the camp hammer blog

Happy New Year!  2010 has arrived.  I hope you all enjoyed your holiday season, and are as excited for 2010 as we are!  The mark of the New Year means that Summer 2010 is closer than ever!  After a quiet December, Camp Hammer is back in full swing preparing for this upcoming summer.  Liger and Mossi will be venturing across the Northwest in weeks to come searching for this summer’s staff.  Registration is open, and Camps are filling up.  It is so exciting to think about all the young men and women who will be here in just a few months.  Until then, we have some great weekend retreats coming through!  We are definitely staying busy, and enjoying the promise of all the fun to come.  Now that the holidays are over you can count on the Camp Hammer blog being updated weekly!  Continue to check it out and leave us your comments!  We love hearing from you.  I hope this week that you will remember that you are loved by the creator of all.  Until next week…

Camp Staff.

Tags: 2010, camp, camp hammer, fun, hammer, liger, mossi, New Year, Summer
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Hello Camp Hammer Friends and Family!  I hope you are doing so well!  If you are a student, you are most likely awaiting the final school bell to ring, and Christmas vacation to begin.  If you are an adult, you are probably looking forward to some time spent away from the office this Christmas.  Whatever the case may be, Camp Hammer is so excited for this holiday season!  There is so much going on!  We just sent out our 2010 Brochures!  Look for them in your mailboxes.  Also, in just over a month, Mossi and Liger will be traveling around to find this the summer of 2010′s staff!  I love that summer preparations begin in December!  It makes if feel like summer is already getting closer!  Also, we are all excited for this time of year in which we celebrate the birth of a savior!  Christ’s birth is the reason for the season, and that is what Camp Hammer is all about.  We hope that this holiday season you are able to take some time and remember the baby that was born so many years ago, that saved the world!  How exciting!  Also, in these next few weeks remember that Camp Hammer loves you, and is praying for you this holiday season!  Have a great last week of school or work, and check out the blog next week!  Peace!

Camp Hammer Staff

Tags: 2010, Brochures, camp, camp hammer, Christ, hammer, liger, mossi, Noel, Prayer, Savior, Summer
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Well Friends and Family.  It seems it is that time of year again.  The Holidays are swiftly approaching, and Camp is quiet.  Our last retreat group of the year was last weekend, and now Camp will rest for a little over a month.  The office will still be buzzing with preparations for the new year, but the grounds will take a break from guests.  The Holidays are such an interesting time of the year.  For some, they bring fond memories of family and friends, and for others there are feelings of frustration and anxiety.  Well, this Holiday season I want to challenge you!  Thanksgiving is often viewed as a time of family, friends, food, football, and Black Friday (that was some great alliteration)!  Thanksgiving is certainly all of those things, but there is so much more.  This Thanksgiving remember all of the incredible things you have been blessed with.  Even though times might be tough, or you just aren’t a fan of the holidays, remember that there is always something worth being thankful for!  As we take a breather here at Camp, know that we are so thankful for the decades of staff and guests that have spent time with us in the Redwoods.  Camp Hammer is an incredible place because of the people that have filled it for over 40 years.  Our hope is that you know just how valued you all are.  So this holiday season, remember that there is always something to be thankful for!

Love,

Camp Hammer Staff

Tags: blessed, break, camp, camp hammer, family, friends, hammer, holidays, love, rest, thankful, thanksgiving
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Hey Camp Friends and Family.  I hope you are well on this Wednesday morning.  Blogging is a very interesting aspect of our website.  Up until this point, our blog has served as another way for people to stay in touch with, and continue hearing about what is going on at Camp.  But I want to ask you what you think!  A blog is something that can be interesting and fun to read, or dull and repetitive.  My question for you is, what do you want to read when you log onto a blog?  Your opinion matters!  We want people to love reading this blog, and eagerly anticipate the next one to be published.  So, if you have things that you would love to hear or read about on this blog, comment on this entry and let us know!  We want to serve our readers to the best of our ability!  Let us know what you want to read on the Camp Hammer blog!

