Just like any other summer...

After our first full day on Friday, perhaps the most remarkable thing is just how similar camp feels to any other summer. Sure, we wear face masks at certain times and gather for post-meal announcements outside under the tent, but pretty much everything else is Timanous as usual, from waking up to the bell to a sunlit free evening up on the field with friends, and so much else in between.

At the end of this afternoon, each cabin will have gone to each of the orientations, where the head counselor gives an introduction for what their particular activity is all about, including important safety rules. Starting tomorrow all campers will be able to start signing up for the ones they want, whether to go for an award, make a project, or simply have fun doing what they love.

We've also started our daily personal and cabin inspections. Each morning, each cabin has one counselors come to make sure each camper's hands are clean, uniforms tidy, and teeth are getting brushed. After breakfast, cabin cleanup offers campers an opportunity to get their bed, trunk, and personal area in order, and team up with each other to sweep the floor. The real challenge then is how clean they are able to keep the cabin during the rest of the day, when it's so easy to rush out the door to your next activity and forget that the wet bathing suit and towel needs to be hung on the clothesline! The ever-competitive weekly and summer cabin inspection rankings will surely help everyone learn the basics before too long.

​A much more popular tradition is Friday Candy, which we had for the first time this summer yesterday afternoon. Each camper gets one candy bar and one soda, and unsurprisingly the line gets pretty long pretty quickly. Even with all that waiting time to think it over, it always takes a few minutes to decide on the perfect candy/soda combo once you're presented with all the options. The best part, of course, is enjoying the treats while getting to sit with your friends and enjoy a beautiful Maine afternoon.

After dinner, we had our first free evening of the year, where campers could go where they wanted and try things we don't usually offer during the daily schedule, like canoeing around the cove, playing bocce ball, and getting in on a game of ultimate frisbee. After all that running around, lots of campers took an evening dip as a good cap on the day.

Tonight is cabin cookouts, where each cabin goes to their own designated area around camp (there are a lot of opinions as to who has the best one!) to enjoy a meal cooked over an open fire. Afterward, they'll get to do a fun activity with their own cabin, like disc golf, field games, tennis baseball, or beginners beach kickball (leave it to Timanous counselors to come up with such creative and fun activities).