Hey, Camp Fans!

We’re changing up our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest and turning it into a monthly deal as opposed to our previous annual receival. Today, I have our grand prize winner of the May ‘Share Your Camp Story’ edition. Find out right here and right now—the winner of our $100 gift certificate is….

Healy W.!

Congratulations, Healy! You won our grand prize of a $100 gift certificate to our online store. Healy wrote in to tell us about his time last year at Camp Nokomis. Read about his camp stay from last year and how excited he is to return!

“Last year was an amazing year at camp! It was my 4th summer going to camp, and it was just as amazing as every year before it! Camp Noko is awesome, and I love going back every year to see my friends, the awesome counselors, and, of course, the dogs at camp :). I loved doing archery, going swimming, laughing my head off at improv, trying out leathercraft for the first time, and going climbing! Last year at camp was especially awesome because I spent a ton of time with all of the amazing people at camp and I tried a bunch of new things. On Sundays, we have the three C's. Chapel, Chipwiches, and Campfire! Sundays were and always are definitely some of my favorite days at camp. Chapel is just a time when a group of either senior campers, aides, CITs, or staff put together a theme of something like kindness, empathy, etc. and then find songs that the whole camp sings along to based on the theme and they read a story book connected to the theme. Of course there are also chipwiches, which are THE BEST THING EVER!!! They are chocolate chip cookies stuffed with vanilla ice cream! At the end of the night on Sunday, all of the cabins go down to the lakefront for campfire, the third C. Campfire is when awards from activities are given out, spirit awards go out, and the camp sings songs and hears a poem. It's always super fun and calming. Last year, I got my first ever spirit award, and it was for always making sure that camp is a fun place. I felt really proud and happy when I got the award because I try my best to make everyone happy at camp, because camp is awesome!”

What a fantastic summer stay last year, Healy! I’m camp continues to live up to its hype year after year! It’s great that you’ve encountered such an awesome place, great people, and thrilling fun through Camp Nokomis! The food sounds pretty good too; I need to get my hands on some chipwiches! Thanks for your submission, Healy and congrats once more for your first place prize! To everyone else, get a closer look at Camp Nokomis on their site and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Fiery Camp Fans!

Summer camp teaches us many skills and provides us a lot of new experiences! Some are crafty while some are athletic, others are academic and some are survival skills. Building a proper fire is an essential survival skill and a very challenging process to perform. First we’ll go over a few fire building basics and then we’ll take a look at all the different ways you can get your tinder to smoke and then flame!

Creating a pit for your fire is the first step. Then, place your smallest pieces of dry wood on the bottom and lay your firewood on top around the small twigs and other kindling. Then there’s the tinder—that’s the very heart of your fire that you’ll use to get the kindling going. Tinder is a finely divided material that, if used to your benefit, you can get your tinder to smolder or burst into flame.

You can use lots of things as tinder:

• Dryer Lint Packed into a Used-up Toilet Paper Roll
• Tightly Rolled and Knotted Sheets of Newspaper
• Potato Chips
• Evergreen Sap (it can work even in wet conditions!)

Here are several different ways to get your tinder to flame:

Matches/Lighter
Of course, a pack of matches or a pocket lighter will get the job done. These tools of technology technically belong in the Striking category, since they both use the same concept to produce the flame, but because of their modern convenience, I put them in their own category.

Good ol’ Fashioned Friction
On the other end of the spectrum, we have the utmost primitive means of stoking a spark with rubbing wood against wood. Creating heat through the friction is a difficult, but eventually productive method.

Striking Effects
Flint and steel with charcloth is a popular choice that’s a happy medium between matches and friction. Striking the softer steel against the harder flint will produce sparks enough to make your tinder smoke. A more primitive version of this would be striking quartz rocks against each other (if you can locate and identify these natural tools).

Harness the Sun
If the sun’s out in an open sky, a glass lens is probably the easiest way to get some tinder to start smoldering. Simply use your magnifying glass or what have you to direct the sun’s beam at your tinder collection until you see it smoking.

Once your tinder is smoking, you’ll want to blow on it to make the flames emerge. With the right prep work, your tinder fire will spread to the kindling and then spread to the logs for fueling the the campfire. Be sure to practice all these methods with the supervision of experienced adults. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Giddy Golfers!

If Golf is your game, then this Blog post should have your attention! FORE!! A popular enough sport, you won’t have a hard time finding a summer camp that offers Golf as an activity. We all know the name, but where did it come from and where did the sport originate altogether? Let’s dig in and find out on today’s post, highlighting the game of Golf.  

