Week Six Recap!

The last three days of day camp were full of laughs, smiles, and a whole lot of fun!

We'll start with the Talent Show on Wednesday! For this special event, each of our three groups got together and made a special talent show dance and showcased it for the rest of camp! The dances were amazing, and everybody had a moment in the spotlight. The staff even improvised a hilarious dance! The show was amazing.

On Thursday, we had Pajama Day! Campers and volunteers alike came dressed in stylish PJs, and we were all ready to have a great day. We heard a spooky story told by Ben and Clayton, played a giant version of Don't Wake Daddy, and had a Pajama Jam Dance Party! Woohoo!

On Friday, our special event was an Arrowhead classic - WET AND WILD DAY! Activities included a dunk tank, the dry and mild monster, the wet and wild monster, squirt and swim, and a waterfall! It was an awesome day of getting soaked!

But let's not forget about groups. ADL, Arts and Crafts, and Active Games all had some awesome activities the last few days - parachute games, public speaking, cake baking, marble painting, and much more! It was great to see some of the best group activities come up at the end of the summer.

Add to that list a whole lot of super swimming, and it's clear that we had an awesome end of day camp. Thanks for a great summer everybody - we'll see y'all at Family Night on Tuesday!

Discovery Day!

To celebrate our love of all things that happen on the Discovery Channel, we had our very own Discovery Day yesterday! In groups, we had a lot going on - in Arts and Crafts we made sand art, in ADL we learned traffic safety (and put it into practice!), and in Active Games, everybody had his or her own choice of what sport to play (hockey, basketball, etc...). Then we started our special event!

For Discovery Day, campers participated in groups including Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, and Deadliest Catch. After these groups, we had our own Survivorman competition! While we had some stunning contestants (a wizard, Taylor Swift, and Elton John), in the end, the Shirtless Wonder came away with the prize. We threw the others in the lake!

We also had some very special guests with us - the primary sponsors of Camp Arrowhead! We invited them to have lunch at camp to see what it is all about, and we are so grateful that they came! Arrowhead would like to thank them for making camp possible.

After all of the festivities, we went swimming! Here we go Wednesday!

Medieval Day!

Monday was Medieval Day, and it sure was a lot of fun. It was also the start of our last week of day camp - WEEK SIX!

To start off the day, we had camper introductions. We have so many new faces and they've been doing really well at camp. We then sang a few songs and went to groups! Groups were awesome all around - in Arts and Crafts we made different types of fishes to celebrate Shark Week! Then we had Medieval Day! Everybody had a lot of fun besieging he castle, saving the princess, learning medieval manners, and making a coat of arms! We ended the day with some songs at Closing Circle after a nice swim.

Halloween Day!

Friday was a super spooky day at Arrowhead - we're pretty sure the place is haunted, as it was Halloween Day! BOO! Everyone was dressed in magnificent costumes (the staff dressed up as the 12 months of the year!), and we were ready to go.

We started it off with three special event groups - a donut eating contest, scary stories, and Arrowhead's own HAUNTED HOUSE. It was ghoulishly fun. Then, everyone went trick or treating! What a way to start the day! We then had groups. In ADL, everybody learned how to set the table, but had to watch out for Madame Fufu, who constantly corrected their technique. In Active Games, we set a few more Guinness Book of Arrowhead Records! In Arts and Awesome, we had paint fights!

After the tiring but incredible morning, we got to work on food - we ate lunch, had volunteer break, and ended the day with a swim.

The last week of 6 is approaching! Don't get your tissues out just yet, though - we've got a lot of fun in store!

Duck Tours!

On Thursday, we took our annual field trip on the Boston Duck Tours! We had a lot of fun learning about Boston's history, chanting Arrowhead's own Duck Tour chant, and quacking at pedestrians as we passed by them. A number of campers even got to drive the Duck Boat! It was a lot of fun! Quack! Quack!



STAR WARS DAY!!!!

Dear Reader,

Imagine a symphonic orchestra playing the most triumphant music imaginable. Imagine lights upon lights, filling the lodge with stars. Imagine Jedi, aliens, and the force. This is it. Today was STAR WARS DAY!!!

To celebrate our love for the classic films, we did some awesome chanting at the beginning of the day and launched right into special event groups. We learned light saber dueling techniques, used the force to make Jedi mind tricks, and heard from two real world Jedi in the most awesome Arrowhead Planetarium ever!! We ended the galactic festivities with a space jam dance party in the planetarium itself! It was a blast!

