DMC Week 4 Update

Hi Parents and Friends of DMC,

From MJ: 

All goes well here at DMC.  Last weekend's campout was fantastic.  I can’t remember a campout where both weather and  participants were so cooperative.  On Friday we packed up the youngsters, drove to the North end of Vallecito Lake and set up out tents.  Saturday was a blast as we had 3 pontoons boats and 2 ski boats zipping around the lake.  Everyone had a great time playing “tubing wars”, behind the faster boats and cruising and “motoboatin” on the pontoons. The McGould family gets the award for tenacity as they persevered and eventually found us at Vallecito Campground on Saturday night. 

It’s hard to believe that we are mid-way through the fourth week, and many of the campers have expressed sadness at the thought that camp is nearly over.  Overall, most campers has been taking full advantage of everything that camp has to offer.  As I walk around during tutoring,  I'm impressed by the effort that these kids are pouring into improving their skills in areas that are extremely difficult for them.  Make sure to ask your children about the technology week we had.  We had an expert present to the campers various types of technology that often proves useful to help dyslexics navigate the language requirements at school.  Just let me know if you want some more information about some of these technologies.

Last Friday we had our first ever Pinewood Derby Car Race with the cars made during art.  A huge thanks goes out to Big Bill, the art teacher!

From Zane:

I was away 4 days last week as I flew to Hawaii for the memorial service of my aunt who lives there, so I missed the campout.  The afternoon and evening activities continue to go very well, with the weather cooperating nicely with cool evenings, mostly sunny days, and some thundershowers to keep the mountains green.  This week the campers are involved in their second week of scuba, river running, Wild Colorado, horses, and climbing. During art the campers are making cardboard boats, which they will race as a “Mountain Madness” activity this Thursday after dinner at Haviland Lake. On Friday, we’ll head to the Fiesta Days Rodeo which is always fun and a cultural event for those campers who haven’t experienced this part of cowboy life.

Saturday and Sunday will feature extreme weekend activities where the campers will choose between more advanced climbs, horse rides through the mountains, hiking up to the summit of a 14,000 ft. peak, biking some of the more famous trails, or even zipping on lines and playing in the lake.  This should be a great experience

for all.

We have had some kind of cold rummaging through camp this past two weeks, and there seems to be constantly 3 or 4 campers that are battling congestion and coughs.  We are making sure that the campers are getting about 9 hours of sleep each night, frequently washing their hands, and drinking plenty of water.

As a heads up, Saturday August 3 is our last day of camp.  The DMC campus will open at 9 AM to welcome parents.  Brunch for all will be at 10, followed by our closing ceremony from 11 to @ 12:30.

We continue to photos and blogs on the website – so check it out.

Zane Bilgrav