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Arriving at camp, as our 2nd July mini session campers did today, is always exciting. For this particular session, it was exciting for the campers arriving, after all they’ve been waiting a long time for this day, but it’s also exciting for all of us already at camp because we’ll be seeing old friends returning to camp as well as plenty of new people to meet.

The evidence for this was written on so many faces this morning. It was literally a parade of smiles… smiling parents as they saw the enthusiasm of the Rockbrook staff, smiling campers as they began to pick up the friendly vibe of camp, and smiling counselors eager to meet their newly arrived campers. The counselors really look forward to meeting their campers. After only seeing their profile photos, it’s so much better to finally meet the girls and begin to understand their personalities.

Of course, the arriving campers are looking forward to everything. They are eager to meet their cabin mates, even if that can also be a little nerve wracking for some. Entering any new social setting carries a little uncertainty, but it doesn’t take long for girls to realize that people at camp are nice. They’re kind, and want to be your friend, so that calms any nervousness that might be bubbling up.

Our drive thru check-in process worked smoothly, with most families only waiting short while to make their way through all the stations. Thank you for your patience!

Chapel on Nature

By noon, everyone had arrived and the girls were busy setting up their cabins and getting to know each other. Meanwhile, the full session campers had gone to chapel, where the Senior girls led everyone in a program on the theme of “Nature.” Being at camp means immersing yourself in nature, getting to feel its forces, and personally experiencing its nuances. Camp is a place where nature is a daily participant, rather than something we shield ourselves from. How that affects us, and what that might mean, are interesting questions to think about. And what better place to do that than camp?

As we sat to eat Rick’s famous comfort food lunch— homemade mac-n-cheese, sautéed veggies, and fresh blueberries and blackberries —the weather turned a little rainy, and it looked like the forecast was intermittent rain for the rest of the day.

Swimming Demonstrations

This delayed our swimming demonstrations a bit, but we were still able to fit most of them in between rainy spells. These “swim demos” are a way for campers to show our waterfront staff how comfortable they are in the water, swimming and treading water without difficulty. Doing that earns everyone a colored tag for the tag board, which is a system we use to keep a tally of swimmers when the lake is open. It was still a little misty throughout the “demos,” so the chilly lake water was even more surprising for the girls. But the crowd was just as encouraging and the lifeguards just as supportive of everyone taking their mountain dip. I’m sure those dry towels felt really good afterwards!

Reptile Show

Our afternoon activity was an all-camp event we held in the gym (again, to avoid the rain of the day)— a reptile show. This was a fascinating close encounter with several different snakes, a tortoise (a 50-year-old red footed tortoise named Rex), and a detailed presentation of “ophiology,” the study of snakes.

What did we learn? Mostly, that snakes are really cool! The campers learned the difference between a poisonous snake (don’t eat it or touch it) and a venomous snake (don’t let it bite you). They learned that snakes are often misunderstood. They’re not “slimy,” and they won’t attack human beings unless threatened or provoked. We heard that some snakes will play dead if near a predator, and others will run away. The girls were able to see, and touch! if they were so brave, a 4-ft long boa constrictor from Columbia, a 5-ft long grey banded rat snake, an eastern hog nosed snake, and a yellow rat snake named Josie that looked like an over-ripe banana. Girls had questions too. “Is it true that you can tell the age of a rattlesnake by its rattle?” No. “Have you ever been bit by a snake?” Yes, but it wasn’t venomous so it wasn’t bad. “Can I touch?” Yes, please do!

Our hope is that the girls are now a little more informed about snakes, more curious about them, and possibly less frightened by them. At camp, we caution the girls to stay away from any snake they might see, and to alert a counselor. If the snake is venomous, we have a special tool one of the directors can use to catch it, and remove it from camp. We won’t kill a snake, just release it somewhere farther away from the people at camp. After today’s presentation, I think the girls do have a new respect and admiration for snakes, but also an understanding about being cautious around them.

Camp is always a place of celebration, but since today was the 4th of July, we had another reason to kick things up a bit and make the day special.

