Monthly Archives: July 2012

Activities, Camp Staff, Events, Leadership Training, Q-Town & Music, Summer Camp

Living It Up Each Day

So much is going on at Qwanoes every day right now! It is hard to capture with words just how amazing it is to be part of what happens each week in the summer at Qwanoes. In the words of Cintia Rojo, a staff member from Brazil, “This week at Qwanoes… truly an AWESOME time.”

Even the Squirrel got out for the big staff beach party! He loved the new paddle surfing activity!

Staff Development Day

Between the end of Juniors #1 and the start of Jr. High #3, we had a special day set aside called our Staff Development Day. This day included a sleep-in, some more staff training, a huge beach party and supper at Qwanoes Beach, Q-Town, and an extra-special mug-up. This was a great day to re-group and re-charge for all that is still ahead this summer!

The big show at Qwanoes Starwood night!

Jr. High #3 Happening Right Now!

Right now just as the opening ceremonies for the Summer Olympics is about to take place in London, a huge relay called the “Qwantathalon”  is taking place at Qwanoes! Games and events, led by Stevie G and the All-Star events team, are always a big part of a week at Qwanoes. Jr. High #3 has featured events like “To The Extreme,” our night game “Cobra Conquest,” “Planet Starwood,” and much more. Last night, we had the “Surf-O-Rama” concert along with the very popular Kick-Flip Café. And there’s still more to come!  See photos of the week so far.

Now hands are even cleaner at Qwanoes! 24 new outdoor sinks!

New Hand-Washing Station 

All of this week, we’ve been enjoying our brand-new hand washing station with 24 sinks! This station is right by the Sky Ridge Lodge where we eat our meals. Last week during Juniors #1, this giant hand washing station was built and put into action by the last day of the camp. Now washing hands before meals is easier than ever!

Living It Up At Q-Town Tonight

Q-Town is definitely one of the big highlights of a day at Qwanoes. Campers and staff love singing along with our music team Quixotic and all summer long Q-Town has been filled with tons of energy. Catch a small taste of the action during Juniors #1 and hear part of the new Q-Town song, “Q-Town Tonight”!

See Living It Up At Q-Town Tonight…

 

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director

 

 

Activities, Events, Q-Town & Music, Summer Camp

On A Qwanoes Day

Juniors #1 Happening Now!

Camper soaring at the Qwanoes Skate Park!

Our third camp of the summer, Juniors #1, is on right now! We’ve just passed the halfway point in the week. Each morning, campers have been taking part in Q-Town at the fireside and activities like RC Speedway, Artrageous Crafts, Climbing Tower, Trapeze Jump, Skate Park, and more. In the afternoons, campers have been getting to try out a huge variety of activities at Qwanoes Beach and on the land.

After supper, campers have been enjoying games and events like Castle Conquest and tonight after a barbeque supper, the first Surf-O-Rama Carnival of the summer camp season will be happening! At this giant beach-theme party, campers will have the chance to test their surfin’ skills on the Boogie Board Bonanza, try many other fun challenges, go on fun inflatables like the Amazing Race that are coming in just for the carnival, enjoy some cotton candy or popcorn, and more!

Dancing along with the Quixotic band in Q-Town!

After the evening games and events, everybody gathers together in Q-Town which features singing along with Russ the “Squirrel” and our music team Quixotic, seeing video highlights of the day’s activities and maybe a “Captain Q” video, and listening to the speaker for the week Jonathan Headley. Jonathan has been a speaker at Qwanoes for many years and is here this week with his entire family! See more about Jonathan here. The energy in Q-Town has been unbelievable this week!

Heading up into one of our treehouses! Spending the night in the trees way, way up in the air is quite the adventure!

After Q-Town, sometimes there is a fireside with some crazy skits and more singing… and then it’s off to the cabins for bedtime! Cabins who get the highest cabin cleanup scores of the day get to sleep in our treehouses for one night. A camper just came up to me so over-the-top excited that her cabin won cabin cleanup today and they are going to the treehouses tonight!

As all the fun is happening, campers are learning what it truly means to “Live It Up” in their lives, not just here at camp but wherever they go. So excited that we still have one and a half more days to go of Juniors #1!

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director

 

 

 

Activities, Leadership Training, Q-Town & Music, Summer Camp

Sun Shining So Bright

Camper enjoying the many different features of our floating Aqua-Park!

1st Camps of Summer Underway!

What a beautiful day at Qwanoes with the sun shining so bright! You know it’s summer when at 10 a.m. it is 23 degrees out! We are right in the middle of Junior High #2 and our summer camp season is well underway. This year’s summer theme is “LIVE IT UP” and boy oh boy, that is happening all over Qwanoes this week. Campers will be at the beach, swinging from trees, having cabin discussion time, in Q-Town, in the skatepark, playing All Star Games, all over in Club Coco, and the list could go on and on!

In Q-Town last night we rocked it out with Russ the “Squirrel” and Quixotic singing a lot of brand-new songs for summer 2012. Following that we listened to our speaker Randy Carter. Randy is a great speaker – full of stories – and we laughed together a lot! Not only are Randy’s life stories funny, they really help get the point across about what it means to LIVE IT UP in our day-to-day life.

Group of girl campers with their counselor Beth from Northern Ireland!

So what’s happening right now at camp!!?? It’s cabin picture and video time here at Qwanoes. I was just out on the main field and saw all the campers and counselors spread out in their cabin groups looking their “campy” best!

I ran into a group of girl campers hanging out in the shade and asked them what they are looking forward to this afternoon… and this is what I heard back as they yelled over each other: “Swimming! Tubing! Night game! Rocket Plus! Lunch!” Sounds like a whole lot of fun to me. Their counselor’s name is Beth and she is here all the way from Northern Ireland. I asked the girls what they like about their counselor and they drew in close to Beth saying, “She is super nice, so sweet, super chill, and we are going to visit her in Northern Ireland!” Beth replied back, “Ah, you guys are the best!”

Here go our CIT's for their hike to "the Point"! Then they slept out under the stars next to the ocean. (Counselor In Training Program)

We still have some room in some of our summer camps and the Counselor In Training program! Check it out online.

All Star games coming up next and then lunch! And then time for activities all over the camp! Love summer camp!

 

Giant Canada Day Party Last Week!

By the way, last week at Jr. High #1, we had SO much fun living it up at our giant Canada Day party! Hundreds of Jr. High campers and staff (from Canada & many other countries) got together to celebrate Canada’s birthday with music blasting from the qrok Tower, Ice Cream Island, Shave Ice Palace, eating cake, and seeing the sky light up! To catch a glimpse of this, see our “Giant Canada Day Party At Camp Qwanoes” video:

 

~ Written by Jay Kennedy, Qwanoes’ Assistant Director