Fifth term letssssss gooooooo! Yesterday was the kick off of the fifth term of the summer, aka an absolutely unbelievable incredibly fun day! Yesterday we welcomed in every new kamper at the platform, making sure they knew exactly how special this term was, as well as how special they are! After greeting all of the new kampers, we made our way to the pool, had a stellar picnic down by the lake, and even had our first K-Life of the term after all of that! It was a blast yesterday, but it was only an ounce of how much we will have this term! Fifth term, we gotta finish this summer out right!
Christmas in July!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open slay! Dashing through the...pea gravel? Yesterday as we walked through the dinning hall we were greeted with quite the festive sight! The lights were hung with care, the fire was roasting, and even Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus were there to say hello!
Ahh yes, it once again was that wonderful time of year again; the time where it is 100 degrees outside, the humidity is close to practically being in water, and you are sweating an unbelievable amount...Christmas in July!
Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! On Cupid! On, Donder and Blitzen! To the Dinning Hall! To the Dinning Hall we go! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all! But who might this beautiful sight's work belong? But to the kitchies the work had been done, as they worked all nightlong. They sang us a song, of old Christmas past. To the joy of the kids, as we sat around with our entire cast.
With Santa and all of his helpers every meal yesterday was a treat unlike any other! Christmas in July was a wonderful time, and the kitchies really did do an astounding job setting everything up in the dinning hall! Christmas in July has passed though...but does that mean we will have New Year's August?
This week at K-Kountry (7/18 - 7/25)
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
It is hard to believe how much has already happened during 4th term, and how fast this time has gone by! We have had some crazy parties, been out on the lake for ski trip, enjoyed the new friends we have made, and overall had the best time of our lives! This post will pull together all of the highlights of this past week or so, to hopefully bring together anything you may have missed along the way! We hope these type of posts help, but we would also love any type of feedback for anything specific you would like to see!
This week at K-Kountry we:
- Met Tom Cruise, Captain America, Katniss Everdeen, and Indiana Jones at the Hollywood Party
- Continued the tradition of Air it Out football, as well as the 87th annual swim meet
- Had our entire K-Life crew shipped in from climbing Mt. Everest
- Honored the incredible work that the 1st session staff did
- Had our power source stolen from us, and had Dr. Blaster from the FBI come in to solve the crime!
- Learned what it meant to build of life in wisdom on God
- Talked about what the schedule for a day at K-Kountry looks like
- Went with a neon shirt & blackout theme for K-Life number 4!
- Celebrated and enjoyed an I'm Third Sunday, learning the story of Johnny Ferrier
- And rounded up the Shadow Gang, cleaning up Old Dodge City!
Though we only have a few days remaining this term, we aren't stopping the fun anytime soon! To keep up with all the happenings at K-Kountry, make sure to keep checking this blog and following K-Kountry on twitter (@KanakukKKountry) or on instagram (kkountry)!
Calling all Cowboys, Sheriffs, & Outlaws!
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Welcome to Dodge City, one of the finest establishments this side of the Mississippi! We have all the fixins you could ever want in a town, and all the entertainment you can handle!
Why we have everything from sack racing and six-shooting, all the way to archery and saving the damsel in distress!
We in Dodge City pride ourselves on keeping a clean town, but unfortunately we had the Shadow Gang roll in to town demanding all of our gold. To try and protect ourselves from the Shadow Gang, we had to come together last night and muster up as much gold as we could find and earn!
Wouldn't you know it though, it is never enough for those outlaws! Luckily, we had the man with the fastest draw in the west on our side: Sunset Cassidy! Thanks to Sunset we were able to push those Shadow Gang folks on out of town, and save the day! After the town was safe, we had ourselves a regular ole' hoe down and the danced the night away with some sweet tooth treats (aka ice cream sandwiches and bomb pops)! It was a great time to be a citizen of Old Dodge City!
What does a day at K-Kountry look like?
Saturday, July 21, 2012
At Kanakuk K-Kountry there is always something fun going on! And when I say always, I mean always! From the moment we all wake up at eight in the morning, to the time we head to bed, our schedule is jam packed with awesomeness! But what exactly does that schedule look like?
