Hello, Summer Campers!

Or…as The Fonz would say, “Ayyyyyyyyy!” Well, I suppose there are likely many of you out there who are unfamiliar with ‘The Fonz’ from ‘Happy Days’. But you really ought to know about him—he’s the king of cool, Fonzie, Arthur Fonzarelli! Pretty equally well-known a name is Henry Winkler, the actor who brought everyone’s favorite 70’s sitcom character to the screen.

Henry Winkler never attended summer camp as a camper himself, but he did have a summer camp experience as a camp counselor. Being born and raised in New York with a love for waterfront activities he was the ski instructor at Blue Mountain Camps in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

While you may not be familiar with Fonzie, what you may very well be aware of is the television term ‘Jump the Shark’. For those who don’t know, a television show jumps the shark when it includes far-fetched events and gimmicky sort of material for the sake of bringing something new to the show.

Television shows have come to use this term widely, though it saw its beginning on an episode of ‘Happy Days’ in which Fonzie literally jumps a shark while water-skiing. Yet, the true origin of this phrase actually began at summer camp when Mr. Winkler was acting ski instructor for summer camps.

“I was once a counselor in summer camp and I did a lot of water skiing,” he is quoted to have said. “My father would always tell [show runner] Gary Marshall about it. So they wrote it in. I just went with the flow.” Though there weren’t any sharks back then, it’s funny to trace this commonly-used showbiz term to Henry Winkler’s time at summer camp.

These days are yours and mine—happy and free! Enjoy the ridiculous moment in the video below and, as always thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We got more than 30 submissions for our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest here at Everything Summer Camp and we’re itching with anticipation to publish each one of them right here on the Blog to share with all our readers! There were seven lucky winners to our contest and everyone else who submitted received a $15 gift certificate to our website! Today’s post is from Emily N., who wrote in to tell us about her second year at Gold Arrow Camp.

“LETTER OF GRATITUDE SENT TO CAMP LOUISE DIRECTOR

Dear Alicia,
lAs I wake up my first morning at home I am still thinking about the Middah of the week, “Gratitude”, and feel the need to express how thankful I am to be a part of the camp family for the past 3 summers.
         lIt has been an overwhelming experience to be re-included in the world of Camp Louise which I have loved since I was 10 years old. Each year I look forward to returning with trepidation as well as excitement just like any camper, but leave feeling full of love, acceptance, and longing for the next year.
lI am beyond grateful for what Camp Louise has given not only to me, but also my daughter. I loved this place as a child and never thought twice about signing her up for Rookie Camp the day she turned 7 years old. Her first few summers I enjoyed watching Annie grow and shine from afar – waiting every morning for the photos to be released and scouring the Unit Leader emails for every morsel of camp life.
lA few years ago, I learned about the possibility of returning to camp as Staff and am so grateful you found a place for me. These past 3 summers have been the most amazing of all my time at camp. Some might think that being a camper is best time of your life but I’d argue that being here and watching your child relish in all that this magical place has to offer is truly one of life’s greatest joys.
lI want to say thanks to everyone who makes this experience possible; from her bunk counselors, to her Unit Leader, the UCs and A Team, to Dining Hall Staff and Housekeeping Crew – I see how all are pieces of the puzzle that make it possible for Annie to return home each summer with her soul full of enough passion, confidence, and laughter to last her the next 11 months.
lI hope you are able to share this at Tuesday’s Staff Meeting as there wasn’t enough time to thank each person individually. Keep up the amazing work for the next 5 weeks, no matter how tired you get, knowing you are truly touching the lives of the 411 campers sleeping soundly in their bunks tonight as well as their parents and the generations yet to come.

Beyond Grateful,
Emily Newmark
Camper, Parent & Staff”

What a thoughtful letter, Emily! We love getting stories like this that illustrate just what a powerful connection we have to summer camp. Sounds like Camp Louise is a fantastic place and I bet you had a lot to do with that! So glad to hear how much Annie loves it there too. Check out Camp Louise by clicking here and see what strong connection you might develop with it. As always, thanks for reading!

- John

Merry Christmas from Everything Summer Camp!

People have been celebrating the Christmas holiday for a very long time and carried out some of its most well-known traditions for even longer. Rituals like caroling and exchanging gifts date back at least to the1600s while bringing trees into our homes is a literally ancient custom. These traditions have come to mean a lot to folks who love this day of the year, as they should.There’s certainly nobody working today at Everything Summer Camp! Everyone from our business family will be spending the day with our families at home, enjoying all the traditional gift-exchanging, feasting, and all-around merrymaking. That’s what I do every year anyway!

