Camp Gailor Maxon

CGM 2012 poster!

2012-01-22T12:03:00.002-06:00

Camp Gailor-Maxon's poster has been published for this camp season! If you would like to share the poster with your friends and others interested in going to CGM, here's a link that has a downloadable poster to share (in pdf format):

http://duboseconferencecenter.org/assets/1391/cgm2012poster.pdf

CGM 2012 Staff Applications!

2011-12-21T22:38:00.001-06:00

Our staff application is live and due February 15th, 2012. You must be 18 or older and have completed at least one year of college to apply. Please contact Kathryn or Cameron at cgm@duboseconferencecenter.org with questions. Thank you!!

Application Link

Camp Three: Saying Goodbye.

2011-07-04T18:23:00.000-05:00

Saturday, we packed up and headed out with our last group of campers for the summer. We said goodbye and handed the campers back over to their parents:

And, with that, we were done for the summer. Another one in the record books, folks.

Camp Three: The Banquet and Carnival.

2011-07-03T19:28:00.000-05:00

Friday night we had our closing banquet, service, and carnival with our Camp Three kids. It was a bittersweet end - a happy time but also knowing that it was their last night. These kids were a blast all week and we were sad to see them go:

The camp kids from Calvary in Memphis:

The St. Philip camp people:

The closing service:

Camp staff:

Siblings at camp:

Silly boys before the carnival:

Games at the carnival - the Sarratts made a CGM Cornhole game for us!!

Peg the counselor (with water balloons) was a fun game!

Miss Edie being silly:

Ball toss with Phil -

Cody as DJ:

Pin the cross on the Mountain:

Dancing the Cupid Shuffle:

More Cupid Shuffle:

After the carnival, we had our bonfire. And what bonfire wouldn't be complete without s'mores? So we make ours in the oven.... they are great that way!

Camp Three: Foster Falls.

2011-07-03T11:28:00.000-05:00

Friday afternoon, we went to Foster Falls, also in the South Cumberland State Park. It was a great opportunity for a hike and a swim.

Here we are about to embark on our hike:

At the overlook:

Hiking:

At the hole:

Our lifeguards - thank you, ladies, for keeping us safe!!

*this picture was taken once all our kids had started to hike back - the people in the water were from another group. When our kids are in the water, our lifeguards are posted and counting/observing at all times.

Camp Three: Rappelling.

2011-07-01T10:17:00.000-05:00

Every week, we've taken the kids rappelling with the park rangers from the South Cumberland State Park. We usually go to Foster Falls and Fiery Gizzard to rappel. Yesterday, we got to take our Camp Three kids. 17 of them chose to rappel, which was a brave thing to do for young kids!

Here's a few of the last group doing their rappelling:

Andrew being silly and demonstrating to the boys that the harness is safe:

Gabe gears up to go:

James is ready!

Gabe descends:

David is next!

We are so lucky to have a great relationship with the South Cumberland State Park rangers - they do so much for us!!

Camp Three: Swimming at the Fiery Gizzard

2011-07-01T09:55:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon we went to the Fiery Gizzard to swim. The Fiery Gizzard is a part of the South Cumberland State Park and is in Tracy City, just a short bus ride away from camp.

We unloaded the bus at the park and started our hike to the water hole:

We stopped at the first hole, unloaded our stuff, and climbed down to the hole.

Camp Three: The Playground.

2011-07-01T09:33:00.000-05:00

Right across from Camp Gailor-Maxon is a really neat playground nestled under a huge canopy of trees. The younger kids love the playground and we've been able to go twice this week. We went yesterday after chapel and it was so much fun:

What fun times!

Camp Three: All Saint's Service

2011-06-30T12:41:00.000-05:00

We finished our fun day in Sewanee with a candlelit service at All Saint's Chapel, the school chapel for the University of the South. We had been talking about Baptismal Covenants in chapel that day and so we renewed our baptismal covenants that night.

Here we are about to go inside the chapel:

Sitting down inside for the service:

Singing:

Renewing our Baptismal Covenant:

More singing:

We ended the night with a trip to the Memorial Cross to sing some silly songs:

Camp Three: Picnic

2011-06-30T11:34:00.000-05:00

After a fun time running around Abbo's Alley, we headed up to University Avenue. We split into two groups - one went to Sweet CeCe's Ice Cream Shop and the other group went to the Bookstore and then we swapped. After a nice time of cooling off and getting some souvenirs, we hit up the playground to play and have a picnic.

Here we are at Sweet CeCes:

And now at the playground for the picnic:

The last stop for the night was All Saints Chapel for a candle-lit service!

Camp Three: Sewanee Day Trip

2011-06-30T09:46:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we spent the whole afternoon and evening in Sewanee. Our first stop was Abbo's Alley, a nature walk in the heart of Sewanee's campus.

We started out at the gazebo and creek:

Some of the girls elected to braid hair in the gazebo:

Boys taking a break from the creek:

More playing in the creek:

After much creek time, we headed on the trail back up to the main road:

We finished up the trail and then were on our way to the next stop- the bookstore and ice cream shop!

Camp Three: Update on the Cross Project

2011-06-30T09:05:00.000-05:00

As I've mentioned before, we took on an art project for the summer. When we met with the Dubose board, they wanted us to think about a piece of "kid-like" art that we could create and put up in Dubose to represent camp's presence.

Charles Houston got creative right away and came up with our Cross Project idea. He took two metal rods, connected them with a piece of wood, and cut wooden blocks for us to decorate for the crosses. It has been an ongoing project this summer and we're almost done (just in time for the end of camp!).

We've got one cross complete (Lincoln is our size reference model here):

Yesterday the kids worked on the blocks for the second cross. Here we are in the art barn:

Painting our blocks -

Blocks drying:

Writing our name on the finished work:

Counselors observe controlled chaos:

And then we were off to our day-trip to Sewanee!

Camp Three: Breakfast.

2011-06-29T13:03:00.000-05:00

I think we must be doing a good job of wearing the kids out - when we put them to bed at lights out, they sack out very quickly. The next morning they still have this zombie-esque look to them. It wears off by the end of breakfast, but it makes for some great amusement in the meantime.

