Camp Tawanchi Journal

It is hard to believe but our last week arrived all too soon.  We learned about how to find information and be safe on the internet.  We talked about how to be a good friend by reading a book by Kermit the Frog.  His rule for living a good life is this:  Be happy with who you are and give freely of yourself and your talents.

We made t-shirts using tye dye and this really wonderful craft where we made a bracelet out of a zipper!  The girls loved the bracelet and the boys the t-shirt because we used black dye! 

The week’s favorite craft that lasted all day was making friendship beads to share.  We are sad that our summer comes to an ends, but we know that we will see each other next summer when the fish are biting and cool breeze  from the Saint Joseph River will welcome us back! 

Our annual Air Jam was this week!  We created skits to go along with music and we practiced all week and then on Thursday night we performed the skits for our parents and friends.  We did:  Be our Guest, Life is a Highway, Hairspary (Kice dressed up as girl) and many others!  The South Bend Tribune came and we made the paper!

On Friday we had our first every Camper Choice Day!  We got to pick all the activities!  We insisted on more swimming!      

We enjoyed making Christmas projects like candles and ornaments!  We had a great visit from a friend at “Imagine That” a store near us.  She helped us learn how to paint and we got to paint a nice box or a CD case!  She is very nice and we hope to have her come back next year!

We went fishing again this week and we caught 17 fish! 

On the 25^th of July we arrived at camp to find a very special surprise!  We had been visited by Santa Claus!  He left us each a small toy and a box of candy before heading back to the North Pole because it was just too hot here in Indiana!

We took a trip through the Middle Ages and learned about knights.  We learned that being a knight was not all about tournaments and parties; they were businessmen for the King first and foremost and had to run a small city.  Festivals were held and that is when they did the jousts and tournaments.  We had a jousting tournament with “blow up” tools so no one would get hurt.  We had jousting in the pool and we learned about Bocce Ball.  It is a very simple game and we loved!  Miss Elaine was only going to use the borrowed Bocce Ball sets for one day.  We enjoyed it so much that we asked her to buy a set for next year.  We liked to divided into girls and boys for this activity because if the grass is wet  the boys can pick up the ball and wipe it off with their shirt while the girls have to waste time using  a towel and this slows the game down. 

One day we played Capture the Flag and one camper mentioned to Miss Elaine that he was going to try and dig his way out of jail.  Soon he was in the sandlot with a hole almost as big as he was!  The game ended when we all went to see how deep we could dig the hole.

We also learned that knight served lots of food at the festivals.  We learned that good nutrition was and is very important.  We studied a book called, “Chew on This” that helped us to see how important it is to eat right and not eat junk or fast food all the time.

Miss Virginia was our teacher for photography!  She taught us how to use several kinds of cameras, digital, 35 mm, Polaroid and our own!  One day we used filters to cover our lens and make the pictures red, blue or yellow!  We took a magazine and pasted a picture together and then we photographed it!  These were fun as we made some interesting pictures.

Mr. Josh helped us learn how to fish in a fishing tournament.  Here are some things he taught us:

      Side casting so you do not catch trees

      An arms and a poles length away from your neighbor so you do not catch your neighbor

      How to put a worm on a hook

      How to use candy if you do not like worms

Mr. Josh did not teach us the following:

      How to catch fish, we only caught two all week

      How to use a cane pole, he let Miss Elaine do that

      How to hang onto your fishing pole so it does not end up in the river

We had lots of fun, but since it was about 90 degrees everyday we had very little luck catching fish.  Better luck next time!

This week we learned all about Mishawaka.  We took a hike to find our friends Larry and Lizzy.  They were lizards that had escaped from Camp.  We went by Central Park, the Police Department, a statue of a gorilla, and the bank.  We learned that where the bank stands today used to be a famous hotel in Mishawaka a long time ago!  Then we headed to Bonnie Doons for Ice Cream!  We got to select our favorite ice cream!  It tasted great on a hot summer day.  On the way home we were given clues to help us find Larry and Lizzy who were hiding out near the park.   When we got back to Castle Manor we had popsicles!  One by one each of us found a small lizard on our chair!  These were great fun because we could toss them up on the ceiling and they stuck for awhile and then came tumbling down so we could toss them up again!

This summer we asked the question, “Where in the World is Camp Tawanchi?”  (Please see the back of our t-shirts for the true answer to that.)  In an effort to help us understand geography we had a Geography Club!  Mr. Josh was our leader!  He helped us play a game to learn about different countries, their population, what they made to export to other countries.   He helped us find the country on a globe or map.  We learned that in order to be a true world traveler, you must be able to read a map.  We learned how to use an alpha numeric chart to find our houses on a map, how to find special places like those that have Christmas or Music in their name!  We even learned that it was too far away to go to the Cleveland Rock and Roll Music Hall of Fame.  It is just too far to hike!  Thanks to Mr. Josh, our teachers will be impressed with our new found geography skills.

Our second week of camp was all about what can make a camp experience creepy. We talked about bugs, bats, spiders and bears! If you understand that the outdoors is really their home and you are the visitor camp life is good. Let the animals have their space and they will let you visit with no conflicts!

The best part of this week was that we spent two days at the Mishawaka Res! We hiked, hiked and hiked! Mr. Josh was very tired. Our favorite hike was the Onion Dinosaur Trail. The Counselors had laid out a trail with onions so we could smell the path they had taken. We used our noses to find the trail and at the end we were to find a dinosaur egg! Don’t tell the Counselors but it was really a watermelon.

Our favorite craft was making bug boxes to catch bugs in and watch them. Our favorite bug to catch: fire flies! We liked to see them light up!

We had a really great overnight! The boys slept in one cabin and the girls in the other. We had a hike where the boys found the girls and the girls found the boys. It was fun! At night we had another hike and played in the meadow with glow sticks. Haig tossed one so high it got stuck in a tree. We ended the night with a campfire and singing camp songs.

It was a great week!