HELLO HUMMINGBIRD HERE IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE IT’S A BIG. DAY. HERE. IN. THE. VALLEY!!

First things first, let’s address our cover photo… This morning campers awoke to find THIS PICTURE posted all around camp. AND there were CANDY WRAPPERS all over the place too! AND there was a big enormous 5 written in tape on the window of the dining hall. WHAT COULD IT MEAN?? My friends, I do declare the time has come. We can all start theorizing about candy drop conspiracies. As for me, I think the 5 on the door refers to the time of day that the candy drop will happen… but bear with me, folks… “five” has 4 letters, today (Sunday) is the start of a new week, “week” also has 4 letters, so I think the candy drop will be in 4 days. Stay tuned!

Okay now back to business… Last night was CABIN NIGHT!! Here’s what we were up to around camp:
Atlantis did a build and burn project at the End of the World!
Camelot made glass beads and friendship bracelets!
LCH made a cabin sign in the woodshop!
Avalon had a blind tasting of french fries in different condiments! Then they made potato people!
Loons made pizza in the pizza oven!
Gimme Shelter had a scavenger hunt for s’mores!
Treasure Island worked in the glass studio with Philippe!
Forbidden Planet went to an escape room!
Wabanaki had a barbecue!
Down Under went on Tipi Zipline!
Paquatahnee had a karaoke night in the Rec Hall!
French Quarter hung out with Community in their home!
Wombles made essential oil products with Amanda!
Fiddlers Green made T-Shirts and cookies!
Shangri-La made a paint banner and had a waterballoon fight!
Taj Mahal had a 50’s outdoor movie night on the PD barn porch!
Valhalla made screen printed T-Shirts with Elise!
Haley’s Comet baked cookies and played with Nellie in Peter and Meg’s house!

It was a beautiful night! Check out the pictures!

ALSO This morning we were all so hyped up about the cady that we hardly noticed the smell of sugar wafting from the dining hall… it could mean nothing other than JUNK FOOD DAY!! We dined on donuts and t’was a delight! For lunch today we’ll enjoy hot dogs, and for dinner we’ll eat ravioli! (And ice cream sundaes!) Pictures to come!

This evening after our yummy JFD dinner we’ll enjoy the staff talent show, and head to bed before our TRIP/LAZY DAY!! Stay tuned for all that fun stuff tomorrow! And in the meantime, enjoy these pictures of Cabin Night, Junk Food Day, and CANDY DROP STUFF!!!! And keep a lookout for more clues about the candy drop…

Eyes to the skies,
Hummingbird

GOOOOOD MORNING HVC!! It’s Mag-O-Llama and Hummingbird here to update you on all of the fun we’ve been having!

After our scrumptious fish dinner last night we had the MAGIC DANCE!!! WE DANCED OUR HEARTS OUT!!! Aside from all of the amazing dancing, we played Magic the Gathering in the backfield, made our own magical wands and cast some wickedly awesome spells, played crystal ball basketball, (this was loads of fun) had a broomstick obstacle course that really sparked some fun and you guessed it… WE DID SOME FACE PAINTING!!!! After all of the fun we had, we ended the night in the red barn with a sing-along rendition of don’t stop believing and we rocked out on our imaginary guitars and drums!!!  I really think that a good time was had by all!!!! 🙂

Speaking of a good time being had by all… let’s take a minute to talk about some of our community outreach programs!! First up, let’s talk about our teen program, Community! These teenage campers don’t take regular classes like our main camp campers. Instead, they go out into the community every day to work on a different service project and learn about Maine! So far they’ve done lots of gardening and cooking, cleaning up and pitching in! Stay tuned for more of Community’s adventures to come!

Our second program is our Outreach Outdoors class- check out pictures of them at the animal shelter yesterday! This class is like Community Lite for our younger campers. Every day they head off camp for just an hour or so to do a mini project! They’ve gone to a recycling plant to learn about what happens to recyclable products beyond the bin; the Belfast Historical Society and Museum, where they learned about Belfast’s maritime history (ps did you know that the baseball terms “at bat” “on deck” and “in the hold” originated in Belfast???); and the Humane Society, where they read to adoptable dogs to help socialize them and increase their chances of adoption! Today they’ll be participating in the townwide Montville Trash Pickup Day! They’ll pitch in to clean trash from a road in town to help keep the Valley beautiful and planet-friendly! Thanks for all your hard work, Outreach! We’ve got some future community leaders in our midst!

We’re off to get a head start on some of the trash pickup… there’s a whole lot of work to be done!

Swooshin’ trash into the bin,
Mag-O-Llama and Hummingbird

 

 

 

 

Happy FRIDAY, HVC! Hummingbird and Mag-O-Llama here with your campy weekendy update! Last night we enjoyed a beautiful performance by none other than KIM AND REGGIE!!

Who are Kim and Reggie, you ask??? Why, they are just the most fantabulous performers on the entire planet! They come every session to brighten our evening with folk songs about love, community, equality, and care for our planet! They sang old favorites like “It Really Isn’t Garbage ‘Til You Mix It All Together” and “Solar Power” and “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” and “One Blue Sky” and MORE! Kim and Reggie are the best not only because of their amazing songs with meaningful messages, but ALSO because each song has a dance or movement to go along with it! And many of the movements are sign language words! So with Kim and Reggie we’re having fun AND we’re learning!! And as if their performance last night wasn’t enough, they graced us with more beautiful music this morning at meeting after breakfast! (Breakfast was egg bar, by the way… YUM!) Check out pictures below!! And also check out pictures from the beach trip yesterday!

Today we are enjoying our fourth day of classes! It’s a sunny beautiful day in the Valley and many campers will get to take a dip in the lake! Sometimes here at camp when the days are hot hot hot, our more active classes (like mountain biking, basketball fun, and soccer) take the opportunity to head to the lake and cool off before continuing on with their day! So thanks to our wonderful lifeguards and sports teachers, we’ll all be a few degrees cooler than usual on this sunny day! 🙂 And of course we’re all carrying around our water bottles! Sip sip!

In fact, we’re off to dip our hooves and talons in the water ourselves!

Splish splash!
Hummingbird and Mag-O-Llama

Hey, HVC family! Hummingbird here with your FIRST TRIP/LAZY DAY UPDATE!! Our younger half woke up today to a beautiful eggy breakfast and packed everything up to go to Lake Saint George!! They swam in the lake, they played on the playground, they read, they friendship-bracelet-made, and had the best time! We’ll have pictures of their trip to come tomorrow! Meanwhile, on camp….

The older half woke up quite a bit later than usual and enjoyed a leisurely eggy breakfast before heading to ARCADE DAY!! We had a blindfolded claw machine, a Pac-Man maze, fortune telling, Dance Dance Revolution, Mario Kart Racing, ring tosses, and Farmville Animal Adventures!! It was so much fun- check out the pictures!! Also meanwhile….

The Hidden Valley Adventures (Lite) program went on a hike today up Bald Mountain in Camden! Check out the pictures of their expedition!

Tonight we will enjoy a stellar performance by the legendary Kim and Reggie… I REALLY hope they play Trampin’ and Solar Power!! Check back in tomorrow to see which lucky cabins get to come up on stage and sing a song with them….

I’m off to get the sand from the beach out of my feathers… a bird just can’t fly with sandy wings!

Trampin’,
Hummingbird