It started right away, even a bit before the rising bell, when eight riding staff members, dressed in their best red, white and blue, rode horses up into camp. They had the horses painted and dressed as well. On cue, they rode up and down the cabin lines yelling “The British are coming! Wake up! Wake up!” (a reference to Paul Revere’s ride in April of 1775). Hoofbeats in the morning! Hearing all this and still dressed in their pajamas, the girls stumbled out onto the hill for a flag raising ceremony led by the Hi-Ups. Everyone also recited the Pledge of Allegiance and sleepily sang “America the Beautiful.”

Patriotic Breakfast Decorations

At breakfast, the campers were met by a second blast of red, white and blue decorations. The dining hall had streamers, posters (one read, “We love Betsy Ross!”) and ribbons hung in every direction. We set out red, white and blue head bands, stickers, glitter and temporary tattoos on all the tables. It seemed like most of the campers were happy to take advantage of the tattoos! Combined with their own festive costumes and accessories, we had a shockingly patriotic color scheme going on. Singing in the dining hall picked up the theme too, with the girls belting out versions of “Yankee Doodle,” “Your a Grand Old Flag,” and Katy Perry’s “Firework.”

Regular Activities with Red, White and Blue

The day was mostly filled with the girls attending their regular activities. Flashes of red, white and blue appeared all around camp— climbing the alpine tower, weaving baskets in the creek, shooting riflery, and riding horses at the riding center, for example. The muffin flavor of the day was “Firework Funfetti.” During the first free swim time before lunch, about 30 or so counselors and campers ran a 2-mile course around camp: the “Firecracker Run.” Also during that free swim period, the lifeguards held a greased watermelon relay race. The team that won enjoyed cracking open the watermelon and eating it afterwards.

Picnic Dinner with Cheerwine

We served dinner on the hill, a yummy supper of Rick’s barbecue chicken (and tempeh), homemade potato salad, coleslaw, and watermelon. We don’t ordinarily serve soft drinks at camp, but for tonight’s special occasion we offered the girls each a can of Cheerwine, kept cold in the creek in front of the Goodwill cabin. For dessert it was blondie cookie bars with red, white and blue (again!) icing decoration.

Color Run and Firetruck Slip-n-Slide

The evening event was hilarious— an all-camp color run and slip-n-slide! This had the girls change into their swimsuits and come down to the grassy landsports field. There, the counselors set up an obstacle course that challenged the girls to run through the course while having colorful powder thrown at you. Of course, the real goal was to be hit by the colored powder and get messy. For the slip-n-slide, our property manager Richie brought over a firetruck (He’s the Assistant Chief of our fire district.) and used the hose to keep everything wet and slippery. We had music playing, which added to the wild and crazy feeling of the event. You’ve never seen such exuberance! One camper told me, “I love this!” Being that messy, laughing that hard, slipping and sliding with friends… it was a one of a kind experience.

As night fell, the finale of the day was our own fireworks show. Casey was ready with glow sticks for all the girls and a fun playlist of music to blast during the show. For the next 30 minutes, we all enjoyed another dance party, as the girls twirled their glow sticks, sang along to the music and cheered with every sparkling blast in the air.

It’s hard to beat a day like this with so much celebration, with one exciting surprise after another. When you have all these great people having this much crazy fun, I can’t think of a better way to spend the 4th of July.

Everybody knows that Sundays are different. They’re probably different for you, and they’re different at camp too. Instead of our regular activities, we have several all-camp events. This provides a nice reset, a chance to celebrate our community values all together, dress up, and of course have some silly fun.

It starts by sleeping in! Yes, on Sundays everyone gets an extra hour of sleep, waking up at 9am instead of 8. This feels great, and usually is very welcome after the past week of solid adventure and activity. It takes kids a day or two after arriving to settle down, but for the most part, people sleep really well here at camp… “Best sleep of my life!” one teenage camper told me. Maybe it’s the fresh air or perhaps our days filled with things that exercise all our senses, but when it’s time for rest, Rockbrook girls know how to rest!

