ParentSpace Blog

It’s hot here in Camp Simcha but we’re cool down by the lake. The water glistens in the sun and so do the campers’ faces. Everyone loves sailing down the water in kayaks, bumper boats, paddle boats, speed boats, and even a pontoon!

Geist didn’t have to say a thing to make a great show. He was funny and absentminded, and we watched as he did so many unexpected things which kept us all on our toes. He pretended to toss a pie in someone’s face but it turned out to be a fake pie on a string! Then he took out what looked like a real, moving animal, until he threw it at the audience and we realized it was just a toy! Frannie was called up to stage and Geist dressed her up in clothing until she looked just like him. Then he even went to sit in the audience while she performed a cool trick for the whole camp! Geist also entertained us with some awesome magic tricks. One trick he called “split the hares” and he pulled one bunny out of another. His hilarious performance kept the audience roaring with laughter!

Mr. Monopoly raffled off prizes and the bunks were able to buy them based on how much money they had earned throughout the day. All of the bunks won amazing prizes. Bunks 7 and 8 won night swim; bunks 11 and 14 won a “throw-your-DH-in-the-pool-party;” bunks 5 and 6 won a mystery prize which turned out to be really cool magnets! Among the other prizes were a pontoon party, bunk photo-shoots, morning spa for the entire bunk, breakfast in bed, a pizza dinner, and an ice cream party!

Roofy Roofy features activities that have an outdoorsy twist, nature projects and pioneering fun. Today the activity is decorating plain towels to make them cute and personalized. Campers are using tape, ferns, and pine cones as stencils and then decorating with spray paint. Then when they lift up their “stencil,” they have a cool new design. Some girls chose to write their name or a quote or one girl even made the Camp Simcha logo on her towel. Another camper was really creative and decided to decorate her cast!

Mr. Monopoly announced a game in which division heads are giving out money to campers who do a good deed or something impressive. Each bunkhouse chose a banker who gets to be in charge of collecting the money girls in the bunk get and putting it in their money-bag. Mr. Monopoly asked trivia questions about the U.S. presidents, states, and capitals. Start collecting those dollars!

CSS has mastered the art of the tape in the duct room! With solid-colored, bright neon, and leopard-printed duct tape, campers are making original and useful creations like wallets, phone cases, handbags, and even flip flops! Ductigami heads Kelly and Gila are helpful and creative, making the workshop really great!

In conjunction with the theme of the day, Monopoly, the Chumee Checkers and the Wacko Rackos played the “Game of Chance.” The campers sat around in a circle and each had to spin a die; whoever spun a 6 had to run to the middle of the circle and quickly put on the costumes that were there. If the first camper wasn’t done getting dressed up by the time the next girl got a 6 and had to come to the middle, she was out! It was an exciting game, cheering on the campers in their hurry to get dressed up as fast as they could!

It’s finally here! A giant welcome to all our Camp Simcha Special campers! As the campers arrived, they were welcomed by staff with dancing and singing. A special staff dance was performed and the band kept the music rocking! Life-size game boards of Shoots-and-Ladders, Connect-Four, Checkers, Operation, and Scrabble decorated the front yard, making it look like an giant game room! Popcorn, cotton candy, and cold drinks awaited the campers as they unloaded the bus. Everyone get ready to P-L-A-Y, we’re excited to have a great time in a summer of games!

Camp Simcha Special staff members have been attending orientations at camp the past two days, but the grounds are empty without the campers and everyone eagerly awaits them! The hours are ticking by and we can’t believe it’s almost here… get pumped for Camp Simcha Special 2012!

Before the session begins, we would like to clarify some things about our Facebook galleries, public galleries on our website, and ParentSpace galleries.

Firstly, if your child is photo-release “in camp only”, he or she will only appear in the ParentSpace gallery. Your child will not appear on Facebook, nor on the public side of the site. So if your child is a camper, go ahead and sign up for ParentSpace. Not only will you see more pictures (2x more pictures than on FB), but you will also be privy to a video that will be produced special for you every day, a special blog, the daily camp newsletter, camp schedule, and forums where you can communicate with other parents.

Secondly, we have received emails from some parents who were having difficulty signing into ParentSpace. Please follow the instructions below for the proper way to log in to your account. If you haven’t applied for an account, please go ahead and apply for an account. You should be verified within 24 hours.

To log into your ParentSpace account please click go to campsimcha.org and click on LOGIN in the top right corner.

Then type in your username and password.

You will automatically land on the ParentSpace site.

From this page you can access a special blog just for parents, the daily schedule, and daily pictures and videos.

A COMMON PROBLEM: If you attempt to visit campsimcha.org/parentspace directly, and login there, you will be bounced to another login page. If you type in your username and password there you, will be granted access to ParentSpace. However, until we correct this glitch, we ask that you instead login by going to campsimcha.org and clicking login in the top right corner.

If you are still having trouble with parentspace, or if you have any questions, comments, requests, or suggestions for the blogs, please contact zahavah@campsimcha.org

You can also follow us on twitter @CampSimcha