Weekend Fun

Joshua and I got to go up to Jones Store for lunch yesterday while the kids hung out with a couple of their favorite staffers. I hadn't ever been to Jones Store in spite of hearing a lot about it, so that was fun. It was a beautiful drive and a beautiful spot to eat lunch.

It started sprinkling just before dinner today. As we were walking to the dining hall, I thought I'd try to get a picture of the drops landing in the pool, so Hannah decided she should be in the picture.

 David loves climbing the poles at the dining hall. He said to me earlier this summer that he'd rather eat at home because I make better food, but he'd rather go to the dining hall so he can climb the poles. He's started doing more than just climbing up and down now, he also likes to hold himself up with one hand or just his legs.

Sherwood

Although we like seeing our friends, participating in kids club and free time, and joining theme nights and activities during family camp, if we had to pick our favorite week of the summer, it would be the week of Sherwood Forest. I have always thought Sherwood was the greatest part of camp, no doubt in part because Joshua was on the Sherwood team the two summers I was on summer staff, and that has only increased now that I get to go there with my children. There's something magical about spending time amongst the giant trees, wearing green tunics and hats, calling each other by Sherwood names, watching the amazing and energetic staff, pretending Robin Hood lives in the forest, and letting kids just be kids.

We went down to Sherwood at least once, often two or three times, each day to see towne meetings, watch the Robin Hood skit, go on the squire hunt, and participate in free time. The kids had fun blending in with the forest in their green on the walks down, pretending I couldn't see them.

StrawMary Shortcake tried lots of the free time activities, incuding archery.

She also spent a lot of time working on the scavenger hunt that Catalyst, our Sherwood activities director, put together. It took her multiple days to finish looking for clues and solving puzzles, but she finally did it at the end of the final free time.

We also spent time each day at the candle shack dipping wicks in the wax to slowly make candles.

A few of our friends were campers, and it was always fun to spend some time with them.

 

We watched the boat race across the loch on Wednesday, as the boats slowly floated from one side to the other. It was a tiring week, especially with all the walking up and down, but we were sad when it ended and the campers went home Friday.

Happy Fourth of July

Mary and I got excited looking at seeds this spring and decided to try growing corn. I have no idea if it will do well in this area, but it sounded fun and seems to be happy so far.

The kids helped me make a blueberry pie for Fourth of July. Since it fell on a Saturday this year, we didn't have any campers and went to a potluck barbecue with the staff before we enjoyed our pie.

Family Camp 2

We had a number of friends at our second week of family camp, and the kids got to go to kids club in the morning with some of their friends. Hannah was in the three year old group with Payton as her leader. I went along for part of each day.

Mary and David were part of a large group of 6-7 years old plus two 8 year olds. They had lots of fun; Paul and Grace were their leaders. We didn't do free time activities since we were busy in the mornings, but we did check out more of the evening activities.

 The last night was Space Disco themed. The kids were looking forward to it after going the first week and had fun again. The windows in Lakeview were all covered to make it dark and there was a big dance party inside. This time, we brought glow sticks.

Family Camp Week 1

Our first week of family camp was much smaller than our second this year, so we took advantage of the less busy free time by doing lots of climbing. The first day Mary and David both made it to the top of routes one, two, and three.

We also got to go the Sherwood Faire and blow bubbles and play games.

The second day of climbing they both got up route four with Joshua climbing next to them.

We spent some time at the craft condo too.

 The third and final day the climbing wall was open for the week, Mary and David both made it to the top of routes five and six, plus were getting much faster on the easier routes. I was impressed by how well they both did on the wall.

Wildflowers

One evening at dinner, Eric mentioned that he had taken Toby, his dog, for a walk on the Gethsemane Trail the day before and was admiring all the flowers blooming. So the next day, we packed a picnic lunch and hit the trail to see for ourselves.

We were not disappointed. It was perfect weather for a walk through the forest, and there were a lot of flowers blooming including a few late azaleas.

Once we reached the falls and had lunch, the kids had fun wading in the water.

Summer Begins

The summer staff arrived and we kicked off O-week on Sunday. It was fun to see so many familiar faces again.

It was also fun to eat breakfast burritos in Sherwood so the Sherwood staff could practice cooking over the fire.

On Wednesday, the kids and I went down to spend a couple days with Dad and Mom. The Trevino kids were there for part of the time, and it was fun to see them too.

At the end of O-week, the kids got some extra staff shirts which were all adult sizes, so I had fun altering them.

 Phoebe let us help color signs to welcome family campers as they drove up the road.

Camping in Sherwood

We took a week of vacation at the end of May and part of the time we camped in Sherwood. We had planned to head down there earlier in the week, but it was cold and rainy, so we waited until Friday to set up camp. It was still pretty cold and misty when we arrived, but it sure was beautiful.

Joshua made grilled cheese, and we were all thankful for a hot lunch.

I felt a little silly telling the kids they needed to bring their snow jackets and boots, but they ended up wearing them almost the whole time, so I was glad I had. 

We wandered around after lunch and did the ropes course.

The kids also climbed on the smaller stump.

Joshua made us dinner, which was delicious.

Then we roasted marshmallows over the fire.

The next morning, Mary helped Joshua cook pancakes over the fire.

 We walked around again before packing up and heading home.