Week 1 Lip Dub

Campers and Counselors of week 1 take on the YouTube trend and create their own Lip Dub. Watch The Pines Catholic Camp’s first lip dub to “Stuck Like Glue” by Sugarland.

 

Meet Ben Walther!

Ben Walther is a worship leader who will be joining us for hapPINESs during Week 4, Teen Week. Below is an interview in which Ben shares his plans for his time at camp!

Theme Week, Theme Week, Theme Week

Drum Roll Please…… What most of you have been waiting for…..

SUMMER 2011 THEME WEEKS!

Week 1: To Infinity and Beyond

Buzz Lightyear’s infamous quote from the Movie the Toy Story is now The Pines Catholic Camp’s weeks 1 theme. Think of Astronauts, galaxies, space travel, the future all rolled into one big space exploration adventure.

Week 2: Aloha

“Aloha Ohana!” We all wish for that summer vacation to Hawaii… well this year you don’t have to go far. During week 2, we will all be beach bums playing the sand that is Big Sandy. Rack your surfboards, practice your hula, and lather up in sunscreen cause we are headed to Hawaii my friends. Aloha! 

Week 3: Technology Take Over

Cellphones, PSP’s, i-pods, etc. are not allowed at camp but during Week 3, the theme team will be consumed with technology as they try to escape technology overload. I am sure there will be plenty of YouTube references and App games as we all overcome “search overload”.

Week 4: Cowboys vs. Aliens

What else do I need to say…. Horses vs. UFO’s? Lasers vs. rifles? Wild West vs. outer space? Country drawl vs. exolinguistics (yes, alien language)? I guess we will have to wait till Week 4 to see which comes out on top… I’ll be cheering for the cowboys.

Week 5: Wizard of Oz

“We’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of oz…” Week 5 will celebrate the wonderful, spectacular, Top Ten Movie of all time, The Wizard of Oz. Whether you are a fan of Dorothy, The Cowardly Lion, or those scary flying monkeys, be prepared to follow the yellow brick road down to the land of Oz.

Week 6: Summer Movie Madness

Can we just discuss all the Awesome movies that are coming out this summer: Kung Fu Panda 2, Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Green Lantern, Cars 2, Smurfs, Harry Potter… just to name a few. Whether you make it to the movies or not this summer, you will get to experience all the madness of these summer movies during Week 6.

Week 7: Cartoon Craziness

Favorite Saturday past time: 8-11 am watching cartoons on TV. From ages 4 to 64, everyone remembers their favorite cartoons. From Spongebob Squarepants to Bugs Bunny to Mickey Mouse, you better get caught up on your favorite episodes and come enjoy a week of laughter during Cartoon Craziness!

Week 8: Holy Cruise Line 

Ahoy! We will set sails on the open seas to visit the Vatican. We will have fun in the sun as our cruise director plans lots of activities for the trip. It’s a long journey over a vast ocean, let’s hope we don’t turn into the camp version of Gilligan’s Island…

Week 9: Wild about Jesus

“Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!” Ok, yes this quote is from our Week 5 theme: Wizard of Oz, but as we begin our Safari adventure, I am sure we will be seeing lots of Lions, and Tigers, and Bears! But as long as we got Jesus by our side, we ain’t scared.

 

*Theme Weeks is how we at The Pines, pull together our night activities. Each night campers will indulge in a skit and game that coincide with the theme. Each week our wonderful and talented counselors create a team theme, that create the games that will be played that week. One night activity we always partake in is a dance. The counselors will be dressed up in “theme attire” and invite all campers to bring anything from home (decorations, costumes) that fit the theme for you to wear.*

Spring Cleaning

Spring has Sprung and we have begun work on cleaning up camp for the summer. The past two weeks, we have been graciously visited by two volunteer groups who have helped improve many of our facilities. We would first like to Thank a group of college students from Colorado who came during their spring break road trip and helped pull up carpet from the female staff house. We would also like to Thank St. Ann’s Adult mission group in Coppell. In one weekend, this group was able to lay tile down in the Barrett Building (which replaced old carpet), lay wood floor in the female staff house, and begin creating a deck in front of the camp store. It has been wonderful to have these groups out at camp to continue to improve our facilities. See pictures below.

