Girls News

You will not believe what happened yesterday.  A couple of forest fires were started around the area and needed some water to help put them out, well of course Ridgecrest was there to help!  The firefighter helicopters came and dipped water out of Lake Ridgecrest to dump on the fire.  (Don’t worry we are saving enough for camp, the blobs are fine)  Here is a video of the coolness that was the day at Camp Ridgecrest.  Narrated by none other than me, Seth Ladd.   Hope you enjoy.

So that is what a normal day is like when you guys aren’t here, ok just kidding, this is NOT normal!!

A lot of you have been asking about our Summer Staff lately, so to make things easier here’s a list of those wonderful staffers who are making their way back to Crestridge this upcoming summer:

First off, let’s just start out with the amazing news that all 5 of our Village Directors are returning for another summer!

That’s right Sarah, Catherine, Lizzy, Kelly, and Caroline are all coming back for Round 2!

Here’s the faithful Central Staff who are coming back:

Sharon Aylestock, Marva Rawlings, Nancy Cothran, Janie Belue, Debbye Skaggs, Jackie Holley, Joe Holley, Kathleen Hobbs, Brooke Waddle, Laura Palmer, Beth Ewing, and Abby Postma

We definitely are excited about welcoming back some of your favorite Counselors and Jets:

Liz Hardee, Ragan Story, Chelsie Snow, Amelia Markham, Anna Martin, Megan Rentz, Cassie Curtis, Machelle Wells, Jenn Debrecht, Katelyn Browne, Caroline Vining, Alexis Coryell, Taylor Pierce, Ashley Sutherland, Mitzi Farris, Caroline Fortson, Keaghan Glassmyer, Dee Dee Dillard, Katie Correll, Anna Harrison, Laura Edwards, Becca Kelly, Mary Jo Sandy, Rachel Dokich, Katie Cannington, Lisa Saari, Kierstin Haddock, Emily Lupfer, Emma Small, and Keller Allgood.

Oh boy, I cannot tell you how excited weare to introduce our brand spanking  new staffers to you this year!  Coming to Crestridge as Staff for their very first time will be:

Jenny Watts, Christin Ball, Jacquelyn Breithaupt, Lauren Henry, Laura Leeson, Jessica Scott, Lindsey Steel, Patricia Bosch, Martha Claire Huff, Lindsay Williams, Libby Fleming, Mary Casteen, Sarah McKay, Catherine Dunham, Brittney Burns, Rachel Hall, Lexi Bowen, Megan Grennan, Kimberly Jones, Joan Steiger, Sarah Senter, Erin Brehmer, Emily O’Loane, Hillary Modlin and Kaitlyn Nordin!

Get excited about this amazing group of staff!!

For those of you who have not seen our 2010 clothing yet, we wanted to give you an opportunity to do so.  We’ve got a great line up that we think you all will love!  We know these pictures are pretty small, but you can click on them to make them bigger.  Here’s our 2010 Clothing:

Be sure to get your pre-orders in so you get the sizes you need!  You can do so by clicking on the link that was in the e-mail your parents received from Ron.  We can’t wait to see you this summer!

That’s right you guys, the snow has finally melted away here at camp and spring has arrived.  Walking around Crestridge is so nice because the sun is shining, the grass is green, and the creek is just a flowing.  We are so excited about Springtime because that means summer is coming soon!  Here are a few pictures of camp without snow:

We can hardly wait to for the summertime!  Oh, and check back soon to see pictures of Crestridge’s 2010 Clothing.

The sun is shining and camp is finally free of the snow!  Don’t get us wrong the winter is a great part of our year, but spring will be arriving soon, and that means summer time is right around the corner.  The construction crews are getting busy trying install the rest of the showers and toilets, and things are coming along quickly.  All Chippewa cabins have their sinks, showers, and toilets installed, the majority of the Chickasaw cabins do as well.  Here’s a couple of shots of these brand new editions:

Be looking for your Crestridge Bear Tracks newsletter, coming in the mail next week.  And be sure to comment and enjoy the spring weather!

Before I get into the “office” fun, Phil and I had the opportunity to go out to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area for a couple days to take care of camp business.  While we were out there, we got to have dinner with Abby Postma.  Abby has been our Videographer for the past 3 summers and also our Intern last year.  It was so great to catch up with her and hear what she’s been up to since camp ended.  We are praying she’ll be able to return again this summer!

Despite what some of you may think, we have a lot of work to do throughout the year to get ready for the summer.  Most of the time we are very busy, but we do take advantage of the amusing things here in the office.  Each day, we have at least two dogs in the office, Boone (Phil Berry’s dog) and OJ (Sharon’s dog).  Some days, we have an extra visitor, Ezra (Chris Maslin’s dog).  We had a few extra sunglasses lying around and wondered what they would like with them on.

Oh the things we will do for a good laugh!

Thanks to all of you for commenting this past month, your opinions in our Hat Poll was so helpful.  This month we want to give a special shout out to Catherine Brown for all of her comments and encouragement!  Catherine will be recieving her Free Store of choice: Cheerwine and Sour Punch Straws, this week. 

Catherine will be moving up the hill to join the great Chickasaw Village this upcoming summer.  Her favorite skill was Crafts, and her favorite staffer was Lizzy Peterson who is returning another summer to lead our Chippewa girls.  We hope you enjoy your Free Store Catherine! Remember everytime you comment your name gets entered into that month’s Free Store Drawing, so keep the comments coming- we love hearing from you!

Our construction crews are steadily moving forward and making some major progress on the cabin renovations.  The Cherokee cabins all have new walls and ceilings that look absolutely amazing.  Having two toilets and two showers in every cabin sure will make things easier then back in the days when the whole Choctaw Village had to share one Bath House.  The crews have also started to install the showers into the Chippewa and Chickasaw cabins; changes are happening so quickly!  Check out some of the shots of the improvements as well as the saved names section in Cherokee 4.

Hope you’re getting as excited about camp as we are, and remember to comment and let us know what you think!

This past week I was able to travel throughout Mississippi and Alabama in order to recruit some amazing college students to serve on staff for the upcoming summer.  I made stops at Auburn University, Mississippi College, Mississippi State, Samford University, and the University of North Alabama.  Not only did I get to meet some really great people who were interested in camp, but I was also able to reunite and visit with some of our staff from previous summers.  While at Samford we decided to celebrate the time together by enjoying 2 of Crestridge’s favorite pastimes: eating ice cream and singing camp songs while standing on chairs.  Lauren Lunceford, Leanna Cannafax, Brooke Crutchfield, Laura Edwards, Keaghan Glassmyer, Jenn Debrecht, and Taylor Pierce show their Crestridge pride as they sing Kitty Kitty Kitty for all of you.

Join in the fun at home by sharing your favorite camp song with your friends and family in true Crestridge fashion!

Hey all you Crestridgers, we need your help!  Every summer we try and come up with some awesome t-shirts, sweatpants, jackets, waterbottles, and other items that you can purchase at the Camp Store.  We love seeing you girls show camp spirit all year round!  Well, this year we want your input.  We are trying to choose a hat for this upcoming summer and have narrowed the field down to 3 choices. 

Option 1- This hat is a more of a street-savvy style that you all can most definitely rock (please know that the UCLA will be replaced with Crestridge):

Option 2- A fun neon version of the Trucker Hat:

Option 3: A basic and simple, yet totally awesome hat:

Let us know which one you like the best.  Also, if you have an idea of something you would like to see in Crestridge Store- tell us!  We can’t wait to hear what you think!