Beach Campfire

Last night we had an amazing campfire on the beach. Nothing like a Kintail sunset!

K7 Wrap-Up

After the Civic Holiday, Kintail hosts Day Camp for four days. It is a high energy camp with lots of campers from Goderich, Kintail, Lucknow, and cottages down the beach. Campers arrive each morning at 9:30 and leave at 4:30 and run for the entire time! Campers participate in all the camp activities, play a primetime game, have free swim, learn in FLASH (Faith, Learning, and Sharing), and enjoy everything Kintail has to offer. Campers learned how to build fires safely with Vapour in Camp Crafts.

Campers try out the adventure elements. This cabin is working on the zigzag.

Arts & Crafts with Dune is always popular.

One of the challenges for the campers this week was to build something to keep their egg safe when it is dropped from a height. This cabin named their egg "Tapanga" and kept her safe when she was dropped.

At the end of every day, the whole camp would gather around the flagpole for singing.

Eleckra and Gazelle with some campers.

Kamani is now a staff member, but she came to Day Camp for many years as a camper.

Doing all the actions for the song "Arustasha."

We close our singing the same way each day, with the song "Good-bye, My Friends."

Many of the campers arrive at Kintail on the buses supplied by Knox, Goderich. Thank you Knox for your generosity for providing the buses for all the children from Goderich!

K6 Family Camp Wrap-Up

Family Camp is a highlight of any summer and 2009 was no expection! With a very full camp, we enjoyed a weekend of royalty, beachtime, learning about mission, and having fun! Every family was assigned a staff member or two, possibly an LIT, and were free to participate in as much or as little as they would like. Ken Kim, Director of Presbyterian World Service & Development was the theme speaker for the adults. The children participated in all the camp activities. Cake decorating was a popular session for the adults as well. Hazel & Monsoon hanging out with their families.

Static & Wombat sharing a laugh with the campers.

Flare and the puppets leading chapel on the first morning.

We gathered in the Celebration Tree Garden for chapel each morning.

Princess Precious aka Guava, was trying to decide who the marry throughout the weekend. Prince Too-Cool and Prince Moneybags did not win her hand.

We had a royal dinner with Princess Precious.

One of the best parts of Family Camp is Kintail Players. Everyone comes prepared to share a talent or skit. If you look carefully at the photo above, you will see the chair of the Camp Kintail Board, Todd Beneteau.

All sorts of talents were on display - included bagpiping!

Giraffe and Zach entertained the crowd with a duet on the guitar.

K5 Wrap-Up

The middle of the summer is always really busy with three camps right in a row. Sprouts, Family Camp, and Day Camp as well as Staff Re-training all happen during the weeks before and after the Civic Holiday weekend. We welcomed 53 Sprouts campers for three nights. It is a three night camp that is a perfect introduction to camp life for five to seven year old campers. Campers having a lot of fun.

Clementine with a group of her campers.

Lots of fun at Arts & Crafts with Lupin and Quasar.

Tika (one of the Music & Art LITs) with a camper. The Lits helped out with the Sprouts cabins.

Marine and Lily playing parachute games with the campers.

Worship with the MALITs!

On Sunday I had the pleasure of leading worship with the Music and Art Leader in Training participants at South Kinloss Presbyterian Church. The two point charge of Lucknow and South Kinloss welcomed the LITs and appreciated the great gifts of music that they brought to the service. Each LIT group is helping to lead worship at a local congregation to help learn about the parts of worship and the prepartation of a service. So the home congregations of the LITs should expect great things from them in the fall!

It was especially great to be in South Kinloss, as one of the founders of Kintail, Rev. Charles MacDonald, was the minister in Lucknow and South Kinloss. These are congregations that have a long history of connection to Kintail.

John's Especially Special Day!

Last Tuesday one of Kintail's favourite campers, John, celebrated his twentieth birthday! This year John became a volunteer for the first time. We were glad to share his special day with him. Welcome to the staff team John!

H1N1 Flu Precautions

The H1N1 virus has been in the news a lot this spring and summer, including several stories about camps. Camp Kintail is working very hard at keeping everyone healthy and well this summer. We have not had any cases of the virus. We have been in touch with our Health Unit and have recieved a lot of information from the Ministry of Health.

Here is what we are doing to keep everyone healthy:

• We screen all incoming campers to see if they have had the flu recently or come into contact with anyone who has had H1N1.
• We ask parents to send their child to a different week of the summer if they are not feeling 100%.
• We have a registered nurse or licensed paramedic on site at all times.
• We have hand sanitizer on our tables during meals and campers are encouraged to use it before and after meals.
• Campers wash their hands regularly.
• Campers sleep head to feet in the bunks, not head to head.
• Campers are instructed to cough or sneeze into their elbows or shoulders.

Here is a link to an information sheet for parents from the Ministry of Health:
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/updates/archives/hu_09/swine_flu.html