After Star Wars Day was over, we launched into groups. Groups were great, and tasty, too - in ADL we made stir fry! Yum! After groups, we had lunch, volunteer break, and a fantastic swim. It's our third field trip tomorrow! Get amped!

Will Smith Day!

Are you gettin' jiggy with it? 'Cuz we were today at Camp Arrowhead! It was Will Smith Day, and it was incredible.

We started it off with groups. In ADL, we had a nature scavenger hunt! In Arts and Awesome, we shot movies! In Active Games, we played kickball! It was so much fun! Then we started Will Smith Day! The special event groups included learnin’ awesome Will Smith dance moves, Men in Black alien defense training, Pursuit of Happiness awesomeness, and learning the art of suave from Dr. Suave. Then we had lunch, volunteer break, and a super swim!

TOMORROW IS STAR WARS DAY IT WILL BE THE BEST DAY AT CAMP EVER GET EXCITED!!!

Nintendo Day!

Get out your wii-motes everybody, because today was Nintendo Day! It was also the start to Week Five!

We started with camper introductions, having everybody shout their name proudly so we would all know it. Then we had groups! In Active Games, we competed in throwing events in the Olympics! In Arts and Awesome, we prepared and wrote scripts for movies! In ADL, we played Family Feud! It was a great start to the day, and set us up perfectly energy-wise for our special event - Nintendo Day!

To celebrate our love for all thing Nintendo, we played Duck Hunter (with the lovable Sam "Flatbread" Thurston serving as our duck), Dance Dance Revolution, and learned how to defeat goblins like Link. Then, everybody participated in distracting the staff as they competed in a real life Mario Kart! It was a lot of fun, and we were ready to start lunch at the end of it. After lunch, we had volunteer break, and went for a swim. More awesomeness to come tomorrow!

Dave Polansky!

Friday we had a very special guest at camp - the one and only David Polansky! Dave is a fantastic musician in the Boston area who plays piano, trumpet, sings, and writes awesome songs! Everybody loved hearing all the Polansky classics, including "The Alligator Song" and "I Love Dessert." Check him out now!

We also had some stellar groups. It was hygiene day in ADL, so we had a lot of fun learning about shaving cream and toothpaste (and coating it on volunteers!). In Arts and Awesome, we painted! In Active Games, we solved a puzzle and played Volunteer Bowling! It was a blast.

The day ended with a nice swim. We can't wait for Week Five!

Thanksgiving Day!

Today we celebrated our favorite Camp Arrowhead holiday - Thanksgiving Day! We started it all out with groups. In Active Games, we played mini golf (there were even a couple of special holes - we even had a hole going up to the basketball hoop!). In ADL, we played sound bingo! In Arts and Crafts, we made action figures out of clay!

After groups were over, we got ready to start the holiday. Ben and Clayton started us off with a story of the first Thanksgiving, and then we had a variety of groups - fishing, a pie-eating contest, making "thankful for" mats, and going on a turkey hunt. Then we had a feast cooked by the staff, led by Sam and Tim!

After Thanksgiving was over, we went swimming! Before we went in, Sam and Clayton entertained us all by putting fish in their bathing suits! Ha! It was hilarious, and the swim was awesome. Week Four ends tomorrow - this summer is going by too fast!

Dance Partay!

As we brace ourselves for the festivities tomorrow (it's Thanksgiving Day!), Arrowhead went in to full gear being awesome today. We started out with groups - in Active Games, we ran relay races! In Arts and Awesome, we made songs and dressed in sweet costumes! In ADL, we made delicious cookies! The fun didn't end there, of course - we then had an Arrowhead Dance Party! The dance party was amplified by the crazy antics of Ben and Clayton, who sprayed everyone with water from the roof of the Arrowhead lodge. The day ended with an extended swimming session. Bring your appetites tomorrow! It's Arrowhead's very own Thanksgiving!

Manly Mohawks!

Today was another fantastic day at camp, and a lot of the fun came from our new hairdos - campers and volunteers alike joined the mo-hawk bandwagon, and now we have a small army of totally awesome hawk-wearers.

Aside from the hair festivities, we also had some super fun groups! In ADL, we made a large dream catcher using yarn. In Active Games, we played baseball! In Arts and Awesome, we colored in our own specialized drawing books. Groups were special today because they were longer than usual, which gave us more time to have fun with them! After groups, we had lunch, volunteer break, and an extended swim. Looking forward to giving out some more righteous haircuts tomorrow!

