Hello from Ranch Camp! We are having a great time at camp. This morning our TASC and Rock n’Ride trips left thi and the camp talent show is tonight. Yesterday our cabin of the day was Chad 4, also known as the Mini Girls. They wrote a beautiful poem about Ranch Camp to post on the blog.

Ranch Camp is really fun, we like to play in the sun.
We swim, we dance, we eat a lot; our favorite food is tater tots.
We love our counselors they are the best, wearing us out so we get lots of rest.
WE LOVE RANCH CAMP!
-

Here at the winter office of the JCC Ranch Camp the snow is melting, the first flowers are popping up and we are getting excited for the summer!  Down south in Elbert, Colorado, home of Ranch Camp, we are hard at work restoring some of the main cabin building in Banot Village.  While maintaining their historic integrity, we are making improvements to their struction and layout.  We are very excited for the opportunity to improve and perserve Ranch Camp! 

Registration for the summer is filling up incredibly quickly so make sure if you have not registered that you waste no time!  Now is the time to give your child a summer to remember at the JCC Ranch Camp!

Hello Ranch Camp Parents!

            Today a lot of the campers were out and about mountain biking, working on the teva program and, of course, using the high ropes course, while other campers spent their day hiking in the outer400, working in our new art room and playing in the pool. 

            Ranch Camp-a-Pallooza is going on right now in the pavilions; we have six talented staff members working together to put on a live music performance. The entire camp is rocking out under the sky and stars here at JCC Ranch Camp tonight. For dinner we ate teriyaki chicken with homemade coleslaw and sticky rice, washed down with nothing less than our amazing fruit punch.

            I hope all the parents out there know that our staff is working as hard as they can to make Ranch Camp summer 2009 the best summer so far. While we have had a lot of weather we have also had an amazing time. We hope to finish out this week with warm sunshine, lots of song singing, dancing and the infamous Maccabia! Remember, it’s never too late to send letters to your campers!  Have a great week!

By Stewart T. Moore

General Counselor

Thank you to everyone for an amazing summer!

Lost and found items are currently available for collection at the Denver JCC. All items are located in the room just above the Mizel Center stairway; please drop by and claim your belongings. Lost and found will remain in this room until August 31st, after which time all unclaimed items will be donated to a local charity.

If you have questions or concerns, please call Miriam at 303-408-3841.

It is closing time, as Session I comes to an end.

During this last Shabbat, we enjoyed a final Havdallah service, a closing campfire where we sang songs and handed out specialist awards, the induction of campers and staff into Clubs 5, 8, and 13, and a wonderful slide show (posted on the Bunk1 site). Counselors are now reading their campers a “last will and testament” and bunks are participating in closing activities around camp.

This has been an amazing session, the start to a fantastic summer season. There is no doubt that Ranch Camp is a magical place, a place where we come each summer and create a community, a family. It is hard to say goodbye to such a wonderful group of campers, but that is for tomorrow - now the summer night is full of children talking, laughing, sharing friendships, and building memories.

It is truly amazing that the first session campers have only been at camp for four days now, and yet they have experienced so much. Over the last several days campers have enjoyed the plethora of camp activities and have had some very special evening activities.

On Sunday and Monday, cabins participated in programs centered around the holiday of Shavout, which commemorates the giving of the 10 commandments to Moses and the Israelites. Cabins wrote their own 10 commandments to serve as bunk rules, discussed the counting of the Omer, played Crossing the Red Sea tag, built pyramids out of straws, and made pita bread. One of our counselors dressed as Moses for the day and helped kids to get into the spirit of Shavout and have a great time learning about and experiencing this holiday.

Last night cabin groups put on a program called County Fair; cabin groups were in charge of organizing and putting on a carnival activity with the help of their counselors for the rest of the camp. Booths included face painting, a sponge toss, massage booth, and ball throws. Campers were given “shekels” to play the various games and the kids did an amazing job in running their booths and taking part in the activities that their friends organized.

This morning the camp awoke to music and calls from our Israeli counselors, announcing that today would be Israel Day. All day, campers will take part in special activities centered around Israel - the land, people, and culture. Campers will participate in an Israeli Idol contest, visit Jerusalem, a Bedouin Tent, play Israeli games, make challah, and learn about the landscape of Israel. With so many Israelis on our staff this year, Israel Day is sure to be an amazing experience for our camping community.

Yesterday afternoon the Ranch Camp welcomed its first batch of campers for the 2008 season. Campers arrived and had a tasty grilled cheese and tomato soup lunch before touring camp and visiting our corral and nurse’s station.

Cabin groups had a chance to move into their bunks and get to know one another before evening flagpole and dinner time, and some made sure to get a game or two of Gaga as well! After a delicious dinner, everyone headed down to our opening campfire, where we sang, laughed, heard some stories, and introduced all our staff. It was an amazing campfire, made all the better with the accompaniment of three guitars and three drums as we sang camp classics.

After a wonderful campfire, cabins headed back to their bunks to do a kick-off program for Shavout, where they talked briefly about this very important holiday and then created their own 10 commandments for their cabin. Then everyone was off to sleep in preparation for a very busy first full day at the Ranch!