Tiny Tykes at Camp Lakeview!

Brown County

The White Creek 8th grade class of 2013 gave us a wonderful gift-

a night at a family cabin in Brown County!
We went last night and it was tons of fun! 

The view from the back porch.

The indoor water park- hours of fun!

Marc gives me a thumbs up :)

he is swimming now!

Of course, we hiked:

At the cabin- memories saved for my kids

At the cabin (Bump and Nana’s cabin in Northern MI)

June 2013

At the cabin, we eat too much. Way too much. Some of our meals, dinner and breakfasts, probably include 2-3,000 calories in the adult version.   You kids are given chocolate milk in the morning, and snacks throughout the day, mostly sugar. As I write this, I see the following things on the table under the stair while nana keeps groceries: Cinnamon toast Crunch Cereal, Honey Nut Cheerios, Pop-Tarts, Cheeze-Its (Nana Crackers,) Fruit Snacks, Oreos, Tostitos, Potato Chips, Chocolate Chip Cookies. Oh, and because I asked, there are also whole grain saltines and 2 bags of apples. Mom is lame, I know, but not lame enough at the cabin, because vacation is half over and these things are untouched.

But also, at the cabin this year, there is a Nutribullet, and we make fruit and veggie drinks with it.  Nana, Amy and I drink them daily, and Bump makes them really well, but he doesn’t drink them- not this week.  Marcus, Eldon and Peter share mine with me sometimes, when they are not already eating gummy worms.

At the cabin, there is dust and pollen everywhere when it is dry (and it is dry this year.)   Our hair is gritty, and we smell like dust and bug spray. All children (even the girls) have filthy hands and feet, and dirt splotches on their faces that sometimes look like beards. To clean off, we swim in Nana’s pool or at the lakes. Last night I tackled you each with wet wipes before bed.  The night before that I ended up in the tiny pool with Lorraine, Aggie, Remi and Theo. I think my girls are getting too strong for me!

At the cabin, when I was little I had my two wheel bike with the banana seat.  That bike is still here for you, but my parents have become grandparents, and there are more fun things. There is a small red car that zips around, two electric scooters, and a golf cart that they even let Lorraine drive!  And there’s a big lawn where the trees of my childhood lived, where I built the lean-to. And there’s a nice path all the way back to dad’s deer blind. They let you take your toys all the way back there.

At the cabin, we sleep in the pop-up camper and we worry about bugs and bears. Aunt Amy and Uncle Theo saw a bear yesterday, but we didn’t tell you.  Nana and Bump take frequent “garbage runs” on the golf cart- they take all food scraps far out in the woods away from the cabin, so that they bear will not be attracted here. Yet, we grilled twice, and I would think he’d like those smells.

At the cabin, we stay up late listening to Bump play his guitar around the campfire. This year daddy brought his mandolin, too.  It was perfect- a piece of the south (because we feel like Southerners living in Southern Indiana now!) added to our up-north ritual.

At the cabin we swim in different lakes: Cadillac (where the playground with the ‘boat’ is), Crystal lake (a tiny lake with lots of odd locals and goose poop all over the t-dock.) and Lake Michigan (my favorfite place on earth.)  This trip we went to Manistee to swim in Lake MI, and also near sleeping bear dunes.   My parents never drove around this much when we came up here when I was little, so I love exploring with you.

At the cabin, there are turkey feathers on the wall, and lots of deer antlers. And here, we get out the bow and arrows, and the BB guns and even mom practices with the hand gun (with dad and uncle Theo)

At the cabin, Bump watches TV- a huge TV, and it is very, very loud. He watches Foxnews mostly, and golf, but he also share with you.

At the cabin, the pole barn is new, but the fridge is old.  An entire shelf and all its contents might fall on you when you open it.

At the cabin, the water pressure is wonderful, but the showers are short and we must clean up quickly before it gets cold.  And Aggie likes to sing and sing and sing in the shower.

At the cabin, you sleep in the loft sometimes, and we keep our clothes there. Looking over the edge is fun, and sometime you watch TV from up there (just like I used to.) Nana and Bump are jumpy about the stairs and the edge, especially with you youngest ones!

At the cabin, we wear sunglasses when we say goodbye. 

(Mom and Dad and Amy- what else would you add?)

How was summer camp, Lorraine?

1.       What did you normally do first thing in the morning? When did you wake up?  I woke up at 7:15 to take my morning shower. The other girls woke up at 7:30. The first thing we did was get dressed and then go to breakfast.

2.      What did you do after breakfast?  We did “cabin clean-up” and that’s when you have to sweet the floors and make your bed and stuff like that.

Get the questions here

3.      Tell me your favorite foods at camp. Was there anything you didn’t like?  My three favorite foods were pizza, chicken nuggets, and waffles and bacon. I didn’t not like anything.

4.      Tell me three things about your counselor.  She’s pretty.  Her name is Pinky. She loves pink. She is really fun and she is an awesome counselor.

5.      What did you do in the afternoons?  We rode horses and did archery and did recreation with our family cabin.

6.      Tell me about some of the games you played.  We played Dr. Dodge ball, Steal the Bacon and Chaos vs. Control. Those were my three favorites.