Circus Day!

Ladies and gentlemen in the center ring we present... the Camp Arrowhead Circus Day! It was an awesome day, and it all started with some camper introductions, because Week Four has just begun! Then we had some awesome groups - including finger painting in Arts and Crafts, various forms of target practice in Active Games, and performing skits in ADL!

Then we began Circus Day events. Campers learned to ride elephants, tame lions, and defeat evil clowns. Then the staff presented our very own circus! The circus included Siamese clowns, a strong man, an acrobat, a unicyclist, a juggler, and an awesome ring master. It was so much fun! Then we ate lunch, and had volunteer break (a few volunteers and staff members alike received mo-hawks during the break!). Then we went swimming! What a great start to the week!

Team Hoyt!

On Friday, we had a very special guest visit Camp Arrowhead - Team Hoyt! Team Hoyt is the incredible father-son duo of Dick and Rick Hoyt, who compete in marathons and triathlons all around the world. There story resonates very well with the Arrowhead community because Rick has cerebral palsy, yet despite this disability, keeps the motto, "Yes you can!" It was awesome to see such inspiring guests!

The rest of the camp day was great as well, including groups and swimming. We can't wait for Week Four - it starts tomorrow!

Da Zoo!!!

Today was Arrowhead's second field trip - to the zoo! Upon arriving at camp, we drove out to Mendon to visit Southwick's Zoo. Now, some of you may be thinking, "Wait a second, isn't that Southwick's Wild Animal Farm?" You'd be right - they are one in the same. But whether you call it a zoo or an animal farm, the trip was super awesome.

There were so many awesome animals to see at the zoo - lemurs, lions, tigers, deer (a deer forest! some of us even touched the deer!), a goat petting zoo, porcupines, giraffes, elephants, rhinos - it was incredible. We are happy to say that although some of the staff wanted to jump in and fight the spotted leopard, everybody had a fun and pleasant trip to the zoo. The end of Week Three comes tomorrow! This summer is flying by, so we better cherish every moment!

PROM DAY!!!!

Despite the rain, we had one of our best days of the summer today with Arrowhead's own annual Prom! Everyone looked simply stunning in their snazziest suits and dresses. To kick off the day, we held Opening Circle (and had an awesome Prom-themed Pledge of Allegiance), and went straight into special event. We made flowers, took pictures, put on makeup, and learned Prom dating advice! Then, all the campers were announced as they entered the actual Prom! Crazy dancing ensued, and people were having a blast. The fun with Prom didn't end there, though, because we also had limo rides in a real stretch limo! Apollo Limousine stopped by Arrowhead and took all the campers out for a spin. What a fun dance!

After it was over, we had big groups! Everyone participated in ADL, Arts and Awesome, and Active Games together. In ADL, we decorated the large paper doll, Mr. Cam P. Arrowhead. In Active Games, we played Active Bingo! In Arts and Awesome, everybody made snowflakes out of coffee filters.

To end the day, Clayton and Tim told a ridiculous story about their escapades in Egypt, which segued beautifully into an Arrowhead Magic Show! All the staff showed off their magical talents, and the campers enjoyed the show immensely. The day officially ended when we held Closing Circle, our most epic circle in a long time. What a fun and exhausting day! We're going to the Zoo tomorrow!

Visitors: A Belated Recognition

We've had so many awesome guests come to camp in the past couple of weeks! Arrowhead is more than just a camp - it's a family that continues to grow every year, and sometimes those who have left Arrowhead come back to visit! It always gets the campers, volunteers, and staff very happy and excited. Recent former staff members that have stopped by Arrowhead include Amy Buschenfeldt and Matt Raffol - both currently enrolled in graduate school (yes - it's a big deal!), and Erin Miller. We love you guys!

But let's not forget a certain former director of Camp Arrowhead - Matt Frechette! Matt visited us on July 2nd - we were so lucky because he has joined the army and had leave for the Fourth of July! When Matt visited camp, everyone literally erupted with joy (though the eruption was not as big as our recent Earth Day volcano). We love you, Private First Class Frechette!

Earth Day!

Today, to celebrate Arrowhead's love of all things natural and organic, we held Earth Day! But, as per usual, before we could get to the festivities, we had some awesome groups! In ADL, we played The Price is Right using coin dice and home-made stamps - it was super fun pressing our luck in this game! In Active Games, we played street hockey, and in Arts and Crafts, we wrote letters to each other! What an awesome start to the day!

