Family Camp 2015

Family Camp was unexpectedly great this year. I say "unexpectedly" because last year it rained half of the week and then we got the stomach flu. Unfortunately, this wasn't too unusual, although last year was especially ugly toward the end. I say "great" because this year was the opposite: the weather was amazing and NOBODY got sick!

Except for Elena, the kids were all old enough to be allowed some measure of freedom. Even Phinehas was frequently seen madly pedaling his little bicycle back and forth between the cabins of the trees and the cabins of the meadow or playing in the gym or on the playground. I was even able to assign one of the older boys to babysit Elena for an hour so I could go play mini-golf with a couple of friends - amazing! Monica and Phinehas and Elena really enjoyed the little kids campfire every evening. Judah and Ezra were able to participate in numerous activities: the track meet, the basketball round robin tournament, and the sandcastle contest come to mind. Michael's goal for the week was to get to bed by 10 every single night - which he actually almost achieved. As a result, I got to bed earlier and we were much better rested during and after camp. What an idea!

All of these pictures were taken by my dad. Good to have a photographer in the family! Thanks, Dad!
At Ecola State Park on "Free Day." 


Singing along at the Kid's Campfire

Also singing at the campfire!
Grandma Rachel explaining how sea anemones work!

Trekking out to Hanstack Rock



One of my dad's best shots - Judah playing basketball!

Ezra won most of the races in his age category! (he was one of the oldest kids)

Phinehas was having so much fun watching the sand castle contest...




Comments

  1. ValerieJuly 30, 2015 at 9:58 AM

    Glad you weren't sick and it was wonderful this year! Will possibly join next year. It's such a blessing to have a photographer in the family, I love it! :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Look Who’s Turning Two!

Image
Today Elena turns two! She’s pretty sweet, so I’m pretty sure that the “Terrible Twos” doesn’t yet apply to her. Recently, she’s really started to grow up into one of “the kids” rather than merely being “the baby.” She loves to play with all of her siblings, but Phinehas especially has become a favorite companion lately. It’s the age old story – she laughs at his jokes, so he dotes on her. They all do, really. She’s speaking in sentences, though not everybody can understand them! “I donwanna go to bed” is a frequently repeated phrase. “Daddy’s home!” and “Phinny crying!” are other examples. She is enthralled with dogs and babies these days. When we were in Tri-Cities and my brother and sister-in-law brought their 6 month old over she was very insistent that she “Hold the baby!” She didn’t want to stop. She’s also completely fascinated by their dog, Zorro. Alas, the poor child, the first of my children not to be completely terrified of dogs, is also the only one who is allergic to th...
Read more

Sunday Hospitality Menus

Image
Sunday afternoons are an ideal time to have people over, right? We've already blocked the day off for church and rest, and, coincidentally, so have many of our friends and family. But, being a day of rest and all, and since we're gone all morning and into the early afternoon, preparing food has it's challenges. Also, we have a potluck lunch at our church every  Sunday, so usually nobody needs a huge dinner in the evening. I decided recently that I needed to write down a list of sample menus for Sunday hospitality so that I didn't have to start from square one every time. And, since I just recently started this blog, and it's on my mind, I figured I might as well post the list, and maybe update it as I go along. So here are some of my ideas: Menus for Sunday Entertaining For a late afternoon repast, when you have some time to prepare: Pre-marinated Chicken on kebabs with whatever grillable vegetables you like Bread, home made or artisan, served with jam or m...
Read more

Love’s Labors Stacked

Image
I went through Elena’s room yesterday trying to get rid of the things we no longer need. While I was doing it I ran into a rather large roadblock: 19 blankets, handmade for my kids by people we know and love. Because they are lovely fort-building material, they were scattered all over the room, but after I folded and stacked them I decided I needed a picture… and because pictures are nicer with people in them, plus the blanket pile was too tall to stand up without a steadying hand, what you see below is the resulting photo. 19 is a low number actually, there are probably at least 8-10 more in the other kids rooms, generally in their  beds. I can tell who gave me each one, people we see every week, relatives, relatives who have passed on, people we haven’t seen in years, even one from one of Michael’s co-worker’s wives.  This stack of blankets is a sign of the blessings of community. The blessings of family. The blessings of friends.       But the question r...
Read more