What a whirlwind day at Planet Arowhon! We didn’t get phased by bus or luggage truck delays or a bit of thunder – we adapted, and made it to dinner with smiles on our faces. Watching the counsellors greet the kids was like seeing a well-oiled machine – clearly after all their practice first session they are professionals at their craft. Every single kid had a counsellor stuck to them like glue, and new campers were connected to new friends in no time.

Dinner, as is tradition on night one, was delicious spaghetti with vegetarian sauce, Caesar salad, and decadent homemade brownies. Somehow campers found room afterward to still gorge on all the goodies they brought before the confiscation tonight, so nobody’s going to bed hungry around here!

We had an ETB (early to bed) where all the counsellors went to sleep with their campers in order to rest up for a jam-packed tour day tomorrow… can’t wait to hit the ground running!

Also, we had a number of parents of 6 and 8 weekers inquiring about our unique changeover, so we want to tell you why we do it that way. For years we did what many other camps do: have 2nd month campers arrive the same day or day after first month ones left. 2nd session started with exhausted counsellors still mourning the loss of their first session kids and not ready to focus on a fresh start, thus the arriving campers not getting the staff quality attention they deserved. At the same time we removed visiting days due to the disruption to kids settling in at camp, we realized that 8 week campers really did need a visit with their parents that was more than a chaotic couple of hours, so we created the 3 day changeover which met the needs of BOTH campers and staff to get the break they needed and come back ready to rock. It’s been immensely successful for our staff performance and camper happiness (we also have fewer staff breaking rules at camp because they can go home and get it out of their systems), so even though it feels inconvenient to some parents, we’ve learned that it really does serve the campers better – and they’re our number 1 priority!