Camp Hammer Staff

Tags: blog, blogging, camp, camp hammer, family, friends, hammer, love
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Hey Friends and Family,

I hope this wonderful fall day is treating you well!  It is cold here at camp, approximately 53 degrees, with a strong little wind chill, brrrrrr.  Well, I must apologize for the lateness of this entry.  It has been crazy around here lately.  Many of you who live in the greater Santa Cruz area probably remember the storm we experienced two weeks ago, well, it knocked out all of our power for over 80 hours!  It is incredible how different life is when there isn’t any electricity!  It was amazing to realize just how much time is spent on things like facebook, blogs, twitter, email, oh you get the point.  Anyway, let’s get to the good stuff.  What is going on around here?  Quite a bit actually, thanks for asking !  We recently said farewell to one of our staff members.  Sundance’s time at camp ended this week and he headed home to start the next chapter of his life.  We miss him already!  Widget has joined us here at camp to work on our website.  We are in the process of putting out the Summer 2010 Summer Brochure!  It is going to be awesome!  Look for it in the mail.  Mossi and Liger are looking at recruiting dates to find the staff for next summer!  So exciting!  Auger, MC, Mum, and Pickadilly are working hard to make sure Camp runs smoothly through the Fall!  Skipper, Optimus, and Bambi are working hard in the Kitchen for all of our weekend groups, and let me tell you, the food is incredible!

Lastly we are still working on this incredible new campaign.  It is called “Camp Hammer Love Stories,” and no it isn’t about people falling in love.  It is about why people love Camp Hammer.  Everyone, including YOU, will have a chance to send in their Camp Hammer Love Story.  You can write a paragraph or 5, it makes no difference to us.  We will  be censoring all entries, and every couple of days, or each week, depending on the number of entries, we will be featuring a new story on the front page of our Website!  So exciting.  so much great stuff going on.  Keep your eyes peeled for specific dates and more info on how you can send in your entries.  If you want to start writing one, feel free!  Here is a quick prompt: “What do you LOVE about Camp Hammer?”  Let the world know what Camp Hammer has done for you!  Have a great Wednesday!

Camp Hammer Staff

Tags: Auger, bambi, camp, camp hammer, campaign, email, facebook, hammer, liger, love, MC, mossi, mum, optimus, pickadilly, power outage, skipper, storm, story, sundance, twitter, widget
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Hey Friends and Family!

I hope this wonderful Friday morning finds you well!  The air is crisp here at Camp, so great!  Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks, and I know the blogs have been sparse, but do not fear, you should see weekly postings from here on out (for the most part!).  I wanted to tell you guys some of the great things that are going on at Camp.  Now that our busy season is officially over, we will shift gears a little bit and start working on things for the summer of 2010.  In the next few weeks we will be putting together a new brochure to give you guys all the great information for next summer.  Look for that in the mail in a few months!  Also, we recently added a new staff member (WIDGET!!!) who will be working on helping us keep our website updated with all sorts of great new features.  Keep your eyes out, and check our website regularly for those changes!  Lastly, we are in the beginning talks of launching a new campaign.  It will be called something like “Sharing the Love.”  We will be asking all of YOU to tell us your very own “Camp Hammer Love Story.”  We want to know what you love about Camp Hammer.  Whether you are a parent, a camper, an x-staff member, or a retreat camper, we want to know how Camp has affected you!  There will be plenty more info to come on this, so keep those eyes peeled!  Such an exciting time at Camp! Enjoy your weekend, and we hope to see you soon!

Camp Hammer Staff

Tags: camp, camp hammer, enjoy, facebook, hammer, love, over, share, twitter, website
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Hey Friends and Family!  I hope all is well on this beautiful 1st day of Autumn.  I thought I would just drop a quick line and let you know what is happening at Camp Hammer in the next few weeks!  Tomorrow we welcome our 3rd Future Life Retreat, Kings Valley Christian School.  They have been lovers of Camp Hammer for many years, and we are excited that they will be spending a few days with us in the redwoods!  This weekend, we welcome the manliest men in all of Santa Cruz County for Twin Lakes Church’s Man Camp.  This is the 4th annual Man Camp, and each year seems to get better!  There will be all sorts of sports, great conversation, a dynamic speaker, and much much more!  We hope to see you there.  lastly, next week we welcome our final Future Life Retreat, Green Valley Christian School.  This is another phenomenal school that we are blessed to host for a few days.  Keep checking the blog for new updates and fun information on Camp Hammer.  Peace!

Camp Hammer Staff.

Tags: autumn, camp, camp hammer, green valley, kings valley, man camp, manly, redwoods
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Hey Friends and Family!

I hope you are well on this beautiful September day!  A lot has happened in the last week and a half.  We had two Future Life Retreats come and go, and also Twin Lakes Church Family Camp was here two weekends ago.  It has been very busy to say the least.

