Hey, Camp Fans!

We received more than 50 entries for our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest here at Everything Summer Camp and I’ve been happily plugging away at publishing each one of them right here on the Blog to share with all our readers!

Today's camp story submission comes from Charley H., who wrote in tell us about her fifth summer and her love for summer camp at Camp Wyonegonic.

“Camp has always been a huge part of my life. I started as an 8 year old in 2018, scared and never having been away from my parents. But over the next 3 1/2 weeks, I found a home at Wyo. I have come back ever since, and this year was my 5th summer. My camp friends are my closest friends in the world, and I have turned from a scared little 8 year old to a confident teenager. The camp spirit has and continues to encourage me to grow, surrounded by other girls from all around the world on the same journey. Camp is over now, but I am excited and ready for the 10 month wait, to spent just two months at home on the shores of Moose Pond.”

Thanks for submitting your camp story into us, Charley! It’s great to hear how much you’ve come to love your summer camp stays at Camp Wyonegonic over the years. Isn’t it funny looking back at your initial reaction to arriving at camp, compared to how excited you are when you arrive now?! I hope your friendships from camp and love for Wyo grow stronger and stronger with each summer stay!

For anyone else interested in attending a summer camp stay at Camp Wyonegonic in Maine, click right here and take a look around their website to see if it might be the right place for you and your camper. Until next time, thanks for reading. And, as always, Happy Camping!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

There are only a handful more of the camp stories we received for the Everything Summer Camp ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest that we started last year following the close of the summer camp season! Your camp stories were such a fun time to read through and I’ve been publishing them right here on the Blog one by one to share with all our readers online.

We had ten lucky prize winners for this contest and since then I’ve been publishing the rest of your submissions. The following post was submitted for Rebecca C. to tell us about her first year at Camp Merrie-Woode. Here it is:

“Rebecca attended Merrie-Woode for her first time this summer at the age of 7 for 10 days. She was very nervous. However, she became "queen of the lake" and made tons of new friends. When she was picked up she begged to stay longer. She made some great new friends and can't wait to back next year!”

Hello! That’s great to hear that Rebecca enjoyed her summer camp stay at Camp Merrie-Woode.  I’m glad she had such a good first year, overcame her nerves, and made lots of friends. What an honor to be named “Queen of the Lake’! No wonder she can’t wait to go back next camp season! Thanks for writing into us.

To anybody else who may be interested in attending a summer camp stay at Camp Merrie-Woode, you can browse their website when you click right here to see if it might be the right place for you and your camper. Until next time, thanks for reading. And, as always, Happy Camping!

- John

Hey, Camp Folks!

If you’ve ever shopped our site before, then you already know—we’re Everything Summer Camp, your one-stop shop for everything on your child’s camp packing list. However, when we first started making trunks in 1987, we didn’t offer any camping gear or other trunk accessories at all.

Several years later we added wheels and then came our nameplates and padlocks a little further down the line. And for a long time these were the only three accessories we offered.

It was 20 years on before we added another accessory and the first one we added was the Snap-On Duffle which was our first product all about summer camp. Back then we had never sold a product that focused completely on summer camp. In fact, we weren’t even called Everything Summer Camp yet.

This duffle, however, was designed as an extension of a camper’s camp trunk to accommodate kids whose packing lists were just a bit too big for our trunks. Our original design for the Snap-On Duffle was only compatible with our Traditional Steel and Designer Trunks and we had another duffel—the Piggy Back—which was compatible with our Pop Up Soft Trunks.

No other duffel attaches perfectly to your camp trunk like our Snap-On Duffle found only here at Everything Summer Camp—the home of C&N camp trunks! Common for moving bulkier items like pillows and other bedding, this accompanying duffel is as simple as can be! It snaps onto our camp trunks within seconds so you can move both pieces as one!

Make transportation to and from your summer camp cabin as easy as possible with this cool idea that moves your trunk and duffle as one unit. Thanks for reading. And, as always, Happy Camping!

- John

Hey, Camp Folks!

The camper peered down from the zip line launch platform—the ground appearing impossibly far away. Courage wavered. Despite clear instructions from the cabin leader and reassurance of the safety and exhilaration, the child stepped back down. Understanding of the apprehension, the cabin leader gently told the camper that the choice to jump or not was all theirs.

The camper made the decision not to jump that day, which was fine. After all, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink!

This saying is rather old. It was something people said more than 800 years ago! It basically means that you can show someone an opportunity or offer to help, but you can't force anything on anybody.

Now, the credit for this saying often goes to a cool medieval English poet named John Heywood. In 1546, he wrote it down in a book called "A Dialogue Containing the Number in Effect of All the Proverbs in the English Tongue." Catchy title, huh? In his book, it went like this: "Hurt not the horse, the more he is sought, the better he will be."

So what the heck does THAT mean?!

The idea here was simply that the horse's condition would naturally improve with proper care. However, the phrase later on evolved with the addition of the crucial second part: "but you can't make it drink." This second half emphasizes that even if you offer an opportunity, you cannot make a horse take advantage of it. People started using this phrase for matters outside the realm of horse care, applying to other people more than anything else.

Nowadays, this saying is used all the time to remind folks that while you can offer help or choices, you can't make anyone do something they don't want to do. So, when your little one heads off to summer camp, remember this saying and let them make the most of their adventure at their own pace!

Tune in next month when we dissect another famous saying, ‘Spill the Beans’. Thanks for reading, Folks. And, as always, Happy Camping!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We’re reaching the last handful of camp stories we received for our Everything Summer Camp ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest! Your camp stories were great and we had such a fun time reading through them all! I’ve been sharing them with all our readers online for the past several months! We’re posting each submission right here on the Blog one by one!

We had ten lucky prize winners for this contest and since then I’ve been publishing the rest of your submissions. The following post is from Isabelle B. who wrote in to us about her time at Laity Lodge Youth Camp. Check it out:

“I went to Laity Lodge camp and I really loved it. I made lots of friends and made memories. I loved going to the rodeo, and hanging out by the river. We went hiking and walked through the river to get to Blue Hole, to go swimming! Blue Hole is a swimming hole on the river and it is cold and clean, and it is deep. We had fun!”

Hey, Isabelle. We appreciate your submission and participation in our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest. You make Laity Lodge sound great—chockfull of fun, friends, and amazing natural surroundings. A RODEO?!! That sounds awesome! And you make the Blue Hole sound halfway magical. I’m glad you had such a good time throughout your camp stay. I hope you have lots of fun summer stays at Laity Lodge Youth Camp down the road.

To anybody who is interested in attending a summer camp stay at Laity Lodge Youth Camp, you can peruse their website when you click right here and see if it might be a good fit for you and your camper. Until next time, thanks for reading. And, as always, Happy Camping!

- John