PJ Breakfast with Doughnuts

Right after waking up, everyone skips their cabin chores and comes to the dining hall in their PJs (and wearing a cozy sweatshirt to block the morning chill). We enjoyed a regular breakfast of eggs and sausage, cereal, fruit and yogurt, but had a special treat of glazed doughnuts as well.

For the last few days, we’ve experienced a typical summer weather pattern for this area. Waking up, it’s cool and foggy, with everything outside feeling a little damp. Then by the time muffin break rolls around mid-morning, the fog has burned off to reveal crisp, bright, warm sunshine and our gorgeous distant mountain view. About rest hour time, the skies darken and we often hear thunder in the distance. And like today, we have a storm roll through that soaks us for about 20 minutes before moving on. Once past, we’re back in action.

By the way, you can always check our Rockbrook weather station if you are curious about what’s happening at camp.

After breakfast, once everyone had changed into their camp uniforms, the Hi-Ups led everyone in a flag raising ceremony on the hill. Everyone looked sharp in the bright morning sun, and in their red and white.

Chapel on Friendship

The chapel theme today was “Friendship.” “Chapel” is not a religious service at Rockbrook. Instead, it’s a time for the girls to settle down a bit, and think about one of the core aspects of camp life, our camp values, and our time together as a camp community. Past themes include: honesty, kindness, trust, generosity, nature, and community. The girls take turns contributing to the program, reading poems or other quotes, singing songs, and sometimes simply saying what the theme means to them. Sarah usually reads a children’s book. Today she read, “The Invisible Boy,” a story about a boy who gets left out at school, but when a new child arrives at school finds a way to be friends. She asked, “Do you know anyone at camp who might be feeling invisible? What can you do to help people make friends?”

Gold Rush Scavenger Hunt

Sunday afternoons means a surprise special event. Today we had a camp-wide scavenger hunt followed by a square dance in the gym. This was a “Gold Rush,” where cabin groups roamed about camp trying to find hidden gold coins. The girls were looking all over, under and around everything in camp, doing their best to collect as many coins as possible. But there were bandits too, people who could approach a cabin and demand all of the gold the group had collected! If the cabin group could answer a trivia question correctly, they could keep their gold. There were prizes to be won for the group with the most gold, and a special prize for finding the “Golden Nugget.”

Square Dancing in Western Wear

To round out the afternoon, there was a square (!) dance held in the gym. With Hi-Ups and counselors calling out patterns and demonstrating different moves, we played fun country dance music like the Virginia Slide and the Boot Scootin’ Boogie, as well as some traditional bluegrass. The girls came dressed in their favorite western wear, flannel bandanas and boots. It think there were at least a dozen pink cowboy hats. It was a little wild when “swing your partner” became swing anyone, but it was active and fun. We clapped along to the music, laughed and smiled, and enjoyed ourselves letting loose a bit. All good healthy camp fun.

An opening day of camp is a spectacle of excitement. It’s the start of something we’ve all been looking forward to, and is something that’s filled with possibility, great feelings and new experiences. Just about everyone involved knows this feeling— the parents driving into camp with jittery children in the backseat, the campers themselves who’ve had to wait for many, many months for this day, and the enthusiastic cabin counselors literally jumping up and down to greet the campers as they arrive. Even the directors! All of us at camp were very excited this morning to open our second session of camp.

I want to thank everyone for managing all of the pre-camp tasks we asked of families this year. In addition to all the regular health forms and camper information forms, this was another year that included covid-19 concerns and this created an added burden leading up to camp. We know that is was a lot, but we’re also very thankful that everyone, without exception, took care of the details. We done!

Drive-Thru Check-In

The parents being prepared helped make the check-in procedure go smoothly too. Our staggered arrival times and “drive-thru” stations kept the line of cars moving steadily ahead all morning. The highlight of the process was hopping out the car and meeting each camper’s counselors. Our crew of luggage guys worked steading all morning as well, quickly moving trunks and duffles to the cabins where the girls could begin setting up their cabins together.

