With hands clasped together and giant smiles all in a line, the SR IIs paraded out of Spahn house into the dining hall skipping in a circle yelling “We’re going to Bar Harbor, We’re going to Camden!” on repeat. This is a Tripp Lake tradition for our 1AB girls on the morning of their long trip and it was an exciting and memorable way to start the day for all of camp. The SRs and Inter Is headed out yesterday morning for their respective trips to Bar Harbor and Camden. These long trips provide our girls with an opportunity to really bond as an age group through their shared adventures around Maine. We know they’re going to come back with amazing stories and wonderful memories, and we can’t wait to share all about it upon their return!
With the Inter Is and SRs out of Camp, the Inter IIs have assumed the position as the oldest age group and in turn the leaders of Camp. They took this responsibility very seriously yesterday as they led morning assembly with spirited songs and cheers for the rest of camp to join in on. That being said, I think they would all agree that the most exciting part about their older Tripp Lake sisters being off camp is that they get to use their beautiful new shower house! This was evident from the shower parties we’ve heard going on each night since the SRs left. Age groups were scattered about yesterday around camp and we witnessed a lot of campers continuing to push themselves and their abilities at the activity areas. Over in Cliffhouse we found the JRs excelling at the tumble track while showing off their cartwheels and forward flips with the help of our wonderful gymnastics staff. After a little bit of rain, the Inter IIs hit up the ropes course for some highflying fun on the zip line and other high elements through the trees. After dinner there was bund/age group bonding from the JRs at the Trip Den to the Inters down at the beach. A traveling canteen of ice pops helped to cool things off after another very hot day!
Immediately after breakfast this morning we were met with some pretty significant storms which aligned perfectly with our morning plan for the “Super Duper clean up”. As you can imagine, the bunks need a little extra TLC after four weeks of being occupied by our wonderful, but not always clean, campers. It was almost as if the rain gods knew that we needed this time in the bunks for all the campers to organize their things and reconfigure their spaces to be the most comfortable they could for the remaining weeks of summer. The cleanup was a success and the campers agreed that it was really nice to feel like all their belongings were in order!
At breakfast this morning we also announced an exciting surprise for the campers that would take place all day starting after rest hour. After a local family here in Maine suffered an unimaginable loss of one of their children, the log yard dairy bar where we often take campers to get ice cream after trips decided to give back to the family by donating 100% of its profits from the day. Our team saw this as an opportunity to give back to the community we inhabit all summer while also providing a fun off-site adventure for our campers. To take it up a notch we had all the girls dress up in their team clothes before heading off in caravans throughout the afternoon. When not on the ice cream field trip adventure the campers were spread out across activities such as swim, art shops, land sports and indoor climbing. After dinner tonight we hosted our annual spa night for the JRs and AJs where we take extra care to make sure their hair and nails are impeccably clean. Of course we make sure they are showering daily throughout the summer, but this is a fun ritual where the girls like to get their hair braided and their nails painted while feeling all fresh and clean in their pajamas before bed. We had a lot of super cute braided heads running around camp tonight!
Kind Regards,
Leslie and Katie
