Word From Wildwood

Beeeautiful Days at Camp!

Wow, what a nice day it was at Wildwood today, and we're looking forward to the rest of this week being the same!

After the weekend campouts, everyone got safely back to camp. Although it was a bit wet, and Abbey and Dillard were not allowed to climb Mt. Monadnock due to thunderstorms at the park, everyone had a great time. Now we have a nice slide through the rest of the week to experience everything we can before the session is over.

With a new set of I.G.'s underway, campers are able to take part in a new activities this week. We started out today mixing up the schedule a bit, and had our afternoon D.G.'s right after breakfast, and had our morning I.G.'s after lunch! I think a few of the campers noticed...  ;-)

Our chef Tony has been having some fun working with some of our groups. Last night he spent time with Carson and Leopold to teach them a little about one of his passions - kick boxing! Today, he worked with a cooking D.G. to help teach campers how to make a stir-fry. I can tell you first-hand it was very very good!

There was also sailing, ponding, fishing, gardening, ropes, games, and a whole lot more today. Then, of course, OATS.

Tonight, each camper brought three unique items to dinner (along with another letter to mail to you) for our evening program, Dutch Auction. I saw everything from ear swabs to bunk mattresses coming to the dining hall. From where I'm writing this, it sounds like they are having a blast with this favorite activity!

I can't wait for another nice weather day tomorrow, and then on Thursday, we have a special day planned. Stay tuned for more on that!

Have a great evening.

Posted by Bob Speare

Girls Day Out - Boys Night In!

Session 2 is rolling along! Its been pretty warm here at Wildwood for the past couple days, which means that Hubbard Pond has been getting a lot of visitation. Each afternoon swimming as certainly been the favored activity.

Today we finished our first week's IGs. All of the girls units and the Abbey unit hurried to get packed for their overnight camping trips, and they all got underway just after lunch. The oldest girls and boys are at Mt Monadnock, while Fossey is at Greenfield State Park, and Carson hiked out to First Point to spend the night all by themselves!

With only two units left here, you'd think it would be pretty quiet, except that the two that remain are Leopold and Thoreau! Actually, they had a wonderful evening roasting some marshmallows after dinner, and then watching a movie in the dining hall after that. They are a great group indeed!

The Broad Meadow Brook Day Camp spent the morning doing a service project for us before heading out just after lunch. A great big thanks goes out to them for painting a couple of our small buildings- whoo-hoo!

The trekkers returned this afternoon from their adventures on the Cape and Nantucket. It seems they had a great time biking and learning about radio tracking turtles, beach ecology and more! They will spend one more night here before heading off tomorrow.

The LITs had another busy day. They worked with Lucy Gertz, Visitor Education Coordinator for Mass Audubon this morning and developed a "Quest" for Wildwood. This is a self-guided activity designed to take participants on a scavenger hunt-like experience while they learn more about the site. The quest they put together takes folks to various parts of the Wildwood property where they can learn about the diversity of trees here on the site. Then this afternoon, they worked with MAS Regional Scientist Robert Buchsbaum to establish three breeding bird survey plots. Now we can conduct the same breeding bird surveys that the other MAS sanctuaries conduct.

Tomorrow, they are slated to record a show for a local radio station, We'll keep you posted on how that goes.

We're still receiving lots of letters, cards and small packages. Thanks a ton, because we really really like to get these. Keep them coming!

Have a great weekend!

Posted by Bob Speare

Ahhh, It's Heffalump Hunt!

Yes, Tonight those pesky Heffalumps visited the camp, and luckily our campers found ways to tame them. This is one of the Wildwood favorites, and what a beautiful night it was to play it. It was a really fun ending to a great day.

It was pretty hot today, so we had crazy oats at the waterfront this afternoon, with all the fun and crazy games and activities. Nearly everyone was in the water enjoying canoe slip-and-slide, the iceberg, water games, and burying counsleors in the sand. It was way cool!

The LITs spent part of the day putting together bluebird boxes and installing them at one of the neighbor's yards, just up the hill. Now, a nice part of their field has eight bird houses ready for bluebirds. Tomorrow they will travel to the Boston Nature Center, where they will assist with the day camp program there.