Setting up the cabin has become a fun group activity now that the different aged girls are arriving at similar times. It really helps make everyone feel included as they arrange trunks in the cabin, share decorations, and pick their bunk more collaboratively. In fact, this whole day is an extension of this process as the girls spend most of their time with their cabin group.

Rick’s Signature Mac-n-Cheese

Lunch was Rick’s signature homemade mac-n-cheese. This is a perpetual favorite for open day. And Rick does it right. Mountains of shredded cheese, pounds of elbow macaroni, mixed with a roux of butter, milk and flour, and baked until bubbling hot. Everyone loved it.

The cabin groups also spent time walking around and touring camp. This was a chance to visit the different activity areas and to learn where to find the Health Hut, the Office, the Dining Hall, the Gym and the Lake. We also spent time visiting the camp store to pick up the items parents ordered for their campers. Soon you’ll start to see those new sweatshirts, bucket hats and water bottles in the photo gallery.

Swimming Demonstrations

The afternoon brought all of us to the lake, all the counselors, directors, lifeguards, and campers too. It was time for our “swim demos,” which is the process where we ask everyone to demonstrate their ability to swim. The lake has various areas that are appropriate for different swimmers, deeper and more shallow areas for example. To make sure everyone finds the best area, we check how well everyone can swim, tread water, and be comfortable in our chilly mountain lake. We all take turns jumping off the dock (cheering support!) swimming and treading water for a minute, and then receive a colored wrist band and tag. The three different levels are easily identified with this color coding.

The lake is such a popular place to be, we want to make sure everyone has a chance to cool off on those sunny summer days. We now have a full board of tags, one for each person who can swim in the lake, maybe take a ride down the waterslide, or just float lazily in a tube.

We’re off to a great session, and the girls are ready to dig into their first rotation of activities starting tomorrow. They selected their activities tonight, so they are eager to say the least!

Let me remind you to send mail… lots of it! The girls check their mailbox after lunch each day, and it’s a big deal to see something waiting for you in your box. Likewise, it’s a little disappointing to see your box empty. So use these content ideas and write those letters! And send those emails. Everyone loves mail at camp.

Every camp session has a certain momentum to it, a feeling of accelerating energy, that becomes incredibly powerful with each passing day. The girls enjoy themselves more and more, are more quick to laugh at things, and are more eager to dive deep into camp life. All of those great camp feelings— enthusiastic support from everyone around you, friendly encouragement, a general sense of belonging and wellbeing, a joyful approach to whatever arises —become more regular and true. Part if this is because we are simply more familiar with camp life and therefore we come to expect these feelings. But, of course, the quality of our camp experience is mostly derived from the the deepening friendships we form while here. All this time together, doing so much together, creates a special kind of energy that builds on itself, day after day.

Shrek the Musical

The end-of-session all-camp events, for this reason, are particularly exciting and powerful. One such event is the camp play, which this session was “Shrek the Musical.” This was a chance for campers to play their favorite Shrek characters, including that beloved green ogre, the princess Fiona, the evil Lord Farquaad, and Donkey. In addition to spoken parts telling the story of Shrek rescuing Princess Fiona, the show included singing and fun dance routines.

Monsters Incamporated Banquet

The other event held at the end of the main sessions is the “Banquet.” This is a BIG deal, and is something everyone looks forward to. It’s essentially a huge party with music and dancing, decorations, special food, and costumed characters entertaining. The 9th grade campers (our CAs) plan and present the banquet, keeping its theme a secret until revealing it on the second to last day of camp.

This session the theme focused on the Pixar characters from the movies Monsters, Inc. and Monsters University. They called it, “Monsters Incamporated.” This was a colorful and fun banquet theme. Taking styles from the movies, the dining hall was decorated with painted doors, Monster University sorority and fraternity insignias, well-known characters from the movies, balloons and streamers. The CAs themselves dressed up too. We saw Mike Wazowski, Sully, Randall, Celia, Art, Janitors, Members of the PNK (Python Nu Kappa) Sorority, Hardscrabble, Johnny, Roz and others. There were skits enacting a couple of scenes, and dance numbers combining several characters.

