Camp Tawanchi Journal

OK, Let’s just say, it did not sunshine all week. The most memorable day of our week was field trip day. It was a little overcast when we left, but we believed Miss Elaine when she said, “It will not rain.” We felt confident because she had called some TV Station. We hiked to Buetter Park where we played a game to find things having to do with math. We also got to watch the Park Employees clean the fountain and remove the sledge. It was smelly, but we got to see the fish and snakes! As we started to hike back, a black cloud rolled in. IT POURED! We were so WET! Miss Elaine told us to change into our dry swimsuit. Adults can be crazy sometimes.

The theme for this week was Math and many of us were not excited about this theme. Math is for school, not summer camp. We had the chance to make two new friends, Miss Amanda and Mr. Dean! They taught us to make shapes with origami. We made boxes and a really cool glider that turns into a star! We made curve line stitching; you make a curved line by making ONLY straight stitches! We learned about probability and we even got to play dice games. We decided it was a perfect program and next year we will call it, Math Mania!

We also had our worst day of camp ever. We love to play games at Tawanchi! On one windy day we lost two balls. Our big Internet ball and our tye dyed kick ball. We did get replacements, but they will never replace our two beloved balls. Miranda did save one other ball that almost escaped into the river!

We had another great day fishing in the Saint Joseph River. The fisherperson award goes to Shelby this week! She caught 4 fish using a cane pole!

It was a very fun week and we learned a lot about math that we would never learn in school!

One-liners from Our Mathematical Journey

• I Fell.
• Are you crazy or do you have rabies?
• Did you see how good that picnic table listened?
• I believe it’s going to rain now!
• Alex stepped on Mr. Josh’s toe. He might need surgery.
• Change into your dry swimsuit please.

Pioneer Week found us traveling, by covered wagon out west. We learned to weave and make candles. We learned about safety because we knew that a Pioneer had to be safe because they were often the only doctor available.

We did archery twice as a true pioneer would need to hunt for their dinner.

Our field trip to the Library was great once we finally got there. Mr. Jacob took the scenic route, but the National Guard (Miss Elaine) was called in to rescue us and she gave us a shorter route home. At the Library we learned about Japan, played Library Lingo and checked out books. No Fire Evacuation this year!!!

The 4-H Lady arrived and we are the winners of the pop tab contest for Riley Hospital! We will get an ice cream party on August 8^th for our donation of 11 gallons!

For safety week we learned about Bike Safety with a movie featuring Bill Nye the Science Guy. We also learned about seat belt safety and fire works safety. One of our campers has a dad who works for the Police Department and he showed us his equipment. It was fun!

The only part of our week we did not like was the rain. Maybe next week the sun will shine all five days!

One-liners from Our Pioneer Journey

• What do you mean the whole camp is LOST?
• Rock climbing at Camp Tawanchi. Can we get a higher chimney for more of a challenge here?

The first thing we learned on our Journey to Japan was that we had to cross the International Date Line to get there. So when it is today here, it is tomorrow there!

We visited with an exchange student from Japan and her American family! She told us about school in Japan. They go all day and they prepare their own lunch in the classroom, no cook. They have to spend an hour after school cleaning their school, no janitor! Then they go to dinner and most youth go back to school at night to prepare for the University. They get about 3 weeks summer vacation and they do not have camps like Camp Tawanchi. We decided this was horrible for them. She taught us how to use chopsticks and that if we hold them to close to the food end our life will be short, so it is important to hold them way out to the hand end so we have a long life. She gave us some Pokey, a nice candy and she showed us some dried crabs they eat for snacks. They really do look like crabs. She was very fun and we enjoyed playing Japanese games with her.

We were able to visit with Governor Mitch Daniels! He came to our camp to present a speech about giving the schools the money the State had held back. We really didn’t understand. He did visit with us; give autographs, and learned about our camp. Along with Governor Daniels was Mayor Rea of Mishawaka. He shared that we will be getting a new slide at the pool! How exciting!

It was a rainy week so we did miss our field trip to the Library, but hope to make it up next week.

