Poland Spring Campground

How often do you hear the kids say this during summer vacation?

In July and the first three weeks of August, we have recreation everyday, all day! Each week, my recreation directors and I go over the schedule, tweaking it here, and adding stuff there, until it’s just right for the themed weekend to come. So I never know in advance exactly what we’ll be doing, but here’s a sample based on this weekend’s theme, Chinese New Year Weekend:

Friday 6/27

Saturday 6/28

Sunday 6/29

Monday 6/30

Tuesday 7/01

Wednesday 07/02

Thursday 07/03

Hmmmmm . . .

No one in the pool . . .

playground’s empty too!

Where was everyone?

At the ice cream party!!

making sundaes . . .

and having fun!

Even this little guy got a taste . . .

Bryant was all geared up for recreation this weekend! A Father/Son Horseshoe tournament, waterballoon slingshot, Tag and relay races, arts and crafts, scavenger hunt, a movie (The Golden Compass)

aaaaaaaaa-nnnnnnnnd

a Chicken B-B-Q!

We cooked 80 - half chickens on racks over the b-b-q pits. The guys dabbed sauce on the halves every once in awhile

and then flipped the racks

When Dave declared those chickens done, the racks were taken off and opened up.

By this time, I swear everyone in the campground could smell them!

Dave passed out the chicken while Joanne, Elaine, Sharon and Lee handed out the potatoes, salad, sauce, dressing and butter

It was scrumptious!

And the best part?? All the Dads ate for FREE!

Next weekend we have an ice cream party and pony rides to kick off our full recreation schedule. There’ll be all day, every day activities through August 24th!

Our Spring Special campers pulled out Sunday . . . the campground looks too empty without them!

For our last weekend we had horse drawn hayrides with No Baloney Pony

Also on the schedule was Kids Games, Basketball, Arts and Crafts and a Horseshoe Tournament. Our local church, Poland Community Church, put on a spaghetti supper as a children’s education fundraiser. Spaghetti and meatballs, salad, rolls, drinks and dessert, all for $5. Can you believe it?

After supper we showed Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. A wicked good movie!

Here’s some photos our spring specials have sent us . . .

From the Emery family . . .

A fabulous catch . . . that turned into an awesome supper:

Maxwell and an admirer!

And here’s some photos from the Jordan Family:

This little guy’s soaking up the rays . . .

And so’s this BIG guy!

Can you see the feet on him???

Yesterday, I went to vacuum the pool and I found this little cutie in the skimmer:

I thought he was an albino frog, but I’ve since discovered he’s a Cope’s Gray Tree Frog.  I really wanted to keep him!  Soft and calm, he crawled up and down my arm easily. When I put him on a tree, he looked all around. Within a few minutes he’d turned a dull brown.

These guys, along with the peepers and eastern gray tree frogs, sing to us all night long!

Here are some awesome images captured by one of my Spring Special campers, Patti Rethi.

copyright 2008 Patti Rethi

copyright 2008 Patti Rethi

copyright 2008 Patti Rethi

aren’t they gorgeous? She let me look at all the amazing photos she’d taken this spring and it was awfully hard to choose which ones to post here.

Tis the season for turtles! Every year about this time, adult turtles trek 200 to 500 yards up hill from the lake looking for sand to lay their eggs. The playing field, campsites, the edges of the road - you never know where you’ll find them.

And it never fails . . . once a spring, kids will come tell me how they found a lost turtle, and took it back to the lake. Imagine their surprise when I tell them the turtle will just have to make the trip all over again.

Then, once the eggs hatch, baby turtles can be seen trekking downhill, instinctively knowing where the water is.

And at least once a spring, kids will bring one to show me

These two have camped with us so long, they knew exactly what they had to do. They enjoyed studying this baby turtle for a bit before bringing him to the lake to let him go. I know from experience how hard it can be to set this tiny little creature free in a 290 acre lake! Thank you, guys!

Not only were they brave, but these two marked the spot where more eggs were laid took keep them from being stomped or crushed.

I love the turtle season! And I truly appreciate how my youngest campers are so protective of the turtles who share this plot of land with us.

One of our favorite Poland Spring Campground activities is our Ice Cream parties.

Each family is “charged” one topping, and they’re all laid out smörgåsbord style.

Chocolate sauce, butterscotch, bananas, crumbled oreos and chocolate chip cookies, M & M’s, strawberries, whipped creme, spice drops, chocolate covered pretzels  . . . I’m always amazed by how creative each family can be!

Then Dave begins scooping for a line with no end . . .

he’s a little worried there won’t be any toppings left for him!

But he didn’t have to be, as these campers will tell you

This coming weekend . . . a spaghetti supper, horse drawn hayrides, basketball, arts and crafts, horseshoes and Kids Games!

Look who made an appearance this weekend!

Maxwell Moose!

Some families stayed Thursday through Sunday. Others booked Friday to Monday. But all in all, we were full this weekend! A big wave to everyone who joined in the fun!

The weather was nice . . . there were even kids swimming in the pool and the lake yesterday!

This little guy marched in our Pots and Pans Parade Saturday with the noisemaker he made at Arts and Crafts. Look at all his red, white and blue!

