Maxx's Maine Camping Blog

Halloween Too – 2010

Oh no!

I can’t decide which Halloween was better . . .

Halloween One or Halloween Too!

I mean – they were the same  . . . but different!

Both had arts and crafts and jewelry making . . .

and both had the waterballoon slingshot . . .

and a scavenger hunt

and horseshoes.

But Halloween Too had a Watermelon Innards Eating Contest

instead of the Witch’s Stew Eating contest.

And we had a Mummy Making Contest

instead of Halloween Games on the playground.

Both had wicked scary Haunted Houses.  ***shudder**

They were soooooo scary, that Tami locked herself in the store when the screaming started, and she wouldn’t come out until they were done!

I think she was afraid of going in and coming out looking like Alex and Bryant

but really?   Did she even look in a mirror all weekend?

I’m surprised that cute little devil standing next to her didn’t run from the park, screaming AAaaaahhhh- It’s a witch!!

We had some amazing volunteers again for our Costume Party.

Some were the same as Halloween One aaaaaand

(you guessed it)

some were different!

Tami gave the same boring-blah-blah-blah-please-be-safe speech . . .

made us pose for this Halloween Too Photo

then we all took off in opposite directions to Trick or Treat!

That was the same.

The carnival games were very different though!

We had a wet sponge toss

and a ring-the-duck toss

and lots of other cool games too!

There were very different costumes

Hmmmm – I’ve never seen THAT employee before.  He must be a relative of Tami’s.

There was even a different snack!

Frosting on Pretzels . . . Mmmmmmm

But you know what WAS the same?

The most important thing of all?

My camping buddies and I had

A

BLAST!!

Thanks for coming!!

Halloween Weekend 1 – 2010

Mwaaaaaah-ha-ha-ha!

It is “I” Maxwell Moose!  I have coooome   tooooo

tell you all about our Halloween Weekend!

What?  Did you think I was going to suck your blood or something?

I can’t believe how many kids we had here.this past weekend!  Whoa! Everywhere I turned, there were kids.

Kids to the left of me,

kids on the right!

Wow!

We had loads of fun too!

There were Arts and Crafts every day, Story Time, and horseshoes.

There was the waterballoon slingshot and four tables of Jewelry Making

Awww!  Look what these guys made . . .

for their ladies.

There were Halloween Games on the playground with witches brooms

and a scavenger hunt too.

This was all lots and lots of fun!  But I really, really wanted to get to the main event!  You know -

Trick or treating!

But Tami said we had to wait till 6:30.

“Go and play,” she said.

She’s always telling me to go and play. Sheesh!

So I went on down to the Witch’s brew eating contest, hoping to fill my belly .  Nobody told me I’d have to eat it with my hands behind my back!

Yikes!  It took hours to get it out of my fur . . .

I wonder how long it took them to get that spaghetti sauce off their faces??

Finally, all the trick or treaters started showing up at the office

And there soooooo many of them!

Do you think Tami would let us go trick or treat, though??

Nooooooo!

She got up on her little-itty-bitty  box and gave us the ruuuules . . .

But all I heard was “blah, blah, blah, candy, blah, don’t knock on doors, blah-”

I bet that’s what the rest of the crowd heard too!

Can’t you see them thinking  . . . “CANDY!  Give me candy! I neeeeeed CANDY!”

Finally – Tami stopped blah, blah, blahing and told us to “Go . . . Have fun!”

So we did!  We trick or treated until the costume party started -

and what a party it was.

there were lots of games like eyeball golf, spider ring tossing and the 7-11 game.

There were some . . . um  . . . innnn-teresting characters too!

I begged and pleaded with the gamers to let me play games  too

But they told me I  had to talk to Tami first.

Tami grabbed by trick or treat bag and said I had to pay a toll to play the games.

A TOLL??!!

“Does everyone has to pay a toll?” I asked.

“Nope,” she said, patting my nose.  “They all get to play for free all day, every day.  YOU have to give me five pieces of candy from your trick or treat bag, big guy.  Per game.”

She’s sooooo mean!

There were snacks too.  Like skewers of Witch’s Warts, Monster Boogers, Blood clots, Eyeballs, and Human Flesh . . .

