Sometimes the best parts of camp are the ones that are least scripted. Take boys line-up this morning for example. Campers woke up to the sounds of Warren Zevon, James Taylor, and The Monkees! Announcements included basketball try-outs, the discovery of a new winged dinosaur in China, inspirational quotes by Chad about being a person of value, sports news about the NBA and golf, and a reminder about laundry. This was followed by strawberries and French toast for breakfast. Not a bad way to start the day!
Tag: Sleepaway camp
To Blueberry Island and Back
For Huckleberry Finn, it was the Mississippi River. For Marty McFly, it was a time travel in the DeLorean, and to Luke Skywalker it was a Galaxy “far, far away”. But to Senior boys today, it was a canoe trip to the mysterious, enchanted Blueberry Island in the middle of Lake Greeley. Off they went, into the murky waters of the lake. They paddled past other campers on sailboats, kayaks, and water bikes until they vanished into the distance. Onward they paddled. The rocky coast soon loomed large. You could hear the bullfrogs as the lake waters lapped up against the rocky shores of the deserted island. You could smell the pine needles of the trees that bent low over the water’s edge. And then they saw them, in the brushes along the coast, the wild blueberry bushes that they sought. They reached into them, plucked a few, put them in a cup, and brought them back. Their cheers rang out “Blueberries for breakfast! We’ll put them in our pancakes!”
They returned to shore, tired but happy, blueberries in hand.
Take Me Out to the Field
Happy Tuesday! Though the theme of the night is baseball, our campers participated in a several exciting activities today in addition to their regular schedules. Our Inter girls went waterskiing, our boys had a canoe trip on the Delaware River, and our Superstar Golfers were off to Woodloch! We also competed in an 11 and under boys basketball game. Oh, and we had sushi at lunch. No big deal.
Tonight, bunk Iris is on their overnight and the rest of the girls are playing the classic game, “Name That Tune” in Lee’s Rink! Boys camp played Home Run Derby on Mitchell Field complete with Philadelphia soft pretzels. Can’t beat that! Campers cheered for their favorite counselors as they watched them try to hit baseballs as far as they could. The ultimate goal was to hit the balls over the fence. Our big winner was Caleb from bunk Cedar. Congrats, Cedar! Those who wanted to watch the MLB All-Star Game got to do so in the new Greeley Theater!
There is so much to look forward to tomorrow, starting with the USTA tournament which is hosted by PFC this year! We’re also hosting 15 and under girls basketball against Camp Timber Tops. Our international campers and many of our international counselors will be taking an all day trip to NYC! We’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. Until then, lights out!
Just Another Magic Monday
Stop what you’re doing and check out our week in review! What was Mickey’s first job was at camp? The answer may surprise you.
Now that you’re caught up, our Hi-Senior 9s are going to see The Goonies at Bethel Woods tonight! Yes, right where Woodstock took place. Not a bad way to watch a classic. Our 10s are excited for their bowling night tonight and lower camp will be celebrating their 11 and under boys 4-0 soccer win and 2nd place in the Hughie Black tournament. Not too shabby, boys!
On an administrative note, we really appreciate the positive feedback that our bunk newsletters have been getting. We’re having a lot of fun with them, too! If you can’t get enough of your kids (who can, anyway?!), don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram! We will keep the updates coming.
Conquering Rick’s Rock!
Nafis, our intrepid outdoor adventure and trip leader took campers out to scale one of the most famous rock climbing areas on the east coast. “Rick’s Rock” is near the Delaware Water Gap on the eastern facing cliff of Catfish Mountain. Belay on! Our campers made it to the summit and were back in time for dinner!
Back at camp, Ari in arts and crafts showed campers how to make a hand-made doll called a Muneca Quitapenas, originally from Guatemala. You are supposed to put them under your pillow so they can ensure that you have peaceful slumber.
Also today, the new “Greeley Theater” was unveiled with real theater seats and a small performance area! Great for bunk skits, evening activities, and classic movies.
Senior boys flipped around in gymnastics and our wood burning pizza oven was cranking out delicious hand-crafted pizza. Bunk Hemlock headed out on their overnight tonight with a football and extra dessert in tow.
And if you were listening, Mickey was interviewed live on NPR radio’s national show, “On Point” about the joys of classic camping! Awesome!
G-14 Found!
