It's too close

I can't believe it.

I pulled up this afternoon from a call and my computer to find the office empty. Everyone except for me has already moved to kamp. Yikes. Is it that time already?

I need a more than a day or two to get ready for the summer. Actually, I take that back. I am so ready for summer I am about to bust. Just get me the pack of Uncles, put up my ENO at the dock, and let the games begin.

Uncle Week is always the best way to kick off the summer. Every year we jump start the summer with about 15-20 of the best core kuk staff. This year, our task is simple: we have to defend the Lampe Kup. No doubt K2 will field a staff of football guys that start around the country at top college programs. Regardless of who they bring to the dance, we will be ready. We most likely will show up with paint on our hands and no showers. The most important thing is that we have Befort playing center field and that means we are fine. Can you say "the glove?"

I just can't believe it's here. It came way too fast.

Stay tuned for our new addition to the blog: At the Flag. It will have daily updates from Kwest.

Come join us for another summer. If you can't make it, stay tuned. We will have plenty to talk about with you...

And the Winner is...

I am not surprised.

In our most recent poll, the voters voted, the world responded, and the winner was selected. Our readers said that Kamp Coffee Cake is the best meal served at kamp. It's hard not to agree. Sunday's are always filled with the aroma of a good batch of hot melting pieces of that cinnamon crunch sitting on top of the perfect breakfast cake. You add in some extra sleep, and some fun afternoon activities that we don't normally get to do, and you have a recipe like none other.

At Kwest, it has been a long standing tradition to make Sunday special. After all, it is the day of rest according to the Lord's plan of creation. When He was finished, He sat back, reflected on His creation, and then gave us a model to follow for weekly rest.

Spike White was once admonished by his local pastor when confronting him about his lack of attendance at the Sunday services. This was during our formative years when camps were being built rather quickly, certainly short handed, and Spike had no time to stop in between hammer swings. When his pastor reminded him that "even the Lord rested on the 7th day" Spike's response was simply "That's because He was finished."

That story makes me chuckle. I do know that a tradition Spike helped pass along was with hot coffee cake. At our flag ship camp in the early years, the first 10 kids out of bed to the meet at the fountain, found a plate of hot coffee cake waiting for them. Ahhh...the spoils of victory and an early rise.

The walk down our camp memory lane is always fun. Whether you came last year, or yesteryear, coffee cake is one tradition we can agree makes Kwest the Greatest Place on planet earth!

Slap Happy Number One!

In our quest to determine what Kwest's top ten list, we would be hard pressed to not mention "Slap Happies." The name itself brings so many things to question, as well as a flood of fun and wonderful stories about the kamp family.

Slap happy rated the best burger on the planet.

Slap Happy happens at the beginning of every term and occasionally they rear their head again for special picnics and events. It's a tradition like none other. Whether they are cooked to perfection (normally they are), flame kissed (as Brad Friess used to say), or toasted like a hockey puck (which does happen occasionally), they are still a slap happy burger made with love and not attainable anywhere else on the planet.

Maybe it's the fact that they are the first meal served to a new kamper. Maybe it's that they are made with Love. Perhaps it's even made more special because you are just back at kamp and are so excited to see everyone. Whatever the case is, opening night picnic, the kitchies, and well cooked beef bring Slap Happy time close to the center of every kampers bulls eye when it comes to favorite things of kwest.

A few years ago, Pete Majors introduced a special sauce, with a special name (almost like being in the holy of hollies so we can't mention it here). It allowed the Slap Happy burger to be taken to a new level. The secret sauce has been in the family for years now and is handed down from one generation of staff to the next.

The huddle around the grill, the smoke pouring into the cooks eyes, and the thousands upon thousands of kampers fed, all add up to helping make Slap Happy time at number 5 on our list.