Tag: Best camp in Maine sleepaway overnight girls camp

How old is the ‘right’ age to start camp?

Posted on by Alex

Trying to figure out when the right age to start camp is can be a real challenge for families.  Actual yearly age carries a lot of weight in our society.  We celebrate milestone Birthdays with celebrations and sometimes commiserations!  My daughter just turned 16. There was pressure for a ‘sweet 16’ . We went with the ‘sassy’ version but all the decorations and marketing available were ‘sweet.’ Other friends bemoan that their child is about to become a teenager and by how much emphasis there is surrounding this event.  Mom friends commiserating that they will have a ‘teenager on their hands’ and that it is apparently just the beginning of the ‘tumultuous years’ suggest that the big 13 is bigger than it really is.  Truth is those kids will be the same person today at 12 as they will be tomorrow when they turn 13. There are displays of some of the teenager characteristics for a couple of years before 13, others are sure to develop over time or may never appear for a particular child.  Age does not define us yet it has societal normative behaviors placed up on it.

As a parent I feel like I am often battling the social norms imposed upon my children.  It is hard to go up against them when ‘everyone else’ does it, has it or has been there.  I love that my sons K-8 school used the ‘wait ’til eight’ theory for cell phone use as it took the pressure off getting him one and now as a 9th grader we are just getting into that realm.

Figuring out when your daughter is the right age for camp can also appear to have social norms and external pressure about when is the right time to send kids off to sleep away camp.  We all know that kids develop at their own pace, have varying life experiences and certainly come with an array of different personalities that are more or less conducive to the camp experience.  We often get calls from concerned parents wondering if their rising 7th grader is ‘too old’ now for camp? Or if aged 7 is ‘too young’ to start.   Will she fit in if she didn’t start in 5th grade when all of her classmates went off to camp?  Can we advise them about what truly is the best age to send your child to an overnight camp experience?

The truth is there is only a perfect age for each individual child, some kids are ready at 7 others at 12 or 13 and some girls  just may never have the desire to be away for an extended time period.  As we talk to parents starting the camp research process we are always excited to chat about their daughters and to help them figure out if she may be ready to join the Runoia fun.

Great questions to ponder for prospective families are: how does your daughter feel about camp? is she driving the process? does she enjoy being away from home overnight with family or friends? is she age appropriately confident managing her own belongings and time?

If you are pondering camp for 2022 and are wondering if your daughter is ready give us a call. We are happy to help support you in the process of determining if this is the best summer – Camp Runoia  207 495 2228.

We have limited openings and would love to find the right ‘ready’ campers to fill them!

A new season for Camp Runoia

Posted on by Alex

It is barely a little over a month since we shuttered the buildings and closed down camp for the 2021 summer season. Many of our campers have just gone back to school and the leaves are hardly changing color here in Maine and yet our 2022 summer season is open! Early enrollment is in full swing for next summer which is so exciting. This past summer was amazing, we had a blast on Great Pond with old friends and new and truly cannot wait to do it all again next year. After a tough year with lock downs and quarantines, zoom school and no activities our girls were thrilled to be at camp in real time with people. The fun lasted literally from dawn until dusk and even into the night in some cases! We are grateful that parents had confidence that we could pull it off and recognize the social and emotional growth that happens at camp and is even more necessary as kids have been removed form their typical experiences.

In 2020 we were grateful to be able to open with a limited camper capacity and operating only one three week session. We had no idea what the knock on effect would be for future enrollment and couldn’t have predicted that we would still have been in the midst of a global pandemic as we opened the 2021 season. This past summer saw us welcoming 100 new families into our community. How lucky we were to see many of our old campers returning and to have the opportunity to get to know so many awesome new girls.  Camp was full and it felt so good to be operating our regular season again and while there were still some modifications to navigate covid protocols it felt much more like a regular summer.

 

Now here we are looking towards 2022 with an unprecedented early enrollment of returning campers. We have been delightfully shocked by how eager families are to sign up for early enrollment spaces. There have been an increased number of requests for full session spaces and even our younger camper slots and sessions are filling ahead of their usual timeline. This is great news for camp and fantastic from a business perspective yet is certainly a little stressful for folks that are not quite ready to commit yet.

We understand it’s hard to know how life will shake out in the next 11 months. Where we will all be at with covid and its impact on everyday living. The good news is that In uncertain times, camp is a sure thing. Camp Runoia will open in June 2022 for our 116th continuous summer on Great Pond. Campers will swim in the lake, enjoy the great Maine outdoors, connect with friends and learn new skills. There will laughter, bug bites, marshmallows and singing. Camp will welcome old and new faces with the goal of everyone having the best summer ever!

