Celebrating the 4th

Happy 4th of July! This has been a completely packed, exciting fun day at camp, and if the number of photos we took and added to the photo gallery is an indication (966!), it may be a record. Following a long 4th of July tradition at Rockbrook, we started the day with shouts of the “the British are coming! Wake up! Wake up!” from the equestrian staff as they rode up and down the cabin lines. They dressed up the horses with red, white and blue stable wraps and wore their best patriotic colors.

In fact, it seemed like there was red, white and blue everywhere at camp.  The campers themselves must have planned for this day of dressing up because we saw hats, head bands, and all kinds of t-shirts proudly designed with sparkly red, white and blue.  The dining hall had balloons, streamers and paper decorations. We passed out patriotic temporary tattoos.  Even Allison’s muffins kept the theme with strawberries and blueberries in white cake.  At the meals, the girls sang every song they could think of that had “USA” or “America” in it…  “Party in the USA,” “Born in the USA,” “American Pie,” and even “Yankee Doodle.”  Throughout the morning, as the girls took on their different activities (painting “Happy Birthday America” cards in Hobby Nook, for example), we celebrated the 4th in color, song and spirit.

After lunch, we surprised everyone with one of the more popular events at Rockbrook: Biltmore Train! This is our special all-you-can-eat ice cream extravaganza recalling the Biltmore Dairy’s ice cream truck and its camp visits. Armed with tubs of ice cream and cones, the counselors served up scoop after scoop to the campers. The trick is to get right back in line so that you can be ready for another scoop. One camper bragged to me she had 6 scoops, but I think that might have been an exaggeration!

For dinner, Rick and his crew, with some help from the Hi-Ups, shucked 4 bushels of fresh corn to complete the burgers (lettuce, tomato, cheese, ketchup, mayo, mustard), homemade sweet potato fries and bomb pops. Classic. After dinner, we announced yet another surprise for twilight: an all-camp, though optional, shaving cream fight down on the landsports field. We passed out almost 100 bottles of shaving cream to the campers, and ready in their swimsuits, they took off spraying each other, smearing white slippery foam all over themselves and each other. This truly is good “clean” fun, just brimming with the most amazing wide-eyed smiles and laughter, and the girls absolutely loved it.

Topping off the day, as it grew dark around 9, we treated everyone to a 40-minute fireworks show. Everyone gathered out on the hill with crazy creek chairs, blankets and sleeping bags to get a perfect view of the sky above the lake where Jeff, Jerry and Richie launched the pyrotechnics. There were plenty of “ooohs” and “aaahs” as the colorful flashes and exciting reports kept everyone entertained. It was a perfect ending to a very full day. We all stayed up a little late, but it was worth it in so many ways.

Closing Campfire

Each session, the Hi-Ups, our oldest (10th grade, 16-year-old) campers, go on a three-day outdoor trip with Jeff. It’s a special trip packed with adventure, really great food, and time to relax and enjoy being together. It’s impossible to mention all the highlights, but they include things like wake boarding, waterfall hiking, camping, swimming, rock climbing, and cliff jumping. At one point, the girls swam up to a waterfall and climbed up several rock ledges to pass through the falling water into a small cave behind. The pounding cold, cold water and the roar of the waterfall made this such an intense feeling. When jumping into the lake from different heights, we could always count on hearing big happy screams. And the food… steak burritos and burgers for dinners, lunches of sandwiches and wraps, and eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes… Yum!

This session our camp-wide musical was Schoolhouse Rock, and today was the big performance for everyone at camp. This is a wonderful play that has lots of parts and plenty of familiar songs making it easy to includes campers of all ages. Based on the popular TV series, we heard A Noun is a Person, Place or Thing, Three is a Magic Number, Conjunction Junction, and several others sung by different groups of girls. The audience was thrilled to several solos and plenty of dancing, really giving several girls a chance to ham it up!

The final event tonight was our closing campfire, the “Spirit Fire.” This is a tradition that goes back to the very beginning of Rockbrook. It’s a special campfire attended by the whole camp dressed in their “whities” (camp uniform and red tie), and is a chance to sing songs, recognize and reflect upon everything we’ve accomplished over the session. Girls take turns speaking about their time at camp, and about what Rockbrook has come to mean for them over the years. It’s a wonderful, calm time to remember our camp friends, as well as the fun and excitement shared during the session. To end the Spirit Fire all the campers and counselors light a small white candle from the central campfire and then stand together for a last couple of songs. With all the lights off in camp, with the sounds of the creeks and crickets, and with the whole camp softly singing by candlelight, this is just beautiful, and a very special time.