Our crafts included dragonflies, origami and fish kites.

We ended our week by crossing over the International Date Line and losing a day somewhere. We will be stopping out west for Pioneer Week before we head home!

One-liners from Our Japanese Journey

• I’m so dirty my mom is gonna make me sit on a towel to ride in her car.
• Look! There’s a highlighter color!
• Oh, it’s like a real crab in there! We eat this?
• Give me the Pokey! Forget the crab.
• These crutches really mess up my style.
• This was the best swim day ever! (Swimming in the rain can be lots of fun!)
• Are we going to walk out to morning flag or drive?
• There’s going to be a miracle today. I won’t bother my counselors. (Well, that lasted all of 6 hours. Trust the counselor that really was a miracle!)

Since it was the 4th of July we learned about the Statue of Liberty and how she is a gift from France to the people of the United States of America. We learned how her head and her arm were on display in other parts of the world to raise money to make her. Then she was assembled in France, taken apart and brought to an Island in New York City. She was a giant jigsaw puzzle! The base she rests on was made with money raised by school children and she is really a lighthouse! She was given a face-lift for her 100th birthday and many Camp Fire youth helped raise the money to do it. Her job was to welcome immigrants to America!

In a book, we learned about New York where Lady Liberty lives. A folk artist who hid a cat named Speedy on every page wrote it. Our counselors challenged us to find all the pictures of Speedy. If we did we would be in the “Where in the World is Speedy Club!” Miss Mary, Miss Hannah, Miss Elaine, Maxx, Cody and Elizabeth all made it and earned a t-shirt with Speedy sitting on the globe!

The best activity of the week was fishing! Camp Tannadoonah allowed Camp Tawanchi to use their fishing poles and we are very grateful because we had so much fun! Thank you Camp Tannadoonah! Mr. Matt caught the biggest fish; it was a 2-foot carp. Bobbie caught the biggest object; it was a huge log!

Our favorite craft was sewing buttons on a bright neon hat! We could do as many as we wanted. Some only did one, but some did at least a dozen! We made red, white and blue candles on our last day.

Another great week!

One-liners from Lady Liberty’s Journey

• Do you think that the Statue of Liberty is the biggest immigrant to come to America?
• I have been to other camps and this one is different.
• Is this camp normal? I always thought this camp was normal and the others were not.
• Ben, what are you eating?

This week was Olympic Week. The very first thing we did was to make flags. Then we got into our groups to decide a team name. The two groups were the Scotts and the Killer Kupkakes. We played kickball and the Scotts won! The Killer Kupkakes found out how important it was to wear tennis shoes. We also played Dodgeball and guess what. The Scotts won again. Miss Elaine told us that we had to do book reports on the Olympics. This time the Killer Kupkakes won!

On Tuesday we walked to the other park to play basketball and the Killer Kupkakes won. The South Bend Tribune Lady came on Tuesday and the article was in the paper on Friday. Miss Kori also came to see us! Our competition was blowing ping-pong balls across the floor. The Killer Kupkakes won. They are pulling ahead in the points. The Killer Kupkakes also won the best book report!

On Wednesday we competed in Archer and the Killer Kupkakes won again. We also had another book report and they won again. Our pool time was not so great because of a storm. We swam for 15 minutes and then we had to wait. We went back in at 2:00 only to get out again and return to Castle Manor. Everyone was angry but on our way back, we heard the whistle and we were not so mad after all.

One of our competitions involved Comet Balls. They were really fun and they are Miss Elaine’s toys so nobody could have them. Even adults need toys she says.

Our competition ended with the Scotts pulling ahead and winning the Olympics. We all got medals and rings and tops! It was fun! We learned good sportsmanship along the way too!

One-liners from the Olympic Journey

• If it weren’t so easy, I’d do it all day.
• It’s the 90’s kids.
• When I plug my ear, I can’t hear out of it.
• Where did ya get that ball? The Internet?
• I’ll have to get a tub of butter then.
• Ben says, “Who is Ben?”
• I have a neighbor who is over 50.
• Give me back my comet balls.