Eating Smart, Eating Right.

A very welcome addition to this summer was Activate America. Our staff not only preached the message to "eat better and move more" but practiced it as well.



Once we taught some healthy fundamentals to the campers, we started tracking how well they are doing making healthier choices. We have a star chart posted in our dining hall and cabin groups earn stars for their collective group behaviors for these categories:
-Blue Star = group drinks at least 2-pitchers of water at every meal.
-Purple Star = majority of group eats at least 3-serving of dairy.
-Green Star = majority eats at least 3-servings of vegetables.
-Yellow Star = 3-servings of fruit.
-Orange Star = 3-servings of fiber.
-Red Star = exercise; at least 20-minutes of sustained cardio activity as a group. Mountain biking, 4-square, roofball, swimming, and aerobic dancing all count, as well as many other cabin group activities.



It's easy to say that we do those activities anyway, but this program has caused campers to think and to be a part of making healthier lifestyle choices, something that we hope will stay with them after camp.

Another Day, Another Memory...

Another great new tradition at Camp Timbers is our annual Volkslauf. Sometimes referred to as the "Volkslauffen," or sometimes more commonly known as the "schloff," volkslauf is actually German for "people's race," and that's just what it is. Started three years ago, the schloff is an annual triathlon, Camp Timbers style. The race consists of our competitors swimming the length of Piper Lake...



...then completing the seven mile bike ride around nearby Clear Lake...



and finishing the race with two laps around our own Piper Lake...



While our staff schloff is alive and well, it was noted by Rachel Lum (above picture left) that the schloff was not available to kids that may want to take part. Thanks to a lot of hard work on her part, for the last three sessions of summer camp that hope was a reality. After dinner on Thursday night, any camper that chose to take part in a camper schloff was given the chance. The camper schloff was of course a toned down version of our staff schloff: two laps in our swim section, a one and a half mile bike ride around Piper Lake, and finished off with a one mile run around our lake.



The camper schloffen was a welcome addition to 2007, and I'm sure there will be a lot of kids training during the winter to win it next year!

We're back!

Well, it is almost a full month after Camp Timbers 2007 ended, but that doesn't mean that this blog is done. You can still expect to see periodic posts here throughout the year, relevant to camp news and important information! So keep checking back. Today I would like to take the first of three looks back at some of the most fun activities that we did this past summer...


"Midnight Madness" - This past summer, our Assistant Director, Mike Hull, and our Male Village Chief, Mike Houlihan, came up with the idea of a "Midnight Madness." The concept was simple: after our late night mid-session staff meetings on Tuesday of every week, we would go back into camp for some after hours fun. Any kid that wanted to keep sleeping could do so while one of the cabin's counselors stayed with them, but any one else that wanted to go out would do just that. We had a late night game of basketball, jump roping, or just a chance to socialize with their friends after lights out!




After people are done playing with games, they can go and get ice cream!



By the end of the summer, Midnight Madness was viewed as one of the most fun additions to the 2007 summer camp session. All traditions must start somewhere, and I have a feeling that 2007 was the first year for a new Camp Timbers tradition.

Start Your Engines!!

Well yesterday we broke from our traditional style of dinner, and instead, in honor of our night activity Timbers 500, we had a tailgate!



I know everyone enjoyed the pizza and the music and games at dinner!




Then after dinner, we raced our cabin racecars that we had been building throughout the week. We saw some awesome entrants to the race like the pink princesses from Aspen...



And the lightning fast racers from Pine cabin...



It sure is great to have Matt back in camp again. And speaking of Matt, I'd like to take this opportunity to invite everyone to the 2nd annual Concert For Camp that Matt is helping organize. It is a fundraising concert on August 25th at Camp Timbers, with all the proceeds going to camp! Stay tuned to www.concertforcamp.org for more information. Today's our last full day and I'm sure we will make the most of it...

-Taddie

Feeling hot, hot, hot!

Well yesterday was hotter than I can remember it being all summer. And today is supposed to be hotter! But camp cooled off and beat the heat by heading down to the waterfront.



Some people had a blast digging in the sand...



And other folks got their kicks by catchin' some fish!



After dinner and after fourth activity period, we had a birthday party to celebrate Camp Timbers' 40th birthday! The party featured sand castle contests...



And a pin the mustache on the clown game!



We then, as is customary when someone has a birthday at camp, had the Order of the Oar, and paddled our camp director Steve Meyer 40 times!



It was a great birthday party. Today's Timbers 500 should be an absolute blast as well!

-Taddie

p.s. I have been severely negligent in not mentioning the fantastic work that Leslie Tausch did in painting Aspen cabin, and both the boys and girls there greatly appreciate the work and all of camp enjoys looking at the beautiful mural!

Get a Clue!

So yesterday was our first full day of our last resident camp week of the summer 8^( . We didn't let the bittersweetness get in the way, we still had a full day of fun. For starters, every cabin went down to the waterfront to take their swim tests...



And Sequoia cabin got to do high ropes in the morning...



...and Willow cabin did Tower...



Following our activities, we had a full camp game of CLUE! Steve our camp director was found to be dead, and it was up to camp to solve the crime! Personally I thought it was Lord Snoopalot...



with the climbing rope...



on the bridge!



But as it turns out, it was Professor Aso...



with a paddle...



at Cypress cabin...



When all was said and done, everybody had a blast navigating our game board and trying to solve the crime!



Today's gonna be a scorcher, hopefully we get down to the ole swimmin' hole a bunch!

-Taddie

Pirates!!!!

So yesterday, we were overrun by pirates for check-in day. Luckily, however, the campers helped us by finding those pesky pirates. Not only did they find the pirates...but they all stole some pirate gold from them too!



After that, we had dinner, and then we played some games, and then we went to the real fun of the night...CAMPFIRE! It was our last opening campfire of the summer, but we made it a great one. We welcomed back some old favorites, that we hadn't heard from in over a year, like Alex...



...and Matt...



It was great to hear from some different voices last night, both new and old. We were pleasantly treated to some amazing violin music that brought the house down, and caused a standing ovation...



We also heard songs about certain moose...



and were treated to an almost fourteen minute version of the army skit!



It was a great and unique campfire. Today should be an action packed one!

-Taddie

Fun In The Sun

Well, this weekend we had an amazing time. There may have only been six stayovers...and they may have all been boys, but we still had nonstop fun. It started Saturday when we headed down to the waterfront and made a slip and slide...



Man, that was fun. And then, after we went to the store and bought everybody's favorite drink, we took the pontoon boat out and went around the lake.



We had chips, and cookies, and some people went fishing.



DJ's fish may have been the only one that was caught, but who's counting! Then on the way back from our fishing trip, the boys jumped in off the boat!



We then had a movie night, and watched Star Wars...



and then we roasted marshmallows...



...and then we headed to bed. It was an action packed weekend, and now we're ready for our last week to start!

-Taddie