Yum! Hashbrowns and Eggs.

Camp Three: Counselor Hunt

2011-06-29T12:57:00.000-05:00

Our weekly tradition of the Counselor Hunt was not thwarted by the rain - in fact, the skies cleared up a few hours before the hunt began and so we were good to go!

The Counselor Hunt is where the counselors are charged with "crimes" (that the kids write) and the counselors hide on the grounds of camp from the kids. We walk around in groups searching for the counselors. When we find one, they go to "jail" (the pool) and then get thrown in by the group that found them.

Here's Isabel in her hunting gear:

Our counselors before they hid:

Writing the charges:

Two weeks ago, all the girls were found but none of the boys. Last week everyone was found. This week? All the boys were found and none of the girls!! The guys got pushed in by their campers and then Mary Blythe and Jillian happened to be standning too close to the pool and got pushed in as well!!! Silly campers.

Kids will be Kids!

2011-06-29T12:48:00.000-05:00

When life gives you rain, you jump in the puddles. That sure is what our Camp Three kids did last night. It started raining yesterday morning with gusts of wind about 5:50AM and claps of thunder by 6:30AM. It was overcast and rainy all day - we trooped through, getting to go to the pool for a little bit during a break in the rain and having lots of indoor fun in between.

After dinner the skies had cleared up significantly and we were getting ready to do counselor hunt (blog post forthcoming). The kids decided that some good old fashioned puddle jumping was in order, which turned into playing in the mud pit that had formed from the rain. What ensued was just downright fun:

Needless to say, showers were in our future after this fun activity!!!

Camp Three:Family Group Olympics.

2011-06-28T10:30:00.000-05:00

Last night's activity was Family Group Olympics. These are silly games played together in family groups. The groups get points for winning portions of the night - we had races, Minute to Win It games, and Dodgeball. The best part is getting the kids to work together and be a team.

We started out with the relay race - here are the family groups trying to decide who will run the relay:

Starting the relay - Anna is ready, Connor is stretching, Cade is giving Anna advice:

And they are off!

Mid-relay:

Excited about olympics:

Cheering on their friends:

Now for the long-distance...That blur is four boys!

And Grady wins it!

Now on to Minute to Win It games in Family Groups - Shoe Fly Shoe. This is where you kick your shoe and try to get it to land on the table, timed for the fastest time:

Here are our family groups:

Back and waiting to start dodgeball:

Dodgeball!!

Announcing the winners:

Also announced the winner of cabin cleanup - the boys of Cabin 3!!!!

And last, snack and compline before bed:

Camp Three: Swim Test.

2011-06-27T19:27:00.000-05:00

This morning before our trip to the Grundy Lakes, we had our swim test. We had to postpone it last night because of the rain but we got it in right after breakfast. We do the swim test to make sure the lifeguards are aware of everyone's skill level. Mostly, the kids were just excited to be in the pool!

Here we are gathering at the pool:

Treading water:

Right after swim test was over, we hopped on the bus for Grundy Lakes:

And off we went!

Camp Three: Swim Time!

2011-06-27T18:31:00.000-05:00

We've continued to have beautiful weather today so after a fun chapel time focusing on the Creation story, we headed to the playground and then to the pool. We had so much fun swimming.

Tradition: Camp Photos

2011-06-27T17:34:00.000-05:00

Camp Gailor-Maxon has had a tradition of taking a giant camp picture for a long time. Camp started in the 1920's and the earliest picture we have of camp is from 1936. Dubose (our home for Camp Gailor-Maxon) collected all these photos and made a montage of them on the wall of one hallway. It is so neat to look back on our history (did you know that Camp Gailor-Maxon used to be at a state park but one year the water was contaminated and we couldn't come back? We moved to Dubose in the 1940s). There are some differences between then and now (particularly the clothing - kids dressed very nice for the photos back in the 30s-50s) but overall, camp is camp. Different kids, same mission.

Here are some of the photos on the wall:

From the old days -

From the late 90's and early 2000s -

Check out this 1998 picture - your very own camp director (that would be me...) is on the first row, 9th from the left. Back in the day.

And here is last year, with space waiting for this year's photos:

We assembled today for our weekly photo. Here we are in the process of getting ready -

Each camper gets an 8X10 copy of the camp picture to treasure forever!

Grundy Lakes.

2011-06-27T14:06:00.000-05:00

Here on Monteagle Mountain, we are blessed to be right in the middle of beautiful, natural space. We use the South Cumberland State Parks a lot and today we visited the Grundy Lakes Park. The kids got to swim, play on the playground, and fish:

We're loving this weather today. Blue skies, 85 degrees, breezy. Perfect camp weather. Hope you guys are all doing well back home! We're having a blast!

Camp Three is here!!

2011-06-27T13:21:00.000-05:00

Our rising 4th, 5th, and 6th grade age group arrived yesterday. We're so excited about having another group of kids here. It is hard when one age group leaves - it makes us sad and miss the kids, but when another comes it sure does help! Registration started off shaky with ominous skies...

Which quickly turned into pouring rain:

But we soldiered through and soon the skies were clear again:

(Mama Edie Street is here this week as Camp Mom and we couldn't be more excited to have her!!!)

The rain meant swim test was postponed but that didn't stop us from having fun. We had our cabin meetings, played games, had spaghetti dinner, had our opening Eucharist, signed the covenant, met our family groups, had snack, and went to bed TIRED!!!

Traditional first night dinner - spaghetti:

Singing during Eucharist:

The Rev. James Newsom celebrating Eucharist with us:

Signing the covenant (our rules):

Staff Introductions:

A goodnight prayer:

Snack time with new friends:

We're looking forward to an awesome week!!!

Camp Two: Counselor Hunt Silly Style.

2011-06-24T09:11:00.000-05:00

Since the rain had thwarted our plans for counselor hunt on Tuesday, we decided to tack a small counselor hunt on the end of skit night. After a very successful round of talent and skits, the kids went back to their cabins to get in their best "hunting" clothes. We met in the upstairs chapel where rules were explained and charges were made. The counselors were charged with things like "not having the times of their lives," "waking the cabin up too early," and "going back for fifths in the taco bar line".