The tables of the dining hall were arranged to leave plenty of space for dancing, which everyone enjoyed between scenes performed by the CAs. The tables had decorated cups for everyone, a variety of candy treats, and small cans of soda. The meal was “Ears and Eyes” (tortellini and meatballs), “Mini Mikes” (green grapes), and “Green Goo” (Chips and Guacamole). Dancing and singing, eating and drinking, colorful and loud— it was a fabulous party.

The Closing Spirit Fire

The final event of the session, which occurred on the last evening, was the closing campfire. This “Spirit Fire” is a tradition reaching back to Rockbrook’s very first summer more than 100 years ago. It’s a chance to reflect on the session and what we’ve all learned from being together at camp. Different campers and counselors take turns giving short speeches, alternating with traditional songs sung around a roaring campfire. Tonight we heard a camper talk about feeling immediately accepted at Rockbrook. Another said that she had found “another home” at camp. One staff member was surprised how much camp meant to her after taking a few years off from being here.

The Spirit Fire brings up these sorts of feelings. Sitting shoulder to shoulder with so many friends with whom you’ve shared so much— it brings up emotions. It makes you appreciate what’s special about camp. It makes you feel good about yourself and your place in this positive community. The Spirit Fire ends with each person lighting a small white candle and then processing around the lake. This creates a beautiful ring of candlelight reflecting off the water of the lake. The girls sing softly and after a few minutes head back to their cabins for their last night at camp.

Thank you everyone for being a part of camp this session. Thank you for recognizing the value of camp, and for trusting Rockbrook to provide the kind of summer experience your girls need. It’s been a wonderful session, and we look forward to seeing everyone again very soon.

Today we opened our June mini session and welcomed 77 campers to Rockbrook to begin their 2-week session. It was an exciting morning for everyone, certainly for the girls arriving because they were finally starting their time at camp, but also for the current full session campers and staff already here because they now had a new group of friends to meet and play with while at camp.

About half of the girls arriving today were brand new to camp, and about half are on the Junior Line (grades K-4). You could feel everyone’s jittery excitement as the cars pulled up at each stop in our drive-thru check-in process. I imagine the girls were feeling a unique combination of nerves, almost intolerable anticipation, but also deep-down eagerness.

Getting Started Right Away

Meeting your counselors and the other girls in your cabin amplify these feelings, but the best way to harness this energy is to get started doing things. So that’s what we do. The first job, after quick introductions, is to set up the cabin, making beds, arranging trunks, etc. But then it’s time to tour the camp, and get a sense of the different activity areas, the dining hall, and other landmarks like the stone lodges, the tennis courts, the gym, and the lake for example.

A quick assembly of the whole camp on the grassy hill gave everyone a chance to sing a few songs, meet the Directors, Line Heads, and the Hi-Ups, and catch a glimpse of the mountain view in the distance.

For lunch, Rick and his fantastic kitchen crew prepared a camp classic: tacos. With bowls of homemade guacamole, salsa, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, refried black beans, and ground beef, as well as stacks of crunchy taco shells, it really hit the spot. And since the weather was perfectly sunny and breezy, we turned it into a picnic and ate outside on the hill.

Swimming Tag System

After lunch, during rest hour, the mini session campers who just arrived changed into their swimsuits and walked down to the lake to learn about our swimming “Tag System” and to demonstrate their swimming ability. They took turns jumping off the dock, swimming and treading water to prove how comfortable they are in the water. There are three different colors of tags based on swimming ability, each indicating which part of the lake is best for that person (deeper for strong swimmers, and perhaps wearing a life jacket for beginner swimmers). Everyone who wants to cool off in the Rockbrook lake can do that in some way or another.

Petting Zoo Festival

We had another all-camp special event in the afternoon— a festival of sorts focused on the theme of “animals.” We called it “Petting Zoo.” And if you saw the farm animals on hand, you can see why! The girls were able to feed a calf, a baby pig, a couple of goats, and chickens. There were many animal-rated other activities too: hobby horse races, animal costume bingo, making felt animal headbands, a flamingo ring toss game, face painting, and a huge limbo line. Of course, there were animal crackers as a snack, and with many of the girls dressed in different animal costumes, we had an afternoon menagerie!

