More Camper Posts

In between all of our trips and activities, several campers have been busy documenting all the fun that is happening at camp!

Art Page:

In art this year at High Trails, we have a great new art teacher named Joyce! We've made journals, done tie-dye, made gourd bird houses, gourd African shakers, and some awesome gourd bowls! We've also experimented with candles (supervised by Joyce or a counselor), made the best picture frames ever, and decoupaged everything possible. Joyce has the best ideas for crafts! One of my personal favorites is the orange juice wallet. When you come to High Trails for a month, go to the Art Barn for lots of fun!

- Virginia Owen

Swimming:

Grab your swimsuit, grab your towel, put on your shoes and run for the pool. 1,2,3 Splash! Up 10 stairs, zip, zap, zoom! Take a ride down the slide. In the middle, friends are needed! Find a ball and play...VOLLEYBALL with the built in net! To make it hard, play noodle volleyball. It's the same as volleyball except you have to stay on a noodle. If you want to relax, some noodles have string to sit in. There's this little place with swimming supplies. Splash! Have fun at the pool!!!

- Emily Driscoll

Bear Sightings:

The counselor hunt is a battle between the cabinsides to name all of the hidden counselors you could find. The more you name, the more points you collect. Our cabinside was off at the sound of the bell. We doubted we would win because or cabin had trouble with remembering names... and more important stuff too. After finding a bonus counselor (10,000 points) we passed behind Out Camp to name the wranglers sitting on top of a car. We came up to them laughing and talking loudly but we were quickly shushed by Reggie who was hidden in the top of a tree. She pointed toward the Aspen trees and we followed her finger directions. We all shifted around the trees to look at the object that had already gathered a small crowd. Little did we know that what we thought would just be a deer or rabbit was actually a bear! She was sitting 100ft up facing us with the least bit of aggression at all. She must have gotten bored and turned around to go back up into the trees. A small cub bounced out from behind a tree and chased after her and played with her tail. It reminded us of the cub "Koda" from the movie Brother Bear. It was nothing like anything on T.V.

Sanborn Horse Back Riding:

Sanborn has great horseback riding lessons. You can go on long horse trips and all-day horse trips. There is also something called gymkhana were you go on horses and compete against Big Spring boys; you go around barrels, poles, and rings. Also, there is a Saturday special where you can ride and there are three different groups at 7:45a.m., 9:30a.m., and 11:45a.m. At the end of camp there is a super wrangler all-day where you go to a secret place and go bareback riding.  

- Sophie Murphy

Why You should GO TO Sanborn:

You should go to Sanborn. Sanborn is the best camp I have been to. At Sanborn you can do swimming, horseback riding and much, much more! I love to go horseback riding. Sanborn is so awesome! On Saturday, I do drama. On Saturday, we have special things such as dances at Big Springs! At Sanborn, you sleep with girls your own age in cabins. It is so much fun! On Sundays after dinner, we have Vespers.

That's why you should go to Sanborn Western Camps.

- Natalie Glick 

Overnights:

Just recently, my counselor, Kimberly, my cabin-mate, Charner, and I all trudged back to our cabin after an outstanding Artsy Overnight at Tie Cabin. First, we set up our tents and unpacked our backpacks. Then, we explored Tie Cabin and told ghost stories referring to it. As we were looking in cabinets and drawers, I happened to find an old pastel drawing of a row boat tied up to a dock with a sunset in the background. It even looked like it had been through a fire because it was burned and singed on the edges. It said 1912 on the back. The rest of our group told me to go and show Kimberly. It turned out it was a prank from a previous overnight. After a little exploring we had lunch. Then we decided to explore more of the site. We found an old outhouse and grill. About twenty minutes after we got back, Joyce drove up with our crafts! She told us while she was unloading her car for us to go find lots of different types of flowers for our first project. By the time we had enough flowers she was all set up. She told us we were going to do flower pounding. First, we had to tape down the flowers and then we got in a line to start pounding them with a hammer. I was the last one and as soon as I was done this thunderstorm popped up and it started pouring! We just went inside Tie Cabin and make book marks and leather bracelets and key chains. When it stopped raining, we had to collect firewood for our stir fry dinner. Yum! Kimberly even made a single match fire! Even Joyce had dinner with us before she had to go. After s'mores, another thunderstorm came up! We had to stay in our tents until morning. But when we woke up it was clear; really nice weather.

I live in Texas and at Sanborn Western Camps in Colorado, it's a real treat to beat the summer heat! I love this camp so much it is my fourth year. If you want to be caught up in something adventurous, yet peaceful Sanborn Camps is your place to be over the summer!

