A good time was had by all today, I think. No apparent homesickness, no illness. Our youngest campers enjoyed afternoon sun (no rain at all today, hurrah!) and went swimming in our new inflatable fifteen foot, three feet deep pool..it was a big success. One group of older campers went bowling...Orlando Armijo's record of 121 from last year still stands, but a lot of campers are trying to beat it and get their name on our "perpetual" trophy here at camp. Another group went to swim at Gallup while one group had a great time playing board games in the lodge. Our thanks to our advanced cooking group of Teresa, Katie, Meranda, and Adena. The play this session is going to be the musical "Mama Mia" so that group of young thespians has their work cut out for them. Ask your campers what they thought of the "counselor with the most clothes On" contest...we actually had a tie between Alex and Stuart, each had on 73 items!!

Great group of campers, great group of staff, I look forward to a continued fun, safe, week.

A busy day...especially for our youngest cabin of boys, Cabin Three. This group of boys had a fun filled day off camp. They went swimming at the pool in Gallup, then off to the park for a picnic lunch followed by some playtime at the Field of Dreams Playground. As if that weren't enough, bowling was next on the agenda. All the boys had a great time. Our teenagers had a good trip to the Zuni arts and crafts museum, a helpful guide explained a great deal about the culture of the Zuni. Cabin 1 girls entertained and instructed the whole camp in learning the Electric Slide dance at dinner. Our evening activity was our Game Show night. One of our favorites is to dress up campers and staff as celebrities. Tonight we were visited by Nick Arango as Batman, counselor Archie as Austin Powers, Sydney McAllister as Supergirl, counselor Dereck as Madonna, counselor Liz as Spiderman, and counselor Stuart from England as Queen Elizabeth. Our audience enjoyed the activity as did our celebrity guests. Another sunshine filled day in Camp!

Another great day. No rain, no accidents, lots of enthusiasm. I can honestly say that there is not one "weak" staff member, everyone contributes greatly, no one takes their rest hours or evenings off, they are one hundred percent camper centered. Our older boys had their big day today. Angelo and Nick were real troopers going in to Gallup for swimming in the morning then back to camp for lunch and hygiene and then back for bowling! Our evening activity was Kangaroo Court. Since it involves getting counselors messy it is a perennial favorite. COunselors were accused of such heinous crimes as snoring, eating too much ice cream, impersonating the Queen of England, and making campers go to bed too early. Judge Jane meted out punishments quickly all involving either ice water, whipped cream, or eggs. We are planning for our first trip to the Dude Ranch tomorrow. Over half of our campers will be going either tomorrow or Friday. The Dude Ranch owners are willing, but inexperienced. All horses will be led, and we hope to take a wagon ride as well. The time is flying, we are half over and still busily planning activities such as a "Halloween Carnival" and Grand Prix Wheelchair Races. What a great group of campers and staff!!!!

If a picture is worth a thousand words...well our talent show pictures from tonight are simply priceless. It is so neat to see the kids performing and loving the cheers and applause...after all, don't we all want attention and recognition? That is part of what we try to provide at camp, the opportunity for our campers to be successful and to be recognized. We went to the Dude Ranch today! A good trip for ten of our campers, all ten rode the horses...some weren't too sure at first but they all overcame their nervousness and were so proud that they did. Teresa, Katie, Sydney, Adena, Christina, Alex, Patrick, Josh, Robert, and Nick enjoyed the wagon ride as well as the horseback riding. We went into an Elk Ranch and the "rancher" there explained about the Elk herd, beautiful animals!

In the midst of my excitment about our dude ranch trip I failed to tell all of you that the older boys' cabin made chewing gum this morning. Ask Angelo, Rudy, and Brandon...what a varied experience Camp Easter Seals provides for its campers!

Again, a happy, healthy day was had by all. We extended this session by one day and I remember planning program and worrying if we could come up with activities to fill the extra day, now I have only two days left and we can't get in everything we have planned!!! I always am pleased as a Camp Director when I have too many activities for the campers!!!

Parents don't forget that pickup day is Saturday, shoot for ten o'clock, please. Our staff have only twenty four hours off before our next group and need this time. More importantly, campers who are the last to leave begin to feel a bit apprehensive as cars pull out of the parking lot and they are one of the few waiting until the very end.

It is at this time in the season where one could understand if the counselors were losing their enthusiasm. This morning we offered our campers and counselors a choice of activities, I even resorted to offering to put on a video movie, I figured once in the session would be fine. Not one camper or staff chose that option, they all found wonderful camp fun things to do: archery, arts and crafts, poetry writing, and cooking. We actually have had a great group of cooks. We sent a group of swimmers out in the afternoon. But all of today's program paled in the light of tonight's play. Our big thanks to assistant director Deborah Burchmore and her cast who have practiced all week for the rock musical "Mamma Mia" (check out pictures section!) our stars truly shone tonight...Christina Davidson, Sydney McCallister, Jenna Montoya, Mary Barrazza, Arlo Benally, Tim Rolfs, Orlando Armijo, and Chris Bazzan put so much heart into their performances that we in the audience couldn't help but respond with enthusiasm. As I type this update the cast is having a cast party and watching themselves on video..yes, parents, I will try to copy it for a souvenir! These kids practiced every day and had a blast.

Last day of programming tomorrow, we will miss this wonderful group of campers.

Hard to believe our time with your children has flown. It has been a great session, as a Camp Director I look at success in the big picture, no one was hurt, no one became ill, no camper was sent home either for homesickness or behavior issues. But I also look at success in the small ways, Christina hugging Deb after the play last night and saying "Thank you sooo much for putting this play on, I am going to try to get into drama in school when I go home". It is Patrick saying "I was kind of scared about riding the horse because four years ago I fell off, but I did really well, I think maybe I'll ask my brother if I can go horseback riding with him." It is Tim just about jumping out of his chair in excitement when David asks if he wants to shoot bows and arrows at archery. And it is my staff member who says "Please, I want a copy of the play, I'll pay you for it!"

Marlis Hadley, our President of Easter Seals New Mexico and some of our Board members and staff visited camp. They enjoyed the visit and went home with renewed enthusiasm for continuing their hard work organizing and funding camp. Please don't forget that a lot of volunteer work and fund raising makes camp possible. If you can help support Easter Seals in its fundraising, or know of people who might be able to, that would be much appreciated.