Cannon Report – Residential Week 3 – 2020
VroomVroomBoomBoomBoom!!!
Another amazing, smooth, and healthy week for Camp Leelanau for Boys!
Weldon’s message at Council Fire was well taken. He reminded us that while there are new rules about masks and spacing ourselves out on the Beach and in the Changing Cabin…there are certain things that don’t change, that haven’t changed in 100 summers of Camp Leelanau. Those things are the spirit of trying new things, challenging ourselves, thinking outside of ourselves, and loving our brothers. He laid down the gauntlet. He asked each of us to give more this week. He pointed out that just being at Camp isn’t good enough, we need to be learning, growing, and giving at Camp to make it worth our while. And boy, oh boy, we got after it this week!
On Monday after activities the first thing we did was send out the Junior Flag Trip! That’s right, the entire Junior section donned their camos and headed into the woods to play some good ole Capture the Flag and camp out overnight. They loved it! The score was low, 3-2, which meant the defense was genuinely present this year. Little wonders every day. J
On Tuesday we settle back into our routine of activities with the entire Camp reunited and a full waterski class heading out to Glen Lake. For evening activity the Seniors played a clever new game called Hummel Defense that allows for cohort teams and social distancing but with a very even playing field so Algonquin isn’t by any stretch guaranteed the “W” automatically.
Wednesday brought a sunny and bright Cabin Day, so all of the ideas we had to belay last week because of the rain came out in full force. We had Forts built, the Zipline run, Music Videos made, Kneeboarding and Skiing happen, Thicket played, Thank You gifts baked and delivered, it was a hopping good time for all cabins.
We also enjoyed one more raucous “just the fellas” hymn sing up on our special church hill after the Wednesday evening service.
On Thursday the sense of urgency to accomplish things before the two and three week campers departed began to ramp up. With only two more evenings with those guys we prioritized a big game of Junior Soccer. For the Seniors we did a little thing called the Flag Trip Combine for evening activity and effectively got the Senior Flag Trip teams sorted out.
The other big event of Thursday is that we got the Sailboats out on the water! That is correct, with Lake Michigan right there taunting us, and not enough beach to safely store our sailboats, Sailing as a regular activity has had to take a knee this summer. However, on Thursday the Winds were favoring us, and we took out three lasers and got a number of campers out on them to introduce them to the activity. What a joy to see Sailboats out in the water in front of Camp once again.
One might be tempted to think that Friday would be a wind it down, prepare for some kids to depart kind of day. Not at Camp Leelanau! We began our day with the All Camp 5K Race and Fun Run! A-Aron Nutwell won the whole thing this year, so all those 20 mile runs this summer are paying off. Everyone that ran and cheered did so with great vigor and we appreciate that we can hold such a fun and wholesome event here on site.
For our final evening together we did Cabin Lip Syncs with some delightful, energetic, creative, hilarious, and well choreographed entries from each Cabin. And we closed our evening by sharing some funny awards and appreciation for all of the kids departing on Saturday morning.
It is hard to believe that there are only two weeks left of summer Camp. We have long full days, but very short weeks!
From the desk of HQ