Also in the works, Luke Richardson, is completing his Eagle Scout project at camp through building a retaining wall behind the chapel, creating a sitting area, and adding some landscaping around the Chapel. We are also breaking ground for the new boys bathhouse which will be ready by the summer, to replace the old bathhouse that had burned down.

There are always projects that are going on at camp to help maintain and improve all of our facilities. If you are part of a group that is interested in completing a project for volunteer or service, contact John Egan at 903-845-5834 for more information.

New tile floor in Barrett

Inside Barrett Building, Take 2

New Wood Flooring in Girl's Staff House

Wood floors were placed in all bedrooms and main living areas

Beginning construction of deck outside Camp Store, under Pergola

We are getting CROLY!!!

Croly= Crazy Holy…. and yes we are getting crazy holy out at camp. The phrase was coined during week 3 and it has stayed alive this whole summer as each week campers continue to get croly!

Last week was Week 5, or our infamous Teen Week. We had over 100 teens out at camp who through adoration, praise and worship, mass, and the passion left with open hearts to the love of God. Cabins formed a trust and bond during the week that opened them up to the love and comfort of a faith community. With the help of Steve Angrisano, campers were surrounded my praise and worship and music ministry.

But not only did the teens pray, hard but they played hard as well. Games of Ga-ga and nukum were played, the pool and lake were filled with splashes of laughter, and campers added to their wardrobe through tie-dye. The theme of the week was changed to “Peace, Love, Pines”, where our theme team encountered challenges on their way to attending Pinestock. Successfully the team reached Pinestock (or the bonfire) which culminated in our largest bonfire of the summer. Saturday we were sad to see all the campers go but we know they can continue their faith journey through the year until we see them again next summer!

As I type this up we are in the middle of paradise time of Week 6. Campers are buying up goodies, snacks, and ice cream from the camp store! We also have the pool open to swim as well as our pavilion, gaga pit, and volleyball field open for games. Week 6 is quite a busy week for our special programs. We have stayovers from last week who on their second week of camp at The Pines. We also have our first group of CIT’s (counselors in training) as well as our second group of Service Work Week campers.

CIT’s have spent the last couple of days learning the “how to’s” of being a counselor. They are also diving deeper into their faith and growing as leaders in their community. Our Service Work Week kids have been out an’ about helping the community of East Texas at the Highway 80 rescue mission and helping our own community through small acts of service around camp. Steve Angrisano, our Summer Worship Series guest, has been rocking camp with a concert on Monday and leading the jammin’ activities during the week. Our theme for the week is “Should’ve Been a Cowboy”. Our theme team will be traveling the Big Sandy Trail (similar to the Oregon Trail) to reach Big Sandy, Texas, but of course they do not travel without encountering problems along the way.

Well I think its time for a dip in the pool to escape this heat, until next time…

Peace.Love.Pines

Past: Week 3, Present: Week 4, Future: Week 5 TEEN WEEK!

The Past:

Like the saying “Time flies when you are having fun”… Week 3 flew by and boy did we have fun. Our theme for the week was “Epic Week”, where each night revolved around an “epic” movie. From Toy Story to Star Wars to Pirates of the Caribbean, campers dove into the theme and even came up with some creative costumes themselves! Our overall theme for the summer is of course Revolution, and campers started each day with a prayer service and ended each night with a spiritual night activity that revolved a “Revolution of…” theme. Through friendships, prayer, and worship, campers of all ages began to understand their faith more.