- Savannah Phillips

2nd Session Camper Posts

We have already had a blog writing activity this session and the girls were excited to share their stories of the first few days with you!

At camp we went on our cabinside overnight! All of the campers had a LOT of FUN! When we came back from our overnight we had hamburgers, fried, and sodas. In Ponderosa West we went Beyond A-Bluff for our overnight. The people that are in Ponderosa West are Vivi, Hannah, Savannah, Natalie, Rachel, Emily, and me Katie! We had a really fun time. We were going to go squirt water guns at Silver Spruce West! Also, we were going to steal their s'mores. Instead we went to Top of the World and got turned around. When we got back to our tents we went to sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzzz!!!A lot of the campers dressed up in camouflage and went to steal candy from the Big Spring boys today. I think they had a lot of fun.
-Katie O'Hara

On the first day of camp, I was both psyched and nervous. I was worried that I wouldn't get along with my cabinmates. Naturally, I wasn't the first person in my cabin. That's when I met Hanna and Mackenzie, both from different parts of Connecticut. They seemed really nice, and I was glad at least 2 people could be good friends with me. It also helped a lot that Hanna has been to camp before. We hung out in the cabin for awhile and Caitlin and Meghan arrived. I was pretty surprised that there are so many people from different states in my cabin. Caitlin is from Alaska and Meghan's from Iowa. At my other camp, the majority of the campers were from Colorado. I was one of the only ones from Texas. We went to eat lunch after they arrived. At 2 or 3 we all had to go down to the barn to go riding prep and learn how to tack up our horses. That's when we met up with Anna and Carley. We later returned to the cabin. Around 4 o'clock, Calire came. She's very quiet, but extremely nice. Everyone that hadn't already unpacked did, and we headed to dinner at 6 o'clock. That's where Lea met up with us. We ate lasagna, which was phenomenal. By then, we were all curious as to where Ellen was. She was supposed to show up at the same time as Claire. Then at 5:30, then 7, then 9. She ended up arriving at 10:30. We were all ready for bed. That's pretty much my whole first day. I've found Sanborn to be extremely fun!
-Shylie Miller

Today we got back from our cabinside overnight where we had so much fun. Yesterday, after eating a big breakfast of pancakes and sausage, our whole cabinside set off on our first camping trip of the session. We hiked for a little while before we arrived at our campsite. At first glance, it seemed like a random spot by the edge of an aspen grove. Within a few minutes it would look like a whole lot more! We quickly set about pitching our tents. Lunch never tastes as good as when you have just finished a hike. We spent the afternoon talking and relaxing in tents before we met up with two other cabinsides to play Capture the Flag and relay races. Then we returned to our campsite for dinner and s'mores. The evening was great, from a debate of golden brown vs. black marshmallows to a peculiar outbreak of uncontrolled laughter. Some of us chose to spend the night in the field to see the stars and find constellations. When rain started to fall, we moved back into the tents with the hopeful thoughts of wishes upon shooting stars.
-Claire Dolin

On Friday, July 18 the risky girls of Silver Spruce West wrote a letter to a Big Spring cabin and got a letter back 4 days later. On the letter the girls sent they included the following sentence: "We now have to go ride pretty ponies over sparkling rainbows!" Do you think that the boys would take that seriously? Well they didn't and they started to joke with us too. "We want to ride our white stallions with you girls." The girls did write another letter back and said they would like to meet them at the dance. I wonder what the boys will say next.
-Jordan Claire Wagner

On our cabinside overnight we ate s'mores and they were really delicious. It was so fun to sleep outside. We ate McDonald's lunch when we got back. When I first got to camp I was nervous. But now camp is really fun because we do things that are really active and fun. I get to do a lot of fun stuff here that I have never done before like eating s'mores and sleeping outside. I am having a really good time. All of the campers are having fun. The counselors are really having fun with us.
-Camila Bouffier

Opening Day is Nigh!

We spent last night singing songs and telling stories around the campfire.

The day before that, we were out on all sorts of different camp activities like horseback riding, photography, fishing, rock climbing, shooting air rifles, arts & crafts and more.

The night before that was spent playing frisbee, basketball, croquet, softball and eating some delicious burgers, brats, hot dogs and veggie burgers.

The best part is: The campers aren't even here yet!

With our staff training week about to wrap up here at Big Spring Ranch for Boys, we're really starting to come together as a group. We talk with our staff about becoming a part of the Brotherhood of Outdoorsmen and as the week has progressed, so has our Brotherhood.