 

We hope that all of our 2021 campers will be back to be joined by some new faces for another amazing summer of building lifelong skills. The season is open for 2022 and we couldn’t be happier.

Returning to Runoia – from counselor to camp parent and staff

Posted on by Alex

Guest blogger Mindy (Boyce) Martone-Gulling

Archery and cabin counselor 1998/99. Yoga and farm instructor and camp parent in 2021.

Mindy shares her reflections on returning to Runoia.

Camp friends for always!
Working with Kara (Benken) Garrod once again.

My daughter is the outgoing, kind, and hilarious youngest child of five and she and I have been waiting for years for her to be old enough to go to Runoia. I was a counselor in the late ‘90s and left Runoia in 1999 to go to law school, which was followed by a “real” job, kids, and life that kept me far from Camp. But I never forgot how beautiful, fun, warm, and welcoming the CR community was and knew I wanted my daughter to be a part of it. 

Delayed a year by Covid, this Spring we finally signed her up for a session in Harmony Land, the program for Runoia’s youngest campers. We were all so excited. My memory certainly isn’t what it once was, but apparently there’s a whole section of it that’s full of camp songs and I started teaching her right away. We bought new swimsuits, shoes, and water bottles for her adventure and she insisted on watching the Runoia marketing video at least once a day. Even more exciting was that life was such that I was able to join her at camp as a counselor – after all this time.

We arrived on the first of our many Fine Maine Days at camp, she joined her new friends, and I got my first live glimpse of camp in so many years. New facilities! State-of-The-Art equipment! Exciting new activities and adventures to choose from!  And of course almost all new faces, including counselors who usually said “oh, I was just born then” when I told them the last year I had been at camp.  It was clear that Runoia had grown and changed and constantly improved in the time I had been gone. But just as the new facilities blend smoothly into the camp landscape and the new activities appear on the tag board next to old standards like archery and swimming, the heart and soul of Runoia was the same even amidst the changes. Girls just being themselves, hugging friends, cracking wide smiles at mastering a new skill, and laughing as they walk lightly past the ferns down to the waterfront. Campfires, Fairy Ring, taps, the logs, Blue/White, and birthday songs all endure for new generations of Runoia girls.

As a counselor I got to experience things with my daughter that I would have only heard about at home- her unbridled joy trotting off in her yellow one-piece to every rec swim and the ear-to-ear grin when she got the arrow “in the red” during archery. As a mom, I appreciated so much about how girls are loved and supported at Runoia- from a counselor agreeing to stay late at an activity to make sure a level got passed to a tireless search for a lost but much loved book, to the heartfelt good nights from the Directors.

I have always seen Runoia as a special place, and I was so lucky that I can share it with my own Runoia girl, hopefully for years to come.

 

The 2021 Name Story

Posted on by Alex

The ‘name story’ is a Runoia log tradition – who knows how long it goes back but it’s a fun part of our end of season celebrations. It includes the last name of all the staff and campers who were at camp for the whole summer; around 75 names. It is a little more entertaining when read aloud so use your creative voice and have a go!

 

A Fine Maine day in Lucyland

It was another ‘Fine Maine Day’ on Great Pond that started with an early Marin Bell to wake up the sleepy campers. It was a blue sky day with White fluffy clouds and Raya’s of sun shining down on Camp Runoia. Dresdowed up in their camp uniforms counselors were grabbing their coffee and Mullen over their schedules for the day.

The male staff were hanging out at the picnic tables, ‘Howes it going?’ Johnson Murray asked Alexander. “I have a Budeiri ache and Mahedy really hurts” he replied, “I think I’m coming down with the camp cold.” Oh no! I hope you don’t get the Hoffmann.’ Williams been sick for a week and I bet you Tena bucks Williamson, Jackson gets it next.That Colbourn’s man and we are out of cough drops. Emerson don’t be such a Dorsch I’ve been shopping on Amazon and have all the medicine we need in my Ekart I just need to click the magic button.

It was a busy camp day, trips were out and Melvani was full of the Blauberg team while Morrison, Davis had Chotas the whites. Garcia for closing the Dvorak yelled the counselor before the campers in their Hobbs nailed hiking boots, wandered up and over the Berryhill. They enjoyed their fill of the delicious blueberries and raspberries and all of their fingers were Dyed from the juice. Watch out for that giant Brown Snyder, Russelling in the Mulry bushes yelled the Germain counselor. ‘Get Wachenschwanz against that Bolduc- Jackson while I take care of it. Einzig, three I’ll trap it in that Cavenagh and we can get on with our picking.