With mud and puddles being a huge problem, we changed up the hunt a little bit - it was mostly indoors with counselors allowed to be on the perimeter of the buildings as well. This made for more creative hiding spots.

Here are some of the girls, ready for the hunt:

Once the hunt was over and all the counselors were found, we led the prisoners to the Pavilion where their charges were read and they were silly stringed:

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

2011-06-23T15:51:00.000-05:00

So the sun came out. It was glorious. We promptly cancelled siesta and sent the kids outside to play!!! The kids loved soaking up the sun, running around, and playing games. We had a group playing soccer, a group doing arts and crafts, and a group at the pool. After a while, everyone was hot and sweaty and ended up at the pool. It is still sunny so we're doing our service projects right now and then going back out to play some more - thanks for the prayers of clear skies!!

Let the sun shine!!

Camp Two: All Saint's.

2011-06-23T14:27:00.000-05:00

Wednesday night of camp is our All Saint's Evening Prayer service. We go back over to Sewanee to the chapel and have a candlelit service with music, meditation, prayer, and praise. This year we incorporated our chapel program into the service by renewing our Baptismal Covenant. The chapel is a beautiful space and the service is powerful for the campers. The sound of praise and singing echoing in the chapel is memorable.

Camp Two: Taco Bar Night!

2011-06-23T11:49:00.000-05:00

As campers, we have a few favorite meals made by the kitchen lovelies and Taco Bar Night is by far our favorite. Taco Bar Night is always Wednesday night (All Saint's Night) and the routine is changed up a little bit - instead of coming in and sitting down to be called, a line to the Taco Bar is formed at the door based on the winners of the family group competitions from Monday Night (the Chocolate Drops won, in case you were wondering). Also exciting - the counselors sit at staff tables and the kids are on their own for the meal. This is fun for the kids.. a little freedom.

Last night's taco bar did not disappoint. The kids had a lot of fun creating their tacos:

Camp Two: Day Trip to Sewanee.

2011-06-23T10:19:00.000-05:00

Like I mentioned yesterday, we aren't letting the rain slow us down! Yesterday afternoon,we set out for our afternoon in Sewanee. We broke into three groups and rotated through three different outings. The first was a trip to Sweet CeCe's ice cream shop. Sweet CeCe's is new on the Mountain and was opened by an Episcopalian who generously gave us 2 for 1 coupons for our kids. We had a nice time sitting outside, enjoying the lack of rain, and eating our fro-yo:

Second, we went to All Saint's Chapel, which is the chapel for the University of the South. It is a gorgeous gothic-style church and we had fun exploring. We had a little adventure of finding out all All Saint's secrets like the VW bug in the stained glass window.

The last stop on our day trip was to the Sewanee bookstore. We walked around in the quad behind the bookstore for a bit (and found "Gailor Hall," one of the academic buildings - the kids were excited to see a little bit of Camp Gailor-Maxon on Sewanee's campus) and enjoyed being outside before it started pouring again. The kids were able to browse the books and Sewanee merchandise (always a favorite thing to get a souvenir). And don't worry, parents - we restricted the junk food purchases! Let's just say more than one kid thought they'd try to buy an energy drink. Our counselors stood at the register to monitor that!!

All in all, despite the rain, the trip to Sewanee was a hit. The campus is gorgeous, it is a change of pace from camp, and the kids love exploring new territory. And the sun is coming out today so hopefully we'll be back in business for our activities today!

Mail Call!!!

2011-06-22T17:09:00.000-05:00

Camp has little silly traditions here and there, just like any place. One of our traditions is that we deliver mail call in a distinct way - right after lunch while everyone is still in the dining hall sitting down at tables, two counselors go gather the mail from the office, assemble themselves, and then burst through the dining hall doors screaming "MAILLLLL CALLL." It isn't a lunch at camp if the mail call scream cheer isn't done. They then proceed to call out the campers' names. The kids get to read their mail at the table and it is a nice little reminder of home:

If you'd like to send mail to camp, you can send USPS to our PO Box:
(Camper Name) c/o Camp Gailor-Maxon
Dubose Conference Center
PO Box 339
Monteagle, TN 37356

If you'd like to send a package, you can send it Fed Ex or UPS to
(Camper Name) c/o Camp Gailor-Maxon
Dubose Conference Center
635 College Street
Monteagle, TN 37356

If you'd like to email (we print the emails and put them in mail call), email with the camper's name in the subject line to cgm@duboseconferencecenter.org. This is the fastest and easiest way for mail. Usually it takes about 3 days for snail mail to get to us from Memphis and about 2 days from Nashville. Camp Three parents, if you want to send mail now, if it gets here before Camp Three starts we'll pile it for the first day.

Under my Umbrella.

2011-06-22T13:37:00.000-05:00

So it is still raining. Luckily, we're taking it in stride and are still able to go to Sewanee like we had planned - just not do the outdoors things. This morning two of our counselors braved the elements to go inspect for cabin cleanup:

Alex says "hmm... that isn't going to work."

Lizzy says "it's raining, it's pouring!"

About to trek down to the cabins, clipboard and golden dustpan in hand. What dedication! We've had storms off and on today but it isn't going to cramp our style - we're still going to Sewanee this afternoon! Here's to indoor fun.

Camp Two: Breakfast.

2011-06-22T13:32:00.000-05:00

Hello, again, from Camp Gailor-Maxon! While it is not sunny, it isn't storming so we're thankful for that. This morning (like every morning) we started off our day in the dining hall for breakfast at 8AM on the dot. It is quite humorous to compare the decibel difference between a breakfast meal and a dinner meal in the dining hall. We're all a little zombie like at breakfast:

Our routine is that we take turns getting our food - you can either be called to the window (to get the main meal) or to the cereal bar (to get your cereal, fruit, milk, etc). During meals we have what is called a "deacon." The deacon of the table is the one who comes early to the meal with their family group, sets out the drinks, and then after the meal clears the table of the salt, pepper, etc and wipes the table down.

Here's a few shots from our breakfast today:

Toasting our OJ to you all back at home!

