Camp One: Cookies!

The afternoon activities on campus yesterday included a fun activity - baking! The campers who chose to stay on campus got to bake sugar cookies and make royal icing and decorate cookies. Here are some fun shots:

On the Roof!

When our board was in town this past weekend, a few of the members were walking around making a "to-do" list for the grounds. While board members Christy and Vena were on the roof of Bishop's Hall (our motel-style facility for guests where our priests and some adult volunteers stay), I snapped a picture of them:

Funny pic that I thought I would share!! 

Camp One: Carnival Night

During our night activity planning, the camp staff was trying to decide what to do with our "extra" night of Camp One (Camp One is longer than the others by a day). We decided that a Carnival would be really fun and went about planning it. Somewhere along the line, we also decided it should be a surprise for the kids, so we started calling it "Monday Night at Camp." We had the kids meet in the Downstairs Chapel and we led them to the Pavilion for their surprise:

Waiting for them at the Pavilion were games, music, and some ridiculously dressed counselors:

We had a ball toss, a football throw, a black jack table (with M&Ms!), face painting, corn hole, a photo booth station with costumes, a cookie walk, Minute to Win It games, Pin the Cross on the Mountain, and dance contests:

Even our chaplain, Kira, got in on the fun!

After a fun night of playing, we ended with a night swim and a prayer before heading off to bed!

Camp One: Cabin Olympics

Our daily schedule for camp is pretty routine - breakfast, morning chapel, family groups, lunch, siesta, afternoon activities, free time, dinner, night activities, bedtime. What makes camp fun is the variation in those particular activities. Our night activity for last night was the ever-popular Cabin Olympics challenge. Each cabin is given a list of challenges to sign up for (balloon toss, sprint race, volley ball, dodge ball, bible trivia, counselor trivia, and name-that-tune were on the menu for this year). In addition to competing, one big part of the Olympics are the team-spirit and sense of healthy competition. The outfits these kids come up with are hilarious as well....


The sprint race:

Cabin 1 Boys decked out in red:

Cabin 6 girls watching the action:

The winners of Cabin Olympics, Cabin 2:

Volleyball:

Cabin 6:

Cabin 5 girls in their tacky gear:

Intense Bible Trivia:

Camp One: Swim Test

One of the great camp traditions is that every year once all the kids arrive, our very first task at hand is to do the swim test. All the kids sit on one side of the pool and hear the rules from the lifeguards:

(Camp Lifeguards Mary Blythe, Jillian, and Jani)


Other counselors make themselves useful as well:

The kids jump in 4 at a time, tread water for 30 seconds, and then swim the length of the pool. Once everyone is done, we break in the pool for the first free swim of the week!

Last, but not Least.... Cody Hawks

So we've been doing this meet the staff series. And once staff week started I had all but one person done and then one thing led to another and now I'm just posting about this staff member BUT it is not due to any personality reason on his part because Cody Hawks is amazing.... Meet Cody:

Cody, or CoCoD as he is sometimes called, is attending the University of Tennessee in the fall, having previously attended MTSU. Cody has been accepted into the special education program and aspires to get his Master's and become a special education teacher. Cody is the head of our music team, playing guitar and generally entertaining us all. He is personable, reliable, and fun - all qualities that make him a wonderful counselor. Cody is from Gallatin, TN. 

Camp One: Opening Eucharist

Camp One started yesterday afternoon with 42 high schoolers. The Dubose Board meeting coincided with the start of camp and so we thought it would be a neat experience to do a joint Eucharist. We always do an opening Eucharist for camp sessions but this one was made even more special by the presence of our guests. We sang a lot of songs, shared communion, and showed them how long a peace can really take when you all are so excited to see each other. It was a powerful experience. 

Check out our T for this year!

Last year we got a new logo for Camp Gailor-Maxon, one that brought us into the new millennium finally. We love our logo and are so grateful for the graphic designer who did it for us. We decided to use the logo as our t-shirt this year and so we wanted to share our T-shirt for the summer with you all. Each camper will receive one. If you're an alum or camp supporter and want one, email us at cgm@duboseconferencecenter.org and we'll work out the details! 


Here's Ella at the end of Pre-Camp, sporting her new t-shirt:

Staff Week!

Your camp staff is busy planning away the summer, getting ready for camp to start on Saturday full time! Pre-camp was a blast and now we're buckling down and getting some work done. 


Oh... but you know it couldn't ALL be work:

Found cleaning out the storage, old tie-dye from last year.... Alex and Phil model.

We're having so much fun!

Day two of pre-camp is underway! We had a full day yesterday - everyone slept very well. In the afternoon we had Siesta (spelled q-u-i-e-t) and then went off-campus. People could choose between going to Sewanee and Fiery Gizzard. In Sewanee, we walked Abbo's Alley (a nature trail with a creek) and then went to All Saints Chapel and the bookstore. The Fiery Gizzard crew hiked a short but adventurous hike, then swam in the water hole before coming back. We all gathered back at the pool and swam together before dinner. After dinner we played "In it to Win It" (a take-off of Minute to Win it, the game show) with family groups before having a bonfire with stories and s'mores. 

Pre-Campers are here!!

We kick off our summer with the very first session of camp being our Mini Maxon Pre-Camp. At Pre-Camp we have rising 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders and a parent. We do all of the fun things about camp but cram it into one weekend. 

Our pre-campers arrived last night and we've already set out having fun for the day! We had breakfast, sang in the chapel, had a children's chapel activity, and played at the playground. We just ate lunch and now we're going on to Siesta (spelled Q-U-I-E-T). 

Camp Staff: Mary Blythe Puryear

Meet Mary Blythe:

(on the left, pictured with one of our other counselors, Jani)


Mary Blythe Puryear is a first year staff member from Nashville, specifically Franklin. Mary Blythe is a rising sophomore at Samford University in Birmingham. A former volleyball player, Mary Blythe is both athletic and feminine combined. She is excited to be on staff and really loves queso dip!