The Present:

We are in our second full day of camp for Week 4. The theme for Week 4 is “I heart the 1400′s” or medieval week. Last night, there were knights, squires, and more running around camp chasing each other during the “Animal game”. From all the action yesterday it will be interesting to see what these counselors come up with for costumes for the dance! We have quite an exciting week as our first guests, Ennie Hickman and Ike Ndolo, arrived as part of our “summer worship series”. They will be joining us this week and helping us with not only some praise and worship but they will also be a part of our “Power Club” team. (Power Club= spiritual development session based on the Bible). Also this week we have about 25 rising high school juniors that are taking part in our first Lead 10/11 program. This group of teens will focus on Christian leadership and faith development through special activities and programming this week. Week 4 ends early on Friday, for the Holiday weekend, but it will not end without a delicious cookout and spectacular fireworks celebration on Thursday in honor of Fourth of July.

The Future:

Even as we are in the middle of a camp week, we always have to look ahead to the upcoming weeks of the summer. Our next week of camp is out TEEN WEEK! Teen Week is an indescribable time for counselors and campers. As a camper you get the luxury of having only other people at camp that are your age! This means fiercer competition in activities, deeper discussions of faith, and of course an exponential amount of more fun. Teens do walk away from this week with strong friendships and more wisdom thanks to the Holy Spirit working within us all. Steve Angrisano, a teen week “regular”, will perform a concert during the week as part of our Summer Worship Series. Teen Week starts Sunday July 4th and will include a Fourth of July firework celebration! We still have availability for Teen Week and registration is still open! Register now at www.thepines.org/register.

The lunch bell is ringing, until next time…

Peace.Love.Pines.

Meet the summer counselors, with a little update on the summer

Being that we are in the middle of Week 2, we thought it was appropriate to now introduce our Summer Staff. Click the link below and to meet the summer counselors who devote their summer to caring, teaching, playing, and praying with your kids:

http://www.thepines.org/index.cfm?load=page&page=206

We hope your summer has been as wonderful as ours has been! As said earlier we are already into our Week 2 of camp. With 185 plus kids we are enjoying the sun and fun of summer camp. Camp is sometimes know a little “behind” on the current events,  but not this week as we, with much else of the world, celebrate the World Cup. Each cabin was given a country to cheer on and last night many of the cabins became ultimate fans for the dance as they painted their faces, arms, and legs with their teams colors.

Last week, our first week of summer camp, seemed to go on without a hitch. Except for the gift of rain brought to us by mother nature. But rain did not get in the way of us having fun, instead we were able to throw an awesome carnival in the dining hall with lots of carnival games and face paint. When it wasn’t raining, campers played in the pool, lake, sports field, archery range, riflery range, etc. And then of course they couldn’t resist the new ga-ga pit. Our new activity “ga-ga” (see earlier post) became the new camp favorite in no time. The theme for last week was “minute to win it”. Kids each night tried to stop the evil mouse from stealing the fun time clock, in which they succeeded! Week 1 ended Saturday as campers headed back home with smiles on their faces and stories to share with their families and friends.

It is still not to late to register for Summer Camp 2010! You can do so online www.thepines.org/register or call our office to get more information. And for those of you who have already attended camp or will be attending, we invite you to sign up for another week as each week is better than the last. Plus, who doesn’t want to stay at camp and play ga-ga the whole summer?!

 Peace.Love.Pines

Staff training and a visit from the bishop… let the summer begin!

Summer officially began in late May, with staff arriving from across the country (and Canada!) for eight days of training.

Among the events of at the beginning of the week was the FIRST-EVER Mass in our brand-new chapel. To see the chapel complete and to hear 60-70 voices echoing in praise… what an experience!

A formal opening of the chapel is planned for the fall. Until then, it will begin serving as a fantastic worship space for the youth we serve… great for Adoration, praise and worship, prayer services, you name it!

The week’s training began with staff bonding and continued into more serious subject matter. Training sessions included everything from activity facilitation to homesickness, check-in procedures to First Aid/CPR certification.

    

…and, of course, the staff learned the traditional camp songs as well:

On Tuesday, The Pines was blessed to have a visit from Bishop Mark Seitz, one of the two newly ordained auxiliary bishops of the Diocese of Dallas. Bishop Seitz, accompanied by his mother and Fr. Tom Cloherty of All Saints Catholic Community in Dallas, visited the new chapel and met with staff.

Thank you, Bishop Seitz, for visiting us and offering your blessing on our staff for the 2010 season!

The summer’s first campers arrive today, and we could not be more excited. To all of our 2010 campers: we are ready for you! The question is: are you ready for the Revolution?

Ga-Ga is taking over camp…

And no I don’t mean Lady Ga-ga (hopefully I didn’t get anyones hopes up to much…)

Ga-ga is a new form of dodgeball game that will be played at camp. It was started in Israel and is now taking over America and of course The Pines. It is played in an enclosed octagon shaped, wood walled arena, nicely named ”ga-ga pit” (look at picture below). There are many variations of the game but basically, like dodgeball, you try to knock people out of the game, but here you must hit the ball with your hand or fist and must get the person out by tagging them between their knee and foot. To get a better understanding, watch how YMCA Camp Tecumseh plays ga-ga. There are other new games and equipment out at camp… like our new blob … so you will just have to come visit to see them all.

Ga-Ga Pit

Everyone has been working hard to get everything together in time for summer camp! We have just finished installing a new roof on the center lodge so there are no more rain leaks, and one of our very talented staff members Megan created a beautiful mural honoring our theme for the summer on the side of the camp store.

Revolution Mural on camp store

We also have been working hard to finish up the chapel. The inside walls have been finished and stained. Some of our strong male staff members moved pews into the chapel- picture below- and we are waiting on our handcrafted San Damiano cross to arrive this week to hang! We can’t wait for all our campers and families to see the chapel this summer. It is truly something special for our camp.

Inside is almost complete!

Well got to get back to work, lots to still do in just a week! Stay tuned for more pictures and staff introductions.

Peace. Love. Pines.

Put your hands together for….. Theme Weeks

The moment you have all been waiting for, themes for Summer 2010:  

Week 1: Only got 4 minutes to save summer camp Minute to win it game show- where the theme team is doing those mini competitions to save summer camp  

Week 2: Goooooaaaaaallllll!!!! World cup week  

Week 3: Epic Week Weeklong trip through epic movies  

Week 4: I heart the 1400s Medieval week  

Week 5: Grace Like Rain Spiritual/ water themed activities  

Week 6: Should’ve been a Cowboy Texas heroes/western week  

Week 7: The Pines Rocks! Rock n roll hall of fame themed week  

Week 8: Winter Wonderland Christmas in July  

Week 9: You say you want a Revolution… Ties in summer theme, revolutionary love  

So if you are new to The Pines, you might be asking yourself I thought the theme was Revolution. Well you are right the theme for the whole summer that our camp and spiritual programming revolves around is Revolution. But in addition to this theme we have silly week long themes.  

Every night all of camp comes together for a night activity. To find out what activity we are playing the theme team introduces the activity through skit, song, and dance that revolve around the theme of the week. Theme teams consist of very creative and drama enthused counselors. For example, the theme might be “Jamaican me Crazy”. The skit each night might revolve around the theme team being stranded on a deserted island. The games might be, the animal game- where the animals are different creatures on the island, or hounds n’ hares- where counselors are taken by local natives and must be found. Hopefully you are catching on…  

One activity we do every week is the dance that occurs on Wednesdays. Counselors tend to dress up for the dance in costumes that coincide with the week’s theme. And trust me they get creative… here are some pictures from last summer’s cartoon dance.  

Spongebob and Patrick

 

Papa Smurf and Smurfette

 

The Carebears

 

We invite campers to bring out decorations or items that might go along with the theme for the week they are attending. This is totally optional but might be of interest to some as the theme carries on into other parts of the week including cabin calls, arts and crafts, and clean cabin award.  

Get Creative and we will see you soon!  

PEACE.LOVE.PINES.