Don’t miss a minute of Color Days! Check out our official 2016 Color Days website for news briefs and score updates! We’ll be streaming tonight’s Girls A Game live at 8:00pm. Don’t forget to submit your shout outs! Good luck, girls!
Category: Camp News
Camper Scamper!
Our day began with late sleep followed by the big 5K Camper Scamper race! Our campers have been training for this since the first day of camp when sign-ups were first posted. Now that’s dedication! Across fields around boys camp up though the circle of girls cabins to Hughie Hall and Lauri Field and down again they ran. Campers who were not running cheered them on at every turn! Over 100 campers participated. With a real race clock timing each runner, everyone got an official race number and a 5K T-shirt for participating. Those who came in first, second, and third place received commemorative medals. It was an accomplishment both to participate and to finish. Go, PFC campers! You rock! Speaking of which, tonight is Battle of the Bands!
Survivor Day!
Today was the highly anticipated Survivor Day and what a great day it was! The whole camp was split up into 8 teams (4 girls teams and 4 boys teams) led by our Key Staff and Outdoor Rec staff. The teams were purple, green, orange and red and everyone got a bandana of their team color. The girls teams were stationed along Ted’s Trail, which is located behind the Mitchell Field campfire site and the boys teams were stationed up and down the lake trail. Each team had to come up with a team name, prepare and cook a meal on a campfire, create a shelter/campsite, make a flag or banner representing their team, and create a chant or a cheer for their team. They had about two hours to complete these tasks before they were judged.
They were judged on the following:
-The areas used for fire, cooking, cleanup and dining
-Only using things from nature
-Campcraft skills applied and safety in all areas
-Site beautification and practicality
-Site cleanup and restoration to natural site
Some campsites were so creative that they added moss carpet, a game room, bathroom, music area, and an outdoor swing set! All of the judges walked away loving each meal. Most meals were three courses, including an appetizer or soup, a main course, and of course, a dessert! There was guacamole dip for pretzel sticks, chicken mushroom soup, pasta salad with tomatoes, green peppers and egg, chicken and vegetable shish kabobs, and amazing desserts like chocolate, marshmallow and caramel drizzled over cooked bananas, as well as blueberries and strawberries topped with homemade whipped cream – YUM! We’d say they “survived”!
Can’t Stop the Technicolor Beat
Goodbye, rain! The sun peaked through the clouds and we resumed our regularly scheduled programming. There was also a lot of activity going on outside of camp today! We hosted U9 basketball and soccer games and had another basketball game in the afternoon at Lake Owego. Meanwhile, at Camp Timber Tops, we had a dance show, gymnastics meet and Pike County Idol! We’re excited to report that we came in first in the dance show with a modern lyrical dance, the technicolor beat! Our Junior girls got to pick blueberries at a nearby blueberry farm and our TOP Cooks went to Hill’s Homestead farm and learned how to make goat cheese. Check out our Facebook page for photos from both farm trips!
Tomorrow is going to be a beautiful, sunny day which will be perfect for SURVIVOR DAY! Check back tomorrow to hear more about it!
Marvin E. Black Tennis Tournament
Today was the USTA Marvin E. Black Tennis Tournament. Campers from all over came to participate in singles and double competitions. Marvin couldn’t be there today to give his usual invocation, but his son, Mickey spoke on his behalf and reminded all players to “Keep Playing Tennis”, Marvin’s mantra. The game of tennis is a lifetime skill and Pine Forest has a fantastic program, headed up by tennis pro, Craig Wallace. Let the games and the fun begin!
We Love Our Explorers!
A little rain never stops us! We just had our last Explorer weekend of the summer and boy was it a fun one! We had an amazing group of families with future campers going into 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades. They got to play in the lake (which is extra fun in the rain, by the way!), go on the giant swing at adventure, make projects in arts and crafts and play games with Chad. They were even able to have a campfire despite the weather, by bringing it indoors! They slept in real bunks with real counselors and bunkmates who will soon be their lifelong camp friends. We look forward to seeing them back next summer as PFC campers!
