HI Parents and Friends of DMC,
Last Wednesday we had a "hump day" celebration to mark the 1/2 point of camp, we only have 2 1/2 weeks left and only 2 weekends.The last half of the camp always goes faster, and in many ways we are sorely disappointed to see the camp end as most of the camper's progress is made in the last 2 weeks. So you'll be seeing your camper relatively soon, but in the meantime here's what's been happening this past week at DMC. The academics and tutoring seem to be going well and the camp is quietly humming in the morning hours with individualized instruction. You will get a tutor's report and testing results at the end of camp portraying your child's progress this summer. On the outside half of camp, we continue to have perfect summer weather.June is typically hot and dry, and July tends to frequent thunderstorms and cooler temperatures. This past June was the wettest in my experience with rain just about every day, while July has been dry and conducive for outdoor pursuits. This week the campers have been participating on their second week of Climbing, Horses, Wild Colorado, and Kayaking. Yesterday was somewhat of accumulating experience as the kayakers swam and challenged the rapids of Smelter, the Climbers rappelled the 90 foot cliffs at Cascade, the horse group rode through the National Forest from Haviland Lake back to the arena,and Wild Colorado jumped the waterfalls at Cascade Creek. Good, good fun and not a single broken bone
Today, we changed the pace and the camp is venturing south to the warmer waters of Navajo Lake for some swimming, cliff jumping, and a dinner over campfire. Last weekend was full to brimming as the entire crew camped in the forest at Lemon Lake for both Saturday and Sunday. The highlight of the weekend was a day spent boating and tubing on Vallecito Lake. Hopefully we got lots of photos and videos to put into our end of the year DVD. Tomorrow we'll take the camp over the passes to the mining ghost town of Animas Forks, then venture to Silverton to check out the shops and sample Silverton's famous funnel cakes. Of course, everyday bring some challenges - and our biggest challenge this week is motivating some of the older campers to enjoy their day. It always amazes me when a young adult says something like, "I don't like climbing very much and rappelling is boring". So we deal with the daily challenges,and try to make each day a great day, and perhaps some of the youngsters will make pivotal breakthrough academically or attitudinally. The blog site is getting more active with event accounts and photos - so check it out. Above is a photo of the staff and campers from this morning.
Zane