They were wicked yummy.

I want to give a big shout out to our amazing party crew . . .

plus Kate Smith with her cool spider ring toss – who isn’t shown here, I’m sorry to say – unless she came to the party dressed up as a ghost.  Yeah – I think I see her there behind Bryant!

We couldn’t have done it without you guys!

You’re the bestest!

Thanks!

Now don’t feel too sad, if you missed out on this weekend.

‘Cause we’re doin’ it all over again . . .

Next Weekend!!

Halloween 2!!

I wonder what I’ll dress up as this time . . .

Monstrous Team Raft Building

Hey everyone!  Maxx here

I just had to show you the pics from one of our awesome Halloween events – Monstrous Raft Building!

First, we gave everyone trash bags, milk jugs, and duct tape

Then they built their rafts anyway they wanted.

After putting on life jackets for safety

it was time to test them out!

Would they hold the kids weight?

Would they sink?

Nope!  They worked!

They really, really floated!!

They even held more weight than the kids thought they would!

Once we knew they were sea worthy,

we raced them!

What a load of fun!!!   There were some pretty creative floats too.  Great job everyone!

Afterwards, some of the kids wanted to see just how many people their float could hold

It looks like a lot to me!

Check in tomorrow so I can tell you all about our AMAZING Halloween Weekend!  It was a blast . . . and guess what?

We’re doing it all over again this coming weekend!  The haunted house, the costume party, the trick or treating!

Everything!

Again!

Cool huh??

Halloween Too!

Our second Halloween Weekend was a hit!

Tami and Paula checked in a gazillion people Thursday and Friday

All our recreation was a little different aaaaaaa-nd a little the same!

there were all new relay games, arts and crafts, Scavenger hunt and Story Times. We had kickball, volleyball and water balloon target shooting too.

We had a mummy making contest,

a watermelon innards eating contest and a Halloween Hayride.

I bet your wondering if we had a second trick or treating night . . .

WE  DID!

And Tami almost DIDN’T let me go!

“Maxx!  You still have a ton of candy stashed away from last weekend.  Why on earth, do you need more?”

“Tami, Tami, Tami,” I said.  “You just don’t get it. We can never, ever, ever, have too much candy.”

After mega pleading, whining and begging, she finally said okay . . . I could go.  If I did one thing.

Can you guess what it was?

I had to (gasp) share .. .  it . . .  with . . . her.  SHARE IT!

“Oh, okay,” I said.  “But I get all the Twizzlers.”

“Deal,” she said, shaking my hand.  “If I can have all the Smarties.”

After trick or treating, we had a party in front of the office!  There was fishing for spiders

pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern, tattoos, a balloon walk

a sponge toss

a quarter toss, hitting the stack of cans

and fruit snacks!

The best part of the party is that I get to hang with all my friends.  They had some really cool costumes too!

After the party, I almost had Tami convinced to go into David’s Haunted House.

But then the screaming started.

Lots of screaming.

There was some laughing too, but I don’t think Tami heard it because she locked herself in the office again until it was over.

Sheesh.

I wonder if she’ll come out in time for Medieval Weekend?

OOoooooo!  I wonder if Bryant will let me joust this year???

Halloween #1

I told Tami that this Halloween Weekend was the very bestest ever!

She said, “Maxx, you say that every year.”

Well  they DO get better every time.  And lots of our campers said so, too!

Debbie and the kids did a lot of cool Halloween stuff Friday.  They even made some lake monsters to help decorate for Saturday’s party

On Saturday, all the kids and I could think about was Candy, candy, CANDY!   But Tami said we couldn’t start trick or treating till 6:30PM . . . sharp . . .

So we went to Arts and Crafts.

And the water balloon slingshot.

After lunch, I asked Tami what time it was, and she said it wasn’t time yet.  Soooooo . . .

we played relay games and entered in the scary scavenger hunt!

I was about to call Tami on the radio to see what time it was, when Debbie announced the Witch’s Brew Eating contest!

Look Ma, no hands!!!

Until it’s time to lick the plate, anyway . . .