Our trekkers made it onto Nantucket this afternoon, where they met with Ernie, a Mass Audubon ecologist to learn more about the ecology and ecological management of the island. Tomorrow they will bike over to the UMASS Field Station to learn about beach ecology.

Ten campers from the Broad Meadow Brook Day Camp program arrived tonight and will spend the next two nights with us here at Wildwood. This is a great opportunity for these folks from the Worcester area to experience Wildwood.

The forecast for tomorrow is for some more hot weather, so we'll keep close by the pond. Keep those letters coming as we love to get them!

Posted by Bob Speare

Session Three is Upon Us!

Wow, its the first day of session three, and we're off to a great start. As usual, the first day is full of getting to know the camp and the routines. Also, swim checks, choosing Interest Group activities for the first week and completing health checks. Of course, there's a lot of fun too!

At siesta, we had plenty of mail to be passed out, which is always welcome! I saw a lot of letters heading to the mail box too! During Oats today we played in the field, did some fishing, constructed some things in arts and crafts, and relaxed in the nature center.

Tony prepared another wonderful meal for dinner, and then we all took part in a great all-camp game of Predator.

It was a great first day.

The LITs took off just after breakfast for a first overnight experience at Queechie Gorge in Vermont, and the trekkers left for the Cape shortly after. I spoke with them late this afternoon, and they had a nice afternoon of biking. After ice cream, they were heading back to the campground to set-up for the night.

This is just the beginning of many wonderful experiences for all of these campers. Stay tuned for more updates soon!

Posted by Bob Speare

Session 2 Goes Out with a Bang!

What a day! When breakfast was over, the clouds parted, the sky turned blue and we welcomed the sun back to camp for the entire day!

We completed our week-long Interest Group Activities in the morning, and had a wonderful cookout for lunch. We had burgers and hot dogs, baked beans, salads, and of course, watermelon. It was pretty cool!

After lunch and siesta, we had our final Discovery Group activities, which included playing the guitar, making edible dirt, water games, canoeing, ropes, arts and crafts and more.

Then, after that, it was the perfect day for....wait for it......Crazy OATS! Everyone spent the rest of the afternoon at the waterfront doing all kinds of fun and kooky activities. Tons of water games like canoe slip and slide, iceberg time for sure, tie-dying, lots of cool designs using sidewalk chalk, and a whole lot more. It was so great seeing the whole camp in and around the waterfront having such a great time!

I even had a chance to give the LITs a windsurfing lesson. We all got wet, but we had a terrific time too! Here's Rebecca showing the guys how its done!

The trek group rolled in just in time to join us - some went to the iceberg, and others decided to drop a line in the water for fishing.

The final campfire is underway as I write, and then we'll be doing our final packing before tomorrow morning. It will be real tough to see all these great campers go, but I know they can't wait to see you all and tell you about their week!

Kayla took these pics from our most excellent day today! Click on any to see them full size.

See you in the morning!

Posted by Bob Speare

One More Day to Go!

Hi! We had another wonderful day today here at Wildwood. Deb, our bird bander was here this morning to demonstrate how we use mist nets and bird bands to study bird population dynamics. Although we weren't able to catch any birds this morning, the group learned a lot about this fascinating subject.

We saw a bit of drizzle here and there this morning, and a bit more rain this afternoon, but all the campers were busy with lots of fun activities.

The LITs returned from their 3 days on the Connecticut River, ready for a hot shower!

The ropes course was open this afternoon and
featured the giants ladder. Here one of our
young ladies shows that she's got what it takes
to get up there!

Here, counselors Alex, Matt, Tom, and Mark
prepare for this evening's activity -
a camp favorite - Dutch Auction.

Tomorrow we've got another great day planned! And we'll see you all on Saturday!

Have a great night!

Posted by Bob Speare

The Weather Doesn't Dampen The Fun at Wildwood!

No sir! We had all of our daily activities as planned today, despite what the weather man said. It was mostly cloudy, but with little rain after breakfast. We canoed, went swimming, got into the trees on the ropes course, did some great art projects, and even discovered how trees grow- from the inside! It was a very good day at camp.

We decided to stick inside tonight, and so we played one of our very favorite games - Wildwood Stock Market. This all-camp game gives campers the chance to buy stock in some of our wacky companies.

