Hi!

Next week I am running an April vacation camp. I have kids from ages 5-11 both boys and girls.

Should be interesting! I’ve personally worked at a lot of girls camp and I have very little experience with boys.

And the age range? Yikes!

So for clarification

Flames-camp-land to Campfire-chats now to flames-campfire-chats.

Thanks for bearing with me!

Hi friend,

I think that there's a lot of things that are easy to overlook, like various toiletries or extra socks. But a few big ones that are a little unusual that come to mind are:

Decent pajamas - you never know when you'll need to bust out the pajamas for PJ day or when you'll have an early night and want to be extra cozy. I know quite a few people who didn't wear PJs at camp but I always did, to have that cut off of "new day."

Stuffed animal - if you sleep with a stuffed animal and think, oh, I don't need to bring that, you are kidding yourself because you will miss it. I also recommend bringing not your favorite one (unless you absolutely can't do without it) in case something happens to it.

Beverage treats - 10/10 would recommend things like coffee creamer and water flavor packets. I love a good chocolate as well, but drinks are what really kept me going.

Gold bond is a personal favorite for shoes and feet.

The council spent years allowing my camp to fall into disrepair. When I worked there (2013-14), things were falling apart and every year when I visit it’s no better. It is a good little camp - day camp and troop camp.

I’ve spent the afternoon thinking about this. After coming to the conclusion that I cannot express my disappointment publicly to GSNWGL, I can express it here.

They are selling off 3 camps and 2 office properties in favor of expanding a more limited number of facilities and creating a mobile unit. In their email it sounds much nicer, they’re “divesting” from properties. This is a fancy way of saying that it isn’t worth it to them to maintain these resources. My boss says this isn’t uncommon right now.

So I am sad. Sad for my loss, and sad for the loss of generations of Girl Scouts to come. This camp isn’t my home now, but it was a place I felt at home.

And here’s the thing–some of these effects can kick in as quickly as after ten minutes outside. You don’t necessarily have to be hiking or doing something else physically strenuous; sitting and enjoying what’s around you also gets you some of these benefits. If you’re unable to get outside, having a window with a view of a natural scene is beneficial, and if all else fails, even pictures of nature can help. (Florence Williams’ book The Nature Fix has a lot more information on the benefits of being out in nature, and a good solid bibliography for even more reading.)