Greetings from Camp Eloes

We're here at Camp Eloes (pronounced like "Eloise") for a couple of days and having a great time. Camp Eloes is designed for young superheroes and their families. We're here with Honda the Hero, of course (aka Lizzy).

There are 10 superheroes in our group at camp. I'm not sure how many groups there are, but there appear to be a lot of little superheroes flying around. Lizzy--I mean Honda--keeps ducking them and saying "Whoa!" Honda, unfortunately, does not fly. Her powers are 1) super fast and 2) safe in lava. Both very handy powers.

A couple of tips should you be invited to Camp Eloes with your little hero:

1. The superheroes are invisible to people like you and me. Their tents are also invisible. Honda is a group leader so she can see all the other tents and superheroes. That was very handy in putting up our tent. Honda said she actually put up most of the tents for her group. I'm not sure if the other superheroes can see each other. However, every superhero here in Camp Eloes is outfitted with a communicator. These are very important when pitching tents and engaging in other activities. You don't want to pitch your tent on top of someone else's tent (especially if their powers happen to include things like gooey acid, smelly feet, or spontaneous combustion).

2. If you choose to roast your marshmallows over the paper fire that comes with each tent, we recommend that you blow on your marshmallows three times per marshmallow after roasting them. So if you put two marshmallows on your stick, blow six times; three marshmallows, nine times; seven marshmallows, 21 times; etc. We also recommend against roasting and eating repeated batches of mutiple stale marshmallows. They don't settle too well on the adult digestive system. Superheroes, however, appear to have special stale-marshmallow-resistant tummies.

3. Not all of the superheroes here have families with them. Some of the superheroes are orphans. So reach out to those little ones who may be a bit lonely and down. But first you have to find them. And that's kind of hard when they're invisible.

4. There is a lot of work to be done around here. Each group has 10 superheroes and 20 jobs. So your little one will be busy working. It's also an educational camp, so be prepared to help your hero learn all he or she can during the camp.

5. Camp T-shirts are a must. They work best when you use washable markers on old shirts. Ours say C.E.--for Camp Eloes, of course. (But before you start making shirts, check with us in a few days so we can tell you if those markers really are washable...)

6. Don't let your lack of powers get you down. It's easy to feel unspecial when you can't fly, walk through lava, lift up cars, stretch your arms a mile in each direction, or do other cool things. And it can get frustrating when you can't see anyone but your own family. But I noticed that Caroline has really been enjoying it here. She kept smiling and laughing--presumably at the invisible superheroes that keep flying over--and I thought I should probably adopt her attitude. So relax and enjoy yourself.