Shalom, Arayot Parents!!
This week has been a busy and exciting one to say the least! On Tuesday afternoon, we packed up for our overnight and drove on the bus to a campground near Loon Mountain in New Hampshire. When we got there, we set up our tents and had a nice, homemade BBQ dinner. Our campsite was also near a beautiful lake and the kids got to swim for a while. Unfortunately, we got caught in an intense rain and thunderstorm, and our s’mores-making and night activities had to be postponed. However, the kids handled it with grace, and ended up singing and dancing outside together in the rain before showering and heading to bed. In the morning, we woke up, packed up, and headed to Loon Mountain, a fun ski resort that has amazing rides and adventures during the summer. The kids had the whole day to go around in groups and do the zipline, rock wall, maze, bungee jumping trampoline, explore caves, go on the gondola, and more! They loved it and it was so fun! Afterwards, we headed to the Cascades Water Park on the way back to camp and hung out in the water, which had natural springs, water slides, and drops. It was really fun and a nice end to a fun overnight. We then headed back to camp, as quick as possible, because that night was KTV!
KTV, which stands for Kerem TV, is a camp-wide lip synching competition where each bunk is given a category and must pick a song to lip synch. There are winners for upper and lower camp. However, the kids were supposed to practice their skits during the overnight, but it got rained out. They did an amazing job improving on the spot, however, and ended up with funny skits. The boys did Beauty and the Beast while the girls did She’s So Gone from Lemonade Mouth. It was a hilarious and funny night of watching skits, Kerem videos, fun dances, and more!
Thursday was a normal morning, with chug (elective), kitah (class), and swim. In the afternoon we had prep for Rikuidyah, a camp-wide dance competition. Usually, Rikuidyah and KTV do not happen in the same week, but because of the nine days, we had to squeeze them in right after another. The kids did a great job learning their dance. On Thursday night, they performed their dance, and everyone loved it. It was super fun to perform and funny to watch. Rikudiyah was also live-streamed, so if you didn’t get a chance to watch the Arayot dance and want to check it out, go to the Yavneh Facebook page! Our performance was towards the end of the night.
Friday was another normal morning. In the afternoon, the boys celebrated Ben S.’s birthday (happy birthday!!), while the girls watched Powderpuff. Powderpuff is a camp tradition where the Leviim (14 year old age group) girls play the Maalot (15 year old age group) girls in a flag football game. Younger girls in camp always go to watch and cheer them on. The Arayot girls watched and started taking notes for next year, when they will play!! Afterwards, the whole ayda came together to start assassins, a fun Arayot tradition. In the game, everyone starts with a clothespin that they must wear at all times and that has their name on it. Each person gets assigned another person in the ayda that is their target, and they must say a code word to that person when no one else is around. If so, they get their target out and then move on to a new one. It is a super fun game, where the kids form alliances, walk around in pairs to avoid elimination, and get other campers and counselors involved. It is super fun and everyone in camp was excited when they saw that Arayot had started. The kids absolutely loved the game. Avi S. and Nadav B. were the last two in the game. Last night, Nadav was able to hide behind a building and got Avi out on his walk back to the bunk. So, shoutout to Nadav for winning!!
Friday night and Saturday, we had a nice and relaxing Shabbat and celebrated Jacob G.’s birthday (happy birthday!!). The kids were glad that they got to chill and hang out with one another. On Sunday, we had another normal morning. In the afternoon, the kids had free swim, played tennis baseball (camp game that mixes the two sports), did Omanut (art), and Etgar (rock and climbing wall). At night we had a fun peulat erev (night activity) that the counselors planned, called Erev Roman Empire. The kids were told to come down with sheets and were given a toga wrapping lesson. Then we had three stations: one where they made towers out of spaghetti and tried to make it as tall as possible, a finger fencing competition, and a crown making station. Afterwards, we all went to the gym to play Gladiators, a fun camp made-up game that is a combination of dodgeball, hide and seek, and tag. It’s super fun and it was the first time the boys and girls got to play together this summer! They loved it!
Monday the kids had a normal morning. In the afternoon, the girls are playing Newcomb while the boys are going to play in camp’s brand new Batting Cages! Tonight, the kids are going to tie-dye tzitzit for their Chesed (charity) Project and are going to donate the clothes to camp to have for tefillot in the morning for years to come. They are also going to have another peulah (activity) later in the week (when the tie dye has dried) to learn how to tie the knots onto the tzitzit. We are very excited!
Yesterday was Achla Yom (Trip Day) and the kids went on a hike that has a lake at the top. They hung out and swam at the top and then hiked back down. We were super excited but also sad because this was our last trip day. This last week is filled with a lot of exciting surprises and fun final activities. We are sad that we are so close to the end, but we are so excited to make the most out of these last few days!!
B’ahava (with love),
Amanda and Ethan
