Greetings from Hilltop, one final time. Camp is very quiet. We have a skeleton crew of counselors doing some last jobs getting things cleaned and buttoned up for the winter. Travel is going well, with everyone on time, and no hitches so far. Summer 2016 is complete, and it was one for the record books.
The end of Junior Session was just fantastic. Pirate Day, as I predicted on Friday, was a huge hit. The kids dove into Pirate training with abandon, and were able to turn Pirate Captain Ryan’s heart with some great pirate jokes, and he freed me and Emily. Good thing, too, as we had the second half of Junior Session to run. That evening, we had silly songs and skits at Moonraker Point. The Junior Session version of Moonraker is its own beautiful, silly thing, and this year was no exception. There were belly laughs all around. On Saturday, we had a full day of classes, followed by Cabin Adventure, where we made boats of driftwood to be used in last night’s closing ceremony, and had s’mores. Yesterday, we had classes in the morning, packed in the afternoon, and had Evening Fire at night. Evening Fire can be tough for the little ones, as it does involve sitting quietly and paying attention for an hour, but they did a great job, and got a taste of the feelings of community that make Evening Fire our most loved evening activity.
Junior Session flies by, particularly for those of us that are used to the rhythms of our four-week sessions, but that’s kind of the point. For these younger campers, the goal is to have that first (or second) experience be successful, fun, and positive, and get a taste of what Four Winds is all about. We accomplished that goal in spades. Most children today do not get an independent experience like this one. These campers now know that they can do it. They’re better off, and will be more ready for bigger independent experiences down the line.
With Four Winds’ 90th summer complete, it would feel remiss to not say thank you as well to all the campers, families, and staff from all three sessions. It takes a commitment to come up to Orcas in the summer and build this community of which we’re so proud. Thanks to all of you.
For Junior Session families, as well any other families that may be reading this, I hope your camper is already talking about summer 2017. You may be interested to know that registration for summer 2017 is already available. We reserve spots for returning campers until November 30, so there’s no real rush, but many families like to take care of it when Camp is at the front of mind. We will send out reminders and so forth, but we do encourage you to mind that November 30 deadline. This year, all three of our sessions filled on December 1, and we have no reason to believe it will be different next year. You can find that registration form by logging into your parent account at fourwindscamp.org/login, clicking on “Registration Form,” selecting the 2017 season, and filling out the form. Please keep in mind that because Junior Session is intended to be an introduction to Camp for families that hope to have their children attend our four-week session, there is a two year limit on Junior Session attendance. New families may also register now (at fourwindscamp.org/register), and we will enroll them, or place them on the waitlist, once the returning camper guarantee expires on December 1.
Thank you for sharing your children with us this week. It was great fun to have them here, and I hope to see them all next summer.