Campers woke Sunday morning with no idea of what fun the day would bring. After a regular Sunday morning schedule of breakfast, assembly in the Feedbag, and cleaning, the campers headed down for the final church of the six weeks, lead by the JCs. As per usual, Church was filled with laughs and tears as the JCs reflected on their past years and expressed excitement for their future ones at CMS. After a morning of reflection in the dappled sunlight of Mimi’s Retreat, the surprise excitements of the day began. About 30 minutes after church ended, all of Camp’s 5s, both the alums and newly initiated, headed out for their annual 5s trip (Ooooooh.) while the details of the trip are a big secret, have no doubt that the day with the 5s was an absolute blast.
The rest of camp had an equal amount of fun, with the remaining campers and counselors all participating in an afternoon of Olympics-watching and, most excitingly, slip n sliding. The consistent review from all campers is that slip n sliding in one of the unused horse pastures is one of the best Sunday afternoon experiences in all of camp history. The rest of Sunday was spent resting and relaxing, preparing for the much-anticipated week to come.
Monday the 29th was an equally exciting, though much less mysterious, day: The Horse Show! The barn was busy all day with riders, barn staff, campers, and parents alike all watching and working to make the event run smoothly. Though they experienced some rain throughout the day, the riders didn’t let it dampen their spirits and they all rode wonderfully. All of Camp headed up after rest hour to watch the advanced riders compete, as well as to watch the finals later in the day. It was an exciting afternoon for everyone!
Continuing on with our exciting week, Tuesday was Songfest. At 10:45, when campers usually begin heading to their first activity, they instead headed to their first team meeting location of the day. All morning, as counselors worked on secret things for Final Banquet behind the curtain in West Lodge, the Greens and the Buffs finished teaching, practiced, and perfected their songs. After lunch and rest hour, the teams continued working on their songs, all the way up until it was time to bathe and get ready for dinner. Songfest itself, unsurprisingly, was a culmination of beautiful singing and sisterly love. Both teams did absolutely amazing writing and performing their songs, and many of my fellow counselors and I were brought to tears. Congratulations to the Green Team for their victory!
It’s been such an exciting, and tiring, week here at Camp Mont Shenandoah, and the excitement is only growing. With activities like Wishing Boats and Final Banquet to come, the final week is always a fun one! We can’t wait to see how the rest of this highly anticipated week will unfold!