Kuks and Komos schedules vary slightly, allowing for all of K-Kountry's space to be taken advantage of. So while Kuks have best barn first thing in the morning, a time to clean the barn, komos are up at devotional learning a new part of the devo rap; and visa versa. After that we all meet up at what we call the platform, where we have a morning skit each day, as well as celebrating any birthdays we may have that day.
After we have all had breakfast though, is when the schedule begins to really open up! During first period komos will go to their klinics. Kampers choose which klinic they want from a plethora of options such as: kayak, soccer, basketball, dance, football, gymnastics, and all-sport! While komos are at klinics, all of the kuks will be at their morning activity. Going with their barn, kuks will be at stations like archery, rifelry, the zip-line, water slides, and more. Their roles reverse, however, after first period, when komos head to activities and kuks head to klinics.
From here, both kuks and komos will head to Bumble Bee! Bumble Bee is an awesome opportunity for us counselors to be able to brag on kids for the incredible feats, awesome attitudes, and overall effort they have shown at their respective klinics! We love to have crazy characters, unbelievable stories, and ridiculous events happen at Bumble Bee, which in turn easily becomes one of the highlights of the summer for everyone involved!
The afternoon is very similar to the morning, with the exception of klinics being replaced by competition. Competition period is a time each day for every kuk and komo to be able to go crazy competing in a different sport each day for their tribe. Each and every Cherokee, Choctaw, Kickapoo, and Kiowa go all out for the sport itself, as well as constantly cheering on their tribe!
Each night we will have our evening activity, which will either be one of our fantastic parties, K-Life, or even occasionally a movie night! Evening activities are an absolute blast, and are always such an incredible way to end our day at K-Kountry! We always have a lot going on here at kamp, but we also always have an incredible amount of fun! We love to help create lifelong memories and moments of wonder here at kamp each day of the week, and every day of term; so that hopefully, each day can be considered the greatest day ever, at the happiest place on earth!
1st Session Staff
Thursday, July 19, 2012
It seems like it was just yesterday that we we were talking about staff training week, and how excited we were for the summer to begin. Flash forward six weeks, and you come to find that lifelong friends have been made, memories that will last forever were created, and the best six weeks you could ever imagined had flown by. As cliché as it sounds, time truly does fly by when you are having the most ridiculously, unbelievable, crazy fun time!
Working at Kanakuk K-Kountry is unlike any other job in the world, and I believe that is a very, very big understatement. Because where else in the world do you get paid to ride down water slides, toss kids in the pool, dress up like the slough monster, go down a zipline, run around kamp trying to find hidden commandoes, save the day from certain annihilation, and minister to the future of the world in the greatest possible way?! Nowhere else, but the happiest place on earth!
What an unbelievable privilage we have working at such an unbelievable place, with such incredible people. Hand picked from across the entire country, from TCU all the way to Rhodes College, the Kanakuk K-Kountry staff is compiled of some of the most phenomenal people you could ever meet. It is times like this that you realize that words truly do not do any justice for the amazing work these people have done!
Coming in to kamp, hardly any any of us knew each other; but after these six weeks, we had all become a family. You have run an incredible race session one, and passed the baton off to session two by setting an amazing example. I wish that I was better with words, just to better say how much you have meant to us session one! The best I can do, however, is say that from everyone here at K-Kountry...we love you all!
Lights, Camera...PARTY!
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Roll out the red carpet, because here come all the stars! Captain America, Indiana Jones, Tim Tebow, Tom Cruise, Justin Bieber, and more! Last night was the Hollywood Party at K-Kountry, and it is more than safe to say that we were star struck throughout the night!
The day began by a major film studio approaching K-Kountry with the idea of filming a movie on our location! For that to happen though, we had a few conditions. First we had to show that we knew how to have a party at the pool, and then we had to dress to impress...that means putting on our best costumes and showing them off!
Every single A-lister actor was there that you could think of! From Tom Cruise to the Red Carpet itself, we had all the stars in one place! We had a pool party over at the water park at K-Kaui, danced all night, and by the end of the night found out that we had won the spot to have a movie made at K-Kountry!
The party was so much fun, and all of the costumes were absolutely amazing! With three more parties ahead of us, however, there is still so much fun waiting ahead of us! 4th term feels as if it just began, but we are already having such an incredible time!
4th Term? Lets go!