Each season provides us with its own specific mood and this particular season was made to be spent in the jolly, warm company of those whom we hold dearest. This season may contain the coldest, darkest day of the year, but we do all we can to brighten it with our cheerfulness, our good will, quality time together.

Unlike previous years, my family from Southern Wisconsin is coming up to visit me and my other siblings in Northern Wisconsin. We always tend to really immerse ourselves in the holiday spirit, so there are lots of smiles, laughs, and merriment whenever we’re all together.

As I previously mentioned, so many of our holiday traditions such as giving gifts, caroling, and bringing trees into our homes have been adopted from a varied past, originating from Pagan celebrations and re-popularized by none other than Charles Dickens with his still-famous Christmastime masterpiece, ‘A Christmas Carol’.

These traditions have been carried out for a very long time and, as for me and my family, we’re all more-than-happy to carry on the age-old traditions and keep Christmas a warm day that unites us and brings us all joy.I wish togetherness, joy, and merriment to all of our summer camp families out there. Merry Christmas!

- John

Hey, Northerners!

North of the equator, that is…today is the Winter Solstice—a magical day of the year. This day is a reminder from Mother Nature of just how harsh and unforgiving she can be. That’s especially so this time of year the further north you go. We’re located in Northern Wisconsin here at Everything Summer Camp, where Winter Solstices are always cold, dark, and typically covered in ice and snow. But we only scratch the surface of winter brutality!

Some theorize that Stonehenge was built to establish when exactly the Solstices would occur.

This year, we’ll see just under nine hours of daylight in Boyd, Wisconsin (roughly the same amount as New York City). If you travel to Helsinki, Finland, you’ll be getting something shy of six hours of daylight! That’s less than a typical school or workday. And, even worse than that, if you go to Barrow, Alaska, you won’t even see a sunrise!

As you can imagine this cycle made our ancient ancestors pretty nervous with the concern that the sun would continue to grow more and more distant until one day it simply blipped out of sight completely. Without a better scientific understanding of the natural cycles of earth, this seemed like a perfectly reasonable concern.

In the heliocentric model, while the North Pole hadn’t seen a sunrise since October, the South Pole is being showered in nightly sunrays until March. Which is when things here in Northern Wisconsin will start to warm up; it’s time for the planet’s second winter solstice.

It’s easy to be“hemisphere-o-centric”—after all, the vast majority of people on the planet live in the northern hemisphere—but the other side of the planet certainly gets a winter solstice as well. Since Earth’s orbit is tilted on its axis the hemispheres trade off over the course of a year on which one sees direct sun. So,while we’re celebrating our Winter Solstice on December 21, folks south of the equator are seeing their Summer Solstice. They’ll get their Winter Solstice around June 21—when we get our Summer Solstice.

It can be hard to visualize just from reading about it, so I’ve included the most helpful visual I could find.Enjoy as many hours of daylight as you can today and stay nice and warm during the dark! As always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Tree People!

At Everything Summer Camp, we certainly Tree Christmastime as much as we Tree Camp! And when it comes to Treeing things, there’s no better kind of tree to Tree than the Evergreen Tree! And there’s no better day than today to appreciate your love for Evergreen Trees. Today is Look for an Evergreen Day, so if you don’t already have in your home, get out and find yourself a nice tree.

Evergreens merit our admiration and awe with their unchanging green needles and their incredible resilience to harsh winters. Not only do they deserve our respect, but they GET it as well! We bring them into our homes for the holidays. We dress them up in lights and hang shiny objects on them. We write odes about them (O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree), and soon…

When it comes to finding a tree for your home this time of year, tradition has it that you simply must. But tradition is nonspecific as to when exactly you should. Some folks can hardly wait—and don’t wait—for Thanksgiving to pass. Others stick to the month of December while others don’t bother until just a few days before Christmas. Those who stick to real trees are more likely to wait a little while as they’re working with a time frame.

My entire life, I’ve never decorated a real tree. Every tree I’ve ever put up in my home has been an artificial one—much easier to manage and you decide how long you have it out for. These are found in any department store and come inside a corrugated box with assembly required. Packing this rectangular cube into your backseat in some store parking lot isn’t the same tradition of tying a real tree to the top of your vehicle, but you can’t beat the convenience!

Though I didn’t buy anything, I took my first walk through a Christmas Tree Lot this year. Creating such a pretty, serene setting, I can understand why folks prefer to go shopping for a real tree in these atmospheric lots.

However, if you really want to embrace the spirit of ‘Look for an Evergreen Day’, then I suggest you forage your own path through the wilderness to find the perfect tree which is still in the ground—just like they used to do in olden times and in the Griswold family. Whatever you end up doing, be sure to appreciate the tree you put in your home and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John