Youth Camp '99

This year was the first time Vermont has had a youth camp since the early 80's.  We had about 30 people in attendance, over 20 were youth members.

Group_Camp99.jpg (527441 bytes)

Click on the picture for a full-sized view.

Back row: Chipper Gibbs, Donna White, Mike Holden, Marcellus Cubit, Dennis Harper, Tai Li Muniz Lawson, Todd & Gina Mason.

Standing Left:  ____ and Ben Harper.

Seated second row: Jessica Stamper (with Dillon Manning) Stephanie _____, Kara Haynes, Jason Mercier & ____ Gibbs

Seated first row: Jamie Favaloro, Erin Kirkpatrick (with Tyler Manning), Sara Quinton, Kim Holden, Dawn Deojay.

Missing: Veronica Nantel (taking a shower), Ruth Hovey & Sue Powers (taking pictures), Cheryl Manning & Susie Reed (cooking lunch.)

Everyone arrived on Friday and were welcomed by the Youth Committee.  They were given their cabin assignments & a chance to settle in.  Friday night was a few "mixer" activities & then star-gazing led by my sister Karen & her husband Kevin.

On Saturday there were workshops.  We had a craft workshop led by Wanda Haynes & a photography workshop led by Lester Gibbs.  Our Nation Youth team representative, Dawn Deojay from Connecticut, led a workshop on creating a brochure to enter in the National Youth contest.

Crafts_Camp99.jpg (504150 bytes) DawnJason_Camp99.jpg (501242 bytes) Erin_Camp99.jpg (310235 bytes)
Stephanie, Mike & Kelly in the Craft Workshop. Dawn & Jason hard at work creating brochures. My niece, Erin, creating a brochure.

On Saturday afternoon, during the 90+ degree heat, we took a break & went swimming at the Floating Bridge.

Jamie_Camp99.jpg (359727 bytes) Swim_Camp99.jpg (352171 bytes) Sara_Camp99.jpg (645546 bytes) Swim1_Camp99.jpg (646564 bytes)
It's OK, Jamie, you can open your eyes now! It was just as cool & refreshing as it looks! "Hey Sara!"    "What?"              "Got your picture!" "Marco!"               "Polo!"
Ruth1_Camp99.jpg (512695 bytes)

No one quite knows what Ruth the Youth Director was doing in the Men's room.

RuthJustin_Camp99.jpg (550905 bytes)

Justin may know, but he's not talking!

 

On Saturday evening we had a Grange Trivia Challenge.  I was impressed by the knowledge of the kids.  There weren't many questions that no one could answer.   Fortunately for us, there were enough teams that couldn't answer some questions so we had some great photo ops.  The trick was - if you didn't answer the question correctly, you had to do a physical challenge.  We have some pretty talented kids.  After the game, we danced the night away to DJ Justin.

GrangeChallenge_Camp99.jpg (419474 bytes)

Dawn has a knack for rolling tennis balls into a bucket.

GrangeChallenge1_Camp99.jpg (261863 bytes)

OK, Mike, get those toes working!

GrangeChallenge2_Camp99.jpg (225562 bytes)

Kim had to blow wads of paper with a party favor.

GrangeChallenge3_Camp99.jpg (353793 bytes)

Uh, oh, looks like a tough question.

GrangeChallenge4_Camp99.jpg (266651 bytes)

Sara & Tai tossing bean bags.

GrangeChallenge5_Camp99.jpg (228366 bytes)

Dennis & Stephanie "waving" ping pong balls across the finish line.

GrangeChallenge6_Camp99.jpg (315955 bytes)

Dawn & Erin have plumbing in their future, while Kara is going to pitch in the majors.

It was tiring, but I'm really looking forward to next year.  Except, I'm going to get my own cabin so the kids can't laugh at my snoring!