When it was all over, I hunted for Tami and asked if it was time to get my trick or treat bag out yet.   She said we had to have supper first.

I groaned and rubbed my belly.  “It’s not spaghetti, is it?”

Finally, it was time!  We all got into our Halloween costumes and showed up at the office.  Tami loooooves seeing everybody  before we get going.  We listened carefully for The Official Trick or Treating Rules

until fiiiiii-nally, Tami said, “Go!”

We had so much fun going site to site

Some of Tami’s campers said they gave out over 150 pieces of candy!

Can you believe it??

We didn’t want it to end, but there was a costume party at the lake and we didn’t want to be late for that!

I saw lots of my camping friends down there getting tattoos and tossing bean bags through the ghost holes

and playing cool games like tic-tac-toe toss, eyeball golf or the inner tube toss.  Some friends headed straight for Terry and Joanne’s snack table, ’cause they were hungry after all that walking site to site to site to site . . .

What a bunch of cool costumes my camping buddies wore!  There was a Lego Block, Dracula’s Bride, Angel Kitty, cowboys and a

Cowgirl with her cowdog.  There were ghosts

and bumblebees

magicians, ghouls, goblins, princesses, Darth Vader, fairies, Power Rangers, kings, Super Heros, 70′s guy

and pumpkin girl

Don’t you love the green teeth???

After the party, I asked Tami what was next.

“The Haunted House,” she said.

“Are you going in?” I asked.

“I’ve . . . got to work. Yeah – work. In the office.  It’s a busy night, you know.”

“But Henry’s closing the store tonight.  C’mon!  It’s not real monsters, you know.  Just some guys in costumes.”

Tami shook her head and backed away.  “No, no.  That’s okay.  I think I hear Henry calling me – ”

Ha!  I think she’s scared of David’s Haunted House.  Maybe I’ll get her to go in this weekend, when we do Halloween all over again!!

Halloween Too!

Whoa!  Halloween the second time around was just as good as the first!

This time, Debbie and Bryant planned some Halloween games in the field, a pool tournament, horseshoe tournament, water balloon slingshot, a nature walk through the freaky forest, making monster jugs and a

Witch’s Stew Eating contest!

We had many eager participants, young

and “slightly older” too!

Everyone had a pretty good time, but I think they all needed a good shower afterward!

6:30PM Saturday was the Witching Hour!   Family by family, they arrived at the office

There were Batman’s and brides, chickens and goblins, fishermen and farmers!

Finally it was time for Alex to give the Trick or Treating rules

Then they were off while Tami, Debbie, Alex and Bryant set up for the Halloween party!  We had two different ring tosses, water target practice, darts

tattoos, a bean bag toss and Witch Kabobs!  Yum!

There was plenty of laughter to go around and lots of precious moments

but

sadly

Halloween Week is over.

There’s no time to pout though . . . we’ve got to plan for Super Hero Tryout Weekend!!!

Maxwell Posts More on Halloween Weekend

You should have seeeeeen all the kids who showed up for trick or treating!

There were Barbie’s, cowboys, ghouls, witches, fairies, super heros, goblins, ghosts, dancers, and more:

After trick or treating the kids and I went back to the store for a Halloween Party! We played all kinds of games like Pin The Nose on the Jack-o-lantern, Fishing for Spiders and a sponge toss

The line to put your face in the clown was just as long as the line to toss the sponges!

Here’s Bryant showing off his favorite prizes

And look who I found wandering around the party . . .

The Burger King Man! Tami thought he was kind of creepy looking . . .but I said, “Gee Tami, have you looked in the mirror lately?

Then I ran away before she could yell at me!

Tami told these three they were a couple weekends too early:

I wonder if they’d let me borrow their costumes for Super Hero Weekend? I want to be

da-da-daaaaaah -

Suuuuu-per

Moose!’

(Psssst? Do Superman and Spiderman reeeeeeeally have orange vampire teeth? I’ve got to get me some of those!)

After the party Dave and his gathering of ghouls scared campers silly in the haunted house for just over an hour!! Tami and I could hear the screams from the office. We didn’t exactly get pictures of that – we were kind of, sort of, hiding in the back room of the store. Maybe we’ll be brave enough next Saturday ’cause we’re doing Halloween all over again!