Today, every camper working on the home-made canoe signed it before the big launch. Back at Center Stage, it was Hip Hop Boot Camp with Kelli Moshen. Intermediate boys played a close baseball game on Mitchell Field and try-outs were held for “The Little Mermaid”, the first show of the season! Additionally, Big Brother/Little Brother match-ups are starting and Big Sisters and Little Sisters practiced their skits. Our TOP Cooks took a trip to the Culinary Institute of America in New York to take a tour and returned with cookies, eclairs, macaroons, cake, and croissants!
But the big news of the day was that girls’ camp bunk Cliff’s missing laundry bag, marked G-14, was found in boys’ camp’s bunk Pine. Awkward!
Oh, and even bigger news: Costa Rica photos will be posted tonight!!
Dance, Dance.
Another eventful, sunny day at PFC! In addition to our plethora of daily activities, we kicked off several awesome week-long activities, including a dance workshop with Kelli Moshen (back by popular demand) and boat building. Our TOP Basketball program is off to a great start and our TOP Cooks programming continued at the Heron restaurant in Narrowsburg, where our campers learned how to make two different kinds of pancakes from scratch! Yum! We also participated in a 13 and under boys soccer Intercamp and sent our Hi-Seniors to a Scranton RailRiders game! Never a dull moment.
Don’t forget to check out our week 1 recap video!!
https://vimeo.com/132671804
Champions!
Hi, camp families! We hope you’re enjoying your holiday weekend. Before we tell you about our exciting day, we have to give a shout out to girls’ camp who had their big sisters meet their little sisters last night. After a series of secret clues, big sisters were revealed and the girls got to make friendship bracelets and eat celebratory cake together! They also got to practice our new all camp dance to an original PFC song! We’ll be sure to take a video!
Today was an especially eventful day at PFC that started with an outdoor breakfast! We had campers practicing for the 5K Camper Scamper, held a climbing competition, had other camps come for an Intercamp basketball tournament (our 13 and under team won!), had USTA practice…the list goes on! Don’t worry, parents – we assure you that your campers are staying active! Oh, and the mac and cheese? HUGE hit.
Tomorrow will be one of those most exciting days of the summer! We can’t wait to tell you all about our 4th of July traditions in tomorrow’s post! Another thing to look forward to tomorrow is the big debut of our weekly bunk newsletters!! Each bunk has its own newsletter that will be distributed to you weekly through your CampInTouch account. That’s right, straight from the front porch of your child’s cabin to your screen. You’ll find them in the forms section of your parent portal, labeled by bunk. Awesome! Our campers had a lot of fun with these and we hope you will too.
Into the Wild
Our 11th graders have touched down in Costa Rica and, back in Greeley, Intercamp games are in full swing! There is currently an 11 and under baseball game going on at the field and the team is looking good in their uniforms! They’re playing against our brother camp, Lake Owego. Also on Mitchell Field, it’s lacrosse like PFC has never seen before! Two great counselors who are on their colleges’ lacrosse teams are teaching skills and fielding a team to play other camps. We also have our first overnight tonight! Venturing out into the wild (just across the road) are bunk Cherry and Elm. They’ll be sleeping in a yurt, cooking dinner, learning campcraft and blazing new trails. For those who are curious, there’s a portable toilet out there, too!
But the biggest news is, it’s laundry day! Time to empty your laundry bags, separate out the colors and send it to our trusty camp laundry company. Bunk laundry?! Let real camp life begin. Three words: count your socks.
Beach Party!
“The problem is never the problem. The problem is our attitude about the problem” – Captain Jack Sparrow
Our attitude today was “act like it’s sunny and the sun will shine,” and sure enough it did! After two days of rain, today was the perfect day for a luau breakfast. Campers and counselors broke out their Hawaiian shirts, straw hats, and sunglasses. Amy even wore a wetsuit and snorkel gear! With Beach Boys music playing in the background, we enjoyed waffles topped with strawberries and whipped cream and, drum roll please, avocado toast! By the time clean up was over, the clouds parted and the sun came out for the day. The power of positive thinking! And now we’re off, full-tilt non-stop activities all day. Horseback riders went to the ranch and Superstar Golfers went to Woodloch. All courts, fields and beaches are open!
Next up: our CAs leave for Costa Rica very early in the morning!
