Mark your calendars for Summer 2011! Please find Ranch Camp session dates below and available program options (program descriptions can be found on the Ranch Camp website). Registration to open soon, please watch out for an email announcing that online registration has officially opened. Receive special Early Bird rates if you register for camp before the end of the calendar year.

Camp Sessions (entering grades 3-9)

Session 1 : June 12-June 26 (2 weeks)

Ranch Program

8^th Ranch Program

EQ Camp

Ninja Acrobat Specialty Camp

TASC

Rock n Ride

Session 2 : June 29-July 17 (2.5 weeks)

Ranch Program

8^th Ranch Program

EQ Camp

TASC

Rock n Ride

Session 3 : July 20-August 7 (2.5 weeks)

Ranch Program

8^th Ranch Program

EQ Camp

TASC

ATID

Session 4 : August 8-August 14 (1 week)

Ranch Program

EQ Camp

Ninja Acrobat Specialty Camp

Mini Camps (entering grades 2-4)

Mini Camp 1 : June 12-June 19 (1 week)

Mini Camp 2 : June 29-July 10 (1.5 weeks)

Mini Camp 3 : July 20-July 31 (1.5 weeks)

Teen Village (entering grade 10)

Teen Village : July 10-August 7 (4 weeks)

Please note that all lost and found items are being housed at the Denver JCC outside the Camp Central office.

All items are organized by session and will on display from August 9-13. Any items not claimed will be donated to charity after Monday, August 16th.

Also, if your child came home with items belonging to another camper, please bring these items to the Denver JCC ASAP so that we can help to get them to their rightful owners.

Hello from JCC Ranch Camp. Second Session is well under way. We are one week into the session and everyone is having a great time. From an opening campfire to a camp wide scavenger hunt and Maccabia we have participated in many fun activities. Our 8th grade girls are well into their 4 day trip and our TASC campers left yesterday. We know they are having a great time and cannot wait to hear about their amazing journeys when they return. We cannot wait for another fun week at Ranch Camp to begin!

It’s Maccabiah!!! was the cry that awoke us this morning at the Ranch Camp. We celebrated the current World Cup by participating in our Ranch Camp version of the games by squaring off Switzerland against South Africa. Teams worked together to complete tasks such as the Mac-O-Peel, Ga-Ga tournaments, BBS, scavenger hunts, and trivia. In the end there was a lot of cheering, spirit and fair play resulting in a win by the usually nuetral Switzerland. We are looking forward to a great day (and some great weather!) tommorrow!!

Shalom from Ranch Camp! We have completed our first afternoon in the sun with tours of camp, swim tests, cabin time and a yummy lunch. Everyone is having a great time getting to know their new cabin mates and counselors and is looking forward to a great session. Our first evening activity is a Ranch Camp tradition- a camp fire filled with songs, cheers and spirit! Tomorrow is our first full day at Ranch Camp filled with smiles, activities, bonding time and FUN! Another wonderful summer at Ranch Camp has begun.

If you need our 2010 forms or information, please find this information available under the Parents tab! Forms available are: Camper Transportation, Health History, and the Parent Questionnaire. Also available for download are the Print-Sign-Mail documents and the 2010 Parent Manual.

Our 2010 Parent Manual and follow-up paperwork is being sent out. The Parent Manual contains important information for the summer, as well as packing lists. Follow-up packet information includes a physician’s form, so be sure to call ahead to your doctor and schedule an appointment OR see if they have a forms fee, if your child has recently had a physical.

Important Dates to keep in mind for the summer:

April 9 - JCC scholarship applications due
May 14 - Summer paperwork due
May 30 - Ranch Camp Open House, 11-3

2010 Early Bird online registration is now open and accessible through the Ranch Camp website. Simply click on the “Registration” link or on the “Register Today” link on the sidebar to begin. Take advantage of Early Bird pricing by registering for camp before December 31, 2009. We know that this new online system will enable us to provide our families with better customer service, and we sincerely hope that users will find the system to be much more user-friendly (not to mention more environmentally friendly) than paper registration forms.

Register today, and please give us your feedback on this new system by sending a message through the “Contact Us” link.

2010 Early Bird registration will open on Wednesday, September 16th. Ranch Camp will be unveiling a completely new, completely online registration this year!! Registration will be accessible directly off of the Ranch Camp website. Be sure to take advantage of Early Bird pricing by registering before December 31st.

Yesterday simcha was in the air as a mock Jewish wedding took place at Ranch Camp on Tu B’av (The Jewish Valentines Day).  During lunch Doron, one the male counselors, proposed to the beautiful nurse Brigitta.  The afternoon was spent in preparation for the wedding as the youngest girls cabin opened up a spa to do nails and hair for the occasion.  During the afternoon free period the campers learned about Tu’ B’av that stems from the Talmudic story of how unmarried females would go out into the fields in the north of Israel as the eligible bachelors chose their wives.   When Israel was established this holiday was resurrected by the Zionist leadership as a way of celebrating their own Jewish culture.  The campers made card for the couple and helped with wedding decorations.

            The wedding started with a Tish (separate gender parties) where the men shared stories about the groom and the females showered praises on Brigitta.  Finally after spirit rose to a joyous level, the men came over to meet the women for the Bedekin.  This is when the groom checks under the veil to make sure that he is was fact about to marry the correct women.  This stems from the Torah story of when Jacob is tricked into marrying Leah instead of Rachel.  Next the campers learned about the Ketubah (the marriage contract) and listened to the reading of the fake Ketubah for Doron and Brigitta’s wedding.  Then the wedding procession took place, rings were exchanged and the campers learned about the Sheva Brachot (The Seven Wedding Blessings).   The wedding ended with Doron smashing a light bulb that is representative of the destruction of the Second Temple. 

            After the wedding we had a festive reception in the dining hall filled with creative characters.  The families included very loud emotional mothers who were skimming to try their younger children together and nice somewhat quiet husbands.  The grandparents stole the stage as they came up to the main table to discipline one of the parents in the middle of their toast and as they spend the night boogying down with their canes and campers.  The cast of characters also included some crazy cousins, a long lost aunt, the next-door neighbor, sorority sisters, and even a few wedding crashers.  The evening ended with a dance as the campers YMCA’ed the night away.