Then, we started Earth Day! For Earth Day, we made edible bird's nests out of shredded wheat, had a recycling relay, and planted seeds in the garden. Then, we had an Arrowhead first with a giant volcano eruption on the beach! It was so exciting! After Earth Day, we ate lunch, had volunteer break, and then had a relaxing dip in the lake. Week Three has been great so far, let's keep it up with a fun Prom Day tomorrow - we can't wait to see how everyone will dress up!

Superhero Day!

Today was Superhero Day! Thankfully, many of our campers are experts on this very subject. Before the adventures began with all the superheros, though, we had groups!

Groups were a super fun time. In ADL, everybody made personal puzzles! In Arts and Crafts, we painted! In Active Games, we had a special triathlon! It was a great time, but it didn't end there, for aftrer groups we celebrated how awesome superheros are! In honor of Superhero Day, we made our own distress signals, made superhero costumes, and saved damsels from a burning building. After that, everybody headed to the beach to watch a duel between incredible superheros and the evil characters from Candyland! Good conquered all, though, and everybody was safe and happy when we went to lunch! After lunch we had volunteer break and a quick swim. We ended the day with a special cross-dressing dating game, in which Ryan, James, and Ryan from the Rec. Dept. stopped by to participate... and won! It was a great end to our first day of Week Three.

Willy Wonka Day!

Friday was a Camp Arrowhead first - Willy Wonka Day!! With everybody dressed in crazy outfits in honor of Wonka, we got started with special event right away. For Wonka day, we made our own crazy candy creations, sang our own Oompa Loompa songs, and had a Wonka-themed obstacle course. After these groups, we watched a Willy Wonka skit featuring the staff of Arrowhead! It was so much fun!!

After Wonka Day events were over, we went to groups! ADL, Active Games, and Art and Crafts were all so much fun - thanks to Sam and Ethan for cooling us down with water guns! After groups, we had lunch and volunteer break, then went inside for a game of Wheel of Torture! With staff members Ben and Ethan as our torture victims, we answered questions to give them punishments. The day ended with a nice swim. What a great end to Week Two!!!

Game Show Day!!!

Yesterday we held one of our favorite special events, Game Show Day!!! We started the day with some of our favorite game shows, including Supermarket Sweep, Double Dare, and Figure it Out! All of the campers were winning at every game show! Unfortunately, we could not give away any cars, but we could do another awesome game - HOLLYWOOD SQUARES! With the staff as the celebrities and Ethan hosting, we had a great time in which campers agreed or disagreed with staff answers. We then went swimming, which was a blast as usual. To end the day, we decided to relax and watch a movie - The Little Mermaid! Week Two is going by so quickly!!

Supa Hot, the Sequel!

Wednesday was another scorcher, but we still made it a great day! We started the day with an Arrowhead ice spitting contest in which Tim Flynn prevailed! Then, we made our way to groups, including ADL, Active Games, and Arts and Awesome. We even recorded radio interviews with all of the campers on Ben's tape recorder! Since it was so hot, we decided to jump in the water twice with a double swim. During volunteer break, we watched Lilo and Stitch! What a fun day!

Supa Hot!

As many of you know, today was the hottest day of the summer so far, so Arrowhead made up for it by bring extra awesome. To start off the day we had some great groups - in ADL we learned about the food pyramid, in Arts and Awesome we made gifts for each other, and in Active Games we played Drip, Drip, Drop! Since it was so hot, we had a double swimming day, so we spent the rest of the time in the water! What a great way to cool down and get started with week two!

Decade Day!

Today Arrowhead celebrated its first dress up day of the summer - Decade Day! With everybody dressed up in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s gear (and even one volunteer from 30,000 BC), we had an awesome special event. We were even greeted by a staff member from the future, who told us we needed to complete some special activities to save the universe! So we set out to do just that. We searched for a time machine, had a boy band competition, and made temporary tattoos and peace necklaces! Next we had groups (ADL, Arts and Crafts, and Active Games), which were great as well. In Active Games, we even set a few Guinness Book of Arrowhead Records! To end the day, we had an extended swim, played basketball, and made sand sculptures on the beach. It was an awesome way to end the week!

Here comes Week Two!

Science Museum Field Trip!

Today was the first field trip of the year! We drove into Boston to visit the awesome science museum in Boston! After driving in, we ate lunch, and walked around to see stuffed animals, dinosaurs, lasers, mechanical oddities, x-ray exhibits, and DINOSAURS. Most of the exhibits defy description, but to find out more about the Museum of Science, click here.

