The Wolf Pack has grown

Session 2 has arrived with enthusiasm. 41 new campers in leadership training ready to take on the world.

We went to opening campfire as the cast of Despicable Me. I got to be Edith and throw a fit the whole night and scream "It's so fluffy I'm going to die!" a lot.

All our little minions looked really good.

Mary and Molly came to the porch to talk to the CILTs about their own experience as a CILT in 2008. It's crazy to think back to when these two were just campers in Choctaw. They were two of the best CILTs I ever worked with and are incredible counselors now. On a daily basis I'm so impressed when I see them running around with their campers.

We're really excited about this group of CILTs and all of the potential we could see right away. They're here because they love camp and because they want to give back to a place that has so significantly impacted their lives.

At lake time we were so impressed with how involved every CILT was. The shallow area was the place to be-- digging up clay for epic castles and fighting zombies in the water.

Dinner flagpole was so fun when Pima wore their hair in Mulan buns and sang "Let's Get Down to Business" and then Cherokee introduced a new gummy bear song that one of their campers made up. I love when counselors mix things up with some creativity. Riley was in my cabin at the end of last summer and it's so fun seeing her again this summer.

Then trading post was awesome. There were parachute games going on, scratch murder, screaming toes, volleyball, and gymnastics.

I had the night on with all of the Day Camp staff, which is rare, and I loved getting to see them with their cabins. These girls are so crazy and fun.

Tuesday morning we had a spontaneous dance party in main field on the way to first clinic. The bernie is easily the dance move of the summer.

After shadowing clinics the CILTs made their wooden nametags so that we would have all the necessary props to introduce our brand-new cheer at lunch. 

The first part of the cheer goes along with the Harry Potter theme so we also all had to find wands. They're not sticks, they're wands.

We had another dance party before lunch and more people joined in on the craze. It was seriously so fun we didn't want to stop to go into eat.

We still felt like being creative after lunch so we stacked our chairs five high and then made snow angels during announcements.

Wednesday morning I was very pleased to see that our wolf pack had grown. All of Team CILT has joined.

Our CILT girls don't have the shirts but they have the hand sign and howling down pretty well.

But all of camp is pretty amped about wolves these days. The tradition will continue so go snatch up a wolf shirt asap. Everybody is doing it (positive peer pressure).

The CILTs taught mini-clinics all morning. I was pretty psyched to practice my digi photo skills.

We did some group jump-roping and practiced our Teddy Bear and Cinderella rhymes.

Mel was taught how to do a handstand-- isn't this so impressive? And equally impressive, she learned to draw a unicorn.

We played the ultimate challenge game before lunch and I got to hang out with my friends Camryn and Devon. They're the bomb.

We played Scooby-Doo style gold rush in the afternoon. Nothing like running around in search of some gold rocks.

Kata was so funny as Scooby. Lizzy was just distributing the gold but decided to wear her pumpkin outfit for fun. She's really great.

Then the greatest surprise was mail from some of my very favorite people. Maddy hooked us up with all of these delicious snacks that went perfectly with pop stop.

Shout-outs to  Ellie, Margaret, Sarah Briggs, Kaylin, and Maddy. You're the best. Love you all. Nothing like a hand written letter.

The Catawba massage parlor opened for business during trading post. They sing, they walk on your back, they give deep tissue massages. 

I went to town making headbands while we observed CILTs all night to further my goal of outfitting every girl counselor with one of these beauties. It got kind of ridiculous when it started looking like a turban. And I was still wearing my wolf shirt. And I kind of got a headache. But it was a really fun night with Fricktopher and Arielle Face.