Howdy!

It’s another beautiful morning as always up here at camp and we are just wrapping up our second to last session at Camp Menzies. I’m still cleaning up from our best all-camp event yet—in my opinion—last night’s “Horse Wedding”! Paradise and I spent all day creating decorations, baking carrot cupcakes, and planning the ceremony and reception. Two of our very close horses Daisy and Prince were “married” at the horse arena last night with all of our campers and staff as witnesses. The horses shared a carrot and ate feed from the same bin at the end and all the campers sent the two newlyweds off with a bubble brigade. Afterward, there were cupcakes, a photo booth, games and plenty of dancing. The horse staff even taught the girls a line dance that we all performed together. It was certainly an evening to remember!

Joining us for this last week here at camp are the Locavores, Arts Alive, Myths, Magic and More, Leaders in Action with their Little Sprouts campers, Menzies Mountain Riders, Rock Stars, Take Aim, Roughin’ It, Night Owls, Menzies Music Makers, and Eco-Fashionistas. We have so many new faces at camp as well as some returning campers we’ve seen a few times before this summer. It’s been a pretty hot week so far and with our canoe lake drained, we’ve been spending a lot of time at the swimming hole. Outside of the refreshing water, archery is always a favorite activity (especially when it’s cool in the shade)!

Roughin’ It just left for White Pines lake to canoe for a bit and Rock Stars will be heading off to Natural Bridges this afternoon for another cave experience. I know they had a ton of fun spelunking at Moaning Caverns on Tuesday. Locavores made their trip to the food co-op in town and picked up some new plants and fresh veggies for us back at camp. The Eco-Fashionistas made a trip to one of our larger thrift stores and dug up some pretty great finds. They’ll be working with Tuck who is visiting us again this week and she’s planning on teaching them a bit about sewing on a machine. Our Music Makers made some cool drums with Tuck out of cans from the kitchen. They all seemed pretty excited about that.

Night Owls spent the night at Big Trees last night and are exploring the park this morning before coming back to us. Arts Alive will be heading off to the Bear Valley Music Festival on Saturday to hear some live open-air performances. Menzies Mountain Riders have been spending time with the horse staff and getting a feel for what caring for horses really entails. The Leaders in Action have been helping out our Little Sprouts as they explore the camp garden and beyond in their quest to learn more about our resources and how to protect them. Myths, Magic and More have been creating “spell books” and cooking up vinegar goop at the Nature Hut as well as making some pretty cute magical wands. So many awesome things that are happening around camp this week!

It’s really hard to believe we’re less than a week away from the end of regular sessions at Camp Menzies, and I’ve been keeping myself very busy this last week so I don’t dwell on summer’s end approaching so quickly. It’s been so amazing to get to work with all the groups and see the opportunities we have all around camp. I hope all our campers really enjoyed this summer and have memories that will last a lifetime. I know I do. Have a good week and happy trails!

~Aster