Hey, Folks!

There are so many different kinds of people in this world to recognize and appreciate. Because there are so many people to recognize and honor, we have a lot of holidays and observances throughout the year; we wouldn’t want to leave anyone out now, would we? Back in May we had Mother’s Day. Then, in June, there’s Father’s Day. And now, finally, today we have Children’s Day!  Observations of Children’s Day date back to before either Mother’s or Father’s Day existed. However, unlike Mother’s and Father’s Day, Universal Children’s Day isn’t so much a holiday as it is a day of global observance. This is a day to encourage children’s welfare and inform one another about the living conditions and rights of children across the world.

While this day is recognized in all parts of the world, lots and lots of nations celebrate it on different dates. The significance of November 20 is that it marks the anniversary of the ‘Declaration of the Rights of the Child’ as well as the ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’ two historic documents that affirmed specific rights of children and adults’ responsibilities toward them.

The Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is one organization that really makes a difference for kids around the world. For sick children who need treatment from a specific location, RMHC plays a vital role in helping these kids recover.

They may not be the ones administering the medicine, but they provide housing near a child undergoing treatment to help keep families together during hard times as well as offer financial help and guidance in finding basic medical and dental care in struggling communities. RMHC has nearly 300 local Chapters found in 62 countries!

Unfortunately, kids, you don’t get the day off of school for Children’s Day, but—HEY! Most of you should get a couple days off for Thanksgiving next week! Thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Summer Campers!

If you’re like the rest of America, you probably love Cindy Crawford. Her beautiful face has been on countless magazine covers and she’s walked down so many runways that I’m sure she’s lost count by now! Cindy had done such wonders with her modeling career that by the time she was 29 years old, she was the highest paid model worldwide!

Born in Illinois, Cindy attended US Air Force Academy Science Camp in the summer season where she enjoyed camp programs and camp friends. A hard worker from an early age, at 16 years old, Cindy was keeping busy with her summer job, detasseling corn. Lucky for her, it was during her job that a newspaper photographer happened to notice her working away.

He snapped a picture of her that brought Cindy a world of positive feedback and gave her the encouragement she needed to pursue a modeling career. She entered the Elite Model Management’s Look of the Year contest one year later and won second place. After that, the Elite Model Management began to represent Cindy and the rest is history!

It’s funny because when Cindy first embarked upon her modeling career, magazines would eliminate the ‘Crawford mole’ which went on to become the model’s trademark trait. Despite early attempts to work around it, Cindy’s mole that rests just above her lip has become just as famous as she has herself!

Cindy has seen great success as her modeling career has turned her into a celebrity the world over! Cindy has taken acting roles on television as well as film and has been a spokesperson for companies like Pepsi. She also hosted MTV’s House of Style.

Now nearly 50 years old, Cindy has shaped her modeling career to fit what she wanted. What do you want?

Thanks for reading, campers!

- John

Hey, Hikers!

It’s never too late in the year for a vigorous constitutional down a scenic, woodsy trail. In fact, a solid hike this time of year will typically feel even more invigorating than it does in warmer temperatures. Sure, you might need to bundle up a little bit, but this is actually great hiking weather! That’s why today is National Take a Hike Day. Strap on your trail shoes and breathe in the late-Autumn air!

Hiking gets your blood pumping and makes you feel good. Why? Well, there’s more than just one reason because hiking benefits you in more than just one way. Unlike a lot of exercises that require expensive equipment or gym memberships, hiking is free and benefits your body as well as your mind!

Hiking—especially hiking uphill—is similarly efficient exercise for burning calories as jogging is and helps you lose weight. The pressure that hiking puts on your bones helps to strengthen your bone structure and helps reduce the risk of osteoporosis. It tones your muscles and does good things for your cardiovascular system too. Really, it just increases your overall fitness.

But hiking does more than just keep your body tuned up and feeling good. It’s also good for your mind. Incorporating a beautiful trail that twists and turns and leads to new landscapes is a nice little treat for your eyes and eases your head. Treadmills and exercise bikes don’t give you this aspect of exercise. Also, the air you breathe in is much crisper and brings a fresh oxygen supply to your brain, resulting in a happier you.

Most people live within driving distance of cool trails that are just waiting to be discovered and explored by you. Prepare for your outings at Everything Summer Camp; we carry a slew of great hiking gear to help you get the most out of your hikes. From trail shoes to water bottles, backpacks, and Hydration packs, we’ve got everything you need.

Happy Take a Hike Day and thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Kind Kids!

Today we revel in the good will of humanity as it is World Kindness Day. What better reason to celebrate something about ourselves than the boundless expansion of human compassion. Appreciated by everyone, kindness never grows weary, never dies out. It fights the good fight and always remains, standing victorious over the likes of carelessness and greed.

It’s good to be kind. Kind acts spread kindness. But it doesn’t only benefit others. No, siree! Committing random acts of kindness is certainly advantageous to you as well. How can treating others nicely benefit me? you wonder. Well, simple—it makes you feel like a good person! After all, being mean STINKS! It’s no fun to be mean. Much better to see the good in yourself and everyone else whose lives you touch.

In order to help the kindness chain to spread beyond you, I compiled a list of ideas you can use to help make someone’s day by delivering a random act of kindness. If you can put one of these ideas to good use (or an act of kindness you thought of on your own), then you’ll have had a successful Kindness Day!

• Rake your neighbor’s yard along with them. Your neighbor will really appreciate you cutting their work in half!
• Pick up trash. Taking care of litter in your yard or around your neighborhood is a wonderful way to keep your area looking nice. Your neighbors will appreciate it as well.
• Help out around the house. Making dinner or doing the dishes afterward is a great way to pitch in and keep your home a happy one.
• Help keep your classroom clean at school. Your custodian will really appreciate that.
• Bring your teacher a little token of appreciation. It doesn’t have to be an apple, but your teacher would probably love it if it was.

I hope you find these ideas helpful! And don’t forget, while it’s important to squeeze in some kindness today, especially, it’s important to keep kindness alive every day. Thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Shoppers!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner which means that Black Friday is nearby as well—just BEYOND that corner. I’m sure that by Thanksgiving, many of you have already prepared yourselves by perusing ads and mapping out the route you’ll take. And I’m sure that while all you prepped people are stuffing your faces with turkey and pie, you’ll hardly be able to stand the anticipation of embarking on your carefully strategized night of shopping. But for another portion of the population, Black Friday is more of a missed opportunity. Especially with opening hours of stores for Black Friday starting to creep into Thursday evening, some people have family visiting for their Thanksgiving celebration and don’t necessarily have time to go shopping.

For any of you who are unable to go out and find jaw-dropping deals, Everything Summer Camp has a nice, little treat for you! How can you reap the benefits of awesome sales on Black Friday while still not leaving your visiting relatives? Online shopping is a great alternative to heading out on this night. Lots of online stores still cut prices way down for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Announcing Everything Summer Camp’s Pre-Black Friday sale going on for our high-quality C&N Footlockers. Check out our slashed prices on our most popular camp trunk—the Happy Camper as well as the UnderGrad Footlockers are on sale from now until next week Tuesday. Get a C&N camp trunk for $20 less than the regular price while this sale lasts.

As Black Friday continues to push store opening hours earlier and earlier, this shopping experience is butting into the evening of Thanksgiving Day, creating what some refer to as ‘Gray Thursday’. We thought, why not beat everybody to the punch and just start now?! Happy shopping and thanks for reading.

- John