This evening at Camp Timberlake, birds are singing and there isn’t a raindrop in sight, which seems pretty unusual at this point because it’s been pouring for the last 36 hours. Normally, this would be an impediment to running camp, but with a little bit of innovation, our rainy day turned out to be one of the most fun yet.

Overcoming the weather’s challenge, many activities proceeded normally, and campers stepped up to the plate to continue earning Bars and learning new skills. On the riflery range, Ryan H sighted in on a new level of achievement by getting another target grouping. Over on the waterfront, Noah P continued to perfect his stern squirt in Kayaking, pursuing higher capabilities on the water

Activities kept everyone busy throughout the day, but to combat the rain, campers participated for the first time ever in a new event: an Improv contest. Improv is a popular activity at Timberlake and the skits that campers develop there play a large role in our Sunday Vespers; up to this point, however, those skills had never been used competitively. But new circumstances call for innovative measures, and the inventiveness of the new contest was matched by the creativity of campers in their skits.

To be perfectly honest, they were hilarious. Campers, unaware that an Improv contest was in the works, were told to bring three items from their cabin to the Chapel to await further instructions. Then, each cabin was given a prompt for their skit — such as “Act out the new Super Mario Bros. movie” or “What does a Timberlake staff meeting look like?” — and a few minutes to come up with a plan and figure out how to use their props. The campers brought a wild menagerie of things to use: plungers, Bibles, and even a whole bed — frame and all.

After each skit was complete, three judges dressed in zany attire gave a score from 1 to 10. In Junior Camp, Hawksbill won over the judges and the audience with a great skit about what happens when someone too big blobs someone too small at the waterfront. In Senior Camp, the cabin of Little Slaty claimed the victory with an impression of one of the counselors and their depiction of a staff meeting (perhaps inaccurate, but really funny nonetheless).

There were some culinary victories as well, with a tasty breakfast including bacon(!), of which some ate 20 pieces. With gyros for lunch, chicken alfredo for dinner, and ice cream cookies for dessert, today’s meals just could not be beaten.

Speaking of being beaten, the Golden Eagles defeated the Black Bears in Battleball last night to come one step closer to regaining an edge in the competition for this session’s banner: only time will tell how the score will stand at the end of these two weeks. Tonight, the two tribes are competing in Rio del Copa, Ultimate Frisbee, and Tribal Soccer. Stay tuned for more updates!

Have a great day, rain or shine!

Cameron Haynes

Fencing Instructor

Proud Golden Eagle