For the last stretch of the summer, if you went up to The Woods during an activity period, just about everything was running.

Pickleball. The Ropes Course. Archery. Fort building.

One activity was missing for a little bit though. The slingshots.

Why?

The dads broke them at Visiting Day.

I think that’s awesome.

I’m being serious. We bought more. All good.

So why would we be cool, even excited, about something at camp breaking

Easy.

They broke because a group of people spent a few hours using them how they’re supposed to be used with full excitement.

The Lake Was Full

The slingshots were the only casualty that day, but everything got used to the max.

The lake was packed with parents on paddle boards.

Tons of pickleball being played.

Parents were on the Giant Swing, out in kayaks, making stuff in studio, playing basketball.

One family with boys who are super into sports just went around camp playing every single one together.

Why? Because camp is fun.

Parents send kids here summer after summer for 6.5 weeks because they know this kind of time is tough to beat.

And for a Visiting Day, the grown ups get to use the stuff too. Sometimes it breaks. Only because it’s fun to use slingshots.

I think parents send their kids to camp for two main reasons.

1. You want them to experience a version of summer like the one that was important to how you grew up.
2. You want them to spend weeks and weeks at a place that is hell-bent on making fun and friendship the center of everything.

Broken slingshots are that kind of combo deal. Grown-ups jumping back into that version of summer, at a place built to get used. Nothing here is meant to sit in a shed looking new.

Oh, and Everybody Says That

A local nonprofit recently ran their fundraiser at camp, folk band and all. All night, everyone kept saying versions of the same thing.

“I want to go to camp.”

“It looks so fun.”

“Why didn’t I go here?”

That stuff isn’t new. Legit everybody says stuff like this. But life has a way of filling our time with everything else.

I get it, because I do it too. Even living at camp, I don’t always default into doing the activities. There’s always an infinite number of emails to get back to and problems to solve. But a bike ride with a group or a turn on the slingshots is really good for me. Because it’s good for everyone.

That’s what Visiting Day actually is. A good excuse to just do camp.

Next summer, the new(ish) slingshots will be waiting at Visiting Day. If they don’t make it through, all good. That’s kind of the point.

You got this,

Jack

114 Eagle Pond Rd, Wilmot, NH 03287
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