The gym is now a baseball stadium! We had an awesome camper-staff baseball game today as a special activity. Everyone was holding up signs rooting and cheering for both teams. There was even a half-time show with all of the head counselors dancing to the Camp Simcha theme song. The completing factor was a concession stand stocked with hot dogs and popcorn.

You know you’re at the leather workshop as soon as you open the door – it smells like leather! Campers love making change purses, headbands, belts, siddur covers, and bracelets. Each camper gets a piece of leather and a variety of letters and shapes which they hammer into the leather. Ilana is making a siddur cover which she plans to give to her friend as a present.

In the fourth of July spirit, we all showed our patriotism to our home-country. Camp Simcha has representation from all over the world. Esther Bracha, Henny, and Samara all sang the entire American national anthem, and the Canadians, Australians, and English all sang their own national anthems. But as patriotic as we are to our country, we are all the more patriotic to Camp Simcha Special!

What a great surprise – a Lipa Shmeltzer concert right before lunch! Lipa made a grand entrance, driving in on a segway. Lipa and his band sang many of our favorite songs, both fast and slow; an especially popular one was “hentelech,” of course. Throughout the concert, the singing and dancing never ceased!

Stickers, letters, glue, scissors, tape, and colored paper cover the tables in the scrapbooking room. We’re making scrapbooks and calendars so we can save our camp memories forever. One camper is working carefully with stickers and foam letters to create a page about canteen. She is looking for x’s and o’s to make a tic-tac-toe board. Scrapbooking gives campers the chance to discover their hidden creativity and that’s why everyone loves it!

It’s raining here in Camp Simcha but that doesn’t stop us from having fun. Everyone gathered together this afternoon in the social hall and the movie room for movie time. A video about Hellen Keller, Monsters, inc., and a concert were playing. We cuddled up on the couches and relaxed on the floor with snacks. Everyone had a wonderful time.

Exciting things were brewing in the Hall of Science. Different booths, exhibits, and experiments were set up in the gym, and all the campers got to take part. Some were decorating posters for the booths and others were helping mix up ingredients. Simi was decorating the poster in front of it at the volcano exhibit, and Danielle was helping make the volcano out of sand and vinegar. She was excited that it was about to erupt! At the ice cream booth, Evelyn and Alexis were whipping up some ice cream using heavy cream, sugar, and salt. Bracha Idy and Bailu were decorating a poster for the rock candy booth, where they were mixing up sugar, food coloring, and water to make sweet candy. At one exhibit, Libby was digging for dinosaur fossils in the rocks. “I am making a science experiment that is glow-in-the-dark silly putty,” Racheli says enthusiastically. Everyone was thrilled with the outcomes of their hard work!

At the mosaics workshop, campers are diligently decorating candle holders. They are using tacky glue, mosaic tiles, and finally, grout, to create multi-colored unique pieces. Molly is using red, orange, and yellow tiles to decorate her candle holder.

Camp Simcha was fascinated tonight as we watched a show by two jugglers, “The Two Show,” which featured juggling acts, body twists, and even optical illusions. We watched in awe as they juggled balls under their knees and around their backs. After they each juggled three and four balls, they juggled ten balls together! But they didn’t just juggle balls; they juggled knives and fire, too. One of the men, obviously extremely flexible, twisted his body, getting himself through a mini hoola-hoop, through the back of a folding chair, and even through a tennis racket! Then they turned off the lights in the room and used three glow-in-the-dark colorful jump ropes to create different patterns and what seemed to be optical illusions. It was truly one of the most amazing shows we have ever seen!