
The day started early for eighteen of our Senior campers who have been training all summer to take on the challenge of swimming across Long Lake.
When you stand on Takajo’s shore line and look across the lake, the distance to the other side seems endless. However, our eldest boys in camp displayed incredible discipline by coming down to the lake regularly throughout the first half of the summer to build up the endurance required for this challenge.
Thanks to an incredible waterfront staff and a number of counselor volunteers who were willing to get up early, our group made their way across at 6:00 AM before there was activity from our neighbors on the lake.
Surrounded by counselors in canoes, every boy who attempted this feat swam across with a buddy and made their way back to the Takajo dock successfully in under one hour. It was an incredible accomplishment that our boys can now boast about for the rest of their lives.
Later in the morning, we hosted our annual Takajo Carnival to which we invited sisters and cousins from neighboring girls’ camps. It was a hot, sunny, beautiful day.
I wish you had the opportunity to see your children embrace as the sisters and cousins arrived in camp. There is a warmth and a connection that shines through in moments like these, when they realize the importance of family, especially when it’s not supervised by their parents.
The day was filled with rides and attractions, and a delicious cookout lunch. There was time after the meal for swimming in the lake, which was the perfect way to cool off after a few hours playing in the hot sunshine.
While the goodbyes were sentimental, there was something refreshing in knowing that Visiting Day is around the corner and that our boys would have the opportunity to reconnect with their parents in just a few days.