Using Morse code, kids in campcraft were enjoying sending smoke signals across the lake.

The waterfront counselors were just getting back from the Marini. They were docking and the driver yelled, ‘Put a Hitch in that rope Grace so the boat doesn’t float away after our Bass fishing adventure with Jacob.’

Up at the Zahn the chickens were Glucking around the barnyard , I bet those chickens are wishing they were Friedman. Riders were Cantrelling around the arena, Korineing over jumps and having a blast.

There were a Millares of things going on. It was time for games at the fields, ‘I’m Sirois’ said Petersen, Martin,I was supposed to turn on the water Fontaine so that campers could fill their water bottles before the Tenorio of ten kickball game. ‘It Dostie matter, they used the sinks and are Cohen over there to get started.’ replied the sports counselor. Campers excitedly took their places and the Kells rang for the games to begin.

Chef and the kitchen staff were cooking up some Clancy food in the kitchen. ‘Make sure that Durham is Cook-Wright’ yelled chef ‘the Parsons from the village church are coming for lunch’. I added some Fennelley and Mintz to bring out the flavor and we can serve it with a fine Sinott grigio and Pina coladas. The campers can have their favorite Heubergers with Alvadrado’s so they won’t be Jonesing for the fancy food. I’m sure we have some Perrinier water too so it will be a treat.’ ‘For clean up and mopping Albanisi on us today, we only have to Shieferstein up the Paquette floor in Lodge before lunch.’

It was a perfect day to be at Camp Runoia

Camp Runoia – we really are ‘building lifelong skills’

Posted on by Alex

Camp Runoia’s tagline is ‘building lifelong skills’ and we have sure done a lot of that over our past weeks of camp. It has been amazing to see our campers confidently engaging in all aspects of camp life. They have made the most of new opportunities, developed skills and deepened their friendships.

There have been so many Fine Maine Days to play and learn in.

We are so grateful to have had this time together on Great Pond.

Our camp bubble has been a safe and loving place to be ourselves and build community with a diverse group of people.

Some of our transferable life skills:

  • Managing our own belongings
  • Getting places on time with the right clothing and equipment
  • Resolving conflicts and disappointments
  • Making healthy food choices 
  • Working towards a goal
  • Navigating all kinds of relationships with all ages of people
  • Better communication skills
  • Being rewarded for consistent good practice
  • Building grit and resiliency
  • Practicing to gain better skill mastery
  • Being a role model
  • Learning to advocate for ourselves in a positive way
  • Getting better at cleaning
  • Knowing what we like or don’t like
  • Being able to say ‘no thanks’
  • Finding space in a busy day for quiet time and reflection
  • Getting restorative sleep
  • Making choices for ourselves
  • Being flexible and adaptable
  • Following a schedule 
  • Being leaders
  • Taking care of our personal care
  • Taking safe risks

We hope that when everyone gets home the difference will be noticeable, not only that we may have grown a little taller but also that we stand taller. We are a little bolder, better organized and more engaged in how we move through our own lives.

Camp is the best place to grow and we are so glad that everyone of all ages had the opportunity to do so this summer in a safe and fun place. Camp Runoia stays with us as we move home and back to school.

 

Whatever the weather it is always a ‘Fine Maine Day’

Posted on by Alex

Rain or shine we are always making the most of our opportunities and have been having a blast with a wider variety of friends at Camp Runoia this week. The Maine weather has certainly thrown everything at us, from bright, sunny, hot days to showers, thunderstorms and fall-like evenings. We navigated around the liquid sunshine and soaked up any available rays as we motored through another amazing week of camp. We are making memories, friends for life and having the most fun outdoors that we can while building our ‘life skills.’

There is so much gratitude for being here. The campers really are so open to sharing time with friends, engaging in whatever is going on and bringing their best selves. Everyone really got into the camp groove this week. Girls that were new last week seem like they have always been here and have joined the old timers with feeling at home and comfortable here. Community living is filled with the opportunity for connection with people of all ages and from all places. We have really been enjoying more mixing and mingling as we celebrated being covid free.

