KAMAJI NEWS (and WEATHER REPORT, TOO)
Hello from the shores of Wolf Lake. What a difference a month makes. At the beginning of first session we struggled because of cool and damp weather. Well, second session we’re living with the same heat wave that many of you are experiencing. We’ve had it better than most. For instance yesterday’s high temp was 78 degrees. Mostly we’ve been in the 80’s with very, very high humidity. Not exactly “northern Minnesota-like” but at least we have Wolf Lake. As a matter of fact, today is our first Adventure Day of the session. Adventure Day is a day when campers spend the whole day with their porch group doing whatever the group wants to do. Today, it’s “everybody in the lake!”
This is the first “news report” of second session. We’ll be writing you every few days. Our hope is that between the “Smugmug” pictures and our ramblings, we hope you’ll have a good idea of what’s going on here at Kamaji. So, here’s a summary of the first few days of second session.
Saturday’s Opening Day came off almost flawlessly. Most flights were on time and the buses arrived at camp right on schedule at 5:00 pm. After dinner and a little time to unpack, it was time for a big game of John-Jacob-Jingleheimer Schmidt, followed by a trip or two down the famous Kamaji waterslide. The warm weather made the waterslide a very nice way to end Opening Day.
Sunday morning was warm and cloudy. While the 8 week campers participated in regular instructional activities, the newly arrived 4 week campers participated in health checks followed by the Kamaji swimming safety check. The plan for the afternoon was regular instructional activities for everyone, however, a pretty good summer rain led to a change. Porch groups spent about an hour in their cabins preparing lip-syncs which were then performed in the Lodge. The rain ended by dinner time, so Sunday night’s Tribe Initiation came off without a hitch. If your daughter is a first year camper, you should have already heard which tribe she is in.
Monday morning we distributed camp clothing and took those porch pictures you saw on Smugmug. Monday afternoon was the 2nd session kick off of Kamaji’s regular activity program. We posted more Smugmug pictures showing Monday’s activity classes. Monday’s evening program was Country Club Night. Campers dressed in their finest Country Club attire to play croquet, visit the club spa, and play golf on Kamaji course. At the end of Country Club Night, everyone gathered by the waterfront for a special ceremony to announce this session’s Tribe Leaders. And here they are. For the Ishkadays, Grace Miller and Alex Dorfman; for the Waubuns, Ariana Michel and Jordan Blonsky; for the Mundahmins, Olivia Morison and Talia Worth; for the Metigs, Julia Addis and Alexa Farris; for the Geshigs, Emma Stanicek and Sylvie Stolar; and for the Nanahtahgas, Erin Blumenthal and Amy Rogin. Congrats to them all!
As mentioned earlier, on Tuesday, we got a break from the heat. Regular instructional activities were the order of the day until late afternoon when we had a bit of rain. No worries. The Manor campers (who are all 8-weekers) organized a wild game of Pillow Case Bingo for all the other campers. The rain let up by dinner, so Monday evening’s Council Fire program was a big success.
As mentioned above, today is Adventure Day. It’s hot and humid and as we speak almost everyone in camp is now on or in Wolf Lake. That’s the place to be.
So, What’s New at Kamaji This Summer?
We’re glad you asked. A lot of new things greeted the 2nd session campers on Saturday. Two new instructional activities have been added since last summer. One is something called Stand Up Paddling or SUP. “What’s SUP?,” you might be asking. Well, you stand on this really big windsurf-looking board and paddle around the lake using a really long sort of canoe paddle. Well, we purchased 8 SUP boards and paddles this spring. Word is that SUP is the latest rage on the west coast and it was a huge hit with the campers first session. The other new activity, which also received rave reviews 1st session, is Mad Science. Mad Science is the brainchild of junior counselor, Becca Langsam, who spent the spring preparing camp-appropriate science experiments. Last session some of the Mad Science projects included making rainbows in a glass by layering liquids, making homemade lava lamps, making volcanoes, blowing up balloons using baking soda and vinegar and, a real favorite, making slime.
What else has changed at Kamaji? Well, Kamaji sailors have a brand new Yacht Club building and a new X-boat to sail. The climbing wall also got a complete make-over which adds about six new climbing routes. The pontoon boat, which is used for the fishing activity, has been torn down and reassembled. The biggest winter project was replacing Kamaji’s Swamp. The Swamp is where the men who work at Kamaji live. The old swamp was built in 1930 and sort of falling down the hill. We hope all these additions and improvements will make Kamaji better than ever..
Medical Report
Here’s the news from Kamaji’s Club Med. (Zzzzzzzzzzzzz) That’s great. It means that the campers are healthy. If you are new to Kamaji, you should know that Club Med is Kamaji’s health center. Club Med is staffed by Katherine, Sarah and Kelsey, Kamaji’s three nursing assistants and Kamaji’s camp doctor. This week two, count them two, Camp Docs on duty. Terrie Inder and Jeff Neil, both pediatric neurologists from St. Louis and, more importantly, parents to camper Eliza Inder are staffing Club Med this week.. Our policy is to call you if your daughter is admitted for an overnight stay in Club Med or is taken to see a doctor or dentist in town. (We do NOT call if your daughter spends a few hours just resting in Club Med or if she visits for a scraped knee, sore throat, bug bite, applied band-aid or Tylenol request). Kamaji’s policy assures you that if your daughter receives anything more than routine health care you’ll hear from us. No health-related news is good news.
Out and About
Kamaji’s Wilderness Tripping Program is running at full speed. On Tuesday morning campers and counselors from Cabin 4 Porch 2 left for a 4 day trip to Voyageurs National Park on the Canadian border and Cabin 1 Porch 1 took off on a three day Upper Mississippi River canoe trip. Very early this morning, 7 Pine campers and 2 Kamaji Wilderness Trip Leaders set off for their seven day Canadian canoe trip to the White Otter Wilderness area north of Atikokan, Ontario. The White Otter is a huge wilderness area, where the Canadian trippers will paddle for hours in a row and portage their gear and canoes over long and rocky portages. They will see amazing scenery and wildlife and learn what a true wilderness experience is really like. Later this morning, Cabin 2 Porch 1 left for a three day canoe trip on the Crow Wing River and Tikinigin left Kamaji’s shores for their three day canoe trip to Lake Andrusia. We hope all the trippers have a wonderful time.
As mentioned earlier, it’s hot and humid today. Wolf Lake awaits. More later….
Mike. Kathy and Kat