Author Archives: rbc

For some it was their first banquet, but most everyone else this was their favorite night of camp, the night when we celebrate with costumes, dancing and a surprise themed party for the whole camp. It’s the Banquet! All of the 9th grader CAs this session planned the party, choosing the theme on the first day, and then designing all aspects of the event from the costumes, to the food, to the skits and dances, and of course the many decorations. Their goal was to transform the dining hall into something completely unique, an unexpected surprise of colorful and festive painted panels, lighting and table decorations.

The theme for our third session banquet? “Enchanted Hollow,” and it was magical! Stepping through the doors of the dining hall felt like entering a secret woodland glade where fairies live, colors glow, and every leaf and flower sparkled. Twinkling lights, twisty garlands and vines, streamers, and so many fairies made it all come alive.

There were two clans of fairies, the “good fairies” and the “fallen fairies.” They were locked in a struggle over stolen “pixie dust” that could only be settled by a dance-off between the two clans. Along with a regal Queen Fairy and a Woodland Bunny all was resolved with the counselors, dressed as graceful butterflies and fluttering moths, adding charm to the scene. All of these costumes were colorful and unique.

Between the scenes of this tale of fairies in the enchanted hollow, all of the campers celebrated by dancing to high-energy pop songs, laughing and cheering.

In true banquet tradition, the meal was woven into the theme as well. We enjoyed “Tink’s Tots,” “Pixie Berries,” “Dragon Tails,” “Sunshine Salad,” and “Bunny (Rockbrookie) Cookies” for dessert. The silver sugar decorating the Rockbrookies really fit the enchanted theme.

This was another banquet where every painted panel, costume, and skit was a product of hard work and close collaboration by the CA campers and their counselors. It’s remarkable to see how much detail the girls can fit into every surface and moment during the party. Their shared focus and creativity really brought the banquet to life, making it a special experience.

The night ended, as it always does, with the CAs singing to their counselors and receiving songs in return… a Rockbrook tradition that is both joyful and bittersweet. After all the dancing, the laughter, and the celebrating, this was an unforgettable enchanted night. Thank you CAs!

One of the most anticipated culminating events each session at Rockbrook is the Banquet. This is the themed party the CA (9th grade) campers plan and present for the whole camp. It’s a huge celebration with decorations, costumes, specialty foods, music, dancing and skits, all focused on a particular theme the CAs select in secret. They completely transform the interior of the dining hall, covering every inch of wall space with hand-painted posters, adding lighting, streamers and other decorations. They rearrange the dining hall tables to create a dance floor and performance space.

Arriving at the Banquet and finding out the secret theme is part of the fun. For this second session 2025, the surprise was related to professional football. The theme? “Touchdown at RBC.”

The decorations featured football fields and NFL team logos, plus the logos of two “in-house” teams: the White Squirrels and Redbirds. Table decorations included inflated footballs, rings, trophies, Mardi Gras beads, mini foam fingers, football field tablecloths with lines. For food, we ate football game day foods like wings, tater tots, pigs in blankets, and veggies with ranch dip.

The CAs were dressed up in a variety of costumes. There were our two football teams: the White Squirrels and the Redbirds, complete with mascots and cheerleaders. The two teams ran down and had a dance battle, followed by a cheerleader routine. Then it was time for the halftime show featuring girls dressed as Rihanna doing “Umbrella,” Katy Perry with “California Girls,” Shakira performing “Hips Don’t Lie,” and Lady Gaga and “Poker Face.” The big moment was when Travis Kelce proposed to Taylor Swift (which as you know hasn’t happened in real life!).

There were commercial breaks too featuring the Gecko of Geico, Jake from State Farm, and the Aflac Duck. The counselors played referees and did a dance to “Hit the Quan.” In the final play, the Redbirds were down by six points but scored the winning touchdown thanks to Travis Kelce.

The show ended with “All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled and everyone enjoying a dance party, jumping and singing with their friends.

Overall, it was a fantastic event… great energy, and loads of fun. Everyone had an amazing time. Thank you CAs!

