Posts Tagged ‘summer camp trips’

Take Me–Or Lower Camp–Out to the Ballgame

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

One trip to which each division looks forward every year is a trip to see one of the local professional baseball teams.  This year, everyone enjoyed the Binghamton Mets.  The Binghamton Mets are the Minor League affiliate of a slightly better known team of Mets…The New York Mets.  Most campers enjoy the time at the Mets game socializing with their friends and (frequently) visiting the concession stand.  But, hey, we have baseball fans here at Camp Starlight.  So we set out to find out, out of sheer curiosity, who won the game the night that Camp Starlight Lower Camp paid a visit.  First we asked the Junior Girls, who were happy to report that Camp Starlight was captured by the candid cam on the stadium’s jumbo screen, which was SO COOL.  But weren’t really sure who’d won the game.  Next, we tried the Inter Girls, who thought the ice cream was awesome.  They had a lot of fun with their friends.  No word about the score.

Well, baseball is really more of a boys sport anyway, isn’t it?  So we headed over to boys camp.  The Junior Boys could tell us that the Mets lost. Yay! (Yay that the Junior Boys knew that the Mets lost not yay that the Mets lost.) They couldn’t tell us the score.  How about who they played?  No dice.  Okay, did they have fun?  Yes!  On to the Inter Boys…Someone ate an entire tub of popcorn.  Someone else thought the hot dogs were awesome.  The Mets had played a team that started with an H.  They didn’t know the Mets lost, and they’d forgotten the score.  But it was SO MUCH fun!  We finally checked the website to get to the bottom of mystery…The Mets did lose.  They also played a team that started with an H.  Harrisburg, to be exact.  The score was 3-2.  The Mets may not have scored big, but our Lower Camp’s scored HUGE fun for the evening!

It’s Almost Trip Time!

Friday, July 27th, 2012

What do Binghamton Mets, Skate Estate, the bowling alley, movie theater, Lake George, Hershey Park, Dorney Park, Cooperstown, Long Eddy, Jim Thorpe, California, and Toronto have in common?  They have all been or will be 2012 Camp Starlight trip destinations for one or more divisions this year.  Camp trips are a big part of camp and our campers always look forward to them.  Whether it’s tubing for a morning or afternoon or an overnight adventure, they love the adventures.  And it’s almost time for the big trips!

Yes, you read that correctly.  The divisional trips are next week.  It’s hard to believe that the majority of the summer is behind us and, in a few days, the phones at camp will go (mostly) quiet, the fields and courts will be (mostly) empty, and the familiar sound of laughter, cheering, and chatter will be significantly fainter after the buses pull out and head to their respective destinations.  And the campers are ready!

A few reminders, parents, to…

*Make sure all of the proper forms are completed.  Yes, we know this one is kind of a no brainer and a tedious pain, but we believe it’s still better to err on the side of caution by reminding everyone that without all of that pesky paperwork, your children will be waving goodbye to the trip bus rather than on it.

*Insure your children have spending money in their accounts.  There’s no need to go dipping into their college funds.  A modest amount to pick up a souvenir or two and indulge in something yummy is enough to make most campers happy.

*If your children are Seniors going to Toronto and you haven’t already provided their passports, call Fedex.  Toronto is in Canada and border patrol gets kind of cranky when people attempt to pass through without passports.

We can’t wait to hear the stories about our campers’ trip adventures and we know that you can’t either.  Divisional trips are always some of the best memories of each summer.

Let’s Go on a Trip!

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

With all of the amazing offerings within camp, it’s hard to believe that anyone would want to leave.  But some of the greatest fun children have at summer camp is actually away from camp on one of the many out of camp trips that are arranged throughout the summer.  Some are small, an evening or afternoon, while others are overnight camping or hiking expeditions.  For many campers, the culmination of their camp experience each year is the multi-day trips that take place toward the end of the summer.  Regardless whether it’s one night or many, some of the unforgettable summer camp memories made away from camp include…

Day/Evening Trips
From evenings spent eating hot dogs while cheering on the local pro or semi pro sports team at the ballpark to friendly competition on the bowling lanes, lacing up the skates at a local rink or catching a movie at the cinema, campers enjoy a “night out” a few times during the summer. .  Sometimes instead of nights its days spent relaxing in inner tubes as they float lazily down a river, enjoying the adrenaline rush that comes from riding the water slides at a local waterpark, or braving the roller coasters of an amusement park.  Enjoying some of the most breathtaking scenery in the northeast is always a pleasure on an out of camp hike or nature walk as well.

Overnight Trips
One of the best parts of camp is the overnight camping program….spending a night or two at a campsite in a tent with all of your camp friends!    It’s no secret that campers love to camp!  Tents, campfires, s’mores, hikes, canoes, and a night dedicated exclusively to spending time exclusively with other campers within their own age group are all reasons why overnight camping trips are some of the most eagerly anticipated out of camp trips.

Multi-Day Trips

Campers don’t merely look forward to these trips all summer, they look forward to them from the very first day they step foot into camp as second and third graders.  As campers grow older, the trips get bigger, and each one is a rite of passage that campers anxiously await.  Amusement parks, national parks, and major cities are just some of the places that campers visit on multi-day overnight trips.  Sometimes they travel no further than a few hours from camp.  Older campers venture across the country to places like California or even over international borders into Canada.  Even with such exciting destinations, for many senior campers, it’s the journey with their camp friends and not the place that make multi-day out of camp trips the pinnacle of their camp experiences.

Whether it’s one day or several, some of the most exciting summer camp offerings aren’t in camp at all.  But they’re still very special parts of camp because they’re shared with people who can only be found at camp—camp friends!