It's raining, It's pouring.

2011-06-21T20:41:00.000-05:00

I don't know what the weather has been like for you guys today, but around here it has been storming. The storms rolled in around 5 (just in time for us to be out of the pool and back in our cabins) and didn't stop until about 7:30 (but we hear more are coming).

While these aren't severe storms, we've got a plan in place were severe weather to happen and it was a good chance for us to talk through those plans (getting kids to safer spots if severe weather hit). We're grateful that we just had a lot of thunder and lightening.

The weather did put a damper on our plans for counselor hunt tonight. Instead, we gathered all the kids in the Downstairs Chapel and played games and now we're watching "Tangled," a cute Disney movie (that the guys are actually equally excited about).

The first game we played was called "Magic Tambourine." Basically there is a "tambourine" that someone holds in the center of the circle. When the music starts, they start dancing and grab someone else to form a chain - that person grabs the next and so on. When the first person wants to, they drop the tambourine and the music stops - everyone runs back to a seat and then the last one standing gets to start the next round:

One of the cool things about magic tambourine is that sometimes someone decides to let the song play long and the whole camp ends up dancing (see the picture above).

In addition to Magic Tambourine, we also taught the CGM Line Dance. This is a recent tradition for Camp Gailor-Maxon, done to the song "Everybody Dance Now," a Jock Jams favorite.

Looking at tomorrow's forecast, it seems more rain is in our future but luckily tomorrow is a mostly indoor day so we'll hope for the best!

Camp Two: Tie-Dye Tuesday!

2011-06-21T16:06:00.000-05:00

Today at Camp Gailor-Maxon we experienced an impromptu "Tie-Dye" explosion amongst the campers. A group of campers all realized they brought a tie-dye article of clothing and decided to wear them together today. The dining hall this morning was bright and colorful:

(and I do have to admit that Bryan wasn't too excited to take a picture with a bunch of girls - but what a trooper!, aren't they the cutest?)

Art Project.

2011-06-21T15:55:00.001-05:00

When the Dubose board met in early June, the camp committee talked about making some camp artwork that we could hang on the grounds to show our impact and presence in this place. Camp Gailor-Maxon takes place on the grounds of Dubose Conference Center and so it is the physical "home" of CGM. So many kids think of this place as their home away from home, and one camper last week described it as her "heaven on Earth." We love Dubose and want to show them how much the center means to us.

Of course, when we started talking about an art project, we realized we had JUST the man to implement this project - Charles Houston Beaumont, III, our co-director. CHB is an artist by trade and has amazing skills. He came up with a plan and design and was off cutting wood and gathering supplies..

The project is to make two giant crosses - with center pieces that say Camp Gailor-Maxon and then have the kids decorate the wooden blocks to make the arms of the cross. He took metal rods and created a cross and then drilled holes through each wood block to thread them onto the rods.

After Camp One, we have three arms done on one - by Camp Three we will have two complete crosses!

Camp Two: Afternoon Activities

2011-06-21T11:01:00.000-05:00

We're having so much fun here at Camp Gailor-Maxon this week! After a busy morning of breakfast, clean-up, chapel, lunch, and Siesta, we broke off into our afternoon activity groups. We sent one group rappelling at the Fiery Gizzard with the park rangers, one group hiked and swam in the Fiery Gizzard, and one group stayed on campus to do arts and crafts, play on the awesome playground, and then played indoor games in the downstairs chapel to cool off.

Here's the group heading off campus:

While our off-campus crew got rugged and dirty, our group on campus went about painting in the art-barn:

Here's to fun summer afternoons at Camp Gailor-Maxon!

Camp Two: Ships and Sailors

2011-06-21T10:09:00.000-05:00

We play a lot of silly games around here. One of our favorites is called Ships and Sailors. Basically there are commands that are called out and the kids get in their groups to do them - such as "three men rowing" and "five men pointing North." It gets the kids to meet other campers and mix and match up their groups. There are silly commands like "barnacle", which is where you run to the wall and cling yourself to it, and "beached whale," where you get on the ground and flail your arms. "Captain's Coming" is a lot like Simon Says (you can't do anything else until the command "at ease" is said).

It is quite silly and fun and we love it - here are some shots from yesterday's game:

Camp Two: The Quest for the Golden Dustpan.

2011-06-21T09:54:00.000-05:00

Every morning after breakfast the kids go down to the cabins for cabin clean-up. They sweep, make beds, take out trash, and more - all working towards the "inspection" of cabins. The cleanest cabin (judged during morning chapel) wins the coveted Golden Dustpan, bragging rights, and the first to sign up for afternoon activities. Yesterday, the Cabin 6 girls won cabin cleanup (it was a close race - only a candy wrapper stood between Cabin 5 Left side and Cabin 6).

Alex took his job as inspector very seriously -

Alex announcing the cabin results -

Cabin 6 girls with the GOLDEN DUSTPAN -

Camp Two: Signing the Covenant.

2011-06-21T08:31:00.000-05:00

One of the first night traditions of camp is to go over the rules - practical, yes? Well we have a thing called the "Covenant." The covenant lists all the camp rules and the staff reads them over. The covenant has a long space at the bottom for people to sign. We use the same covenant for years until we have to make a new one, adding paper on the end. This particular covenant was made circa 2008:

Every camp needs rules - why not make it kind of fun?

Mama K!

2011-06-20T16:45:00.000-05:00

Today we welcomed someone very special back into our community after a trip to Texas for a very important reason. Our Camp Chaplain, Kira Schlesinger, graduated from Vanderbilt Divinity School and was ordained into the transitional deaconate in Texas. She will reside in Nashville where her husband is in his residency for anesthesiology and has a few things in the works for her ministry. We missed Kira (now our Mama K) over the weekend but are so happy for her (and glad to have her back!):

Camp One: Science Experiment.

2011-06-20T16:41:00.000-05:00

For the kids that choose to stay on campus, we have a host of afternoon activities to choose from. We do three blocks of time, with activities like arts and crafts, pool, playground, and more. One of the activities we've added in sometimes is Science Experiment. Much like it sounds, the counselors look up cool science experiments online and let the kids do them. Last year was Mentos and Diet Coke, this year was making green slime:

Nothing like good, clean, wholesome fun!!

