After New Year’s, many parents suddenly stare at their calendar and think “Oh my goodness, its 2012!  What will my kids do this summer?”  So we are getting ready now for the January rush of phone calls and emails.  We’re having 3 indoor Open Houses for any prospective campers and their families.  We also have a special type of open house just for younger children, ages 3-6, called the “Saturday Club.”  Check out our website for more information about both these programs.  We hope to see you sometime this winter!

Its funny to walk around the camp grounds when it is so quiet! We are re-seeding the grass where many little feet played. The laundry baskets that held camper lunches are put away and the bulletin boards have been stored for the winter.

Coming up on Saturday October 1 is one of the best days of the year–Family Camp Day!  A few years ago when our high ropes tower was first built, parents kept asking when they could come and play at Riverbend, and so a tradition was born. Campers get to watch their parents climb the high ropes tower, shoot arrows and stitch lanyard (of course children can participate too!) When the kids challenge their parents on the gaga court, who do you think will win?  Check out our website for more information about Family Camp Day; RSVP is required.

Camp Riverbend celebrated Wacky Wednesday today in our pajamas, eating mega-pancakes! It was PJ day and many campers and counselors looked like they just rolled out of bed and onto the camp bus. When they arrived, they were treated to our famous pizza-sized pancakes, cooked on a huge griddle! We start cooking at 6:00 am to make sure we have enough yummy pancakes for everyone! This year we also made a special dairy-gluten-soy-egg free batch of pancakes for some campers with dietary allergies. The verdit on both types: WE WANT MORE!

Camp Riverbend opened this week for our 49th season!  After about an hour, looking out over the camp grounds, it seemed as if camp had never stopped since last year.   All the campers were busy swimming, playing, creating, singing and laughing.  As always, campers picked up their ice cream at the end of the day, draped their towels over the pool fence and jumped into the gaga courts.  By 10:30 am Monday, it could have been mid summer 2010 or early August 2002 or even a sunny day in July 1964.

We had a great week.  The weather cooperated, the new staff is fantastic, the Spray Park is a hit, the “Leap of Faith” is scary but fun and all is right in the Riverbend universe. 

Have a great fourth of July.  We can’t wait to start up again on Tuesday.

Is Camp Riverbend like the fictional village of Brigadoon?  A place in another dimension where lucky campers play all year long but to which most of us only have access a few weeks in the summer?  Hmmm……

Our orientation weekend for campers and staff usually falls on Father’s Day weekend. So this post will be made in honor of our father, Harold Breene, who along with our mother, Marianne, started Camp Riverbend 49 years ago in 1962.    

Harold Breene, who still works full time at camp alongside the rest of us, was destined to become a camp director.  As a child he helped his mother run a small camp for children in the Free Acres community in Berkeley Heights.  Harold is an Eagle Scout and worked at many other camps as a young man.  He was a non-commissioned officer during World War II even though he was only 17 when he enlisted.  He was the Athletic Director of the Wardlaw School and is still involved in school sports as a swimming and diving official during the winter season. 

Here are some important life lessons we learned from Harold:

1.  Know the natural world.  Harold is a life-long bird watcher. He can identify any tree by its leaves and any animal by its tracks.  In our wired age, its easy to forget that we are still dependent on our physical enviroment.  Learn as much as you can about it and take care of it!

2.  Cultivate creativity in your life.  Harold has always enjoyed painting pictures, taking photographs and working with clay.  Creativity is not a masculine or feminine attribute–all of us benefit from getting in touch with our inner artist.

3.    Teach your children basic skills that will give them confidence and help them take care of themselves.  As kids, Harold insisted that we do lots of the chores and basic repairs around Camp.  Sure we complained alot, but you know what?  When we were grown up with houses of our own, we were glad we knew how to fix a toilet and paint a wall.

4. When you sing, sing loud! Make sure the folks in the back row can hear you!   Don’t be afraid to be silly when working with children.  Lose your sense of dignity if you want to make kids enjoy themselves. 

5.  Play fair!  Harold taught us the best way to choose teams for a pick-up game of football or baseball:  line the kids up and count off 1′s and 2′s.  Then everyone, both the star athlete and the benchwarmer, feels valued and respected and no one is left behind. 

What have you learned from your father?

Camp is right around the corner.  Get ready!!