Second Cruiser Day
Today we had our second cruiser day of the session! A beautiful 80 degree day with nothing but clear blue skies, we had another lovely day filled with fun and cabin bonding.
This week, our S1-Pine Manor age group had their Village Cruiser Day, where they headed to a cruiser day staple, Wild Mountain, for some great waterpark fun. Our oldest campers ran excitedly from rides down the 1700-ft alpine slide to turns on awesome waterslides to runs around the go-kart track. After some exhausting adrenaline-fueled adventure, campers told me how they slowed the pace down to a leisurely one on the lazy river, and relaxed in the sun on some pool chairs. When their trip to Wild Mountain was over, they were treated to some delicious pizza and soda before they returned to camp.
Back at North Star, many of our cabins had their first cruiser day at camp this year after going out of camp last week for Village Cruiser Day and cabin trips. They got to enjoy so many great activities prepared by our amazing Cruiser Day director Kim McCormack like Soft Pretzel making in the lodge, Musky Fun, where campers canoe out to a pontoon in the middle of the lake for a reward of soda, candy, and snacks, and Slip N’ Slide out on the Council Ring Hill. This week also saw special activities like “Sponge Bomb” where campers fashioned makeshift soap bombs out of cut up sponges for some epic (and safe!) battles out on the athletic fields. It was such a pleasure to watch our boys laugh and smile through all the soapy, messy, sponge-bombing fun. Cabins also got the treat to make handprint pillowcases in the arm and hammer with finger-paint, each camper painting their hands a unique color and stamping each other’s pillowcases for a memento they get to keep forever!
One of the reasons we love Cruiser Day here so much is the quality time that cabinmates and counselors get to spend with each other and the subsequent bonds that build and grow stronger. While campers get to spend plenty of time with their cabinmates throughout the session, those moments often come during downtime in the cabin or at meals between activities, rather than being the focal point of the day. While that time is also essential for the relationship our campers will form, Cruiser Day offers a full day of structured fun for our campers within their cabins in which they work together to choose the activities they want to do together. It’s times like these that cabins form their identity around the hobbies they enjoy together. It’s within these moments that so many of our boys will get to discover their lifelong friends, through something as simple as choosing to play disc golf together because they all think it’s fun.
The day ended as all Cruiser Days do with a cookout at each cabin’s campfire, where campers continue their day of bonding over a fire, working together to collect firewood and cook their own meals. This week’s meal was bacon-wrapped hot-dogs and potatoes! For dessert, bananas with marshmallows and chocolate chips, roasted over the fire.
This morning, we sent out the brave cabin of J6 on the Upper Nam. Tomorrow, we welcome back the cabins of I-5 and J-5 from the Flamm and Upper Nam, who will be back just in time for UN Day practice!