Family Camp was so much fun.  Over 200 people were here camping together.  It was great to meet and re-connect with so many families who love Camp Hammer.  So many campers from previous summers were here as well.  It actually felt a lot like the summer because of all the fun things going on.  We had a great time hosting you Family Campers!  See you next year.

Monte Vista and Calvary Christian came last week for their annual Fall Future Life Retreats.  If you don’t know what  a Future Life Retreat is, I will explain it.  A Future Life Retreat is when a youth group or school comes to camp and we facilitate a 3 or 4 day program for them.  We play games, open rides, do some team building, have great seminars and worship, and really just have a good time!  Anyway, we just had two.  They were a blast.  We brought back a famous team building activity called The Egg Drop.  For this activity students are given a small bag of supplies and an egg, and are challenged to create a contraption that will keep the egg safe when dropped from about 8 ft.  It is a lot harder than it sounds.  Out of 28 teams, we had 2 that did it.  It is a fun activity nonetheless and causes students to work together and problem solve as a team!  Pictures will be on the site in the next few weeks!  Keep your eyes out.

This week is a pretty mellow one around Camp.  We are preparing for groups to come, and have started brainstorming ideas for next summer.  Be sure to check the mail in the next week or so, you might just have something delivered by Camp Hammer.  Alright, have a great Tuesday!

Camp Hammer Staff

Tags: calvary, camp, camp hammer, egg drop, family, family camp, hammer, monte vista, redwoods, retreat, school, Summer
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Hello All.  Well I hope this blog finds you well on this beautiful September morning!  I walked down to the office this morning and it was already like 75 degrees outside.  Love it.  Makes it feel like summer will never end.  As I sit in my office (the Cave) some may call it, I have no choice but to daydream of next summer.  I know summer 2009 just ended, but I can’t help it!  I mean c’mon, my job is to create fun games and activities for kids to do at a Camp.  My mind is constantly going over different things we can do…even when I am not working.  It’s like a sickness, a good sickness if there is such a thing.  I am already thinking of new skits, possibilities for team comps (something with a mud-pit?), banquet themes, and even a new gag to use before night games.  Call me crazy, but I just love this place, and planning for summer.

Ok, so, I am going to abruptly change my train of thought, but just go with it!  This year, 09/10, we need to get the word out there about Camp Hammer!  If you have worked here, or come as a camper, or you just plain love this place and you follow us online (Twitter, Facebook, Blog, Website), you gotta spread the word.  Camp Hammer is like this hidden treasure…but better (that rhymed).  We are a small camp with HUGE heart.  If you have experienced Camp you know what I am talking about.  So my mission to you: tell your friends about camp.  Show them videos on our website or you-tube.  Follow our blog, and tell your friends as well!  Join the Twitter community and follow our “tweets…” Our twitter is called “CampHammerTime.”  Become a fan of Camp Hammer on Facebook!  All of these are great ways to stay connected to camp.

Also, if you are interested in submitting a reason, or story, that explains why you love Camp Hammer, send it in!  We would love to post it on our site!  You can send in entries to info@camphammer.com and just make the subject out to “Why I love Camp Hammer.”  You can send them with your name, or we can post them anonymously!  All entries will be censored for appropriateness of course!  Alright friends, we have work to do.  Enjoy this 2nd day of September!  Much Love.

Camp Hammer Staff

Tags: 2009, 2010, blog, camp hammer, facebook, family, friends, love, mission, morning, night games, september, Summer, summer camp, team competitions, twitter, youtube
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Hey Friends and Family.

Well, another week has passed since summer has ended.  Camp is so quiet!  It is always an interesting transition going back into the “year-round” here at Camp Hammer.  It is crazy just how fast summer goes by!

I wanted to write a quick blog to let all of you know that you are not forgotten.  As you transition back into school or whatever the fall holds for you, we are thinking and praying for you often.  We loved having so many wonderful young people up here this summer.  And if you are a parent reading this, we loved having you pick up and drop off your kids too, ha!  Now that summer is over, we hope that you will remember your time shared with us (in whatever capacity that may have been) this year!  Study hard, have a great school year, and watch for more Camp Hammer mailings and blogs to come!

Camp Hammer Staff.

Also: check us out on Twitter (camphammertime) and Facebook (camp hammer)!!!

Tags: 2009, 2010, blog, camp hammer, facebook, reading, school, Summer, twitter
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