Camp Two: Opening Eucharist.

2011-06-20T16:26:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was the first day of Camp Two! This is our middle school age group and is our largest of the four camps with 47 campers. Everyone arrived excited and ready to go yesterday. We started with swim test after moving in, then had free swim, then ate dinner (spaghetti, of course), and had our Opening Eucharist.

Our priest this week is from the Diocese of West Tennessee - James Newsom, a parishioner at Grace St. Luke's and the chaplain of St. George's Independent School's urban campus. James is a part of our camp family, as his children all went to camp and then last year he was finally able to join us, since his youngest had graduated from camp. James plays the guitar and has a real connection with young people.

We also have another special guest with us this week, a volunteer by the name of Dr. Andrew. Dr. Andrew is also a returning volunteer and serves as our "camp doc." He attends St. George's in Nashville and works at Vanderbilt. He is generous in giving his time to be with us. He plays the guitar and so you'll see him in our pictures of the music team this week.

The Opening Eucharist was the perfect way to set the tone for the week and kick off the session. Here are some more pics:

Special Visitors to Camp.

2011-06-20T15:55:00.000-05:00

It seems to be that every year, there is some sort of animal or two that make their way into our hearts here at camp. Last year, it was Maxon, the adorable puppy found in Sewanee and rescued by Meredith Gardial, former camper and counselor (and by the way - Meredith reports Maxon is doing GREAT and is loving his life).

This year we've got a few animals capturing the attention of the kids. The first is sort of humorous - a rabbit. Camp sits on a large expanse of land in the country and so naturally, wildlife is around us. There is a bunny that has taken residence near Cabin 1 and so the boys have decided to try to catch the rabbit. So far, there hasn't been any luck (and won't be - that rabbit is way too smart) but it has been quite funny to watch them!

The other two animals we've been loving on this week are much more domestic:

Meet Hoss and Ginger, Charles Houston's two puppies. They are staying off campus with the woman that rescued them but when Charles Houston's fiance (Lane!!) comes in town, the babies come for visits - and the kids wear them out playing with them:

Camp Traditions: Compline

2011-06-20T14:26:00.000-05:00

One of our camp traditions is doing compline before bedtime as our good-night prayer. We circle up, pass out the compline sheets, and end our night in the good ole' Episcopal liturgical fashion. As we grow up through the camps, there is something comforting in hearing the words "Keep watch, dear Lord, over those who work and weep this night" and "Lord you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised."

Camp One: Coffee House

2011-06-20T10:25:00.000-05:00

Thursday nights of camp are dedicated to laughter, talent, and sharing. We host our annual "Coffee House," which is an intertwining of cabin skits, singing, dancing, all sorts of talents, and more, hosted by counselors in a comedy routine like sketch. This year did not disappoint. Alex and Phil were newscasters, delivering "breaking news" to camp, using all the jokes of the week like "sitting under trees" and "snorking."

We had a great display of talent - here are just a few shots from the evening:

Cabin 1's skit - a take on Rebecca Black's Friday:

Grace, Kenneth, Molly, and Jake singing "Good Riddance" to the seniors:

Camp One: Counselor Hunt.

2011-06-17T11:17:00.000-05:00

One of the favorite night activities (well, lets face it - they are actually all our favorites) is Counselor Hunt. The counselors dress in all black and go hide all over campus. While they are hiding, the kids come up with "charges" for the counselors (usually jokes from the week, things like "waking us up either too early or too late, never on time" or "for loving Justin Bieber too much"). The kids then go hunt the counselors, looking all over campus for them. When the counselor is found, they are taken by the kids to the pool area and "wait trial." Those who aren't found emerge from their hiding spot once the bell rings to sound the end of the hunt. Those that are found are "guilty" and get pushed in the pool by the group that found them and those that are not found are "innocent."

This year all four girls were found and all five boys were not. The girls got pushed in:

Jillian, standing trial-

The kids, watching -

Jani getting pushed in -

Andie getting pushed in-

The ones that got away -

Chapel Program - the Living Church

2011-06-16T16:21:00.000-05:00

Our Chaplain this year is a Texas native, Kira Schlesinger, who just graduated from Vanderbilt Divinity School and is being ordained to the transitional deaconate on Saturday in Texas. Kira has prepared the chapel program for us this summer based upon the church as a living unit made up of people (community, congregants), as opposed to the "church" being simply a building or an organization. We've been studying the past, present, and future of the church. Here are a few of the results from Camp One's experience with the chapel program:

Our Living Church -

Church History timeline adjoining our personal church history timelines:

The Body of Christ (looking at the varied talents of members of the church community and coming together to form the body of Christ) -

Camp Stuff: Singin' songs.

2011-06-16T11:41:00.000-05:00

One of the big parts of camp is the music. We sing all sorts of songs - spiritual, silly, popular, new, old. We sing during the chapel program in the morning, during night activities, during Eucharists and other worship, on the bus, and more. Our music team does an amazing job of facilitating this:

(Jani, Cody, and Jillian during the opening Eucharist of Camp One)

Here's the Camp One kids singing "Prince of Peace," one of our favorites:

Camp One: Cookies!

2011-06-15T17:55:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-06-14T19:25:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-14T10:45:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-13T12:05:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-12T20:43:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-12T15:43:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-12T09:27:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-06-10T10:22:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-06-07T08:01:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-06-04T13:50:00.000-05:00

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!!

2011-06-03T13:04:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-02T14:48:00.000-05:00

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!

Camp Staff: Andrew Street

2011-05-31T12:18:00.000-05:00

Meet Andrew:

Andrew Street is returning as a second-year staffer for Camp Gailor-Maxon. Andrew is from Memphis and graduated from St. George's Independent School in Collierville before heading down to Birmingham-Southern College, where he is a rising junior. Andrew is outdoorsy and loves to climb. He is worldly in his views and supports the Invisible Children movement for Ugandan child soldiers. Andrew is one of our resident Mountain experts, having spent 3 years here in Sewanee while his father was in seminary.

