maybe I would make a few good friends and try a couple activities. I’m usually not a huge fan of water activities so I thought maybe I’d visit waterfront every once in a while. Even I, who was so sure I’d have a great experience at camp was not prepared for the amount of sheer joy, friendship and knowledge that I would come home with after those glorious 4 weeks.

When I first arrived at camp, I expected to make friends in a day or two. Boy, was I wrong. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted and befriended by three girls. I still think that was truly amazing. I have NEVER made friends that fast in my entire life.

That night, I hung out with my bunkies and fell asleep thinking about just how lucky I was to be in a place so welcoming, friendly and beautiful. Later, I found that my bunkies and I would be essentially joined at the hip and would go from activity to activity together. I am sure that the friends that I made this summer at Brown Ledge are some of the most genuine people I have ever met and I will always cherish our friendship.

Then there were my counselors, my counselor was probably the brightest, kindest person I could have asked for. She always made the best of every situation we put in front of her and we could talk about literally anything with her. My Junior Counselor was the sweetest person I have ever met. Every day, I looked forward to rest hour because that’s when she would come to visit my cabin. She did the best french braids and was the stealthiest card player. Whether we were playing some card game, MASH, talking or just laying there doing nothing, I felt like I was the happiest I’d ever been. My JC always looked out for me no matter what and that’s why I call her the big sister I never had.

At the end of the summer, I received a Brown Ledge ring. This ring means the world to me because it symbolizes every memory (great and small!) of my summer. It stands for the bonds I formed with all of my friends, the countless hours I spent in the barn working with horses, the refreshing coolness of Mallet’s Bay, the sound of the dining hall at dinner when it erupted in song, all the activities that I improved in and the happiness that still burns within me. So, I guess you could say that I love Brown Ledge more than I could ever put into words and I can’t wait to go back next summer.”

Thanks again for your submission, Arden. You can check out Brown Ledge right here to see if you might like it as much as Arden did. As always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

In mid-July, I asked Blog readers to share their camp stories. We got nearly 30 entries so we’re posting them on the Blog now! Everyone who submitted got $15 gift certificates and seven lucky winners got larger prizes of $25, $50, and the grand prize of $100. I’m announcing the third $25 winner right now!

*A-a-a-hem*

Aaaaand… Molly Y.! You’re our third $25 prize winner. Your Camp Story was great!

Molly tells us about her summer at Camp Ton-A-Wandah

“My name is Molly Young and I am writing about my camp, Ton A Wandah.

Chapel is where you wear green and white. You sit on benches.Then our camp owners say a prayer. After the prayer someone speaks, after that there are singing teams that sing for our camp. Before chapel we go to breakfast in our green and whites or our pajamas. For breakfast, doughnuts and bagels.

On the last chapel two girls on Hilltop made a song and sang it. It was called Sisters.

The lake is very big. You can go on a water slide or do the blob with a water trampoline and a floating dock or a high dive and diving board. Also paddleboarding, kayaking, canoeing and if you like Weezie’s 20 laps is going on a paddleboard, canoe, or kayak around the lake 20 times before breakfast.

Archery is behind tennis. There are a lot of bows and arrows. I shot and almost got a bullseye. Archery is the best sport in the world.

The barn is where the horses and ponies stay with two donkeys. 28 all together. You can do daily riding, ride, or horsemanship, and the horse show. I did daily riding and was in class two with my friends. The riding instructors are Kendall, Ashley, Shonna and a B.I.T. Bella (and more).

I wood burned a lot of wood. I once wood burned a puppy in a yard for my sister, more stuff for me and some for my mom and dad.

On Wacky Wednesday, you eat wacky food and dress up wacky. In daily riding you teach your teachers. Wacky Wednesday is very wacky! It is the best day at camp.

Camp TAW has been open for eighty-three years now. Before Camp TAW was old it gave Camp Merry Times (cancer kids) to come and stay for watching and doing. Ms Judy and Captain Billy’s family have been the owners of Camp TAW for eighty-three years now. An Indian village used to live there. Their chief’s daughter was named Tonawandah.

Tennis is very fun. Tennis is a sport on tribe day. Racquets and balls go together like peanut butter and jelly. There are two kinds of courts: a single court or a double court.