The highlight of the week was definitely getting to ‘tag up’ for the first time. Campers got to choose their own schedule and after trying lots of activities with their shacks over the past week had a good idea of where they wanted to focus their energy. We also ‘dived’ into formal swim lessons and girls are working hard to pass levels and also be ready for the Oak Island swim that will be coming up on one of the last mornings. We practiced for blue/white games and hope to add some volleyball this year. Outside news of the Olympics is often breakfast table conversation.

This week’s ‘in harmony with nature’ moment was brought to you by the squirrel in the mid soapies!

EP’s have been so fun this week, with a ‘pairs party’ and a not so chill ‘chill out’ night topping the list. Thursday saw all of camp out on the fields, courts and under the tent doing whatever they wanted to. Girls of all ages were intermingling, laughing and playing together. While a few campers chose a good book and a quiet spot under the trees or on the old rock wall most were actively engaged in sports and activities. Tennis, basketball, lacrosse, field hockey, four square, parachute games, bracelets and myriad of random made up games were going on. The joy and laughter was palpable and everyone was happily tired and in bed at ‘goodnights’.

The parachute blob was like this a while!

We were sad to see our young Harmony Land friends finish their session on Saturday morning. The HLCB crew are all ready for a full session next summer and were so fun to get to know. The little sisters who finally got to be campers and join their older siblings at camp this summer were pretty excited! We do wonder what their parents got up to having all of their kids off at camp for 12 days. 

Shout out to the Hoffmann’s with all 4 girls in camp at one time. SV, 6th shack, 2nd shack and HLC it could be a Runoia record! 

 

We will be making the most of every moment over the coming week, maximizing our opportunities, deepening our friendships and enjoying all that Runoia has to offer.

 

Second session – rolled in ready!

Posted on by Alex

Well we were certainly sad to say goodbye to our first session girls but the second session came in with a fanfare! With a couple of days to catch our breath and get camp clean and ready to go we excitedly welcomed our new crew. These campers hit the camp ground running, laughing and ready to roll. They are excited and ambitious, playful and engaged. We have spent the first week getting to know each other and participating in activities by shack group. We hope that when all camp covid testing comes back we will be able to tag up and meet more friends around camp.

It’s been a busy week with ‘Fine Maine Days’, some of which were a little of the liquid sunshine variety. We tried new activities, started arts projects, went out hiking, sailed, skied and rode. The days are full, from breakfast to milk and crackers. Campers get the most out of every minute.  The tennis, badminton, gaga and tether ball courts are full at free time and the tree house is often occupied with gaggles of girls playing cards, reading or just hanging out. Having time to just be with other kids in nature feels like such a gift this year and our girls are truly so appreciative.

We have crammed a lot into the week from campfire and cookout to picking our blue/white teams. We had a lot of girls following their mothers or sisters onto the White team this session including the daughter of former White team captain Heather Duckworth! It is great to keep our camp traditions and we also spend time learning songs and cheers  and repeating our camp history so that the next generation of Runoia girls knows how we all get to be here celebrating 115 summers.

We instigated cabin inspection this session as ‘living in harmony with nature’ in your shack is perhaps not quite what we had in mind! Campers are doing a better job with cabin clean up and there are treats on the horizon for those that get high scores all week. Sometimes it is really hard to convince a 12 year old that being a good sweeper really is a great life skill.

EP’s have been fun, some active like capture the flag and some high on performance with an intense lip synch battle complete with celebrity judges. 

We can’t wait to see what the next week brings and hope campers are writing some good letters home filled with stories about all that they are getting up to.

It’s the best days of summer on Great Pond! Camp Runoia is our home away from home, the best camp ever, making memories and friends that will last a lifetime.

It’s blue and white and other camp fun

Posted on by Alex

We are in the final stretch of First Session 2021. Many items are on the bucket list for our last several days, but first we have much to report on from this past week. 

After a couple of rainy days and a cozy Friday movie night, the weekend brought sunshine and new energy and both days saw temperatures in the high seventies. Saturday was the last day of our fourth activity block, and girls enjoyed getting into the lake for swim lessons and getting out on the blue waves for sailing, kayaking, paddleboarding, windsurfing, and skiing. We had our first 2021 American Archer (passing all of the levels) go Charlotte M. and some major level passing in target sports, girls gearing up for the Blue/White horse show, action on the tennis, volleyball, basketball, and badminton courts, fabulous dance and drama lessons going on around camp, baskets and art projects being completed, and so much more. Sunny days have also helped us to get our girls out for tubing, a highly coveted treat here at camp! Saturday night supper was Birthday Tables in which everyone celebrated all of the girls in their cabins who have birthdays during the session by dressing up in different themes and singing silly songs, eating cake, and having a Birthday Party Bash with music, limbo, hula hooping, foursquare, and lots of laughter echoing throughout camp. 

