Camp 1: Wednesday!

Wednesday we finally got out of the rain- and loved every minute of it! We talked about water in other countries in chapel- and then related how there is a difference in dirty/clean physical water as well as a difference in dirty/clean spiritual water. There are lots of ways to clean our spiritual water and we made commercials for all the things that enhance our spiritual water! It was so fun!

We also have a tradition of cabin clean up in the mornings- the campers clean after breakfast every morning and their cabins are then judged by a panel of experts (Vena, Cody and Jani) and the cleanest cabin wins the beloved Golden Dustpan! The cabin 1 boys are cleaning- those are the faces of determination.

Wednesday afternoon was spent on our Sewanee adventure- first to Sewanee's campus for games, a book store trip and general fun and then we took campers to the Res- a huge reservoir on St. Andrew's campus. Both were so fun- and we were grateful for ultimate Frisbee and swimming without worrying about the weather!

Last night was our All Saint's service in Sewanee- we really did spend a lot of time there yesterday! Everyone got dressed up (a little) and we went to have New Zealand night prayer with some contemplative prayer time. We loved praying for each other and having some special time as a community- but we also loved being silly after the service and taking selfies!

We finally ended last night with a bonfire, smores and the Dubose ghost stories from Sydney to Skip. We loved embracing these camp traditions!

Camp 1: Tuesday!

Hello from CGM! We have had an action packed couple of days at camp! Let's start by catching everyone up from Tuesday!

We spent the morning talking about laying down our nets- the things that keep us from God and from each other. We loved getting closer to our family groups and making skits! There are also some great pictures from our singing!

The afternoon was an adventure as the rain set in on us, but the weather cannot get us down! We ended up hiking in the rain on a trail called Shakerag- but we decided it was the best hike we have ever been on! On campus we baked, did yoga, played some indoor games and when it finally cleared up we played everyone's favorite- soccer! 

Tuesday night was an old CGM favorite- COUNSELOR HUNT! In this long standing tradition, the counselors go hide will the directors, doctors, AVs, etc find out from the campers what their counselors are "guilty" of- which includes things like being to excited (Carter Webster), having lioness hair (Sutton MacQueen) and cheering too hard for Louisiana based teams (Will Namie). You can see our campers hunting in groups and our counselors scoping out their hiding spots!

All in all, we were grateful for good weather and even better time at camp!

Camp 1: Monday!

We had an action packed first full day of camp- starting with our first cabin clean up and chapel! We talked about our theme- Living Waters- and made some awesome skits about various stories in the bible pertaining to water!

In the afternoon we had several activities- both on and off campus! We took a group off campus to Foster Falls to go on a water hike and to go rock climbing.

Those who stayed on campus played some soccer, tye-dyed at arts & crafts, & played at the pool! After activities we had a little free time- so our girls utilized their Eno!

Last night was full of excitement as we had Cabin Olympics- Messy Style! Thanks to Sutton and Nayla for making last night AWESOME- we played games like Dodge Sponge (instead of dodgeball), frozen tshirt swimming relay, a dance competition, and several other messy things. We had so much messy fun and were so grateful for our showers!

Camp 1 Arrives!

Camp 1 arrived yesterday and we are so glad to start our first full week of campers! The bus got here without a hitch! We went through registration, got all of our campers here and it was time for the fun to begin! 

Once everyone got here, we held our swim test. Once everyone passed and our lifeguards went through pool rules we got to have free swim until dinner!

After a wonderful spaghetti dinner, we had our opening Eucharist where we sang, celebrated together, and finally blessed the new votive holder for St. Andrew's Chapel as well as the new counselor rooms on our girls cabins! We cannot thank our builders enough as this space has doubled our capacity for girl campers!

We ended the night with a big game of capture the flag- with glow sticks! It turned out to be so much fun! We are so glad all of these youth are here with us this week and we are looking forward to a whole week of this much fun!

Wrapping Up Pre-Camp!

We had so much fun at CGM wrapping up Pre-Camp! Yesterday started with chapel where we talked about how to fill our own and other people's "buckets"- basically how we should build people up and by doing so we will fill up the invisible bucket on top of their head! We went into arts and crafts, playground time and playing kickball. We finished the morning with some time in the pool, always a fan favorite!

After a big lunch and a nice siesta, we had chapel where we blessed water that we used to remind us of our baptism. 

After chapel we went off campus to either the Fiery Gizzard hike and swimming hole or to Sewanee to adventure around campus. It was a long, fun afternoon that ended with a slip n slide with lots of soap!

Our banquet was a blast as always and we are so grateful for the kitchen lovelies who made a scrumptious dinner of chicken finger, mashed potatoes, green beans and- the best part- a ice cream cone cupcake! Dinner was followed by Eucharist at the Stone Altar which was beautiful! Thank you Lissa Smith for spending time and so much love with CGM this weekend!

