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

Hey, Camp Fans!

As the summer season makes its subtle shift into fall, it’s nice to look back and reflect on the fun that you had. That’s why, when the camp season is over, we’re always excited here at Everything Summer Camp to keep with our traditional ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest. While we'll eventually post everybody's entries, first we have ten winners to announce this year for prizes of $25, $50, $100, and the grand prize of $250!

And today I’m announcing the first of our four $25 winners. Today’s winner is (drumroll, please)….

Harper S.! Congratulations, Harper! You’re our first $25 prize winner! Harper spent some fun summer days at Gold Arrow Camp for her very first year of camp! Read all about it in her excellent entry:

“I went to Gold Arrow Camp for my first year. One day we went on the Bears’ Adventure (my age group is named the Bears.) We stopped for s’mores and a counselor named TQOE (The Queen of Everything) told us a story: Once there was a king who loved his garden. He got too old so he couldn’t take care of his garden anymore. So all the children in town lined up in front of his palace. A kid named Tom was also growing a garden. He was the first kid in line. He could see the garden. It was nice and big. The king came out with a huge bag of seeds. He announced, ”You all have to come back in a year with this flower, watered, given sunlight and then I will see who has done the best so they can take care of my garden.’’ So Tom went back to his house and found the perfect spot in his garden. The next day nothing happened. He did the same thing, but moved the pot. The next few days the same thing happened so he stopped caring for it. It never grew. A year was gone. He was so nervous so he got in the back of the line. Every child’s seed was full grown. The king was frowning until he got to Tom’s. He held it up and said, ’’I gave all of you non-growing seeds and Tom’s was the only one that didn’t grow. So he will be the next emperor of my garden.’’ All of the other kid’s lied and didn’t bring the real seed in the pot like Tom did. The king wants an honest and brave person to rule the garden. I thought the story was a great story. TQOE was an amazing storyteller and she told stories every night, which made Bears’ Adventure really fun! My experience of Bears’ Adventure at Gold Arrow Camp was very fun!"

Thanks again for your submission, Harper! We’re so glad to hear how much you loved your first time at camp. Your counselor sounds like a great storyteller and it appears that you have that gift as well. You relay the story very well! I like how much you appreciate the story. You sound like an awesome Bear! For anyone else interested in Gold Arrow Camp, you can check it out right here.

Tune in the rest of this month as we continue to announce our prize winners. Once our winners have been announced they’ll receive an email with the gift certificate code. As always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

Queue the record scratch. Pencils down and heads up! Today is the last day for taking submissions to our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest. If you have yet to submit your entry, stop what you’re doing and visit our submissions page right now—click here! Take your entry, put it into the submission field, fill out the other fields, and hit submit. Or you can opt to upload your camp story too—whichever method you prefer best will be fine.

We want to hear from as many of our readers as possible! This has quickly become one of our favorite times of the year; not only does it mark the close of our busy season, but we also get to hear about all the accomplishments and friendships you made as well as what fears you may have overcome or simply what your favorite part was about going to summer camp!

We hope you’re as excited as we are to find out who among our participants will be winning the gift card prizes. To reiterate the breakdown from previous posts, there will be the first round of winners made up of four participants who won the $25 gift card to our site. Next, there will be three $50 gift card winners. Then two winners for $100 gift cards. And the grand prize winner of a $250 gift card to Everything Summer Camp.

Make sure you don’t miss out on the fun! Tune in next week on Tuesday, September 3^rd when we reveal our first among our random winners and publish their entries right here on the Blog to kick off this year’s ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest collection. Maybe one of them will be yours! Looking forward to it, Camp Fans! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hello, Outdoor Eaters!

Tomorrow gets two birds with one Blog post since it's both National Trail Mix Day AND National Eat Outside Day. And, because trail mix goes hand-in-hand with eating outside, it shouldn’t be too difficult to incorporate both! Find a delicious blend of trail mix for your taste buds and hit the trail with the most convenient snack you can pack along for the trip!

Spending time in the Great Outdoors is always such a refreshing experience. The deeper you head into it, the more refreshing it is. And the further you explore, the more energy you expend. But whether you’re out to see how many miles you can cover in one day or simply enjoying the wilderness in some gorgeous weather, it can take some serious energy to keep yourself going out there! 

That’s when you’re happy with yourself for having packed along a delicious snack that’s made to replenish the energy you’ve been using. It’s certainly an enjoyable time to have a sit-down on a sturdy log or a large, available rock and appreciate the food you’ve packed along. But trail mix offers you the ability to keep moving while you eat!

That’s why versions of trail mix have been around since basically forever. Ideal for any outing, trail mix is lightweight, long-lasting, easy-to-store, protein-packed, nutritious, tasty, and filling food! It’s been a popular favorite among nomadic tribes for thousands of years. It wasn’t called Trail Mix back then (it went by many names which you can read about by clicking here), but it was pretty much the same.

From explorers to soldiers, and cowboys, and hunters, people have always put their own spin on this ancient high-energy Travel Snack. Let us know what’s in your favorite Trail Mix blend and have a delicious and delightful adventure tomorrow. As always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans!

- John

Hey Camp Fans!

We’re all fans of Jon Favreau whether we know it or not. He’s the director of such classic films as ‘Elf’, the ‘Iron Man’ trilogy, and ‘Zathura’. We already published a Blog post about him a few years back where we discussed his camp history at French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts, located on a private lake in the western area of the Catskill Mountains, just outside Hancock, New York.

But that last post only scratched the surface about this guy. Let’s learn more about Mr. Favreau.

Unhappy with a bunch of dead-end jobs, Jon one day quit his day job and hit the road for Chicago to pursue his new dream of becoming an improvisational comedy star. In a short time, he got a job at the well-respected comedy club the Second City (which has been mentioned in other celebrities’ posts). He wasn’t employed as a performer, however, but as a dishwasher. It was a START!

Once he got his foot in the acting door and had one or two movies under his belt, Jon thought he’d be better off in the acting business if he lost some weight. He put himself on a strict diet that resulted in losing 80 pounds! Unfortunately, casting folks wanted the bigger guy they’d seen in previous movies, not this suddenly trim, sporty actor. It cost him a number of jobs.

In his previous post, I explained that Jon got his first taste of fame and recognition for the short role he played on the hit sitcom, ‘Friends’. He played a millionaire boyfriend to Courteney Cox’s character for a number of episodes. Ironically, he had a chance to play another romantic interest to Courteney’s character and one of the six main friends—Chandler Bing. The part was originally offered to Jon, actually, but he turned it down which was probably for the best. After all, who can imagine anyone as Chandler beside Matthew Perry? 

With an impressive resume, it’s about to get even more impressive since Jon’s been hired as showrunner for a new, live-action Star Wars show coming out for Disney’s streaming service called ‘The Mandalorian’. I hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about this star director and his acting career that blossomed into so much more. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John