Here, Misha and Ben work hard to get campers to buy stock in their company - The Toenail Collection Service, which comes by to get rid of those pesky toenail clippings that are lying around everywhere.

Some campers from Moose Hill Day Camp are also here spending the night and getting a taste of the Wildwood experience.

Well, we hope YOU"RE having fun because we are, and you're running out of time!

Check back again soon.

Posted by Bob Speare

Session 2 Off to a Great Start

We have just had two of the most beautiful days here at Wildwood. Monday was a busy day of getting to know the place, getting our swim checks done, seeing some live animals at the Mass Audubon ARK program, and selecting our Interest Group Programs that we will take part in for the rest of the week - whew!

Today was our first "regular" day of camp - going through the daily schedule, and enjoying the different parts of the day. During siesta just after lunch, everyone was required to write a letter home as their ticket into dinner tonight. So, you should all be getting at least one letter, hopefully by the end of the week.

It was also Unit Night tonight, which meant that each unit had a special program that they did either by themselves or with another unit. There was a beach party for Fossey and Dillard, Leopold went fishing in the canoes, and the others focused on arts and crafts, and activities at their campsites. It was a lot of fun!

The LITs took off this morning for a multi-day canoe trip on the Connecticut River. I can't wait to hear from them to learn about what they experienced.

Meanwhile our trekkers are in the White Mountains, hiking a number of the local mountains. Tomorrow they will begin their rock climbing portion of the trip before they hike in for an overnight experience on Thursday.

Here are some pictures from the past couple days. Click on a photo to see a larger image. Don't forget to write!
Max and Emily teach their campers about
the various layers of soil at Wildwood

Today was a beautiful day to on the water.
Sailing and Canoeing are two of the favored
activities that occur on Hubbard Pond
here at Wildwood.

The DG Board with all of our afternoon
Discovery Group activities for today.

Campers choose which activity they wish to do.

Click on the picture to see it larger.

Leopold heading out on their fishing
excursion this evening.

I think we'll still make pancakes in the morning
just in case!

There's nothing like an evening swim
as the sun sets on Hubbard Pond!

Posted by Bob Speare

Session 1 Winding Down

We had another absolutely beautiful day here at Wildwood today. We completed our second week IGs and had an afternoon full of great Discovery Group activities and OATS. It was a busy day at the waterfront with campers having their last chance to experience canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and the iceberg.

This afternoon, campers and staff signed up to perform at the closing campfire, which took place this evening. There were skits, plays, jokes, and lots of songs. We were thinking about calling all the parents to tell them that we are going on the road to perform because the talent was so amazing! But, we knew you'd miss your campers, so we changed our minds.

This has been a wonderful session of great campers. There were lots of friends made between the campers and the staff. We will certainly miss them all, and hope that we will see them again real soon.

Parents, we'll see you in the morning for pick-up - don't forget ;-)

Posted by Bob Speare

Colors Day!

What a beautiful day at Wildwood today. It was a surprise day of all camp games and challenges. And our first ever Color Animal Wars was a big hit! Teams with members from every unit participated in a number of untraditional events throughout the day. There were the Red Foxes, the Great Blue Herons, The Yellow Spotted Salamanders, the Green Tree Frogs, The Orange Sulfur Butterflies, and the Black Rat Snakes. The day was about having fun and focusing on teamwork and cooperation, as well as respect. Everyone was a winner!

Among the exciting events were, a dance off, a water relay, an egg drop challenge, a water treasure hunt, and more. My favorite was the bird spotting competition, were teams worked to see how many different birds they could see or hear in a given time. It was a blast!

All teams gathered in the field for the final event - a six-way tug of war! I've never seen anything like it. The teams were spread out across a large circle of rope, and the object was to pull your rope and the team back far enough to reach your flag first.

The best part was hearing some of the teams wishing luck to the other teams before it started and then giving congratulations at the end.

After dinner we had our ever popular Dutch Auction at the amphitheater. Wow, I think the campers will sleep well tonight. The LIT's took part in the fun day, and were judges at the evening's event too.

The trekkers met with a geologist at Acadia National Park today to learn more about that unique area. They'll pack up and begin their journey back tomorrow.

One more wonderful day ahead, but we are certainly looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday!

Posted by Bob Speare