We also had the water balloon slingshot out both Saturday and Sunday. One young man won two ice creams! He told me it was his favorite part of the weekend.

Other activities included volleyball, a teen ping pong tournment, horseshoes, bubble play, storytime, movies, whiffle ball, jewelry making, hayrides, kids games, ceramics and Trash Bag Theater . . .

Here’s the five casts with the props they were randomly given. I’m told they created some un-for-gettable performances!

Next weekend . . . an Ice Cream Party with pot luck Toppings …  Yum!

Just about eight miles south of us, right on Rt. 26, is the Maine Wildlife Park.   It’s been a family favorite of ours since Alex was born 19 years ago, and I recommend it over and over and over again to our campers.

Wild animals that are injured, abandoned or have become human dependent are housed in The Park.  Most are here permanently for their safety because they couldn’t survive on their own in the wild.  I could talk for hours about the positive changes I’ve seen through the years, mostly through volunteer services . . .  Larger living areas for the animals; new trails; informational exhibits . . .

B and I visited The Maine Wildlife Park last week.  Before my camera’s batteries ran out, we saw these cuties:

lots of deer

bobcat

black bear

moose calf

Through the rest of the visit, I kept whining over my dead batteries until Ben said, “You’ll just have to come back, Mom.  I’ll come too, if you want.”  You would have whined too, if you saw the cool stuff we did.  Imagine these:

The mountain lion, sitting up tall on top of his rock, surveying his kingdom.

The coyote was sleeping, but the fisher was running back and forth, back and forth in his cage. He was bigger than I thought he’d be.  And the claws on his feet . . . whoa!

The albino porcupine came out for a minute.  He was kind of an odd looking fellow.  Eventually, he slowly lumbered back into his log.  The raccoon was adorable, though.  He calmly watched everyone going by.

The eagle sat high on his perch, looking down over the turtle pond and the wetlands trail.  His enclosure is relatively new, and very impressive.

The peacocks were in rare form, screeching over and over, while fanning their feathers.

At the turtle pond, Ben tried very hard to find all the species listed on the information board.  I didn’t realize how many of them were endangered.

Ben and I also discovered the hawk we saw this winter was really a Cooper’s hawk. The red tailed hawk was much bigger.  We also got a very close look at the Barre and Great Horned owls!

Throughout the park are signs like these:

and interactive displays like these

to help educate and entertain.

There’s three different trails you can wander along, too.  The Tree Trail identifies the different varieties of Maine trees. The Game Trail challenges you to find as many different animal silhouettes as you can.    And the wetland trail offers a chance to see birds (Ben saw a veriole!), turtles and fish.

I recommend you bring a picnic lunch.  There’s a nice pine grove area with picnic tables and B-B-Q grills right inside the entrance of The Park.  After lunch, you can buy a drink, ice cream or other treat at the snack shack.  Then visit the Nature Store for fun and/or educational souvenirs.  Ben picked out a really cool whistle/compass combination to carry on our hiking trips this summer.  I bought some posters to go in our rec room . . . aaaaaaand a pair of silver, dragonfly earrings.  I couldn’t resist!

Feeding the animals people food, is not permitted.  But bring plenty of quarters because you’ll find animal food machines to feed the bear, deer, pheasants, ducks, geese, and turkeys.  And if you walk all the way down to the end of the fish hatchery, you can feed the fish too.

On Thursdays in July and August, there’s Story Time with a craft at 11:00am.  On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, there’s animal talks at 11:00am and 1:00pm.

For more information on prices, directions and such, click on the link on the right.  You can’t go wrong with this day trip!

One of my Spring Special campers, Joyce Thompson, took these shots last weekend of the eagle family!

copyright Joyce Thompson 2008

copyright Joyce Thompson 2008

Aren’t they gorgeous???

Joyce said she only saw the one baby, so it looks as if he’s going to get Mom and Dad’s undivided attention this year.

While I was at the lake late yesterday, I watched as one of the adult eagles swooped a loon who was fishing nearby. He didn’t touch the loon at all, but it was definitely a warning. After that, the loon moved away from our point.

This makes me a little sad, because I enjoy them both.

Just a small sprinkle of rain this morning, but otherwise a gorgeous weekend.  You just can’t pay any attention to those weathermen!

Bryant arrived today, ready and eager to run some recreation activities.  He started with Arts and Crafts, where the kids made cool glasses.  As usual, he couldn’t resist making a pair for himself:

Afterward, he tried something new for kids games.  Super-sized marbles!  He used various sized balls instead of marbles, but kept the same rules.  The kids thought it was a blast, and I wish I could have gotten pictures for you.

A few turned out for horseshoes too . . . our first organized game of the season.

The highlight of the weekend though was horsedrawn hayrides by No Baloney Pony of New Gloucester

Jim took our campers for several rides around the campground, in and out the driveway and back around the camp.  Those beautiful work horses pulled the wagon up and down the hills like it was filled with marshmallows.

Jim told us the horses weighed 2,000 pounds each!

No Baloney Pony will be back on June 7th with their wagon.  They’ll also be back to give complimentary pony rides to our littlest campers on June 21st, Tuesdays in July, as well as August 6th, 12th and 19th.

Come join the fun!