Second Session Camp Magic - Farm & Wilderness

Timberlake camp magic is real, and it ebbs and flows over the course of the summer.

During the August session, camp magic is a little fuller, a little more robust, and a little bit more awesome. New staff are no longer new, having figured out what the beauty in the chaos that is summer camp. There’s something really special about the opportunity to do something again, to hold our campers with more warmth and firmness, to create more dynamic camp magic, and to write our own chapter in the 80-year saga of Timberlake. The days feel a bit shorter and the nights a bit cooler as fall and the ordinary world after camp begin to creep into our extraordinary world here.

For our August kiddos, the magic is all new. They are experiencing all that summer 2019 has to

offer, and we step up to meet and surpass their wildest “Anything is Possible” dreams about Timberlake. Our full-session campers jump in to fulfilling our “Everybody Counts” ethic by inviting in our new campers and showing them the ropes, helping staff explain all the steps needed to live sincerely in the Timberlake community. We also find that “Let’s Get It Done” has a new urgency to it as we try to complete projects that once felt like we had forever to finish. It is a noticeable difference than July session – with a mostly new group of campers – but the core “rocks” of Timberlake continue to be foundational to all that we do. “Work is Love Made Visible” no matter who enters our community.

In the little bit of time, we’ve had some pretty amazing magic:

• Our oldest campers learned essential camping skills in preparation for their overnight trips, including using a whisper light stove, making a fire, proper hiking bag packing and more;
• Big Lodge made cabin flags to hang proudly outside each of their cabins;
• A cross-Timberlake “Hardcore Parkour,” which was hardcore leapfrogging from the Upper Lodge to the Waterfront;
• Crab Soccer during a rainy afternoon, where campers played soccer in the Upper Lodge but had to do so moving like a crab;
• A family donation of an inflatable bull for the waterfront has added another play element, testing the balance of our campers brave enough to try it;
• The Infirmary porch roof has come along – it finally looks like a roof!

In a final Boss Battle in the All-Camp-Game (ACG) “Elements” (an update to a game played a decade ago), campers had to battle the “sun” (me, the director) by trying to dump water on me without getting their APs (bandanas) pulled by a counselor. They won (and by win, I mean it was a TL Tie).

We have so much more planned, including the arrival of the cousin of our giant inflatable unicorn from July session, a silent artist’s lunch, Spy Night, Harvest Meal, Fair, Banquet, and more. It’s going to be an amazing session.

Camp magic for real, y’all.

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