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Yesterday was opening day here at K-Kountry for the fourth term of the summer, officially kicking off the second half of summer in grand fashion! Yesterday was an amazing day, as we welcomed in all new kids from all across the country. It was so much fun going crazy at the platform in the middle of kamp, welcoming each and every kid as they got here! After welcoming everyone here, we had a pool party, a picnic by the lake, and even got hype for our first K-Life of the term! Its true, we had a LOT of fun!
Everybody wants to be a Kitchie!
Friday, July 13, 2012
At K-Kountry and Kanakuk there are three main principles that define who and what we are at kamp: faith, family, and fun. We absolutely adore going crazy and having fun from the moment we wake up, to the moment we go to bed. On top of that, we can not say enough how gratifying it is to have the opportunity to pour in to kid's lives with spiritual enrichment and investment. One aspect of K-Kountry that does not get as much publicity as the other two, however, is the family we create amongst all of our staff here.
One part of that family are the Kitchies, as we call them around here. Kitchies are amazing young college student women, who have decided to work at K-Kountry for the summer and serve all of kamp from the kitchen. These incredible girls are so unbelievably humble, and would never boast about themselves for a second...and that is why we are going to brag on them for a bit here on the blog!
The daily life of a kitchie is not one that is all about glitz or glamour, but is one that undoubtedly deserves high praise in every possible way! Waking up an hour before anyone else in kamp, the kitchies work hard to prepare the dinning hall and all of our food. From there though, is where the fun/craziness begins! Just like counselors, kitchies are given barns that they are a part of; basically becoming a third or fourth counselor for that barn. So after the dinning hall has been cleaned after meals, kitchies will jump in on activities and be with kids having fun the rest of the day!
Whether it is busting out in to mop dances while blasting music after lunch, or jumping in a barn at night to be another counselor, kitchies do so much for us at kamp...and have so much fun while they are doing it! Without the kitchies our lives simply would not be as much fun, and simply would not be possible!
As I had said before, the kitchies will never be the ones to tell you how much work they do for us at kamp...but any chance we get to, we love to make sure they understand how appreciated they are! So kids, counselors, and parents, anytime you see a kitchie, be sure to tell them thank you for all that they do. Because without them, how would we be able to get our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches the way mom always makes them?
This week at K-Kountry
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
A lot has happened at K-Kountry during 3rd term: from chasing outlaws out of town, to celebrating the birth of our nation! We have had an incredible amount of fun so far, and we want to make sure you can see every bit of it! This post will pull together all of the highlights of this past week or so, to hopefully bring together anything you may have missed along the way! We hope these type of posts help, but we would also love any type of feedback for anything specific you would like to see!
This week at K-Kountry we:
- Had an incredible first day of kamp, and talked about moments of wonder
- Walked down the red carpet and lived the life of a star at the Hollywood party
- Celebrated the 237th birthday of the United States of America in grand fashion!
- Welcomed Fedel to K-Life number 3, where we had fun going crazy and getting hype!
- Went out on the lake for ski trip, and had such an incredible time!
- Learned about the Gospel with Romans 6:23 and memorized all of Psalm 23
- Had our power source stolen, but luckily recovered by Dr. Blaster and his team from the FBI
- Had coffee cake, and learned about Johnny Ferrier on Sunday
- And to top of the week, we had a good ole fashioned hoe down and ran the Shadow Gang out of town!
We have had so much already this term! Though the term is quickly coming to a close, we still have so much fun left ahead of us! To keep up with all the happenings at K-Kountry, make sure to keep checking this blog and following K-Kountry on twitter (@KanakukKKountry) or on instagram (kkountry)!
Welcome to the Wild, Wild West!
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaw! Round up all the cowboys, outlaws, and desperadoes...we're fixin to have a good 'ole fashion hoe down! Last night at K-Kountry we had the Wild, Wild West party! The party began in the morning when the Shadow Gang rolled in to town, asking Sundance for all the gold he had. IOf Sunset didn't pay up, he the gang would take his wife and all of kamp with them.
To make sure that didn't happen we called out to all the little sheriffs in kamp to save the day. Rounding up as much gold as we could find, we tried to save kamp one golden nugget at a time!