 

Sunday morning started with a sleepy breakfast – campers and counselors wore their pajamas to the dining hall and, as always, doughnuts were a hit! Blue/White junior and senior team captains were nominated and elected, and then we all gathered on the beach for swim races. Each girl earned points for her team, and we’re pretty sure our neighbors across the lake heard the awesome team spirit coming from the beach in the form of songs and cheers! Good thing most of them are Runoia alumnae and were probably cheering for their old teams too!

Juniors played kickball and seniors played softball Blue/White games in the afternoon, and then we all got into our uniforms for supper and again gathered at the lake all together for our first Sunday night campfire, revolving around the theme “Better Together”. Each cabin shared a skit with the rest of camp and we taught and sang some of our favorite traditional Runoia songs while watching the sun set over Great Pond. We were joined by three loons who seemed to linger in our cove longer than usual, perhaps entranced by the melodies and harmonies we created together. 

 

On Monday we began our fifth and final block, this one lasting for four days to allow our girls a good chunk of time to develop and build on their skills in each of the program areas they tagged up for. The farm program is very popular these days, giving girls a chance to learn some gardening and animal care practices. Our Harmony Land campers went horseback riding on Monday evening, while the rest of the camp did “Laundry Bag Skits” – each cabin received a box full of random items and got to write, direct, and perform a short play. There were some truly hilarious moments, and we think we may have some rising stars on our hands! 

 

Luckily the sun decided to hang around through Tuesday, letting us have a full program day and two excellent recreational swim opportunities. It was wonderful to see so much splashing around, diving for rings, handstand contests, and games of Marco-Polo. First and Second shack each went out for a half-day hike yesterday at “The Mountain”, and made it back to camp before the rain. The sun poked back out for a bit for the late afternoon, and Tuesday night’s evening program was Counselor Hunt – a giant game of hide and seek in which girls ran around camp together trying to find hidden counselors, several of whom got extra creative – up a tree, in an empty(!) trash can! 

Our last several days will be jam-packed with more incredible program opportunities, day hiking trips, the completion of baskets and art projects, healthy and delicious meals, ziplining from the climbing tower, jumping on the water trampoline, the passing of archery, riflery, sailing, windsurfing, and riding levels, an early morning Oak Island swim, Blue/White competition, caring for our chickens and bunnies, end-of-session traditions, dips in the lake, and of course, those unforgettable moments of Camp Runoia magic that all of our Super Star Staff have been working hard to create for our campers. 

Wow – sound like a lot? Sure does, but we always get it done! A huge shoutout to everyone who has made the First Session of Camp Runoia 2021 possible we are so grateful for the opportunity to all be together again in person.

 

Thanks to Sophie B. for blogging and keeping track of our antics.

Hitting our stride – camp life week 2

Posted on by Alex

We are halfway through 1st Session. Can you believe it? We hardly can, especially considering all of the awesome action going on around camp! We said goodbye to our Harmony Land mini girls on Monday, and welcomed a new session of our youngest campers yesterday.

The Fourth of July  was a huge success thanks to our fabulous CITs who continued the tradition of planning and running the day. Campers awoke to very spirited, dressed-up counselor riding horses, followed by the always entertaining chorus of banging pots and pans! The dining hall and outdoor tents were decorated beautifully, we sang the National Anthems of all those represented at Runoia this summer, and special activity stations were set up throughout camp including a counselor makeover and treehouse jello drop – can you catch it in your mouth?! The fabulous kitchen crew baked and decorated delicious cakes, and there was plenty of watermelon to go around. Cooler temps and some rain meant that we ended our day with a campfire in the lodge instead of on our beach, but spirits were still high from all of the fun and games and the night was cozy and full of camp songs. We fell asleep to the owls and fireworks.

Everyone jumped right into the third activity block on Monday, our first “normal tag-up block” in two years(!), with many girls getting in time to ride up at the barn with our wonderful equestrian staff while others reached the top of the climbing tower or got bullseyes in archery or riflery. In our arts and crafts department, campers are weaving baskets big and small, working on stained-glass pieces, sewing fabric bags, wood-burning projects, shaping and glazing pottery, creating collage journals, and of course making plenty of friendship bracelets! Down at the waterfront, we’ve had both swimming lessons and free swim periods, first time and seasoned kayakers and canoers going out for a paddle, windsurfers and sailors learning to tack and gybe, and waterskiers zipping across Great Pond with hair blowing in the wind and huge smiles on their faces! We are so glad to be able to send girls out on day trips again! This week, Sixth shack hiked Bald Mountain and Ocho scrambled up Tumbledown. Monday afternoon rec swim was full of girls looking to jump back in the lake for the second or third time that day!