Saturday at camp is mostly a day of regular activities. “Regular” means a schedule of two periods that meet in the morning and two in the afternoon. These are the time slots when the girls rotate through the different activity options available around camp. Woven between these slots are blocks of free time when a game of tetherball, or reading your book, or taking a shower is what feels right. Two of these free time blocks are “Free Swim” periods when the lake is open, giving girls a daily opportunity to cool off even if they did not take swimming as one of their activities.

After dinner on Saturdays, we always plan a special event. We usually keep it a surprise, and like all great camp gatherings, we integrate a theme that inspires a genre of costumes.

Gold Rush Scavenger Hunt

Tonight it was two-part event. The first for an all camp scavenger hunt, where the girls roamed about the camp in their cabin groups looking for gold coins. This “Gold Rush” was challenging! The coins were carefully hidden, sometimes under bushes, behind trees, and even in the creek. Also hidden has a special “Golden Nugget” that if found was worth a unique prize itself.

Also roaming about were counselors who acted as “Bandits” intent on stealing the gold a cabin group had gathered. The bandit would approach a group and demand its gold. The group could keep its gold if it could answer a riddle or sing a particular song that the bandit named. “What’s the 14th word of ‘Oh I was born’?” (“toot” is the answer.) Or an easier one, “What’s the first name of the woman who founded Rockbrook?” (“Nancy”). Avoiding the bandits and finding as much gold as possible— that was the game. The prize for the most gold and finding the golden nugget was a trip to Dolly’s later in the session.

Hootin' and Hollerin' Square Dance

The second part of the event was a “Hootin’ and Hollerin’ Square Dance” held down on the Rockbrook House lawn. This large, flat, grassy area is perfect of a large group dance. The girls had a great time learning a few moves like a do-so-do, the Virginia slide, and version of the Boot Scootin’ Boogie.

The girls came dressed for a county dance with lots of denim, flannel shirts, bandannas and boots. We saw a few pigtails and western hats too.

The Hi-Ups enjoyed leading the dances, picking out the music to be played, and setting the silly, fun tone of the whole event. A highlight was the huge line of girls, hand-in-hand, “winding the clock,” spiraling inward toward the center of circle.

Outdoor dancing with your friends on a warm summer evening. Clapping along to the music, smiling and laughing at the awkwardness of it all. Suddenly feeling free to let go a little… what could be better? And what a great example of the joy camp inspires.

The first full day of camp today came alive beautifully. You might think that the girls would ease into things, maybe need some further introductions or explanations, and therefore move a little slowly at first. You might think some lingering uncertainty about what to do would keep certain things from happening right away. But none of that is true. Instead, like a light switch, everything at camp energized simultaneously.

For example, down at the riding center our staff taught lessons in all four rings for all four activity periods. The girls are assigned different lessons based on their ability and experience riding, and hence there are many lessons happening at once. This allows the more advanced girls to ride different horses and work on different skills. It’s quite a complex task to organize 32 horses and 7 instructors to teach these lessons everyday, but our Riding Director Kelsi has years of experience taking care of it. Our “Stable Club” also met today. It’s a chance for interested girls to spend more time with the horses, helping with grooming and washing them for example. It’s a great way to increase their understanding of horsemanship.

Ziplining Through the Trees

The zipline was likewise squealing with excitement today as the first cabin groups took their turn on the course. With three zips (the first of which glides past “Stick Biscuit Falls,” the waterfall up behind the camp office) and three wiggly challenge bridges, it’s an exciting adventure. We’re planning for everyone, all ages of girls at camp (Yes! even the Juniors!), to have a chance to ride the ziplines this summer.