After everyone had run around to the various stations, we pooled together all of the gold we had earned from the night to see if it was enough to pay off the Shadow Gang. Fortunately for us, Sundance didn't need our gold at all. Sundance and the Shadow Gang busted out in to a grand shootout, until Sundance had taken all of them down by himself! Sundance had saved the girl, saved the kamp, and saved the day! Celebration was in order! So we busted a move out on to the dance floor, and danced till our cowboy boots couldn't take no more!
Last night truly was something magical, though. I am not sure if it was all the costumes, the setting, or the combination of both. But something about walking out in to the party with my cowboy boots and hat on, and seeing all of the costumes out there really was something unforgettable. It is parties like these where you have to pinch yourself just to see if its real, if you truly are at the happiest place on Earth!
We love to make sure that we post lots of great pictures for everyone to see on the blog...but we wanted everyone to be able to take a walk through Dodge City and see what all the fuss was about last night! The video of last night is below, we hope everyone enjoys! And as always, be sure to follow K-Kountry on twitter (@KanakukKKountry), or if Instagram is more of your flavor we are on there now as well too (kkountry)!
I'm Third Sunday
Monday, July 9, 2012
For as long as I can remember, Kanakuk Kamps has always had a slogan of "Exciting Adventures in Christian Athletics". As you have hopefully seen on this blog this summer, and many summer's before, we love to have fun constantly while running all around kamp. It can be easy at times to focus only on the athletics, silly skits, and crazy parties at kamp. But as I once was told, Kanakuk Kamps doesn't train athletes, they train servant leaders.
At K-Kountry we have a thing called I'm Third Sundays. I'm Third standing for: God First, others second, and myself third. In concept nothing difficult, but in application very challenging. The story of Captain Johnny Ferrier is one that highlights this in such an incredible way.
Captain Johnny Ferrier was a kamper at K-1 long before there was ever a need to distinguish K-1 from any other Kanakuk Kamp. Ferrier had learned the I'm Third lifestyle while at Kanakuk one year as a kamper, and had decided from there to attempt to stay true to it in everything he did. Johnny Ferrier grew up to be both quite the college athlete, as well as an incredibly well decorated pilot.
While flying for the Air National Guard at a show one day in Dayton, Ohio in 1958, Ferrier was part of a group attempting a trick known as the "flower burst". In the middle of this trick, however, Ferrier's control stick jammed. Ferrier radioed in his problem, and was immediately instructed to bail out of his plane. Knowing that there was a great number of homes directly below him, Ferrier refused to bail out. Captain Ferrier held on until the last second, while miraculously finding a way to land in a garden and avoid hitting any homes.
While Ferrier easily could have bailed out, and never been at fault for anything that would have happened, he decided to stay true to the I'm third lifestyle. Johnny had put those people in the homes below ahead of himself, even though he had never met any of them. Though life obviously does not call for that great level of sacrifice every day, Captain Ferrier's actions are a great illustration of how someone can live for God First, others second, and themselves third.
The B13 power stolen!
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Last night at K-Kountry was the digital disaster party, and boy was it a ton of fun! The day had started with some horribly horrible tragic news, when we found out that the "B13' power source generator had been stolen! The "B13" is the generator that gets its energy off of kamp's level of hype to power all of K-Kountry. Without the "B13" kamp would no longer exist! So our mission (and don't worry, we did choose to accept it) was to use the aid of our new friend Dr. Blaster, and track down the "B13" power source!
We trecked our way through kamp as a barn to several various stations to earn binary codes, codes that would help triangulate the "B13"'s location! We learned how to make an explosion out of mentos and coke, we beat the legendary Bobby Fischer at chess, danced with a robot from the future, found the slough monster, and we even played a little bit of pac man!
After we had combed through kamp to find any binary codes we could, we made our way up to the upper gym to see if all of our hard work had payed off. After quite a bit of work, Dr. Blaster put the codes together and found that the "B13" had been hidden at kamp! It was a tight one, but luckily we were just in time plugging the power source back in! After all the hard work we had done saving K-Kountry, it was time to celebrate! So we got our robot on and danced, with of course the aid of some ice cream!
The party was a huge success, and we had a blast while we were searching for the codes! We are still unsure of who stole the "B13" power source, though. However, It is K-Life number 4 tonight, so you never know who will show up! We may just in fact end up catching the criminal tonight!
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