Our last day of Week One comes tomorrow! It's our first dress-up day, Decade Day!!!

Zombies in Outer Space Day!

Our third day of camp was also awesome! The weather was great, and we started it all off with groups. In ADL, everybody made awesome clocks. In Arts and Crafts, we made music, and in Active Games, we played soccer (as a tribute to the World Cup!). But the fun didn't end with groups, because we had one of Arrowhead's favorite special events, Zombies in Outer Space day!

To celebrate our special event, campers learned Zombie identification skills, dressed volunteers as zombies, fought zombies and made protective forts, and escaped from zombies via personal spacecraft. It was a lot of fun, and we are happy to say that we rid all of the zombies from Arrowhead!

To end the day, we had lunch, volunteer break, and a great swim. It was so much fun! We have our first field trip tomorrow! The Science Museum!

Disney Day!

We had an incredible Day Two with our first Special Event of the year! It was the ever-so spectacular Disney Day!

Before Disney Day began, though, we had groups. In ADL we made pretzels, which everybody got to eat at lunch! In Active Games, we played with a parachute, and got a little wet with a water shooter at the same time (this one was a big hit). In Arts and Crafts, formally renamed Arts and Awesome by Ben Crowell, we made a group coloring book. Then came Disney Day!

To celebrate Disney Day, we had a variety of Disney-themed groups. In one group, everybody came to the dock to sink Captain Hook's pirate ship. In another, campers navigated through a Toy Story obstacle course to fix a broken toy! In yet another group, everyone thought of the different ways human objects could be used, a la Scuttle the seagull in The Little Mermaid. The fun didn't end there, though, because then we played an awesome round of a Disney-themed Dating Game. Everyone was laughing a lot at the end of it all. To end the day, we ate lunch, had volunteer break, and went for a swim.

Here we go Day Three!

DAY ONE.

Today began our intense foray into the summer, and let me tell you, folks, Camp Arrowhead started strong. At 9:00 AM all the campers rolled in and we got to work being awesome.

We started with opening circle, where we had all the campers introduce themselves and sang a few songs. Next came groups! In Active Games, we played both regular bowling and HUMAN BOWLING (where the volunteers serve as the pins!). In ADL, everybody made bird feeders (let's hope that a lot of birds show up in all the campers' front yards!). And since our lodge is pretty empty, since we've onl;y just begun the summer, in Arts and Crafts we made art installation pieces! It was definitely a great start to the day.

After groups, we had a quick lunch and volunteer break and then an extended swim! That's right, almost two hours in the water, which was awesome because it was so darn hot outside! We swam, splashed, and made sand castles on the beach. To end the day, we sang some songs in closing circle. We can't wait for Day Two!!!

Volunteer Training!

Every year brings a new crop of awesome volunteers, and 2010 is no exception. To get prepared for our campers, we had two days of super great training sessions. To start things off, we played ice breaker games to get everyone comfortable with each other, including the hilarious orange relay. After that, we got down to business and gave the volunteers lots of information about Arrowhead and disability awareness. It might have been a lot to process, but we have so much faith in our volunteers! The staff presented some skits on typical camp situations, which left many volunteers cryin' with laughter, and we ended the first day of v-teer training with a debriefing session in small groups.

The second day was a lot of fun as well! We had mini camp, which gave volunteers hands-on experience with mock camp situations. After mini camp, we had a brief swim test, burgers for lunch, and some free time to hang out (and play an epic game of basketball in which staff member Tim Flynn drove to the hole multiple times without mercy). The day ended with a free swim, and then a presentation of some special stories from volunteers and staff members alike.

Overall, the days were pretty intense, but also pretty great. We are so excited by how well all of our volunteers have already done, and even more excited by how well they are going to do this summer! WEEK ONE STARTS TOMORROW! GET PUMPED!!!

Let's Go!

Welcome back to the Camp Arrowhead Blog, everybody! We are so incredibly excited for the Summer of 2010 and all of the amazing camp activities we have planned!

First thing's first - if you're unfamiliar with the blog, you can check out last year's blog here. We will use the blog to inform you, our loyal readers, about all of the awesome days at camp, and perhaps include a few pictures as well!

With that being said, staff training concluded today and we are ready to start the year. Volunteers come in tomorrow for two epic days of volunteer training, and our first wave of campers comes on Monday! Stay tuned for an awesome summer, and read last year's blog to remind yourself about how awesome Camp Arrowhead truly is!