If you are or know anyone thinking about camp, we still have a Play Day on August 6th and would love to share Pine Forest with you! Call the office for more information or register online!
Kindness Day
This #flashbackfriday, we’re reflecting on how awesome Kindness Day was on Wednesday. The highlight of the day was our 1st Annual Pay It Forward Scavenger Hunt! Our campers worked together doing different team-building activities at all 28 stations of the scavenger hunt. Each station had a clue to the next. See below for an example!
Station #1
OBJECTIVE: Work together and use the bed sheet to shoot the basketball and make a basket. Have each person in your group grab an end of the bed sheet and hold it with BOTH hands.
- Everyone needs to hold the bedsheet with 2 hands.
- Place the basketball in the middle.
- Now shoot.
- You can stand from anywhere.
- You have about 3-4 mins to make a basket.
- Start your timer NOW!
- YOU CAN DO IT! WORK TOGETHER!
- But if you don’t make a basket with the sheet, no worries. Have your coach make a shot on the way out and cheer them on!
Some examples of acts of kindness are the creation of a banner for our kitchen staff that has messages of thanks written all over it, picking up trash around camp, taking a moment to appreciate the nature around us by hugging a tree, cheering on other campers, and hand-delivering flowers made out of pipe cleaners to our amazing office staff. Our campers are the BEST!
Coming Soon to PFC!
The trips are back and we are so excited to have a full camp again! Our Junior boys and Inter girls went on a hiking trip and Upper Camp is at Hughie Hall at our 3 on 3 basketball tournament.
While the countdown to breakout is on, we have SO many other things to look forward to!
Survivor Day
Playoffs
Battle of the Bands
PFC Musical Medley
Old Timers Club
Pike County Idol
Girls Gymnastics Competition
Marvin Black Tennis Tournament
5K Camper Scamper
Banquet
Ok, we’ll say it again: COLOR WAR!
Lower Camp Takeover!
It doesn’t get much better than this for lower camp! Our older campers are officially all away on their trips. Juniors and Intermediates have the run of camp. It’s a lower camp takeover! It was the perfect opportunity to have BACKWARDS DAY! We’re talking backwards hats, backwards clothes and even backwards flag raising! The highlight of the day was one of our all-time favorites: GOLD RUSH. There were hidden pieces of gold throughout camp and the campers had to run around and find them. We think the below photo says a lot. And tonight? A lower camp social! They could get used to this…
Meanwhile, in the Adirondacks:
-Six Flags Great Escape
-Dinner cruise on Lake George
-Howe Caverns
-Baseball Hall of Fame
And in Vermont:
-Shelburne Farms
-Vermont Teddy Bear Factory
-Boat ride on Lake Champlain
-Church Street Marketplace
-Ben & Jerry’s Factory Tour
-Bromley Mountain Adventure Park
-Dinosaur BBQ
Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram to see the latest photos from the trips!
SENIOR TRIPS!
It’s Senior trips time! Our 9-11th graders look forward to this week every summer and it’s finally here! Our 9th graders are in New England (currently at the Red Sox game!) and our 10th graders seamlessly crossed the border into Montreal. Curious as to what they’re up to? We thought so! Below are some highlights.
9th Grade Trip to New England:
-Quincy Market and Fanieul Hall
-New England Aquarium
-Freedom Trail
-Red Sox game at Fenway Park
-Old Orchard Beach and Palace Playground
-Tennis Hall of Fame
-Touro Synagogue
-Brick Market Place
10th Grade Trip to Montreal
-Laser Quest
-Jet boating on the Lachine Rapids
-La Ronde Amusement Park
-Lake Placid Olympic Sport Complex
-Catherine Street
11th Grade Trip to Boston
-Newbury Street
-Boston University Tour
-Northeastern University Tour
-Boston University Tour
-Tufts University Tour and Information Session
-Quincy Market
-Dinner at Fire + Ice
Tomorrow, our 7s head to the Adirondacks and our 8s head to Vermont!
We’ll post photos on our Facebook and Instagram accounts as we get them, but all of the trip leaders have been checking in and everything is going great!
