Post-Camp Fun & Games

The fun doesn´t stop when the kids go home! There are a variety of different groups which use the camp facilities in the last two weeks of August - this year we played host to a Tae Kwon Do group, a track team, the Crohns & Colitis Foundation of America and our own personal favourites, Fresh Youth Initiatives. A little shout-out to FYI because we like them so much - they are a community service charity reaching out to children and adults alike in the Washington Heights area of NYC. FYI was founded by Andrew ´Nubs´ Rubinson who was a camper and staffer at Scatico, and twice a year the children with the most accrued community service hours get to come to camp for a few days. Bearing in mind these are inner-city kids who don´t lead the easiest of lives, it´s always a pleasure to see them going crazy at camp!

We mainly spent our time lifeguarding and helping out at the climbing tower, but it´s also worth noting that Caroline managed to spend nearly three days writing letters to the parents of her campers, something which she is supposed to do before the end of camp but always leaves until post-camp because she can. Post-camp staff nearly always includes the two of us and John Hickey and usually a few overseas counsellors. We were a bit busier this year and about eleven of us stayed behind, so there was a pretty good camaderie and a good few nights out. The best night out in our book is the Dutchess County Fair, a giant celebration of agriculture, home cooking and peroxide blonde permed mullets. Not only did we get to see the actual Best Udder In Class, but also carried on with the tradition of whooping it up at Pig Racing! Pig racing is understandably the highlight of the post-camp fortnight as it consists of three thrilling races with participants such as Britney Sparerib and the big, bad Tyrone The Terrible. The pigs sprint out of traps and leg it round a sawdust track, all vying to be crowned the winner. Sometimes a pig might stop halfway round to scratch its bum on a fence post or have a wee in the corner, but it´s all part of the fun!

Even post-camp has to come to an end though and we finished off our last few nights with a BBQ with John, our Kiwi friend Ren and Bren and Ian, the resident caretakers who look after camp year-round and yet another BBQ with John on the deck of our friends Lisa and Jonny´s fantastic half-built house. Along with John, Lisa is one of our best friends at camp, having been a Group Leader with Caroline starting the same summer in 2001. She also prepares and runs orientation with John. Further to the arrival of baby Hannah Frances Pitt back home in Cornwall, we will end this post by sharing with the world the fact that not only did Lisa cunningly elope with Jonny at the end of May, but the newlyweds are now expecting a baby in March! The little rugrat will be named Carter regardless of sex and we can´t wait for its arrival! Congratulations and lots of love to you both.