The beginning of week two of camp dawned with beautiful skies and warm breezes. With one Shabbat under our belts, we felt refreshed and ready to greet the week of exciting activities. Specialists brought their all to each and every activity, encouraging campers to improve their skills and keep on smiling. Lower Nitzanim Girls and Lower Nitzanim Boys enjoyed their overnights on Monday and Tuesday, cooking outdoors and sleeping at our new Teva site, named K’far Har for its location up on the hill. The food there has been delicious with fresh farm-grown fruits and vegetables.
Thursday brought about July 4th and the exciting activities that come with it! Everyone was decked out in their red, white, and blue showing their USA pride. The morning’s usual activities were followed by a spectacular carnival, run by our Machon (Counselors-in- Training). Cotton candy sweetened the day and Sno-Cones cooled us down, and everyone got the chance to dunk Greg and other senior staff members in the Dunk Tank, which was certainly a good time! The day concluded with Crane Lake’s tradition of singing songs like “This Land is Your Land” and “American Pie” by the lake as the sun set. After a few moments of searching, we unearthed the Scroll (the account of the summer previous written by the Machon at the end of the summer) from its spot in the sand and listened to the Machon 2012 read it aloud. With the priceless image of the sun setting over the lake, we sang the alma mater and the Hashkiveinu and went off to bed.
Friday’s relaxed activity day prepared us for another Shabbat, and as the sun began to set, we gathered to walk with the songleaders up the rows to dinner. Services, lead beautifully by the members of Chaverim were followed by an exuberant song session and Israeli Dancing with Maria.
Saturday’s usual breakfast buffet did not disappoint anyone, and Chaverim’s morning services were beautiful and insightful – but everyone was bursting at the seams to do their final practice runs in the Rec Hall for Fight Song. After a yummy BBQ lunch and rest hour, campers gathered around camp for their afternoon of supervised breira. After dinner, everyone gathered in their fight song garb on the main lawn, and you could practically feel the energy running through every child and counselor on that lawn. Even though it was hot in the Rec Hall, everyone kept hydrated as one by one, the units presented their songs. In the end, the Bonim Girls came out victorious with their song to “Popular” from the musical Wicked. After they performed their winning song one more time, everyone headed back to their bunks for a well-deserved rest with a late wake-up in the morning.
As we celebrated the ending of the week last night with Havdallah, we look forward to the week ahead of us, which includes so many exciting events like Trip Day, tournaments, swim meets, and more! Stay tuned to our blog and Facebook for more updates as the week progresses, and check back in next week to see what this week had in store!