Second session talent show was a Sprucelands hit.

Prior to the talent show was working on costumes and props in the art room.

Last Thursday night was our talent show. It was good that we could work toward that on Thursday because the day was so hot. As the kids took their break from riding, they could be creative. Many planned skits, costumes, and songs to sing while others wrote silly stories or poems to share.

I have to say there were some surprises. That's what I love about talent shows though. I see the kids in a different light afterwards. Since this session was talking about perspectives throughout the session, I would say that the talent show gives us all new perspectives.

Meet the Adams family!

Talk about funny. They had us all laughing.

For example, the oldest girls put together a skit based on the Adams family from TV's days gone by. The title of their skit: The Adams family meets Taylor Swift. It was a stitch. Brought lots of laughter. Their costumes were well thought out and their script was clever enough that the whole audience was attentive. I never thought I'd see these girls share their sense of humor with us all, and yet they did, with gusto.

The youngest girls cabin put a skit together as well. I was a tad confused about what they were doing but that didn't matter. The kids in our audience all got the point of their skit. I know I had chuckles from their costumes.

Here the younger girls counselor is involved in an interview.

Love those glasses!

The best part was they were brave enough to get up in front of the group. That often takes courage. At Sprucelands, since we are pretty good at giving each other courage, it is a time when the kids dare to express themselves. Often they discover a new part of their personality they didn't know was there. Often they blossom, taking the plunge to share hidden talents, knowing we will accept them for who they are.

Several girls sang. I am impressed with the quality of voices. Anna played the guitar, Rose sang one of her favorites, Jeff continued a song to Gabby that made us smile, and Rachel surprised us all with her lovely rendition of "Hey Jude". Dani, a counselor who could only be with us for four weeks, filled our hearts with "Somewhere over the Rainbow". It was beautiful. We miss you terribly, Dani.

The staff put together a very clever skit based on a story they wrote including nearly every horse in the barn. What a riot! Lisa, nurse Amy, and Carol, a visiting Hill parent from years past, narrated the story as the barn staff acted it out. I was amazed at how many horse names they included in their narrative. And of course, they made everything very dramatic.

Someday I can blackmail these girls with  said photos!!!

Here are a few paragraphs from their story. We are putting the whole story in the camp newsletter. If you know our horses, then you'll understand where horse names have been woven into their silly script.


There once was a man named Michael Fin-nigan. Mike loved to play with his best bud named Danny.  Mike and Dan woke up every day at Sunrise. The two friends shared a breakfast of Honey bunches of oats toped off with a spoonful of Sugar. Mike and Dan never left the house without a cup of hot Coco.

On this particular Sunny day, the friends were feeling pretty Lucky, so they went to the racetrack and bet all their money on Indigo Blue. Indigo won the race, so Mike and Dan used their winnings to visit Dan’s Bonnie who lives over the ocean in the Country of Spain. The Bonnie’s name was Marea, and she owned a villa in Navarre Spain.

Once they arrived Marea took Mike and Dan for a spin in her new Audi convertible.  After driving through the countryside, a Gus of wind blew in, and they heard a Boomer of Thunder in the distance. Since it was getting pretty Stormy, the threesome decided to head home............As the concert went on, Mike was falling hard for country star Shania. His love was so strong, he thought he could be her Romeo, so he went out and bought forty two-dozen Roses, and Scribbled her a love note to profess his love.

Mike was falling hard for country star Shania.

Mike was becoming a borderline stalker so Shania’s husband Casper diddy took him out back by the Shiloh, oops, I mean silo, to teach him a riding lesson. Oh the adventures of Michael Finnigan and Daniel.

Needless to say, even our staff gets into the mix. What fun! There were actually several innovative skits that took us away into imaginative adventures. One cabin of girls wrote their skit's story along the Toy Story theme. Then they acted it out four or five times as if they were performing the best take for a movie. I can't remember all of their specific versions. I recall one being valley girl style, and everyone roared.

Okay now, let's do that one more time.

I have always said Sprucelands takes the kids back to the basics. When they are freed up and have the opportunity to be a little 'out there', the most interesting evenings evolve. This was definitely one of them. It kept all of us focused on fun rather than the heat. We marveled at each other's ability to be clever and in the end celebrated the creative energies that help us blossom and grow.

Your comments about our fun are invited.