Our second annual Basecamp came and went this past week, with a whole of fun memories and great moments along the way!  This year, our special activities included Bazooka Ball, Laser Tag, Axe-Throwing, and an island picnic on a different lake. However, it wasn't just the big events that stood out. All the little smiles along the way, such as the ones listed below, added up to a wonderful camp!

Favourite Moments: The Basecamp crew was an active one! There always seemed to be a frisbee in the air, a 9-square-in-the-air game on the go, or a match of Spikeball on the beach. Seeing the group come together over various games and activities was really neat! As one of the makers of the escape rooms, I also got a lot of pleasure out of introducing this group to our Uncle Charlie's escape room. There was a great moment where a group that stayed late into lunch to finish the room was greeted by the applause of all the other campers; I loved the team spirit that was displayed!

Silliest Moments: The beach was populated not just by campers, but also by assorted floaty friends such as a giant white blow-up swan and two big bright pink flamingos. However, being so light, these friends were prone to wander; there were some hilarious rescues with people trying to swim after a floaty that strayed from the normal swim area. The wind was often pushing the toy just out of reach of the rescuer's arms for long stretches, giving everyone watching a laugh!

Meaningful Moment: Copper, the speaker for the week, knows that it's not just what you say to kids that teaches them; it's the tone you set and the atmosphere you create. She put a lot of work into making her teaching space an inviting and community-oriented place, such as creating a wall of envelopes for campers to write encouraging messages to each other, putting up places where campers could easily submit questions, and forming small groups to talk about the ideas presented in the lesson. 

The Weather Report: The week was a genuinely good summery time! A day that was supposed to be full of thunderstorms turned out to be just windy and cloudy, which was a nice blessing. The all-afternoon excursion to an island in a different lake was sunny and bright, making for a lovely Muskoka experience. And the final evening which was supposed to be overcast ended up clearing enough from time to time for the campers to get views of Jupiter and Saturn through Beacon's telescope.

It is sad to see some of our Basecamp friends leave on the bus, but we are thankful that we are keeping many of them for next week's Wilderness camp! Stay tuned for another week of 15- to 16-year-old excitement!