Congo Camp 2010

Zippy's new vehicle and Zippy's practical joke!

You may have noticed a jeep turned Congo Camp display when you drove onto or walked around campus yesterday and today.  Well, Zippy decided a practical joke was in order so our Congo Camp spirit could easily be seen off campus.

Zippy decided that sticking magnets to one of admin staff's jeep would be a fun way to make it more colorful and more spirited.  He also has claimed this vehicle as his own to ride around in when he gets the urge to get out of his shell.

He has been spying on both Congo Conquest sides to see how well they are doing, but he has stated that he will be remaining neutral throughout the competition.  He wishes both sides, "Good Luck", though, and will be out and about during the games!

The sharks with their water bottles!

As Shark Week continues on Discovery Channel, our Outdoor Ed counselors had their own version of Shark Week by having campers play Sharks vs. Minnows.

Armed with water in water bottles, the campers who were sharks had to spray our minnows with water.  Rather than merely "eating" the minnows, these sharks actually gained more finned brethren. 

Those who were the minnows, though, played an excellent game and ran as quickly as they could across the "waters". 

It was thrilling to see these campers race against the sharks as they swam their way to the other side. 

The pieces of the butterflies spread out before they were finished.

EcoQuest is starting to prepare for their butterfly exhibit by learning about and making butterflies today.

Our little, flitting friends are great fun to watch fly around flowers, and to understand more about butterflies our EcoQuesters started off with a video on them.

After the video, they then had the chance to decorate their own butterflies after coloring them.  These campers are quite excited for their field trip tomorrow and we hope they have fun exploring the wonderful world of butterflies!

Today begins our Congo Conquest and all of our Day Campers are quite ready to get out there and score points for their teams. 

Below is our introduction video to the Conquest: Enjoy!

Campers glazing their clay bowls.

Arts & Crafts specialty camp took the clay bowls they had made last week and finally started to glaze them.  The kiln cooked the clay and the bowls were ready for decoration this morning.

The campers each had a unique color scheme they were using and each color scheme definitely enhanced the beauty of the bowl. 

Later this afternoon, our Arts & Crafts campers will be continuing to paint the clay pinchpot animals they made last week.  The animals all look excellent and we are looking forward to seeing how well they turn out after being painted. 

A drug tester's table.

The CSI Congo campers, after having gone to the DEA yesterday, did some drug testing of their own.  Not on actual people, but of simulated substances on their crime scene. 

They first had to learn how to decipher which drug it was after they lifted it from the crime scene. Once it was lifted, then they had to add some chemicals to see what reacted.

This CSI Congo crime scene is slowly being deciphered and these campers are working hard on figuring out exactly who commited this crime. 

Racing through the Obstacle Course.

For the Sports competition, our two sides had to make their way through the playground-turned-obstacle course to see which team could get all of their members through the quickest.

It was a fast-paced race of skill, ability, and speed as the Orange Lava tried to outdo the Green Slime on each leg of the race.  But, with determination, the Green Slime kept up with agility.

The teams cheered on their runners as they attempted each of the obstacles.  There was no shortage of Green or Orange spirit as the teams competed. 

We hope these campers have fun as they race their way to finish lines today!

Campers attempting to grab the marbles.

All the day camp areas have a special activity planned for our Congo Conquest teams.  In Archery, the younger day campers are collecting marbles to earn points.  But, the difficulty is that they have to use their toes to pick up the marbles.

Each side (Orange Lava/Green Slime), had a kiddie pool in which to stick their feet and grab the marbles that lay at the bottom of the pool. 

These campers were quite skilled at using their feet as hands and collected the marbles with ease.  We haven't heard the results from who is in the lead, but, as soon as we do, we will let you know!

The Volcano Island Water Park our Summer Adventurers will be enjoying!

The Congo Explorers will be going to the Leesburg Animal Park, while our Summer Adventurers will get to enjoy some time cooling off at Volcano Island Water Park.
We hope all of our travel camps enjoy their trips!

Tomorrow, Congo Camp will no longer be one united team but rather two divided fronts.  On one side, we will have the Orange Lava and, on the other, we will have the Green Slime. 

Since everyone has been waiting for the names to be announced, we will now finally make them public:

Orange Lava:
Jess (F4)
Bryan Van Buren (P10)
Abby (Arts & Crafts)

Green Slime
Sam (P2)
Kathleen (P8)
Kurt (Pool)

Keep checking back to find out about more about how each side does during the Conquest tomorrow!

A DEA badge.  (Courtesy of Wikimedia)

CSI Congo had a top secret trip today to the DEA.  Although we don't know the details about what they will be doing there, we know they will be enjoying some time touring the building.

Before the trip, this morning they did more exploration of the crime scene that was set-up in their room.  Pictures of this crime scene will be up tomorrow so check back to see those. 

This crime scene investigation started yesterday when the campers did blood testing of each of the suspects at the crime scene. 

Today, they bagged some of the evidence that was around the body.  We are interested to find out who the murderer is and to see our CSI team solve the crime!

A view of the Aquarium.

Our EcoQuest campers explored even more about habitat by getting to learn first-hand about our underwater friends.

Today, these campers enjoyed a trip to the Baltimore Aquarium.  At the aquarium, these campers will be learning about how fish and other such underwater wildlife survive.

They left bright and early to get to the aquarium and will definitely have many stories to tell when they return.  We hope they have a good trip and we look forward to all the information about the underwater world they will have. 

One of the horses for which  our Pony Adventures campers care.

Pony Adventures has been having fun this session as they learn the many moves that one makes on a horse. 

Not only have they been learning the moves of a horse but also they have learned how to complete daily care for a horse. 

We are excited to see campers riding each day but we are also thankful for the TLC they provide for our horses.  With the various day camps having equine each day, the Pony Adventures campers keep our horses prepped and ready for those day campers.

Pony Adventures definitely enjoyed their first week of riding fun and we hope they continue to have this fun during the second week of session four!