Happy New Year!
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
By now, Santa has made his way back up to the North Pole, unhitched his reindeer and is sitting back and relaxing. For all of us at Camp year round, a new year means we're just kicking into high gear. Camp is just around the corner! Similar to Santa's year-long preparations for his big day, it takes us all year to prepare for camp-but I bet we have even more fun than Santa's elf team, and there are only six of us!
With a new year comes new and exciting changes in the Heavenly World. The kitchen is undergoing a facelift which includes a brand new walk-in fridge, (for all of you JC's, it will be on the back of the building next to the storage room), new floors and space where the old one was, and a new hallway to access the back dining room. But the best part of it all will be the 2 new bathrooms! All of this should cut down on the traffic jams down by the "pitcher" window and allow our kitchen staff to effortlessly keep the fried chicken, grilled cheese, and dirt cake coming!
Over by the barn, the pastures are getting a facelift as well. We're replacing all the fencing and even bulldozing the smallest riding ring so we can move it closer to the barn and make it level with the other rings. The big power line crossing the field will be taken underground, and the little gazebo will be moved to provide even more room for Capture the Flag! It sure will look nice! I bet Dreamer and all of his buddies are going to love their new digs and can't wait to get here and gallop around.
After a busy fall visiting all of our camp families, the new year is also when we turn our attention to hiring more of those awesome counselors that we have every summer! We know Illahee's success stems in large part from the talented and caring individuals we hire to work with our campers. Laurie, Gretchen, Carol, and Kris will be on the road in January and February catching up with our old counselors and meeting new applicants. If you think you know someone who would make a great staff person, contact Laurie or Gretchen. Referrals from current staff members and camp families are how we receive a large majority of our staff applicants each year.
Despite some flurries yesterday, the near 70's temperature we've been having has made us all antsy for camp to hurry up and get here! We must have watched the DVD a million times wishing it were May instead of January. But until then, we'll keep working on the kitchen and pastures, hiring staff, updating you all on Illahee happenings and "dreaming again those golden dreams that from Illahee came."