Sarah made a comment today that seems to sum up the vibe of camp right now. She said, “Everybody here seems so ‘happy relaxed.'” It makes perfect sense if you just look around. You see plenty of smiles, girls laughing and playing, and appearing really at ease. The two are related of course. With camp being a place where girls can be themselves without the pressures and worries of school, where they know instinctively the people around them are genuinely kind and caring, it’s natural to relax into the experience. There’s no need to guard against anything or to maintain any kind of facade, so camp provides a release of sorts. That feeling alone is enough to lift a child’s spirits, but combine it with all of the fun activity at camp, along with all the enthusiastic energy of a zany community, and you have a beautiful recipe for happiness as well.

This feeling shows in many of the activities. For example, in the yoga class, which meets in the hillside lodge, the girls are definitely relaxing. Spread out on their yoga mats, they’re peacefully stretching, listening to soft music, and trying different poses. There’s also plenty of giggling now and then, especially when they try an awkward position. And anything that involves two people in the pose is bound to be a laugh out loud moment.

Swimming at the lake is another great example of being relaxed and happy at the same time. Often instead of swimming, floating is more popular. It’s a way to cool off in the refreshing water of the lake, while at the same time lounging comfortably in one of the many colorful floats available. Even more fun is when friends pile into the floats making them a little unsteady and easy to end up in a splash.

Sometimes, this feeling arises from concentrating on something, from being completely immersed in whatever we’re doing. For example, the girls have to really focus when riding a horse, being careful with the position of their legs, their posture in the saddle, and how they are controlling the reins. This gentle coordination between the horse and rider makes horseback riding rewarding and fun.

Most craft activities at camp offer a similar opportunity to lose yourself in the moment. Working with their hands, whether shaping a slab of cool clay or weaving colorful yarn through a “nifty knitter,” campers easily become deeply engaged. There’s a strange immersive quality to many craft activities at camp, each providing another way to relax and at the same time enjoy the satisfaction of making something. It’s amazing how easily the campers are happily immersed in weaving, painting, pottery, needlecraft, and so on.

Compared to the daily lives of most kids, living the “happy relaxed” life of camp is a great gift. It proves to them it’s fun and rewarding to be active, and to really dig into creative pursuits. Most importantly, it reveals the special happiness that follows from simply being yourself in a relaxed way. The beauty of camp, and surely a big reason why girls love it, is how quickly and easily the community here evokes these feelings.

We always say that camp teaches resilience, and today we had a clear example. About 4:30 this morning, a large red oak tree fell about a half mile down the road from Rockbrook and took down all the power lines with it. Normally, power outages around here are quickly repaired and we’re back to normal in a couple of hours, but sometimes it can take much longer. With this in mind, we installed a backup generator in 2019. It powers our kitchen, water system and health hut, but that’s it. During an outage, we’re still able to prepare and serve meals, use the bathrooms (though without hot water), and take care of basic health needs.

Right from the beginning campers used headlamps and flashlights as needed. For example, this morning in the dining hall, we ate our breakfast by battery-powered lanterns and the early morning light from the skylights. All of the regular camp activities carried on just fine without electricity since so much of what we do is outdoors. Our office, on the other hand, has been without power all day, so thank you for your patience if you’ve been trying to reach us by phone or email. Most of the campers postponed their showers today, waiting for the hot water heaters to come back online, which they did, by the way, at 4pm when the power came back on (thankfully!).

Overall, these inconveniences required us to be a little flexible and a little patient, but life at camp always requires some of that. Camp girls know how to pivot to a new activity, switch gears because of the weather, and always find something spontaneous to do with a friend. At camp, what at first seems like challenges easily become fresh opportunities.

Yesterday our July Mini 2 campers arrived, finally ending their waiting for camp. All that anticipation turned into visible excitement as they checked into camp one by one. Cabin groups came together, as counselors cheered with each arrival. The girls set up their cabins, had a quick tour of the camp, and visited the camp store to collect their pre-camp gear purchases… all before an all-camp assembly on the hill and lunch.

The big event of the day was a “Wizard of Oz” themed all-camp event that sent the girls scampering about to try different fun activities. Most of the fun happened up on the hill, with speakers playing songs from Wicked and The Wizard of Oz echoing across the camp. One activity station was the “Yellow Brick Skittle,” where participants had to pick out all the yellow Skittles from about 10 pounds of them.