As fun as it has been getting to know each of the staff members and going through all of the games and activites we're preparing to offer all of our campers, the excitement is really just beginning.

The staff will have the evening off tonight and then just two final days of preparation before the moment we've all been dreaming about since last August. There's really nothing quite like opening day at camp, with the old familiar friends and fresh new faces roaming around the hills and ridges. New friendships beginning to form and stories of the long winter and school years are shared. Sometimes it's hard to recognize the long-time returning campers that have seemingly grown a foot since we've last seen them.

The best part of it all though, is that opening day is the beginning of another summer at camp. We spend all fall, winter and spring preparing and now the day is finally before us that we can show off all that we've learned.

I know I'm excited, and I know our staff is excited, so I hope everyone else is as excited as we are!

Camping to Parenting: Top 10 Things I've Learned as a Summer Camp Professional That Make Me a Better Parent--A Two Part Series

Part I

I love summer camp. Being a camper, being a camp counselor, being a camp director, being a parent—I have made summer camp a part of my life and, now, part of the lives of my children. That said, it is remarkable how quickly you forget some of the cardinal rules you learned while you were a 20-something summer camp counselor about working with kids when your own children are in mid-meltdown about the shark show that “Daddy promised!” they could watch if they ate all of their mixed veggies. Sigh.

In order to help me regain my sanity, I have compiled a list of some of the most effective tools I have found for working with kids in the summer camp (and home!) setting, whether the kids are mine, yours, your sisters’, your neighbors, or “that kid” from down the street. I would love to hear from wise parents, youth development professionals, and other summer camp believers about kid-centric tools and techniques you find have worked for you. Since this is a two-part series, you may see some of your ideas in the next post.

10. The Power of Choice: Give kids real decision making opportunities by providing them with choices you can live with (i.e.: Do you want to clean the toilets before or after you make your bed? or What are your goals for this summer camp session? Do you want to climb a bunch of mountains or do you want to ride horses? Or Do you want to help mom set the table or do you want to make the salad for dinner tonight?). By doing this, you empower kids to take responsibility and ownership for their own actions.

9. Allow kids to define their own boundaries; facilitate the boundary creation. Give them ways to “frame” things in the positive: We’re going to the zoo today, what SHOULD we do at the zoo? We SHOULD stay together, we SHOULD wait our turn to look at the otters, we SHOULD have lots of fun. And what SHOULDN’T we do?.... “RUN!” “Eat too much candy!” “Feed the lions!” “Cut in line!” “Talk back!” You quickly learn that many children, even very young ones, have a great understanding of right from wrong…and by “framing” activities before they even begin, they can more readily “own” their actions and are more willing to respond if they accidentally do something they SHOULDN’T do.

8. If conflicts do occur, make kids right about what they need to be right about. “She hit me first.” “Yes. I saw that she hit you first. Why did she hit you, do you think?” Also, in heated situations, never make assumptions. Ask A LOT of questions and remember that most kids WANT to do the right thing…but sometimes they just forget how to do it. Don’t put kids in a box that they can’t get out of—during conversations, as they are growing up, socially, etc.. A great technique for getting a kid to talk is to MOVE. Children, especially boys, can have a hard time expressing their feelings if they feel like an adult is standing there, waiting for an answer, and “pressuring” them to say something. If you can remove the child from the situation and go for a walk (ideally outdoors), the questions you ask may elicit more than the standard, “I dunno” answers.

7. When they make bad choices, assign real and timely consequences. This one takes practice and you have to know your children or campers very well in order to assign a consequence that is neither too harsh nor too lenient for the action. I will often make sure I—with the help of the kids--have “framed” the entire experience so any resulting “bad choices” already have consequences assigned (i.e.: “We decided as a group that people who don’t help with clean-up today won’t get to have any of Emily’s cake after clean-up. SO…is everyone ready to win cabin clean-up today?”). That also takes some of the emotional volatility out of the situation. If everyone knows what will happen and when, I am not perceived as being arbitrary or unfair.

6. Give them plenty of opportunities to practice making both good and, inevitably, bad choices. Give them a safe framework to practice in…overnight camp is an outstanding, safe place to practice decision-making. Overnight camp provides a community with multiple supportive adults who genuinely want each child to have an outstanding camp experience. Through their interactions with other adults and children, who may or may not have similar interests and experiences, kids learn how to make and keep friends, practice perseverance and resilience, and gain a better understanding of themselves…all of which helps them become wise decision-makers.

Next time, Part II! I look forward to hearing your thoughts….