Hidden Valley Camp - An International Summer Arts Camp

Yee Haw!
  Hello everyone! It's Montville Mary here with the latest news!

Yesterday was a blast! All of the campers and counsellors had a fun Junk Food Day. There was an unannounced competition at lunch for who could make the craziest hot dog combination. A camper from Avalon, Ritchie, won. He adorned his with chili, cheese, carrots, ketchup, jelly, oreo bits, and fluff. Oh, and he ate it with no hands. Don't worry though, it's not junk all the time here. Last night for dinner we had lovely yummy stir fry with some egg rolls, that were amazing, and rice. Just the other night we had pasta with a a choice of fresh pesto or fresh tomato sauce. It really is delicious to be here! This morning we had biscuits and gravy or your choice of eggs! Yum!

Before I start telling you about the dance last night, let me tell you a thing or two about the Evening Meeting last night. It was a whole lot of fun thanks to our Weather Guy who delivers dubious weather predictions. The other day he predicted that it would be awful and schvitzy (because it never rains here at HVC), but it turned out to be beautiful. So last night we gave him his own person schvitz with a bucket of water over his head. It was hilarious! After all of that excitement, the PDs hoodwinked us all by leading us to believe that they we stalling. Why would they be stalling? Well perhaps they were waiting for a plane to fly over filled with candy; alas, it was a trick. A mean one at that. The hints and misleading information are all piling up and that can only mean one thing- it's soon. Anyway, enough of this conjectural speculation; it will get us nowhere! Plus, I have news to tell you from last night!

The Wild Wild West Dance was boot shakin' fun! The music was great, and at the end there was a mini square dance that took place. Aside from the boogying that went down, there were plenty of activities going on around the Rec Hall that the campers could go and check out. There was a station that made 'Wanted' posters and sheriff badges. There was an epic basketball 'Shoot Out' game that took place on the basketball courts. It was intense, let me tell you! Ezra was in charge of the tractor and gave Hay Rides all around camp! They had a lot of fun on that, and most of the campers who wanted to got to have a ride. Caroline ran a station that painted Mutton Chops on anyone who wanted to look more like they owned the place. And finally, Rebecca was in charge of giving people braids. the perfect addition to any outfit.

Today has been fun too because it is part one of Jake Day. Formally known as Bob Day, today is where all of the cabins perform their cabin cheer in front of the camera (manned by Jake)! It's really fun, and at the end of the year we will all get a video with all of the cheers from the other cabins and clips from the summer.

Tonight will be fun too because it is The Newspaper Fashion Show! All of camp will meet outside the Rec Hall and will then disperse into their respective cabin groups. they will choose one counsellor, or AWAC, and will make them a splendid outfit out of newspaper. It can be anything from lobsters to Lady GaGa outfits. At the end the counsellors and AWACs go on stage and strut their stuff, showing off their cabin's creation. I will have pictures and news from that tomorrow!
Click here for photographs from the Wild Wild West Dance!


Yours truly, Montville Mary

It sure is sweet to be here!
  Hello everyone! it is Montville Mary here with the latest from HVC!

Last night we had a fantastic time outside in front of the gazebo listening to Kim and Reggie. They are a musical duo who sing lots of fun songs. It was great because they really got the audience involved, which is always fun! There were dance moves to remember and little call backs where we could all join in on. They even called people up to join them for certain songs, which was a whole lot of fun. At one point they called up the entire cabin of Loons and they did a song together. It was really wonderful. They were very fun to watch and listen to and very chatty! It was a great show and a really great evening!

So I was somewhat accurate when I said that our sweet teeth were panging; however, they were not panging for the Candy Drop as much as they were for JUNK FOOD DAY!! We walked in those big double doors in front of the Dinning Hall and what do we see? An assortment of sugary donuts filled with creme, chocolate, jelly!  A mountain of pop tarts that were ready to be munched! Choices upon choice of cereal that is so magically delicious, it changes the color and taste of milk. (I don't know how it works, you'll have to ask someone else.)

It is going to be a fun and hyper day here. At lunch we will have hot dogs along with the infamous competition of who can make the craziest hot dog combination. In my time I have seen jelly, ketchup, cheese, and peanut butter all atop a hot dog in a drowned out bun. It's spectacular! I will have more on who made the most intense lunch and what it consisted of tomorrow.

All of this energy will be perfectly channeled into tonight's Evening Program. Much like last night, it promises to be masses amounts of fun! There will be a dance held in the Rec Hall and the theme is 'Wild West.' I am very excited to see some of the outfits that they will come up with, it should be hilarious! The dances here are always so much fun because there is so much going on. Not only do we have the chance to boogie, but there is always an assortment of activities to get up to. I will certainly have pictures up here for you and a rundown of the activities that went on tomorrow.

Click here for photographs from last night and from junk food day!


Yours truly, Montville Mary

Fun in the sun!
Hello everyone! It's Montville Mary here with the latest news!

Today was the first trip/ lazy day at camp! Every few days we take a break from classes and spend the day doing some sort of fun activity. The Younger Half and the Older Half always do different things; one group stays at camp whilst the other group journeys to the outside world.