On Sunday afternoon, Bryant and Alex’s Shakespeare in the Park troupe performed MacBeth. It was awesome!

The final fight scene was so intense, Tami forgot to take pictures!!

We were really lucky to have them perform right in our own playing field. We hope they “break a leg” at their remaining performances in the Poland area . . .

I think I might try out for next year’s troupe ’cause they look like they’re having a lot of fun. Do you think they’ll need a moose for Mid Summer Night’s Dream?

Halloween Weekend!

Maxwell here!

It’s been raining A Lot lot this week, so Debbie and Bryant did a bunch of indoor things, and also some indoor/outdoor activities like rain painting, puddle jumping, water balloon games and boat building

Aren’t they creative? They tested pretty well in that puddle too!

Today we had things like Halloween games, watermelon innard eating contest, horseshoes, arts and crafts and a toilet paper mummy making game:

Aren’t they cute!???

Trick or treating starts in one hour! One! O – N -E !!!!

I can’t wait! I can’t wait! Where are all the kids???

Come back later for some party pictures!

P.S. The pictures of Marcus and Angeliques performance last week are coming soon too! I promise. And today, one of the campers gave Tami some great fishing photos. We’ll get those up here too . . .

Maxwell Posts for Tami

Tami and Ben have been sick with the flu for a week. So, I trudged through the snow to check in on them.

“Maxwell,” Tami said between coughs, “I need you to do me a favor.”

“Sure! Anything!” I put my hand . . . um, hoof . . . over my heart. “Your wish is my command. Clean the bathrooms? Answer the phones? Play with Ben? Take Cookie for a walk?”

“I need you to blog for me. There’s been no new posts since the 11th. My customers will think I’ve given up on it already.”

“Blog? Me?” I paced back and forth in front of her, scratching my antlers. “But, but, Tami . . . what’ll I say? What’ll I do? Who’s gonna want to read a moose post?”

“Your fans would, sweetie.” Tami patted my head and kissed my nose right before she sneezed, once, twice, three times. Flopping back on the couch and covering up with a blanket, she mumbled, “Write about what you do best, Maxwell. Fun and games.”

Yeah! I can do that!

Recreation is one of the best things about Poland Spring Campground! It’s why I hang around. Every day in July and August is loaded with awesome things to do. There’s arts and crafts at least once a day where you make stuff like catapults, boats, candles, princess hats or super cool glitter glasses

We play volleyball, basketball, bocci, horseshoes, relay races, water balloon slingshot, penny hunts, ping pong and pool tournaments for teens, bingo, flag football. We have ice cream making once a week. Pool games. Hayrides! Bingo! Jewelry making! Bubble play! Trash Bag Theater! Story time with moose feed!

You can see a sample of our recreation schedule here, on our website.

Every Monday night we have candy bar bingo. Tuesday has free pony rides

Thursday night brings popcorn over the campfire with scary stories told by the kids.

We theme every weekend too!

Pirate Weekend was new last year and an instant hit!

Here’s a scene from a skit Alexz wrote called Who Wants to Be A Pirate. Bryant and JMoney showed all the pirate campers how it’s done and then swore them in by reciting the pirate code.

Medieval weekend is always a lot of fun too! Jousting with noodles, Viking ship races, and a porridge eating contest are just a few of the awesome things you’ll find on our schedule that weekend.

Let’s not forget Christmas in July

Halloween in August

or Fiesta Weekend with a big South of the Border Party, donkey rides on Ricco Suave, pinatas and the bouncy house

But you know what I can’t wait for this year? Our brand new theme -

Super Hero Tryouts Weekend!

Who are you going to be? I think I’m going to dress up as . . . da-da-DAH . . .

Super Moose!

Shhhhh! Don’t tell anybody, but I’ve been practicing my jumping and running so I can try out at the silly Olympic events. Tami says there’s gonna be a toilet paper tie up contest and water balloon target practice too! There’s so many cool weekends, I can never choose just one favorite. But I think Super Hero Weekend is going to be top of my list.

What’s your favorite weekend?