THE HEAT IS ON!

Four years ago, when we had our last serious heat wave, I was taking campers out of their parents' cars at 8:30am, with sweat already soaked through my clothes.  As I opened the door of a car, and felt the WAVE of beautiful air conditioning, I looked at the Mom who was dropping off her two kids and said half jokingly that I couldn't believe she was dropping her kids that day. The Mom responded that she told her kids that she'd stay home from work to be with them at home in the AC, and they refused- saying that they wanted to go to Liberty Lake!  So while most families have tremendous trust for what we do at Liberty Lake, as a parent, I know that I'd want to know some specifics as to what the plan is- so here's the basics:

1. Tonight we just finished an IN-SERVICE staff training with most of our 200 staff.  Yes, after sweating it out in the sun all day, we all came back at 6:30 to talk shop for a couple of hours.  By the way, despite the heat, it was an AMAZING training session- as we don't usually have the time during the fast-paced Camp day to really talk about issues that arise with the campers.  Anyhow, one of the main topics was WHAT TO DO IN THE HEAT THE NEXT TWO DAYS, and each division and activity area now has a brain-stormed list of great ideas!
2. We will be doubling many swim periods.  So instead of 30-45 minute swims, we're talking about 60-90 minute swims. The Seniors are at the beach tomorrow, so there will be a lot more pool space, as well as other shady activities.
3. No sports after lunch.  Campers scheduled for sports activities after lunch will meet at that activity, and then be brought to either the pool, the lake, a slip and slide, a sprinkler, or some sort of wet activity- most likely the pool or lake.
4. Friday, we are planning a CAMPER CAR-WASH.  The ultimate Win-Win, our campers will get wet, while our counselor's cars will get washed!
5. We have a new relationship this year with Lifecenter Academy, down the road.  Lifecenter sends us 50 campers on Friday morning to swim at the shallow side of the lake- which we aren't using at that time- and in exchange, we get to bring our kids to their multi-million dollar air conditioned sports facility 2 miles down the road on hot or rainy days.  We haven't used it yet, but I'm thinking that Friday might be the day.

That's the start of the list, and the basis that we will be going with tomorrow morning at our before-camp meetings.  Our nurses are on alert, and we have extra ice water jugs ready to roll.

As for the Seniors and Leadershippers going to the beach tomorrow, we also are sending extra water jugs, as well as bottled water- at least two per person.  Last year the kids were in the water for 90% of the time, and we expect the same.  The temperature is usually about 5 to 10 degrees cooler at the beach, so some of us are very jealous.  They are going with Jason, who is Red Cross Emergency trained.

As always, we welcome your feedback, suggestions, and your encouraging words.  We have an office full of staff at 9pm tonight working diligently to make sure that the next two days are the best they can possibly be for your kids.  Please dress them appropriately, send a water bottle if you wish, and expect them to come home feeling like prunes.

andy