Camp Staff: Andie Scott

2011-05-27T17:12:00.000-05:00

Meet Andie:

Our next staff intro is Andie Scott. Andie is a second year staffer who just graduated from Ithaca College (hence the picture above). Andie is from Nashville and is currently interviewing and applying for programs and graduate schools to continue her successful training for her future. Andie is known for being kind-hearted, dedicated, and a giver. Another thing Andie is known for is her abilities as a contortionist - she was in the circus at her school!

Camp Staff: Alex Hoelscher

2011-05-25T20:13:00.000-05:00

Meet Alex:

Meet Alex. This is his third year on staff and he is the force behind our amazing camp promotional video. It makes sense that the video is awesome because Alex is a Media Arts Major at Montana, studying Digital Video Production. Alex is from Murfreesboro, TN originally but makes the trek across the greater US for school bi-annually. Along the way, he likes to take photographs - another talent of his is photography. Alex is well known for his maturity, dry sense of humor, and dedication to Camp Gailor-Maxon.

Camp Staff: Jani Sarratt

2011-05-24T18:27:00.000-05:00

Meet Jani!

(pictured above - board member and camp alum, Christy Beesley, camper Carter, and Jani on the far right, doing the CGM Line Dance).

Jani Sarratt is a rising junior at Auburn University (War Eagle!). A native of Franklin, TN, Jani attends St. George's Episcopal Church. Jani is head lifeguard and on the music team for Camp Gailor-Maxon. A fun fact about Jani is that she gets to celebrate her birthday at camp every year!

Camp Staff: Hans Bauer

2011-05-18T16:26:00.001-05:00

Meet Hans Bauer, the third staff member we're introducing in this countdown to camp. Hans is from Memphis and attends the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where he is a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, studies Geography, and hangs out with his cat, Sadie. Hans takes pride in his German heritage and is ruggedly outdoorsy. He loves the sport of Lacrosse and also boasts that he was into the Memphis Grizzlies before they were big. Hans will be leading outdoor recreation this summer.

Camp Staff: Jillian Smith

2011-05-15T12:17:00.000-05:00

The next staff member to get her intro is the one and only Jillian Smith. Jillian is serving her second year on camp staff. She hails from Smyrna, TN and is a rising junior at University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana. She is a history major and spent this last semester abroad in England (with all sorts of fun travels over Europe during the course of the semester). Jillian is one of our lifeguards for the summer and also serves on the music team.

Camp Staff: Phil George

2011-05-11T17:02:00.000-05:00

Today, we start the first of our staff introductions. We'll be unveiling the staff here on the blog with bios. First off:

Meet Phil. Philip George is a Germantown native, congregant at St. George's Episcopal Church in Germantown, and attends the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. There he is a rising junior studying Environmental Engineering. Phil is eco-conscious and avoids high fructose corn syrup. He enjoys a good frisbee and has an uncanny vocal similarity to Robert Goulet. On a hot day, you might find him eating pistachio ice cream.

19 days until Staff Week starts (and thus the start of Camp Gailor Maxon 2011!) Check back tomorrow for another staff sneak peek.

Giveaway!

2011-05-09T19:59:00.000-05:00

Hey there camp fans! Camp is right around the corner and the countdown has started. In order to celebrate the start of Camp Gailor-Maxon 2011, we've arranged a little giveaway. Here's the deal:

We have four of our aluminum BPA free water bottles to give away - your choice of color (blue or green):

So, you say you want to win one of these CGM water bottles? Follow the directions below:
1) Go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Camp-Gailor-Maxon/200102083359722?ref=ts and "like" Camp Gailor-Maxon's facebook page

2) Now that you've "liked" us, post a status about CGM, tagging us (you do this by doing an @ symbol and typing Camp Gailor-Maxon and a box shows up that is our page and you click on it to tag us). This status can be anything about CGM, like that you've registered for camp, that you miss camp, your favorite memory, etc.

3) Once you've done 1 & 2, come back here and comment that you've liked and commented. That will be your entry for the giveaway. In order to qualify, we need to know who you are, so make sure to leave your name on the comment!

This giveaway will run until May 15th (which is the last day to register for camp without the late fee). On the 16th, we'll run the numbers through a random number generator and announce our winners! You'll need to email us shipping info (we'll take care of shipping charges) or if you want it to be a gift for your camper, tell us their name and they will get it at registration.

Oh and by the way - love these water bottles and worried you won't win one? You can always buy them ($15). If you are a camper/have a camper, we'll deliver during registration. If you're just a camp enthusiast, we'll mail it to you with a small shipping fee. Email us at cgm@duboseconferencecenter.org for more info!!

21 days until the start of Staff Week and Camp Gailor-Maxon 2011!!!

Kickoff to Camp: Countdown

2011-05-08T16:38:00.000-05:00

Well, folks... believe it or not, Camp Gailor-Maxon 2011 is almost here!!! We're 22 days away from staff week, 25 days away from Pre-Camp, 34 days away from Camp I, 42 days away from Camp II, and 50 days away from Camp III!

In the spirit of kicking off our countdown to camp, we're going to be doing some special things on the blog in the coming weeks. We'll be announcing our counselors, highlighting each counselor, giving you guys previews of the activities, and more.

But today, the first day of our Kick-Off, we are excited to announce that we will be hosting a giveaway. That's right - tomorrow we will post a link with instructions on how to win some FREE camp stuff! Check back tomorrow, Monday May 9th, for more information.

Camp parties!

2011-01-19T21:37:00.000-06:00

Want to learn more about Camp Gailor Maxon? Want to show off CGM to your friends? Come to one of our camp parties! Co-directors Kathryn Jasper and Charles Houston Beaumont,III will be there, along with veteran campers and some of our summer staff!

Memphis area: February 27th at the Holt Family's house, hosted by the Holt Family and co-hosted by the Mathes family. 2-4pm, 5356 Glade View in East Memphis

Nashville area: March 6th from 2-4 at the Sarratt Family's house in Franklin, TN - 2701 Longwood Drive

Hope to see you there!

Welcome to the Camp Gailor Maxon blog!