Archery and Riflery

Archery and riflery are always popular activities at Rockbrook, quick to fill up with eager shooters. One girl told me she would take riflery every period if she could! Archery is similar in that anyone can learn to do it, and see real improvement in a short amount of time. Our instructors teach the important safety protocols and the essential techniques, and then the girls improve simply through practice. It’s a satisfying accomplishment when they hit a bullseye and join the “Bullseye Club.”

Gymnastics with Coach Leo

Over in the gym, Leo, our new gymnastics and tumbling coach, taught several classes of girls how to do cartwheels and back walkovers. He’s got years of teaching cheer squads and is great at providing tips and tricks that make learning these moves a lot easier. The girls are really excited to make progress on learning those skills.

All over camp today there was virtually no hesitation to leap into camp life. We’re playing games, and spending all day outside. We’re laughing and learning. We’re enjoying each others company and conversation. We’re hiking and swimming, eating well and sleeping even better. Camp life feels really good, and the girls are really enjoying it, even more than perhaps expected.

That’s a true joy to see.

You can’t open a summer camp without the people. And today people finally showed up! After months of thinking and planning, Rockbrook opened its first session of 2022 this morning. Our staff arrived last weekend to work through a series of orientation meetings and trainings covering topics like health and safety protocols, how to teach activities, tips for managing cabin group dynamics, and how the philosophy of Rockbrook guides what we do here. Honestly it’s a lot of discussion about what camp will be like, what we will be doing, so while informative, it just adds fuel to the feelings of anticipation leading up to opening day.

So it was very exciting for all of us to see those first campers arrive at around 8:30 this morning. Dressed in their red and white staff uniforms, our counselors were literally jumping up and down with excitement, clapping, singing, and playing games on the hill waiting for their girls to arrive. Everything we’d been talking about was coming to reality!

Drive-Through Check-In

Our drive-thru check in procedure worked very well. Each station from the office folks to the nurses was organized and efficient, and that helped keep the line of cars moving nicely. And the staggered arrival times spread everyone out enough that we never had a rush of families arriving at the same time.

I want to thank all of our families for being so organized and arriving having complied with all of our pre-camp protocols. We know it was a burden to arrange for a PCR covid-19 test, to track symptoms for a week, to complete all of those forms (!), and package medicines especially for camp. Thank you! We’re certain that your efforts will play a critical role in our running a safe and healthy camp. It really means a lot.

The absolutely perfect weather added to the delight of the morning— old camp friends reuniting, new campers being welcomed and suddenly finding themselves swept along as cabin groups began setting up their bunks. Soon groups of girls led by their counselors were exploring camp, warming up the tetherballs, and getting to know each other. The organic beauty of Rockbrook was sparkling all morning long, and mixed with the joyful cheers of everyone arriving, it was extraordinary.

Lunch was a perennial favorite: Rick’s homemade mac and cheese, fresh fruit and salad. All hot and cheesy, its a pasta dish that always pleases the crowd. It took about five minutes before a song broke out during lunch, and then only a few minutes longer for another to bubble up. It’s part of the fun of having dozens of friends sitting together for a meal.

Swimming Demonstrations

The afternoon brought us all to the lake because the lifeguards were ready to let everyone demonstrate their swimming ability in anticipation of all the water action we’ll be offering at camp. Ready to swim, each age group took turns jumping off the dock, swimming out to give a high five to one of the guards, and then back to the deep part of the lake to tread water for a minute. There are a few different “swimming levels” that align with any difficulties doing any of that, but everyone can take advantage of the lake at camp in some way (maybe while wearing a life vest, for example), no matter what their swimming ability.

This summer we have brought back individual activity choice for the girls, so we also spent some time later introducing them to all of the choices. While the campers watched, the counselors and activity instructors took turns making short presentations, performing skits, and singing songs about their activities. These silly presentations are great ways for the girls to meet the counselors and pick up on the joy they have for what they teach. It demonstrates that there’s big fun to be had by singing, dancing, putting on a costume, and laughing at each other’s antics. It proves how the spirit of Rockbrook can begin with genuine kindness, and lead to a confidence that opens you up for silly, silly fun. Experiencing that. That’s how we start.