Galil Visits Pixar Studios

The campers (chanichim) here at Camp (machaneh) Galil woke up this morning after a one hour sleep-in to find out that today is Special Day! The theme of this day is Pixar Adventure, and the entire daily schedule will be different. On the loudspeaker (romkal) this morning, our main characters woke everyone up.

Amelim at the ropes course today.

The main characters are a family of four that are visiting Pixar studios on vacation. The first studio that they brought us to was the "Monsters Inc." one, which is where we ate breakfast. Our meal took place in Boo's Bedroom, so the staff (tzevet) members encouraged everyone to dress like kindergarteners. Afterwards, each age group (shichva) spent some time painting the door to their cabin (tzrif) based on a Pixar movie. The Amelim (post-third and fourth graders) painted their doors with fish for "Finding Nemo", and the Amelot and the Chotrot (post-fifth graders) painted for the movie "Wall-E." The Chotrim painted for "Up," while the Sayarot (post-sixth graders) painted for "Toy Story." The Sayarim painted their door based on "Monsters Inc." The Tzophim (post-seventh graaders) painted for the movie "Inside Out," the Tzophot painted for "Ratatouille," and the Bonim (post-eighth graders) painted for "Cars." Lastly, the Bonot painted for "The Incredibles," the Bogrim (post-ninth graders) painted for "Brave," and the Bogrot painted for "Bug's Life."

Bogrot laughing on the basketball court.

After everyone finished painting their doors, we all met up again at the basketball court before beginning a carnival. At the basketball court, our main characters spoke to Sully from "Monsters Inc." and Buzz from "Toy Story," and then we transitioned into the "Toy Story" studio. The carnival had stations like, Life-sized Mr. Potato Head and, Little Bo Peep Sheep Herding. The carnival lasted for about half an hour before all of the chanichim were sent to the ropes course and "Toy Story" transitioned into "Wall-E." The chanichim didn't go on the course, though, they just watched a transitionary skit. Lunch came next, and it was served buffet style on the porch of the dining hall (chadar ochel). When everyone entered the chadar ochel after getting their food, they were transported into outer space. Tzevet had decorated the chadar ochel by covering all of the windows with black paper and hanging up paintings of stars and planets.
There were also a few strands of lights around the room which looked like stars, so the whole atmosphere was very cool. When lunch came to an end, we all moved over to the gazebo, which was decorated with tons of balloons to look like the house from "Up." At this point, we transitioned from "Wall-E" to "Up." The chanichim were given some free time (chofesh) before beginning another carnival, this time based on "Up." Many of these stations were "wilderness exploration" stations, where kids could earn badges to put on Cub Scout sashes. Some of these stations include building a dam, learning a fire dance, and skipping rocks. At the end of the carnival, everyone changed into a bathing suit and headed down to the pool, where we transitioned into "Finding Nemo" and had a pool party. After the pool party, all of the chanichim washed up before "Finding Nemo" transitioned into "Cars." Once we were at the "Cars" studio, we spent some time building cars out of cardboard boxes and paint. After building the cars, it was time for a snack (kibud).

A Sayeret at the pool.

Then, the chanichim raced each other in their cars! Each shichva chose a representative to race for them. This race led up to a real race, between Mater and Lightning McQueen. We had our camp truck decorated to look like Mater, and a tzevet member's car like Lightning McQueen (but don't worry, they only "raced" at five miles per hour). The race commenced and more chofesh was given, until it was time for dinner! Dinner was "Ratatouille" themed, so the tzevet members who were on serving duty (toranut) were dressed in all black to look like waiters. At the end of dinner, one last transition skit was preformed, and we were with The Incredibles! All of the chanichim were told to dress up as super heros, and then meet at the moadon for a party (messiba). The messiba will go until it is time to get ready for bed. Tomorrow will be the last regular day of first session, and then our Shabbat weekend will start! Check back in tomorrow though to find out what's going on!