But the fun doesn’t stop after dinner! Last night’s evening program (EP) was Powder Fairies, and as usual it was a big hit! Girls worked together in mixed age groups to complete various tasks in order to solve the final puzzle, and it was a great opportunity to run around and let out some energy before bedtime. On Tuesday night we gathered together to watch our new campers pick out of a hat to learn whether they would become a member of the Blue Team or White Team for the rest of their time here at Runoia. Each girl was welcomed into her new team with cheers and songs. Earlier in the week, EP was “Get to Know Your Counselor”, a create-your-own-country night, Scattergories,  and Fractured Fairytales in which groups created new stories (think Mulan + Jack and the Beanstalk, or Cinderella + Shrek). 

Tomorrow we start our fourth activity block and girls are looking forward to tagging up and choosing activities. We are encouraging them to try new program areas while they are here as well as return to the activities that bring them joy. We are excited and hopeful for this weekend’s forecast of mid- seventies and sun, so that we can all enjoy time outside and make the most of the last 10 days of the Session!

First week of fun – Great Pond camp life

Posted on by Alex

Our first session girls arrived last Sunday on a hot and sunny Fine Maine Day! After unpacking and meeting/getting reacquainted with their cabin mates, everyone got a chance to take their swim tests and enjoy a quick dip in the lake – our fabulous 8,000 acre Great Pond. Supper was a delicious combo of spaghetti and meatballs, salad and vegetables, garlic bread, and brownies, and it was wonderful to hear the laughter of new and old campers alike ringing through the dining hall and outdoor tents. Evening program for our junior end campers included a game called “Mostest” in which each cabin worked together to create cheers and songs and even wrote and performed a commercial for Runoia! Senior end played Family Feud, while our oldest girls in senior village had their own special campfire by the lake. Milk and Crackers were enjoyed by all before returning to cabins to make community contracts and gain a better understanding of what each of us need to be our best selves at camp this summer. Counselors began reading their cabin books aloud as girls settled into beds for the night. We miss our loved ones who are not with us here at camp, but homesickness is easily overpowered by all of the fun and excitement everyone is having doing activities and spending time with friends. 

The first full day of camp was another hot one! We started with an orientation in which we found out (or were reminded) where everything was around camp, practiced vehicle safety evacuation drills, learned how to put on our PFDs for when we go out on the blue waves in boats, and played many get-to-know-you games. Activities started after lunch and rest hour, and we had almost all campers swimming in the lake for recreational swims! Horses walked and trotted around the ring up at the barn while a fleet of kayaks, canoes, and paddleboards, aka “Floatilla”, headed out into the cove. Our Harmonyland girls took a little hike to our Fairy Ring campsite and built fairy houses out of leaves, sticks, pine needles, and birch bark. After supper, our junior end girls enjoyed a beach night on the waterfront, and our senior end girls got to play a variety of land sports and even got in an evening swim to cool down before bed. Campers fell asleep looking forward to the first activity block starting the next morning.

The first activity block flew by with shacks going together to give each area a try, from flotilla’s on the lake, climbing in the trees and learning the art of shooting sports everyone found something they loved and an activity to work at throughout their session here. The heat meant lots of lake time and evening programs were modified to include much appreciated swims. The sounds of splashing and laughing in the cooler evening air could probably be heard by our Camp Runoia alumnae neighbors over in Echo Cove.

 

A bit of rain and cooler weather provided opportunity to focus on our arts skills, work on fitness and get some impressive dance routines going! Nothing stops us and we kept activities running and the fun going. The gaga pits are full at free time with some intense games going on and everyone being included. 

We are so grateful to have camp full again. To see our girls that we missed last summer, to welcome new friends into the Runoia family and to be able to spend amazing time together on Great Pond. In person, unplugged life in the woods is pretty fantastic! We have been able to watch a nest of baby barred owls learn to fly and hunt in the evenings over the kickball field. How lucky we are to live’in harmony with nature’ and get to have these experiences on our beautiful lake in Maine.

We are ready for another week of fun and frivolity, growth and learning and deepening the friendships that we have started to make.  Making life long memories and developing life long skills every minute of the day!