Dear First Session Moosilauke Families,

It was great to see those of you who were able to make it to Camp on Saturday. We had a beautiful day full of activities and a big buffet lunch by the beach. Before the lunch Bill gave a talk about the importance of giving kids autonomy so they can start building agency. His ultimate advice was for parents to help their kids lean into the “stress and mess” that comes with autonomy as opposed to trying to shield them from it. You can read Bill’s blog on the topic by clicking here https://www.moosilauke.com/2018/07/25/child-needs-little-stress-mess/.

Here are the highlights from the last week of the first session.

Sunday, the campers participated in the annual special events day with the neighboring girls camp. Activities included three-legged and hula hoop races, a water balloon toss, the bear pole, and an obstacle course. In between events campers were treated to Sno-Cones complimentary of the CITs. In the evening, the boys were invited over to the girls’ camp for a cookout and dance.

Monday was another “Typical Moosilauke Day” with trips heading out to all points on the compass and area activities humming. Competition was a fifteens Dodgeball tournament at a neighboring camp. As is tradition, the fifteens dressed up in some fabulous costumes for the event. The Juniors (eight-, nine-, and ten-year-olds) ventured out to a day at Cascade Park and Mini-Golf. The Inter As (twelve-year-olds) enjoyed an afternoon at Baker Cliffs, followed by an ice cream treat at Moose Scoops. Monday also saw an all-ages group head to the Bradford Country Club for a round of golf and eight campers and three counselors venture to Indian Pond for a fishing adventure. All told the crew hauled in 50 fish, 30 of which were bass in the 1 to 3 pound range! Most campers used spinning rods, but one camper landed a bass fly-fishing. After fishing, they went swimming, and then had a cookout on the beach that included a grilled bass.

Campers not on trips or competition participated in open activity areas – some of them working to complete an achievement level in a specific area. In the evening, there was the official “break” of the Red-Grey Competition. The extravaganza had a fishing theme and the highlight entailed Quinn coming out of the water at dusk with a scuba tank on and a huge fish on the end of is spear gun. As usual, our broadway impresario, Todd gets full credit for all the fun theatrics.

Given the rain on Tuesday we called a surprise audible that entailed postponing Red and Grey competition for a day and sending all the campers out to fun indoor activities. The Juniors (eight, nine, and ten-year-olds) and the Inter Bs (eleven-year-olds) ventured to the Montshire Science Museum in Hanover, followed by a picnic lunch. The Inter As (twelve-year-olds) and Senior Bs (thirteen-year-olds) feasted on a pizza lunch and then enjoyed a movie in town. Finally, the Senior As (fourteen and fifteen-year-olds) left mid-afternoon for a late afternoon viewing of “Antman” followed by a delicious pizza dinner. The rain cleared a bit in the afternoon, so the Juniors, Interns, and Senior Bs who were back in Camp for the afternoon enjoyed canoeing, fishing, stand-up paddleboarding, and swimming, along with a special obstacle course.

The return of blue skies on Wednesday and Thursday gave us perfect weather for our two-days of Red and Grey “friendly competition.” Events included a canoe regatta, a track meet, tug-of war, basketball games, tennis, a fishing tournament, Ultimate Frisbee matches, baseball games, lacrosse games, age group “mega” relay races, and a team fire-building competition. The final event was a song competition. In the end it all came down to the last event. More importantly, all the boys competed with great sportsmanship and camaraderie. As is tradition, the closing ceremonies included candy and soda for all the campers.

Friday was packing day in the morning and open areas in the afternoon that included a “tall-tale” from Port on the beach. In the evening we had our traditional end-of-session banquet that included nachos, shrimp cocktail, steak, Caesar salad, cheesy twice-baked potatoes, homemade rolls, and Whoopie Pies for dessert. Many dressed in their finest for the occasion. Following the meal there was a special video presentation highlighting the first session and recognizing the boys for their achievements in the different activity areas. The Camp also watched a brand new video titled “A Second a Day.” Look for it on our Facebook page and a modified version on Instagram. We then moved down to the beach where campers who have attended Moose for three, five, six, and eight years were honored with special t-shirts and jackets. Todd then shared his final “trick of the day” of the first session called “1 in 52.” With the help of another counselor, he tried to randomly guess a card from a deck of new cards. Failure ensued and they decided to burn the card. In the end the card is found intact in an unopened can of chocolate pudding. The final part of the evening involved the Senior A1s leading a torchlight ceremony that culminated in their lighting a huge bonfire on the field. As the oldest campers approached the bonfire the whole camp spontaneously burst into a chant of “Senior A1s!”

Thank you for sharing your wonderful boys with us!

Happy Summer!

Best,

Bill, Sabina, Port, Heide, Ken, and Ingrid