Another station was Broom Making with the Wicked Witch, where they made mini brooms using dried lavender, thyme, and hay. We also had apple slice decorating as a food option, kind of like mini candy apples with various toppings. We organized a scavenger hunt where kids searched for items like ruby slippers, flying monkeys, the Grimmery (a big book), and Galinda the Good Witch. Some items were hidden around camp, while others were staff costumes.

At Friendship Rock, we held “Elphaba’s Cry Workshop” inspired by the movie Wicked. This was an opportunity for anyone to perform their cry in front of everyone. We heard several impressive renditions of “Defying Gravity.” We had an “I’m Melting Dunk Tank” where campers answered trivia questions for a chance to dunk someone. Another activity was guessing how many silver Hershey kisses were in a jar; it was 216 kisses, and a Middler camper guessed it exactly!

There was also a lollipop toss called the “Lollipop Guild” (similar to cornhole), “Scarecrow Hay Day” where kids searched for scarecrow brains inside straw bales, and a costume relay race dressing up as scarecrows. Other activities included apple bobbing with the Tin Man in the lake, hair bow making with Dorothy in the dining hall, and hot air balloon crafting with felted 3D balloons. As for costumes, we saw lots of Elphabas, Galindas, Totos, Yellow Brick Roads, Munchkins, Scarecrows, Tin Men, and even an Emerald City!

Overall, it was a fantastic afternoon that showed our campers’ amazing adaptability. As they bopped between activities spread across camp, making the most of every opportunity, they proved once again that the best part of camp is simply being together.

We’re finding ourselves in a typical summer weather pattern. Like the last couple days, and probably for the next few, today began cool and foggy. The temperature and dew point hovered together around 67 degrees when we woke up, with the humidity about 99 percent. We’re pulling a lot of moisture out of the Gulf, and there’s no major weather system to push it out. As the sun warmed things up, all morning we enjoyed bright skies with big puffy clouds. Higher up near our surrounding mountains the air is much cooler, so as our moist air near the ground warmed, evaporating the dew, it began to rise. That clash between the rising moist air and the cooler air above it created what we expected: a thunderstorm.

Today’s storm happened just after lunch, around 2pm. Perfect timing! Our lightning alarm sounded and everyone scattered back to their cabins for rest hour. For the next hour or so we watched the storm drop more than half an inch of rain… all that moisture returning to the ground. By 3:30, the storm had passed and the sun was back out for the rest of the day. You can see how an afternoon thunderstorm can become a recurring thing. By the way, if you’re interested in the weather at Rockbrook, our weather station publishes its data here and here.

Sometimes we’re simply caught in the rain, getting wet and cooling off. This can inspire some pretty silly stuff. For example, yesterday the Hi-Ups decided, since they were already wet, to dance around in the rain and then roll down the hill wearing trash bags. Why? For no particular reason other than the fun of it. Today, a couple of senior campers found themselves walking in the creek, and soon with no warning having a splash battle. Both examples ended up with everyone soaking wet and laughing hysterically. Once again, there’s proof that camp offers a joyous freedom to relax into the world, to be fully present and playful, no matter what the weather. We adults might occasionally summon the courage to say, “Ah, what the heck!” and dance in the rain, soaked to the skin. But kids at camp? They do it instinctively and without hesitation. Lucky them!

Several of the craft activities at Rockbrook are led by day-staff specialists, artists and craft artisans who can offer more knowledge and experience than a cabin counselor. These are crafts where more instruction makes all the difference. Woodworking is a perfect example. It involves a range of essential skills and concepts, not to mention sharp cutting tools that require careful handling. Pottery, too, benefits from experienced teaching, especially when girls are learning to throw on the wheel. Having someone close by to demonstrate techniques and offer hands-on help can be the key to success. Weaving in Curosty and Needlecraft are two more examples. In each case, the girls are learning something new, often quite sophisticated, even as they’re simply having fun exploring their creativity.

In the end, it’s a summer day at camp with its misty mornings, midday showers, muddy hands and feet, and a special unbounded laughter we cherish. It’s a daily rhythm we’ve come to love, rain and all.

Rockbrook is always a place of celebration, but the 4th of July gives us an extra special reason to kick things up a notch! And the festivities start first thing, even before the rising bell.