 Finally, of course we ended with our carnival! Complete with a candy walk, photo booth, and balloon man we had so much fun celebrating the end of our time together!

Pre-Camp- Day 2!

We had a crazy, busy, fun-filled first day of CGM 2014! We started off with chapel where we talked about water, what it does and how we like to use it. Some of our campers favorite water uses were: throwing it on people, water balloons fights, for water guns, and categories in the pool, but the most popular was swimming. This was until our priest Lissa pointed out that we can get baptized with water, making it a very exciting answer. We made filtration systems to clean dirty water so we can use it for all of these wonderful things!

Next we went on an excursion to Abbo's Alley in Sewanee.There we played a game where we acted like turtles trying to make it to the water and then played in the creek for a bit!

After a good lunch and even better siesta, we came back to chapel and made a well (in the chapel, so no actual digging was involved in this process) and talked about some of the fun stories in the bible about wells. 

For afternoon activities, we spent time at the art barn, playground and pavilion. We painted our nametags, rode the zip line, colored with chalk and played 4 square, just to name a few of the fun things we did!

Tonight we had 2 awesome activities- first we had our first mini Maxon counselor hunt, followed by a bonfire with s'mores and lots of fun-not scary- stories! We are so glad that Pre-Camp had so much fun on their second day here and we are looking forward to all the fun things we will do tomorrow! 

Pre-Camp/Mini Maxons- Day 1!

It's finally here! The time for campers is finally here!

We are so excited that our Mini Maxons arrived tonight safe and sound and jumped right into Camp Gailor-Maxon and all the fun they will have this weekend! We started with building boats in the upstairs chapel- stay tuned as the boats just might be used later this week!

Next we played some awesome games, including Ships and Sailors, Freeze Tag, and of course the fan favorite- Magic Tambourine!

We of course had to sign the Pre-Camp Covenant-

And then finished our exciting night with Compline.

We can't wait for another great day of Pre-Camp excitement tomorrow!

Staff Week: Wrapping it all up!

The last 2 days we have done a lot of hike scouting- including Foster Falls, Greeter Falls, and Shakerag- a brand new one to the camp community! We loved getting to revisit our old favorites and explore new places on this beautiful mountain! Here you can see an awesome jumping picture of Andrew at an overlook on the Shakerag hike!

Yesterday we finished up our programming and then went to Fiery Gizzard with Ranger Jason to review the water holes and to practice our mountain rescue skills. We learned (and for some of us reviewed) how to respond to an emergency and then how to safely carry an injured person out of the woods. We love this activity every year because its a fun way to bond while being productive!

After such a long day, we went to Dr. Gregory's house for dinner. We are so grateful that Dr. Andrew let us use his cabin to hang out, have dinner and sing songs for a little while!

For all of you former staffers, we finished our hard week of work with a little watermelon scramble and had an absolute blast!

We can't wait for all of you to join us over the next few weeks! All of us are ready for our hard work and hours of planning to become a reality!

Staff Week: Day 3

Today we had a whole lot of fun getting a whole lot done. This morning we went scouting a new hike called Bridal Veil Falls- Camp 1 this one will be for you! We were amazed at how beautiful the trail was and really enjoyed being together outside.

In the afternoon we worked on afternoon and evening planning and are really excited that the giant calendar is looking pretty full- which means we get to work on details to make everything even more awesome! Afterwards we took a little fun break on the playground.

With all the excitement we are storing up for the coming weeks we can't wait to see these big beautiful ideas become a reality!

Staff Week: Day 2!

Today was full of creativity and excitement as we put a lot of time and effort into our Chapel planning and afternoon activities! With ideas of new hikes, fun projects, and using our theme of Living Water, we have all kinds of great stuff in the works for our campers (and pre-camp parents!) The giant calendar on the wall starts blank and we are starting to fill it in!

A definite highlight of the day was our "thank you prayer", where we went around the circle and thanked each other for all the wonderful things everyone had done that day. Afterwards, we took this awesome selfie!

For a little exercise we had a game of staff kickball- which was difficult to capture in a picture, but this one catches Cody mid-pitch.

Finally, we went on a late night Sonic run and learned that if you want cookie dough pieces, you have to order the cookie dough blast NOT the cookie dough milkshake!

All in all, it was a great and productive day!

It's here! Staff Week: Day 1

Camp Gailor-Maxon 2014 has officially begun! The staff arrived yesterday at noon and started the planning process right away! Between moving in, discussions about chapel theme, New Zealand night prayer and a bonfire, we had a busy first day!

We can't wait for all of you to join us on the mountain!