No one can say for sure, but we know of at least a couple possible origins of the name ‘Golf’. Maybe it came from the Scots’ word ‘goulf’ meaning ‘to strike or cuff’. Or maybe it derived from the Dutch word ‘kolf’, which means ‘bat’ or ‘club’. In any case, the name came about around the 15^th Century in Scotland because that’s when the game was invented…or was it?

Historians debatably trace Golf all the way back to an ancient Roman game called ‘Paganica’ where the players would use sticks to hit a stuffed leather ball. But the rules of more-or-less modern Golf weren’t developed until 1457 in which driving a small ball with a club toward a small hole on a large playing field with as fewest strokes as possible. Of course, the specifics of 18 holes and detailed rules evolved over time, but the essence of the game was there.

Meditative
As is the case with many activities you’ll find at summer camp, Golf has a meditative element to it. The ball demands focus and swinging your club with just the right motion means having a clear head. Devoting some time to a challenging, but simple goal of lining up shots and putting a ball in a hole is meditative in itself.

A Feel For the Physics
A good game of golf hinges on an understanding of how much force to use behind your shots and being in tune with what that weight feels like as you swing, chip, or tap.

Great Way to Spend Time Outside
A beautiful landscape, golf courses are well-maintained to stay so gorgeous—it’s a marriage of order from people and the wild growth of nature. Get out to the golf course for a fun but challenging game while you see the sights of some great land!

Golf is a skill that’s great to develop. Check out your camp to see if they offer Golf if you want to try your hand at it at summer camp. Maybe you’ll advance your game in the coming summer! Enjoy your time spent out on the courses and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Kiddos!

In the past I’ve written about things you can do for your mother on Mother’s Day along with things not to do on Mother’s Day. But in honor of Mother’s Day this year, let’s just take a look at all the different ways that our moms are there for us and whatever you do for your mother today, make sure you do it with gratitude for her. Here’s a bunch of ways that our moms help us out each day.

A Laundry List of Chores
Domestic life is full of upkeep. Our moms are constantly cooking meals, doing laundry, running errands, changing poopy diapers, reading bedtime stories, etc. And to those of you who say your mom doesn’t change your diaper anymore…she did! Some might see these daily activities as insignificant, but running a household is practically a fulltime job and so is parenting. Moms are typically overworked, so give your mom a hand however you can.

Mom Mood
Did you ever notice that when mom’s in a bad mood it’s like a dark cloud hanging directly over your house. The whole family seems to connect with the same mood and start behaving accordingly. The same goes for when moms are in good moods. Aside from a stray mess or tantrum, mom’s overall cheerfulness will almost always effect everyone under the roof. Moms have a way of setting the level of peace and happiness in the home! Help make your mom happy. You’ll be happy you did!

Your Mom Rocks
Kids need the love of their mothers. The love of a mother is an immovable rock that children can always count on—even when they’re being naughty. An unconditional love gives kids security and peace of mind. What an amazing thing that our mothers do for us that they stand in the face of wailing babies, pouting toddlers, rebellious teens, and all the rest with a firm stance of love. Show your mom how much you love her back.

Enjoy spending time with your mother on this year’s marvelous Mother’s Day and show her the gratitude, happiness, and love that she deserves today and every day. And, as always, Campers—thanks for reading. Happy Mother’s Day!

- John

Hello, Camp Folks!

Our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest at Everything Summer Camp has been an annual contest we’ve held for the past five years and it’s always seen great success! It’s usually not until camp sessions are over when we start asking kids to write down their stories or other memories they’d like to share with us and have published here on the Blog. This year, we’re not waitin’!

We’re actually changing the ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest. But don’t worry—it’s not going away! We’re blowing it up! I’ll break it down simply. Check it out:

Here’s How it Used to Work
We asked all of you campers out there for your submissions about how your camp stay went—a story, your favorite activity, your new best friend, etc. Our usual amount of entries would pour in between the end of July and all through August. And, by the time September rolled by, we were announcing the winners of the contest. We would have ten winners who received four tiers of gift certificate prizes and all participants got a $15 gift certificate.

Here are the New Rules
We’re putting an end to it as a single contest and ‘Share Your Camp Story’ is graduating to an all-encompassing monthly contest! Each month we’ll have a sort of prompt to tell you what sort of submission to write. Each month, we’ll pick a $100 winner and a $25 winner. Everyone else who submits will get 1000 S’more Bucks.  

Our deadline for our latest Share Your Camp Story monthly contest is Sunday, May 31. As your planning goes on for sending your own kid to camp, you may find yourself reminiscing about your own summer fun from all those years back! We’d love to hear about it. Start writing! You have the rest of May to send in your stories. Submit here if you're ready now!

And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John