In Secret Agent, we once had to go from the hilltop showers to the gym. I got caught, but my friend Eleanor did not. My sister was in my class too. Once a girl from woodburning got out of class to make sure we got to the gym.

In paddle boarding one time we played charades on paddle boards. We did jumping in the water competitions. My teacher was one of Emily’s counselors. I wanted to get in the water so much. I so so so loved paddle boarding.

One day in Crazy Cardio we danced to Bumpy Ride. Now I love Bumpy Ride. Once we went one a hike. It was so much fun. We ran some times and mostly stretched.”

Thanks again for your submission, Molly. Everyone else, you can check out Camp Ton-a-Wandah right here. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

In mid-July, I started asking our customers and Blog readers to share your camp stories with us. We got nearly 30 entries so we’re excited to share them now with our Blog followers. Everyone who submitted got $15 gift certificates and seven lucky winners got larger prizes of $25, $50, and the grand prize of $100. I’m announcing the first of the $25 winners today—right now. Get re-e-e-a-a-a-dddyyyyyy….

Congratulations to Josiah R.! You’re our second $25 prize winners for your Camp Story! Josiah tells us about his summer at“When I first came, all I thought I would do was have a bit of fun, learn about diabetes, and leave, but, I had a lot more than just that. We were inside this place called the S.A.C. They checked my temperature and checked for lice, I also chose my meal plan. We drove down a road which a cabin labeled “Brown Boyz” and I spelled that correctly, “Brown Boyz”. This, was my cabin, the youngest of 4 boy cabins. I walked in and immediately started making friends before I could even unpack my things. Lunch was fun. That lunch we ate chicken strips, and every time this camp has chicken strips, they sing a chant and make noise… Each table makes as much noise while saying “We love chicken strips yes we do, we love chicken strips how about you!” as loud as you possibly can. After lunch, we go to med lecture, Med lecture is where we actually learn about diabetes, each Brown boy camper had a little brother group, one counselor was there big brother. In our little brother group, we did beading, beading is when we talk about the other campers in the brother group, we said good things of course though.  After we leave here, we will usually go to the cabin and clean up, everyday every little brother group (except 2, and those to groups change daily) had to do one “chore”, weirdly, my little brother group usually didn’t even get a job, even though it was the oldest group. After we did this, we go to our 4th activity, mine, the first week, was Ultimate frisbee. Before we go to 4th and 5th classes, we go to “snack attack”  we usually had different snacks each day, my favorite snack was the chex mix, just because I love chex mix, and because we get a bigger quantity then other snacks. Ultimate frisbee is fun, you throw the fribee across the field to someone else, except to another goal, there are a few people on your team, once you have the frisbee in your hand, you can’t move to another spot, you can only swivel on one foot. Once you get to a goal, you score. After ultimate frisbee, there’s usually diet soda’s outside, inside an icebox, or cooler, when I finish drinking some Sprite zero (My favorite), I go to rock climbing, rock climbing was especially fun, I thought I was good at it. Dinner is pretty much the same as lunch, but, no mail call. After dinner, there is flag lowering, flag lowering is when they… well, lower the flag, we also stand and watch as people get called up for word of the day, the people are campers, and they answer a question, when they answer the question right, they choose an envelope, which, has either bonus, winner, or 10 tokens. 10 tokens. I think either is really cool. 10 tokens is 10 merit tokens, which you can use to buy things at the camp store. Winner chooses either a kindle, or Flip speakers. Bonus is really just a random prize everyday, like a Nintendo DS, or a hammock, or a puzzle cube. We then do a night activity, which is different every night. Once we’ve left here we eat a bedtime snack with our bedtime insulin. The snack varies, but is usually better when we eat it during a night activities, like at a lot of campfires, we’ll eat burgers, but in the cabin the best thing was a delicious BLT, but…. the burgers were more delicious. We get in bed and they will occasionally give out free food, which is carb-free foods, our foods that contain less than 5 grams of carb, which, I had learned in med lecture. This schedule is the same throughout the same, but somehow it was totally different eachday, like, even though everyday we played ultimate frisbee.”

Thanks again for your submission, Josiah. Check out Camp Sweeney for yourself and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John