Miss RBC

Today was Miss RBC, our camp-wide talent show and spoof-like pageant. It’s one the few events that campers know about ahead of time, so that they can work together as a group to come up with a funny skit or dance. In true RBC form, there are always lots of crazy costumes and goofy moves. Each cabin has a chance to perform, and then one elected representative from each cabin comes up at the end to answer a Rockbrook question like, “What does a Honosuarius look like?” or “Do you prefer Vesper Rock or Frog Mouth Rock?” Then, a special panel of judges, such as the barn staff, decide which cabin wins!

Opening Third Session

Welcome, welcome, everyone to Rockbrook! We are all very excited to see you and to begin your session of camp in the “heart of a wooded mountain.” Over these next few weeks we’ll be creating something everyday, taking adventure trips, playing all kinds of games, learning to ride, shoot and flip, and more than anything, having a great time laughing and goofing around with friends.

Getting settled into the cabin is the first step— moving trunks and dufflebags, setting up a shelf of things near her bed (flashlight, book, photos, stationary for writing letters home, etc.), meeting her counselor and other girls in the cabin. While most of the campers are returning to camp from last summer, we’ve taken care assigning cabins so there’s always a mix of new and returning campers. It’s a good way to ensure that everyone will have new friends to make.

Rick and his kitchen crew prepared our favorite comfort food for lunch: homemade macaroni and cheese, with a tomato and cucumber salad, carrots and sliced peaches. Along with our regular salad bar and peanut butter and jelly station, everyone had a great first meal at camp… just right on a warm summer afternoon. It’s during meals that all those crazy camp songs come out too. The Hi-Ups (10th graders) got everyone going with big powerful versions of the “Coconut song,” “the Milk Song,” “An Austrian Went Yodeling” (Paola, our Australian who lives in Vienna, gets a chuckle from that one!), and others.

After lunch everyone headed out to the main hill in camp, some with their Crazy Creek chairs, for an assembly under the shade of the big walnut tree. This was a chance to learn more traditional camp songs, meet some of the Line Heads and other lead counselors, and to find our more about camp. We also were treated to a series of skits performed by the activity instructors and counselors, short songs and scenes they put together to explain what happens at their activity. It’s a fun way to let the campers know their options when it comes time to sign up for their activities, but also a good way for everyone to meet the other staff members at camp. My favorite was the swimming skit where Gracie performed a dramatic reading of a short story she wrote while the lifeguards danced and interpreted the scenes in the background. It was hilarious!

Next, each cabin of campers comes down to the lake to perform their swimming demonstration. This is a simple check of swimming ability were each girl receives a personal buddy tag if she can swim out 25 yards, back another 25 yards, and tread water for 1 minute. Meanwhile other cabin groups are taking tours of the camp, learning where all the activities meet, how to go through the tunnel to the equestrian center, and the trail to the alpine climbing tower. This is also the time, right before dinner, that the girls sign up for their first set of 4 activities. After meeting the counselors, finding out what the activities actually are, connecting with friends, and knowing where everything meets, the campers are now much more prepared to make their own choices about their activity schedule. By the way, all of this is why we don’t “pre-sign up” for activities before arriving at camp. We’ve found over the years that campers get so much more from making their own activity selections after arriving. It’s a big part of camp at Rockbrook.

After an awesome dinner of chicken fingers, baked potato fries, and sauteed local summer squash and zucchini, with Liz’s chocolate chip cookie bars for dessert, we enjoyed a relaxing evening on the hill before each Line’s (age group’s) evening program. It’s always amazing to see how quickly the girls settle into life at camp. Everywhere you look, it’s easy to see friendships forming, enthusiasm for what’s going on (even for clearing the table after dinner, for example!), and excitement for all the opportunities around them. It’s a cool thing. We all tend to stay up a little later the first night of camp. All this bottled up excitement keeps the cabins chatting late into the night, anticipating the first full day tomorrow. It’s gonna be a good one.

Banquet and Spirit Fire

The big surprise was finally revealed Tuesday Night— the theme for this session’s banquet. The CAs and their counselors select a secret theme for their banquet, which is essentially a huge elaborate party with special decorations, costumes, music, dance numbers, treats, and of course food, and the whole camp is kept guessing. What was the theme? Christmas at Rockbrook. The whole dining hall was decorated with posters of snow scenes, with garlands and spruce trees, and each table had wrapped presents, “snow” and candy canes. Several counselors dressed up as elves to join Rudolf, the Grinch, and Frosty the snowman. Even Jerry made an appearance as Santa!

The CAs served an awesome dinner of sliced roasted ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, yeast rolls, cranberry sauce, and decorated cookies for dessert. It was so yummy! The girls had a great time singing popular Christmas songs like Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, Jingle Bells, and Frosty the Snowman. The whole camp ends up dancing toward the end of the banquet, with girls snapping photos and giving each other lots of hugs. It’s a great time and a true highlight of the session.