Today the Older Half spent the day at camp where the theme of the day was 90's! It was super chilled out here, as the campers were able to walk around and pick from a variety of activities to do. There was a funky Boyband vs. Spice Girl dance off. These kids have some moves! There was a station that made scrunchies for the perfect 90’s flare! There was an epic game of Ninja, a game that involves much concentration and hand eye coordination, played outside the Rec Hall. For that one people were split up into two teams: Power Rangers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It was a long over due battle! There were some fun 90’s music activities like Karaoke or trivia. There was a TLC chill out section being hosted at Meg’s Planet for those who wanted to take a break. There was a fantastic Michael Jordan basketball game being played, and of course where would we be without a Gladiator EXTREME Obstacle Course. Click here for photographs from 90’s Day!

As for the Younger Half, they spent the day soaking up the sun at the beach! Even though it took a little while to get there, we had so much fun and it was totally worth it! Everything was wonderful and sunny. Even though there weren't set activities to do there was plenty to keep us all occupied. The camp lifeguards came along and kept an eye on the campers who wanted to splash around. There were fun rocks to climb around and in the crevices were all sorts of little creatures, crabs and snails! We collected a few of the crabs in a huge plastic pretzel container and created some sort or terrarium adorned with seaweed scraps, sand, and salty water. Half way through we stopped and ate sandwiches together. It was really a fun day and to top it all off when we got off the buses we were welcomed with a surprise ice cream attack! Click here for photographs from the beach!

Tonight we will all make our way to the Rec Hall to watch Reggie and Kim, local performers, who will sing some songs and will put on a fun show! It promises to be a great night.

Oh, before I forget; there certainly seems to be some Candy Drop fever floating around. On the way to the Dinning Hall I saw some candy wrappers pinned to the wall. It’s coming folks. Our sweet teeth are panging!

I will have more news and photos tomorrow, check it out!

Yours truly, Montville Mary

 

Electives! (Can we elect to have a Candy Drop?)
Hello everyone! It's Montville Mary here with the latest news from HVC!

So yesterday I told you all about the various things that people did during their Cabin Night. I accidentally forgot to mention a few things, whoops! It's funny how things slip your mind. Anyway, not only did Camelot go on a trust walk and have an epic basketball game, but they also made fabulous bandanas with a Camelot Crest on it. They all have one in red and they look great together! They're like a little tribe.

Every two weeks a new lot of campers head up Tipi Hill and spends their time there with Clare and Sandy. For their cabin night they went for a trust walk where they were blindfolded and lead by their fellow tipi mates. They made their way to Dear Meadows where they made a fire and sang songs. It looked like a fabulous time!

And on to more recent things: last night's Llamapalooza was so much fun! There were eight activities to go through and they were all set up in a circle. The campers, in their cabin groups, went around and spent around 8 minutes at each station. There was a Blind Llama Sculpting station where campers took some clay and tried to make a llama whilst not looking at what they were doing. Some of the creations were absolutely hilarious!

There was the anticipated Llama Spitting station where campers took some peas and tried to spit them out as far as possible. It was like a war zone of legumes out there.

A tennis ball and spoon race took place, however it was three legged and there was a lot of swaying. Everyone made it in the end though!

There was a station called Llama Laugh where campers had to make the counsellor running the station laugh. It was very funny to see the kind of things campers were coming up with to induce giggles. There were dances, silly noises, and songs galore. I certainly would not have been a good candidate to run this because just watching it from a far made me chuckle!

There was a dizzy bat competition where campers had to spin around for a long time and then try and run to the end of a race. It was funny seeing them walk to the station in straight lines and then watching them leave as they walked around in circles.

There was the oh so hydrating water balloon toss which left  campers soaked. The aim was to try and save the water balloons from breaking, but they did anyway.

Finally, there was an Obstacle Course where campers had to go through in a short amount of time. It was a fun time, and a good bonding experience too.

At the end of Llamapalooza the counsellors went through a silly relay race in front of the whole camp where they had to get dressed in funny clothes, then wiggle over to a bowl full of cereal and then eat it with out using their hands. It was hilarious!

As for today, it is another beautiful day here. It's not too hot and it's not too cold. We're on day three of classes and everything is fitting right into place. Nothing out of the norm seems to be happening as we all just plod along on our merry way. You could say that everything here is serene, perhaps suspiciously so. With the weather so nice and everything going so well, wouldn't it be perfect timing for The Candy Drop to happen soon? Time can only tell, but if it were up to me...

Enough of these theories, let's talk about what's going on tonight before we get too suspicious. After dinner we will all be meeting on the soccer field (might I add this is where we would go if it were The Candy Drop, just sayin') and it is here that we will hear all about the different electives we can choose from to do tonight! There will be cool things like the ever intense capture the flag game. There will be a chance to make glass beads, animal care will be offered. There are all sorts of cool things. each camper can pick one of the things and then they stay with that group for the entire night. It's always a lot of fun and a good way to get to know the other campers. I will have more news on all of the different electives offered and pictures for you tomorrow.

That's it for today! Click here for photographs from last night!


Yours truly, Montville Mary