2011-01-01T11:58:00.000-06:00

Greetings from Camp Gailor Maxon! You've found our camp blog, where we journal our daily life at CGM. During the summer sessions, we post each day with pictures and stories from that day. If you scroll through the site, you will see a glimpse into the daily life of CGM. If you're new, you might want to start by reading about CGM here and then visiting our virtual tour here. Our dates for Summer 2011 are posted to the right and if you want an e-mailed or snail mailed copy of our 2011 Camper Application as soon as it comes out (so you get the early bird discount!), sign up for our mailing list (also to the right).

Camping Registration Season begins!

2011-01-01T04:05:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!! As of today, January 1st, our online registration system is up and running for all camps, Pre-Camp through Camp III. Go to http://duboseconf.or/applicationsandforms and register your camper. You pay a $250 deposit online through our secure server, then we send you a bill for the rest of your total, payable by the beginning of camp. We are very excited about the online registration, as we believe it will be easy for our camp families to register their campers online.

Deadlines:
-Register by March 15th and receive our Early Bird Discount (-$25)
- Register by May 15th to avoid late fee ($75 for registrations after May 15th)

We are continuing the referral discount program again this year - $50 off the returning camper's fees for EACH new camper they refer!

We are looking forward to seeing you at Camp Gailor Maxon 2011

- Charles Houston and Kathryn

Camp Three: The End

2010-07-03T12:06:00.000-05:00

Today brought the end of Camp Three and the end of Camp Gailor Maxon 2010. What a summer. Truly the "Best Year Ever." We saw a lot of changes and improvements, a lot of new faces, and a lot of fun. Saying goodbye today was very hard.

Goodbye cabin

Goodbye friends

Goodbye bus

Goodbye Kitchen Lovelies, Goodbye Magic Bars, Goodbye Tie-Dye, Good Bye Country Roads, Goodbye Fiery Gizzard, Goodbye CAMPGAILORMAXON HOW DO WE FEEL, Goodbye golden dustpan, Goodbye yellow school bus, goodbye four square, goodbye bonfire, goodbye family groups,
goodbye campers,

goodbye staff.

Camp Three: Banquet, Eucharist, Carnival

2010-07-02T22:29:00.001-05:00

Tonight was the final night of Camp Three. We had our banquet, Eucharist, and a Carnival.

Banquet:

We had two camp birthdays this week, Grant on Tuesday and Natasha tomorrow. Here's Natasha with the cake the kitchen lovelies made her:

The Eucharist:

The Carnival:

The loot:

The DJ:

Camp Three: Skit Night/Coffee House

2010-07-01T21:21:00.000-05:00

Thursday night is always our version of a talent show, Skit Night and Coffee House. Every cabin does a skit and then whoever wants to sign up to perform for Coffee House can do so as well. This year we had a lot of different acts from our camp three kids:

Cabin 6 Skit - Mini Montana

Cabin 2 Skit - Counselor Impressions

Cabin 5 Skit - Class revolt against teacher

Coffee House Acts:
Gracie Singing

Ramzi and David singing

Julia performing "Not So Magic Magic"

Rachel singing (with Cody on guitar)

Lizzy and Jani singing

Mia singing

Bitsy juggling

Caroline singing

Evelyn and Hannah doing a skit

Maggie singing

Camp Three: Sewanee Trip

2010-07-01T09:55:00.000-05:00

We always take a trip into our neighbor town, Sewanee, to visit the University of the South campus. For Camp Three, we also included a picnic dinner. We got to Sewanee, went in the bookstore so the kids could get little things, and then sat out on the lawn for a picnic. Afterwards, we went into Sewanee's chapel, All Saints, for an Easter Vigil service. Wednesday of our chapel program was Holy Week and Thursday is Easter, so a condensed Easter Vigil was perfect for the Wednesday night service.

After our service, we went to the War Memorial Cross at Sewanee that has a gorgeous overlook. We sang lots of songs!

A little explanation for above: at All Saints there is a seal in the entrance and you are not to step on it, so we make a big deal of it and put "guards" there.

Renewing our Baptismal Covenant at the font in All Saints

Overlook at the Cross

Most of the staff (missing: Jani, Lizzy, Charles Houston)

Our awesome JCs for the week, Will, Nayla, Mary Blythe, and Winn.

Camp Three: Water Day

2010-07-01T08:32:00.000-05:00

Wednesday was Water Day for Camp Gailor Maxon. We set up our giant slip and slide on the hill and let the kids go for it. We then went over to the pool for a little cool off time:

Camp Three: Lent Day in Chapel

2010-06-29T18:04:00.001-05:00

We've been going through the liturgical calendar here at Camp Gailor Maxon. We started on the first night of Camp Three with Advent. The kids learned about the season of preparation and made homemade advent wreaths:

Today we progressed on to Lent. We focused on the idea of making space for God through the actions of our lenten disciplines. We started out with some songs:

We then saw a skit by the counselors:

And then went to family groups for discussion and creation of our Alleluias, which we buried after family group to symbolize the omission of the Alleluia.

In the afternoon, we stayed on campus and went to the playground, pool, and did arts and crafts:

Camp Three: Rappelling

2010-06-28T21:34:00.000-05:00

Today we took the campers to the Fiery Gizzard. While some of the group hiked, 12 of the campers signed up to go with the Park Ranger to rappell. Afterwards, all the campers met up at the water hole to swim!

Camp Three: The First Night

2010-06-28T10:12:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the arrival of our last session for the summer - our Camp Three kids! We started off with a successful registration, followed by the annual swim test. After a spaghetti dinner, we proceeded to the downstairs chapel for our Opening Eucharist and introductions:

During introductions, it became clear that the favored SEC schools were UT and Bama - whenever a counselor would say they went to one of those schools, the little ones would either cheer or boo as the case may be. The allegiances start young with these ones.

After introductions, we learned about the rules of camp with our covenant, which the kids all signed:

After appropriately learning that "shut up" is a bad word, that shoes are on your feet for a reason, and other fun covenant rules, the kids were introduced to their family group leaders (our family groups are mountain ranges this week) and went off to learn about Advent.

