a weekend at family camp

***** Warning - Photo OVERLOAD*****

I have to admit, I wasn't really looking forward to our weekend at family camp. We had made a last minute decision to go based on Alex's need to get in a couple more rehearsals before the big show this Friday. I'm not always a big "camping" fan... plus I was feeling like we were just "too busy" to take a weekend away.

I am sooooo glad we went! We had an absolutely AMAZING time. We got to really connect with the other families from church. The kids got to actually run around and play with their friends from church and they even made new friends to boot.

We drove up early Saturday morning. Alex went straight to rehearsal and we went to put our stuff in our cabin...
After rehearsal, they had a kids' craft project on the beach (sand casting)... but the weather was too nice to stay dry... so soon all of the kids were in their suits and in the water...


After the beach we went back to the cabin to change.

Here's what I get when I try to get a "nice" photo of the two of them together...
We had lunch and then Alex ran off with a pack of boys to play while Clara headed to the playground with the girls.

Then.... we headed off to go apple picking!!!

Here's Clara showing off her Ida Red...
Alex and Clara (who is hiking up her pants... sigh) off on a hunt for the perfect apples to pick...
Clara and her loot...
Then it was off to the corn maze. We went through Phase 1 with them the first time...
For Phase 2, they hooked up with some kids from church and went without us. Clara was done after Phase 2, but Alex just kept on going. Every time he came out a new group of kids from church was going in, so he would go right on in with them.

We finally got him to go after reminding him of our next stop... apple cider and hot apple donuts...

... yum!

After getting back to camp the kids ran off in different directions. Alex was off with his friend Renee from choir and Clara with the pack of girls again. We were childless at dinner since they both ditched us to sit with their friends :-)

After dinner, they were off again... Alex to the beach with his friend to watch the sunset, skip stones and help build the bonfire. Clara was off playing in the cabin of one of her friends. Then it was time for the bonfire and s'mores! The kids hung around the bonfire for a bit of the singing and the marshmallows.... but after that they were off. They gave all of the kids glow necklaces, so the kids all ran and played on the beach in the dark with their glow necklaces.

Around 9 we rounded them up toward bed. Four families shared the same cabin. So even after all of that activity, the kids still weren't exactly ready for bed. Alex went across the hall to hang out with the boys from another family... they had some giant book of cool inventions (right up Alex's alley) and the girl from the room next to ours joined Clara on her bunk to play hangman and they're own little game of pictionary. Finally, the kids went to bed but us parents stayed up for a bit longer chatting and laughing.

Sunday morning was breakfast and then chapel. After chapel, Alex had rehearsal again. Clara's pack of girls played on the playground and then headed back down to the beach...
Alex's rehearsal ended right at lunch time so he was so disappointed that he hadn't been able to go to the beach too. After lunch they played with their friends on the playground until one by one they loaded up to go home.

Alex then remembered that we had promised him a trip to the beach... so for about half an hour, we played on the beach again...
Then it was time for.... ONE....
LAST....
SPLASH....
before heading home :-)

We really, truly couldn't have asked for a better weekend!

Ack... I've got to get showered! Schools are out here so the kids have been invited to the house of one Clara's dance friends from our old studio to build the Lego Eiffel Tower with her and her brother! The kids can't wait!