7.      Did you do anything at camp that you have NEVER done before? How did it go?  This year I didn’t know everybody in my cabin. I met four new girls. The girls were really nice and very talkative! They were shy at first but once they got to know me they started talking a lot, and I mean a LOT!

8.     Who did you sit with at mealtimes?  I always sat by Pinky and Karla

9.      Tell me about at least one new friend you made.  One of my new friends is Lynne. She came in the same time Karla did and so they got to be friends first thing. She looked just like me except she had long straight hair. She is very talkative and always jumped up on your back!!!

10.  Did you grow closer to any of your other friends?  Yes- Mackenzie.

11.   What did you do after dinner?  We had dessert. (Haha) After dessert we (hee hee hoo hoo) um, we had TBA- no- yeah- TBA. That’s “to be announced.” So it was always something different.

12.  Did you have any snacks? Before free time and after TBA.

13.  Tell me something you learned about God.  We can help God with our hands our feet and most of our senses.

14.  What did you do during rest time?  I wrote Karla notes and she wrote them back to me for all the days except for two. One day I took a nap, and the other day I wrote to Mackenzie and she wrote back to me.

15.   Did you read or write anything this week?  Did I ever!  I wrote a story called “My imagination” and it’s about me walking on a beach and it is sunset and no one else is there and out of nowhere I see a dog-monkey-dolphin-tiger-shark-seahorse!!!  Then I wake up.

16.  Were you ever scared at night?  I was scared the first night and that was because I didn’t have my mommy-doll. Then I was scared Thursday night because that was when we raided the canteen and I was really scared of the llamas!  The llamas are robots and they are only outside the cabin area and they have lazer eyes so if they hear you pounding on the ground they will come up and shoot you with their laser eyes. But it will just hurt you not kill you.

17.   Did the kids in your cabin get along well?  Most of the time yes!

18.  Who were your three favorite staff people?  Pinky (my counselor), Jennifer (my jr. counselor), and Matt (my family cabin counselor)

19.  Tell me three of your favorite camp songs.  Lions, Blind Man, and Prince of Peace

20. Did you get any mail or email from anyone? What did they say?  I got a lot of email! I got lots from mom, a couple from grandma, one from dad, one from Aunt Mary Anne, and one from Aunt Amy. I liked getting emails!

21.  Tell me a funny story.  Josh my family cabin jr. counselor went on the zip line and while he was on the zip line his shoes fell off and came flying down! They almost hit Mackenzie on the head!

22. Did anything sad happen? Did you or anyone else get homesick or injured?  Karla got homesick- she missed her mom! Aden fell through all through the week- at least three times every day!

23. Did you pack everything you needed?  I packed what I needed!

24. Tell me about another new friend you made this week.  Abby. She was very nice and her braces were glow-in-the-dark!

25.  What was campfire like?  Campfire was really fun! We sang lots of songs and they always did a funny skit!

26. Tell me something else you learned during camp devotions.  I learned that we can help God by using our hands to pray and lead people the way if they are deaf.

27.  Did you ever stay up talking after lights out?  No we weren’t allowed to and after 10:45 Pinky let us have flashlight time until 11. Then we went to sleep.

28. If you go to camp again, what do you want to do again next year?  I definitely want to ride horses, do the zip line, and jump off the Black Pearl.

29. Is there anything you don’t want to do again next year?  No!

30.  Tell me the absolute best thing about camp this year.  HORSES!  My horses name was Thunder. He was a really good horse! But one day when I tried to get on him- we didn’t know he was asleep, so when the wrangler touched him, he JUMPED!

Thank you God for giving me a great week at camp! Thank you for the counselors and staff who worked together to make everything happen, and for all the people who give money to the camp ministry.  Thank you for the time I got to spend in Your creation, meeting new friends and having fun with old friends. Thank you for all the things I learned from Your Word, and most of all, thank you for the gift of your son Jesus. Amen

Camp Goodbye!

We dropped Lorraine off at Camp Today!

And This I like to call

Goodbye, Already!

(Aggie, let me GO!)

My Garden

I feel like showing off my garden- check it out Mom and Dad!

Bed #1- Left to right

Sweet peas, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, spinach

Lettuce and Spinach on the right- this is the first planting and it has mostly been harvested and eaten! Will plant more here next week!

Also, did you know you can eat broccoli leaves and carrot greens?
I have no excuse! Getting those veggies IN!

Bed #2

Left: Green Beans- maybe they will really make it this year!

In the middle- lettuce, second planting- it grew too fast!  

Finally, tomatoes (there are a few green ones already!)

Lettuce abundance,

plus a couple volunteer tomato plants. 

I just can't pull them out! We will eat around them!

Bed #3

Peppers (you can't see them, but they're on the far left)

Tomatos

Finally, potatoes! These were from the store, sprouted in the kitchen, so we planted them early.  They took up this whole bed, but I took most of them out so we could grow more tomatoes! I

Finally, next to the house- zucchini and cucumber plants!

Veggies and green everywhere! It almost makes a person want to eat healthy food! (Along with the chips, of course.)

more vbs!

The three year old class- whew!!!

Enola was showing Eldon her new shoes...

 (notice the dirty look, ha!)

Don't get me in the picture!
(sorry but you are too cute!)

pastor's bible class..

Free expression in the craft room...

snake bites: 

We made it through!
Great job everyone!