The riding staff members, dressed in their finest red, white and blue, ride decorated horses up into camp! This morning, they spread out and rode down each cabin line shouting, “The British are coming! Wake up! Wake up!” (a playful nod to Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride). We’ve done this for years at Rockbrook, but it’s still a fun surprise for the girls to wake up hearing hoofbeats outside their cabins. A little sleepy-eyed, the girls stumble out onto the hill and gather around the flagpole where the Hi-Ups lead a flag raising ceremony.

Down at the lake, the counselors we have from the UK performed a short skit that ended up with all of them jumping in the water, proving again that the British are already here.

All this patriotic spirit and celebration, continued throughout the day. Red, white and blue decorations transformed the dining hall with streamers, posters, and ribbons hung in every direction. We set tables with patriotic headbands, stickers, glitter, and temporary tattoos that quickly became the most popular accessories of the day, giving our regular camp activities an extra dose of stars-and-stripes sparkle.

Rick and his fantastic kitchen crew prepared a special lunch for everyone, something that he serves only occasionally because it takes multiple people three days to make. Using traditional ingredients, they made us 4 different varieties of tamales. Masa corn flour, stock, and different fillings like cheese, chicken, peppers and onions, plus two different sauces (a red and a green) are all wrapped in a corn husk and then steamed for two hours. Altogether they made about 1,200 tamales! Giant pots of steaming tamales filled the kitchen. Unwrapping warm, freshly steamed tamales for lunch. What a treat!

We served dinner on the hill, a classic meal of burgers, french fries, and watermelon or pineapple. The girls were surprised to find they could have a can of Cheerwine soda kept cold in the creek.

The evening activity began with a classic counselor hunt. Ten counselors hid around the camp and each cabin roamed together looking for them. Only one cabin managed to find all ten, completing their map and earning a prize trip with Casey next week. We also held a pie-eating contest. We’ve found over the years that it works best to have counselors eat the pie and the campers cheer them on. It’s actually quite difficult to eat a whole pie, but Blaire was able to beat six others in the contest.

As it grew dark, we topped the day with our own fireworks show. Casey gave out glow sticks to all the girls, and as they gathered on the hill in their crazy creek chairs, we blasted fun music. For the next 30 minutes or so, we enjoyed a dance party while the boom and sparkle of fireworks lit up the sky. As the girls twirled their glow sticks and sang along to the music, they cheered with every colorful burst.

From early galloping horses to the nighttime fireworks spectacular, the 4th of July today at Rockbrook was a day-long celebration of camp fun, red-white-and-blue flair, and good times with friends. Happy 4th of July!

Today we welcomed to camp a new group of girls, opening both our 4-week session and our first mini session of the summer. As each car arrived, pulling through our drive-thru check-in process, we could see that these girls had been waiting too long, unfairly long, for camp. Most were smiling and eager, feeling that perfect mix of nervous energy and excited anticipation. These girls were ready to get their camp time started!

There’s something quietly magical about opening up a trunk on the first day of camp. After the excited hellos while arriving, the songs on the hill at our first assembly, and the first glimpses of the lake or the horses or the dining hall, campers return to their cabins, choose their bunks, and begin to unpack. This first means making beds, organizing clothes, and shoes, and arranging trunks.

Every camper sets up their bunk a little differently. Some start with books and stuffed animals, lining them up on side shelves. Others carefully place their toiletries in caddies, hang up towels on cabin hooks, or string battery-powered fairy lights. Zippered pouches full of markers, card games, friendship bracelets in progress… these small treasures appear, one by one, and find their places. All the while, counselors are guiding the process and answering questions.

Photos from home get pinned up. Favorite blankets are arranged just so. There’s pride in getting it “just right,” but also freedom, because there’s no perfect way to set up a bunk at camp. Each one reflects the personality of the camper who calls it hers.

As each girl arranges her space, the cabin itself begins to come alive. There’s a buzz of conversation: “You brought that book too?” “Can I borrow your nail polish?” A sense of belonging starts to settle in alongside the duffels and trunks. New friends and old become bunkmates. Cabins become cozy homes.

By the time the lunch bell rings, rustic cabins that were empty that morning are now full of life, laughter, and a little bit of chaos. The session is only just beginning, but already the rhythm of camp has started to take hold. Unpacking may seem simple, just about the “stuff,” but it’s also the first moment of connection: camper to bunk, camper to cabin, camper to Rockbrook.