The final event on Wednesday night is our Spirit Fire final campfire. This is a more serious time to enjoy traditional camp songs and remember the camp session and some of the important things we all shared during these few weeks. Everyone dresses in their uniforms. Campers and counselors prepare short speeches about their time at camp, and Sarah gives a final talk reflecting on how the session has gone and her hopes for everyone as they prepare to leave camp the next day. It’s always an emotional time because the girls have made such close friends while at camp. It’s as if the campfire is one big hug celebrating how close everyone has grown as they’ve had such fun here at Rockbrook. It’s quite amazing to see just how meaningful the experience is for everyone, campers and staff members included. It really is a special moment.

A Full Camp Day

It was another full, busy day at Rockbrook Camp today with campers signed up for trips, special activities available, and a fun day-long theme to add even more silliness to the mix. Everyone was excited to learn about the surprise theme— Cartoon Character Day. This is when campers and counselors dress up as their favorite cartoon character. It’s certainly optional, but it was fun to see Minnie Mouse, the Tasmanian Devil, several princesses, and even spider woman running around camp. There are some very creative girls here who are always looking for a reason to dress up.

After our excellent breakfast of bacon, home fries, fresh cut fruit, yogurt and cereal, several outdoor adventure trips packed up to leave camp. Clyde and Kelsey took a small group of senior girls for a day of whitewater kayaking on the lower section of the Green River. Also, the oldest campers, our “Hi-Ups” who have finished the 10th grade, went hiking in Dupont State Forest. They hiked to Hooker Falls and climbed down to the pool of water below to wade in a bit (and take photos of course!). After the early morning fog burned off, the skies were a wonderful sunny blue, making this a beautiful trip.

Every few days or so, Jessi leads a morning Yoga class for anyone interested. Everyone gathers in the stone “Hillside Lodge,” spreads out across the wood floor with their mats, and moves through a series of beginner Hatha Yoga poses. With calm music playing, and good friends all around, it’s a very relaxing time, and it feels so good! It’s surprising how much enthusiasm there is for these yoga classes, even from girls who have never tried it before. Jessi’s teaching is a big part of that, I suspect.

For our evening activity today, we had a very special campfire with our friend Gary Greene who is a talented story teller and musician. All the campers and counselors gathered at the Spirit Fire area to enjoy Gary’s stories (“Peanut Butter,” for example) and to sing several songs (e.g., “Little Cabin in the Woods” and “The Frog Song”). Michelle helped by staging a few jokes, and leading several RBC songs as well. One highlight was his reading of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky while a few campers and counselors acted out different parts. Everyone was really engaged and entertained all evening. We loved it!

The smell of wood smoke outdoors, the sounds of crickets and frogs from the lake, being together like this in such a beautiful setting, signing and laughing … that’s real camp.

A Big Fiesta

A bunch of Middlers and Seniors took a whitewater rafting trip to the Nantahala River today. Our very own guides (Clyde, Kelsey, Sid, Mallory and John) gathered up the rafting gear (boats, paddles, helmets, PFDs and other safety equipment) and met us at the river. We stopped for a picnic lunch along the way, but by 1pm we were ready to raft. Since the weather was perfect, sunny and warm, we had a great time splashing each other, and even jumping in the water for a quick dip on calm sections of the river. Every boat ran the final rapid just perfectly.

Another highlight of the day was our dinner event— Fiesta Birthday Night! This is a special dinner where the dining hall is rearranged so that everyone in camp sits at a table according to their birth month… all the January birthdays together, and so forth. Each table shouts “Happy Birthday” to famous people born in their month: “Happy Birthday Barack Obama!” (August), for example. And, of course, each month has an elaborate cake to share as well. The food was an awesome Mexican Fiesta too. We had steak fajitas, beans, rice, homemade guacamole, diced tomatoes, cheese, salsa, and sour cream. The tri-colored peppers and onions really made it! All the campers dressed up for the Fiesta and the dining hall was decorated with piñatas and colorful posters. It was a great time.

After dinner, during the hour before evening program starts, the campers have free time, but we always have an optional group activity planned. We call these activities “Twilight Activities.” Tonight we had two Rockbrook Alumnae visit and hold a singalong. Elsa Claverie and Jo Littleton brought their banjo and Ukulele and a list of cool new songs to teach us. They actually weren’t “new,” but old traditional songs that we didn’t know. It was so neat to hear the singing, harmonies and enthusiasm in the room. It made everyone feel good… that feeling where the back of your neck tingles. There’s a short video on the RBC Youtube channel of the singing. Enjoy.

Twilight with Elsa and Jo

Super alumnae Elsa Claverie and Jo Littleton visited us at camp tonight and brought their ukulele and banjo. They held a special “twilight” activity for campers and counselors who wanted to learn a few traditional songs, and just enjoy singing together. It was a wonderful hour of song, laughter and smiles. Here’s a short video of a round we sang. Enjoy!