Camp Two: Final Eucharist

2010-06-27T17:47:00.000-05:00

Friday brought us the end of Camp Two. After a fun afternoon of swimming, soccer, and "science experiments" (Diet Coke and Mentos), we prepared ourselves for the festivities of the night.

The campers could pick whether they wanted to set up banquet or plan the Eucharist. The campers that planned the Eucharist could pick readings, songs, and sign up to play a role in the service.

The evening started with the Final Banquet:

After the banquet, we went to the downstairs chapel for our service:

Pictured above is Dr. Andrew Gregory and his daughter, Sarah Frances. We were so lucky as to have Dr. Andrew volunteer his time as our "Camp Doc" for the week. He is an amazing man who played guitar, ran around with the kids, and helped out with injuries. We are so appreciative of him!

Our awesome JCs for the week were Martha, Callie, Neil, and Hannah (above).

Siblings Fin and Jani Sarratt after the Closing Eucharist.

Camp Two: Skit Night/Coffee House

2010-06-27T17:35:00.000-05:00

Thursday night of Camp Two was our annual skit night. Each cabin prepared a skit, with individual acts interspersed between the skits. Our emcees, Alex and Phil, were news anchors this week, with the news show "CGM News". Reports included the local skittle outage at the Canteen, the triumph of Cabin One in the quest for the Golden Dustpan, and the fact that our camp puppy for the week, Maxon, had defeated the Wolfin.

Our individual acts at Coffee House were excellent and really allowed the campers to showcase their talents.

Camp Two: Day of Service

2010-06-27T17:24:00.000-05:00

One of the groups for our weekly Day of Service went to the local nursing home to do crafts with the residents. We allow the campers to choose their service project and these campers felt called to serve the elderly of our community. It was a special time.

Camp Two: Sewanee Day Trip

2010-06-24T10:16:00.000-05:00

While half the camp was swimming at the Res, the other half of camp went to Sewanee and played all afternoon. We hung out in the quad, played frisbee, climbed trees, went to the playground, and browsed the bookstore.

Camp Two: On-Campus Afternoon

2010-06-23T16:51:00.000-05:00

For afternoon activities, the campers always have a choice of where they go for the older camps. Yesterday, there were two off campus trips and an on campus choice. The kids on campus tie-dyed and went to the pool. It was a great day for it, as it was hot!

Camp Two: Games

2010-06-22T21:37:00.000-05:00

We've got a few games we always play with the campers: Do you love your neighbor and Magic Tambourine are two favorites. Large group games are just one of those camp traditions.

Today the campers played Do You Love Your Neighbor in the pavilion before lunch:

Camp Two: Foster Falls

2010-06-22T21:14:00.000-05:00

We're in the swing of things for Camp II, our middle age camp. We've already started forming friendships and having "the time of our lives" this week.

Monday we took a trip to Foster Falls. A group went rock climbing while another group hiked to the water hole:

Our bus arriving at the hike

The view from the top of the falls:

A camper scaling the rocks:

The swimming group waiting to jump in:

We are so lucky to be surrounded by God's creation in the state parks and to have the park rangers lead us in these activities! We had a lot of fun.

Camp One: Best Year Ever

2010-06-22T14:36:00.000-05:00

And now, for the final post of Camp I....

Our theme this year was "Best Year Ever." And it truly was. As we journeyed from Advent to Lent, through Easter and Pentecost to Ordinary Time, we formed friendships and grew together as the week progressed.

Our tradition for the final night is to have a Banquet, Final Eucharist, and Dance. We say goodbye in style:

Campers and staff from St. Philip:

Our Final Eucharist includes a lot of music. We've had a great music team this year:

The final Eucharist is always a good opportunity for kids to get involved in the service:

Camp One: Skit Night and Coffee House

2010-06-22T14:07:00.000-05:00

It is a camp tradition for each cabin to do a skit for the second to last night of camp. For the older camps, we also do a talent-show style "Coffee House" where the kids can display their skills. For Camp One, there were 17 acts to Coffee House. Singing, piano, guitar, rapping, we had it all. Here are some memories from Camp One's Skit Night:

Our hosts for the night were Alex and Phil:

There is always a running theme for the skit night that the counselors come up with. This year for Camp One, the running skit was that it was a telethon for various made up charities. The best part of these skits are the inside jokes that form over the week of camp. Everyone always has a great time with it.

The cabins did their skits:

And then we had Coffee House:

Camp One: Foster Falls

2010-06-22T13:22:00.000-05:00

With our first two camps, we take a hike into Foster Falls. One group rock climbs while another swims at the falls. Here are the pictures from last week's trip:

Camp One: Rappelling and Swimming

2010-06-22T13:11:00.000-05:00

We take each camp rappelling in the Fiery Gizzard with the park rangers. It is a good challenge for the kids. There's also a group that goes swimming in Fiery Gizzard as well.

Here's Camp One's trip to the Fiery Gizzard last week:

Camp Two: Group Photo

2010-06-21T14:00:00.001-05:00

Well, we've started Camp Two! The campers arrived yesterday. We took our group photos this morning:

Camp One: Day of Service

2010-06-21T11:10:00.000-05:00

Part of our mission as Christians is service. At CGM, we try to live out our mission by implementing a Day of Service during our camp session. In the morning during chapel we read reflections on why service is a part of our duty. Then, in the afternoon, the campers get to choose one of three service projects to work on. We reflect on this experience and the kids are able to grow because of it.

This year, our Day of Service is sponsored by the Diocese of Tennessee. Thanks to a generous grant, we were able to completely fund all three projects so these campers could engage in service. The three projects are Arts and Crafts with the local nursing home, creek clean up in the South Cumberland State Park, and grounds maintenance at Dubose (CGM's home).

There are more pictures to come but here are the pictures from the third group, the grounds maintenance. Camp Gailor Maxon and Dubose Conference Center are almost synonymous to us here and we felt it was important to give back to the place that provides a home for our camp. There are benches all over the grounds that our campers use for family group discussions, hanging out, and taking breaks during activities. These benches needed a little upkeep so the kids sanded and scraped the old paint off and painted them a fresh white: