Hiya! It’s me, Cara B., back again with a super exciting update.

Last night, after a delicious dinner of fish, roasted veggies, and strawberry rhubarb crisp (my all time favorite HVC dessert), we headed back to our cabins to change into our costumes for the blast from the past dance! Campers really used their creativity with this one- some campers wore pj’s or the clothes they had worn the day before to be their past selves, while others adorned themselves in tie-dye and other ’60s garb, distressed denim and flannel shirts for ’90s grunge, or teased hair and jazzercise outfits from the ’80s. Some campers went wayyyy back, adorning themselves in togas or dressing as dinosaurs. There was dancing in the Rec Hall featuring some favorite throwback songs from The Spice Girls, The Jackson Five, The Backstreet Boys, and more! Outside the Rec Hall, there were so many awesome blast from the past activities. There was chariot construction and racing from Ancient Rome, a T-rex challenge that involved putting your arms in your shirt to mimic the tiny arms of mighty dino, Shakespearian sonnet writing, a “match the slang with the decade” challenge, ’80s makeup and vintage mustache face painting, a photo booth, and Bob Ross painting from the ’80s and ’90s. It was an absolute blast- the night ended with a big dance to “Don’t Stop Believing,” as per camp tradition.

After a good night’s sleep, we woke up to another beautiful, warm day of sun at Hidden Valley. We ate breakfast sandwiches with scrambled eggs, cheese, and ham or sausage before heading over for meeting in the front yard. Today is Saturday, A.K.A., predicted candy drop day. Campers sat at meeting with pillowcases in hand, surveying the sky for any suspicious activity. Peter read off the “top 10 eleven reasons that the candy drop is today” off of long time HVC-er, Leda’s shirt. Some of the reasons were right on- camp meeting was in a different location, there was a mini van parked outside of the office, and the AWACs were called for a mysterious meeting. However, we still aren’t sure if today is Skippy’s birthday, or whether the breakfast menu was any indicator of the % chance of candy precipitation during evening meeting tonight, we’ll have to ask Weather Guy about that one…

Today is also the 5th day of classes, which means sharing night is fast approaching! Music and dance classes are busy preparing their acts that they will share with the camp in just a few days. Art pieces in the buckhorn and in the glass studios are coming together, and campers in swimming and sports classes skills are looking fabulous. It is so exciting to be in the midst of the hustle and bustle of camp, Mama Iguana and I are over the moon!

Tonight is the staff talent show! We are so psyched to see our talented staff show us what they got. I wonder what everyone’s talent will be- Mama Iguana will tell you all about it tomorrow. For now, enjoy some photos from classes and the blast from the past dance!

TTFN!

Cara B. Ner

My name is Mama Iguana, you tuned into the HVC blog, prepare for an update!

Everyone is quoting Princess Bride throughout camp this morning after an inconceivable viewing of the movie last night. I can’t think of a better way to wrap up our movie Lazy Day.

This morning, the sun was out again. Everyone woke up in good spirits and was welcomed to the dining hall with egg bar!!!

We had a special announcement at morning meeting today that I can’t wait to tell you all about! David, our ropes director, was driving down camp road yesterday and found a weather balloon! The weather balloon was launched by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and goes four times higher than an airplane in the sky! Wow! It landed with an envelope asking us to send it back so they can collect all the data. What a special treat from Mother Nature!

Because the sun is out, sports classes have the opportunity to go swimming in the lake today! All of the mountain biking and soccer classes will head to the lake and many more sports classes will be swimming the next couple days!

Tonight is a blast from the past dance! Cara B. will tell you all about it tomorrow morning. Enjoy some photos from classes the other day and our game show yesterday afternoon!

Lots of love,

Mama Iguana

Hi friends! It’s Mama Iguana here to give you an update on our first… Lazy Day!!! Let’s rewind to last night’s evening program, Electives, before I tell you all about today’s activities.

All of camp gathered last night on the soccer field for a wonderful night of electives! Electives begins with counselors announcing various activities they will be doing. Program directors split up campers into three groups and one group at a time, the quietest group starting first, campers walk to the activity they want to join for the night. Electives is a great way for campers to try a new activity, make friends from different cabins, and get to know other counselors! Some of the activities included baking cookies, going on a creek walk, having a Disney sing along, playing capture the flag, and so much more!

At the end of the night, all of camp came together in the Rec Hall to have a recap of the night and sing a couple songs. Meg introduced one of my favorite songs, “The Farthest Field”. It was so lovely hearing all of camp singing together. After that, Katie, Georgia, and Elise helped Meg sing “If I Had A Hammer”. What a great way to end the night!

Today, we woke up to lots of schvitz (camp’s word for rain) for our first lazy day!!! Lazy days happen every few days at camp and are different from our normal class days. Usually, one half of camp will stay on camp for a themed day with various activities while the other half of camp goes on a trip. Today, however, was different because of the heavy schvitz. Luckily, we knew it was coming so we were able to plan a super fun day while also keeping everyone dry on camp.

For today’s lazy day, we bused everyone to Bangor to see The Incredibles 2!!! I’m trying to channel my inner Elastigirl right now but all my jokes are kind of a stretch. Haha, anyways, let me tell you more about the day ahead. Campers are now in their cabins having a huge clean for the cabin inspectors and also taking some time to rest.

Later this afternoon, campers will head to the Rec Hall to play some Disney Pixar themed Minute to Win It games. Each cabin will have representatives to compete in one minute challenges. I can’t wait to see campers show off their fishing skills for Finding Nemo, dress up as Sully from Monsters Inc., help Wall-E out by stacking cups, and complete lots of other challenges. Once the game show is over, we will have a yummy, warm dinner and then head back to the Rec Hall for another movie! Let me explain a little more about today’s schedule and why we had to be flexible, as Elastigirl would say.

All of this came about when the planned trip to Lake St. George was cancelled due to all the schvitz we are having today. The lake trip was switched with the movie trip planned for later in the session. And when tonight’s scheduled performers for evening program delayed their arrival until Monday, that night’s movie was inserted into the schedule, making this the perfect schvitzy day at HVC. The Program Directors tell me that these movies are the only ones scheduled for the entire session with all future trip/lazy days and evenings chock full of more elaborate events!

Well, I gotta go look for my super suit now. Hope you all have an incredible day and enjoy photos from Electives last night and the movie!

Catch ya later!

Mama Iguana

Greetings, camp compadres! It’s Cara B. with an update on this beautiful sunshine-y day.

Yesterday during evening meeting, campers from Aya’s interest group told the camp of their latest candy drop conspiracies. The candy drop is definitely on Saturday, they said. This was because of a number of clues involving the number four (yesterday, Saturday was four days away), and because there was an AWAC photo on the signpost sign for “Saturn” covering only the “urn” portion, hinting that “Sat” is the day of the candy drop. The team predicted that the picture of the AWACs on the AWAC shack window that had been ripped into four pieces would join together each day, forming a whole, completed picture on candy drop day. Only time will tell…

After a delicious dinner of burgers and fries with all the fix-ins, we gathered on Deer Meadow’s field for Meg’s Rodeo! Campers traveled in cabin groups around the field through tons of awesome activities. There was an obstacle course, a water balloon toss, dizzy bat, booty box, blind llama sculpting (3D pictionary using clay!), rock tree bridge, charade brigade, and a new activity called thief and sheriff involving blindfolds and a tambourine! It was so much fun. Once cabin groups had rotated through each activity, we gathered on the hill to watch the counselor wake up challenge! Each cabin nominated a counselor or AWAC to participate. The challengers had to hop in their “sleeping bags,” put on their clothes for the day, eat their breakfast of cereal without using their hands, recite the alphabet backwards, and then get back in bed. In the end, AWACs Katie and Talia emerged victorious!

This morning, the conspiracy predictions are proving correct so far! The AWAC photo on the window of the AWAC shack is now in three pieces instead of two. Is it true?? Is the candy drop really three days away!?!? All of the questioning was put on hold when we entered the dining hall to find an amazing egg bar breakfast featuring hash browns and an avocado bruschetta- yum! At the end of morning meet, Forbidden Planet summoned the spirit of protesters to protest the way-too-long egg bar line saying “hey hey, ho ho, egg bar line has got to go!” It sure made us chuckle! Afterwards, we headed off for the third day of classes! Camp is really in full swing. Campers are hard at work on different art projects, the soccer and basketball teams are preparing for their big games at the end of the session, and campers in the play and the musical just received their roles. Everyone is mastering their way around camp and getting to know one another better

Tonight, the evening program is electives! Campers will get to choose whatever activity they wish to do for the night from the options being offered by different counselors- awesome! Additionally, tomorrow is our first lazy day of the session! Stay tuned for an update from Mama Iguana to hear all about it. For now, enjoy photos from classes and Meg’s Rodeo.

Buh-bye!

Cara B. Ner