DAY 1
Fifty campers enjoyed and all the activities for our first day of "Barnyard Roundup" VBS Summer Camp. The day gave children the insight of learning about the Good Shepherd, fun making a journal, using their voices to sing new songs and making new friends. Each day will bring a new adventure spiritually and make them stronger in their faith.
DAY2
Day 2 of Summer Camp began with mass and children listening to Fr. Stan as he spoke about Jesus and the reading of the feeding 5,000 people with the fish and loaves of bread. Campers again made crafts and continued to learn and practice their songs for the closing mass on Saturday. Kindergartners (Piglets) and 1st graders (Chicks) had a special visitor Ruth Bielanski the Youth Services Librarian from Manville Public Library who read to them and made a cow to go along with the book she read. Morning snacks today included a Piggy bagel. Tomorrow we go on our trip to the Farm.
DAY3 of Summer Camp began with a lot of excitement as the campers were all looking forward to our trip to the Farm. We celebrated morning Mass with Fr. Stan as the children learned about Jesus and the Sowing of the Seeds which was very appropriate as we were going to see that on the farm. Unfortunately we did not get the chance to go to the farm today due to a bus mix up. Yes the campers were disappointed but we revised our day and made the best of it. Some had chance for music while others had art and Religion. They got to eat their packed lunches and even though the weather did give us some rain in the afternoon that did not hold back the campers from doing activities outside and inside. They played four squares, raced for animals in ice and the Piglets even were playing in the mud----LOL. We rescheduled our Farm trip for tomorrow and everyone is looking forward to it more now than before.
DAY4
Our Trip to the Johnson’s Locust Hall Farm was so exciting! After morning Mass we boarded buses and headed south. We arrived at the farm and were greeted by the farm helpers who loaded us onto wagons for a hayride into the fields. When we stopped at the first field everyone went into the field to pick yellow and green squash. Campers had to look for their crops and were able to pick one of each color. Some were small some were huge! As we were sitting on the wagon for the others the campers were thinking of what they could do with their squash when they got home. Some were going to make cookies, some eat them and some wanted to bake something. Our next stop was for string beans and campers filled a small container with as many as they could find. They looked under the large plants to find bunches of beans. A few campers couldn’t wait and even started eating them as they just love their veggies. Next stop was to the corn field where they picked four ears of corn each. The cornstalks were so high we joked about them not playing hide and seek as we were not going to look for them. Now they had a box of fresh farm vegetables picked by them. Campers proudly held their boxes until we got back to the buildings. Back at the barn, campers visited the sheep, goats, chickens and were able to feed them corn by sliding it down a large tube. They met, petted and even brushed the miniature ponies. To end our day they were treated to ice cream to help cool them off. Even though the weather was hot, everyone had a great time leaning about farm life.
DAY5
Our week has come to an end and today was a day of learning, finalizing and practicing. Mass this morning was centered on Mary Magdalene and how she was told by Jesus to go spread the word. Fr. Stan told the campers to also spread the word through their Religion and faith. After the morning of music, art and Religion the campers ate lunch which was a “buffet” of items and they all enjoyed choosing what they wanted. Mary Anne brought the campers into the church to practice as a group for tomorrow’s closing Mass and performance after Mass. They all know their songs and are excited to have their parents listen. Campers looked up to our Jr. Counselors and they made some new friends this week and had a great time with them. We collected juice and snacks for our Caritas to help some of the needy. Everyone gathered all their crafts, Religion lessons and everything from the week and it was tough trying to get them to leave at 3:00. We are looking forward to our closing Mass Saturday @ 6:00 and invite everyone to join us!