Monday, July 30, 2007

Black Lake Bible Camp.....Again....Week 4!

Again, we enjoyed our time immensely at Black Lake, south of Seattle. Our trip was smoother this time...knowing where to go, not travelling in the cloak of darkness, and coming more prepared to the boarder. At the boarder, they still found things to hold us for. This time only for just over an hour. Anyway, there are lots of pictures this week to make up for the lack of them last week.
These next pictures are of Sid. These are just a FEW of the activities Sid does to hang out with students. The above pic. is Sid in the Belly Flop Competition.
Sid Preaching.
Sid chilling at supper.
Sid and Greg (Program Director) Greg and his family are GREAT!
Sid playing some sort of smash em volleyball game.
Cole and I picked lots of Blackberries together.
Payton, sidewalk painting.
Some guys brought over their very cool light sabers for our kids to play with one night. These have reached the top of the Christmas list.




Payton at day camp. He is the one in the orange shirt. He loved his week again.
I took Cole to the day camp chapel one morning and he took the bible talk very seriously. It was about how important the Bible needs to be to us. He marched from the chapel, got his bible, sat down and started reading it....then marched off to find someone to tell about God.
The first person he found to preach to.




Sid and Cole, chilling at the pool.

Payton playing gutter ball. He loves this game. I am sure we will be making a table for our basement this fall. He was very good and often beat Jr. High campers. They loved it and would cheer him on!
Sid and Payton starting a sand war at the beach.
Supper time.






On our travels it Chilliwack leisure centre is what brings us reprieve from our long travels. Swimming and Dairy Queen are the choice destinations this summer.

We were able to connect with Taunte Marie this summer.

Cole running around a tree stump. This tree was cut down after 800 years plus of growth. It was HUGE!






Thursday, July 26, 2007

Green Bay Bible Camp....Week 3!




I have realized only today how few pictures I took this week. There will be more next week. Green Bay Bible Camp....what can we say except AWESOME! We love this camp. Our boys did so much more than what these pictures suggest. Hockey, basketball, starwars battles, ceramics, beach time, playground, boat rides, and more. I was able to spend some time running along vineyards and the lake, reading late into the night by the lake, and eating some GREAT food. Sid continues to amaze me at the energy he pours out with students even outside the chapel times. I thought of my sister-in-law, Suzanne, everyday because of the incredible salad bar. To some, you wonder what is the big deal about a salad bar? To sum it up....camp food. Vegetables are a treat. AND for the first time in our camp history of all camps, the Program Director came to us and insisted watching our kids so Sid and I could go on a date. SERIOUSLY! We could not have recieved a better gift in that moment. Anyway, I could go on and on.....so I will just let you get to the pictures.


We had 2 days of rain, but that didn't seem to slow us down.


The ducks were a large draw for the boys. We were always saving parts of our meals to share with them.


Monday, July 23, 2007

U.S.A. Black Lake Bible Camp.....Week #2

After spending three hours at the border, they finally saw that we were no threat to the nation and allowed us into the United States. As we drove through the heart of Seattle late at night, and the lanes going off in all directions....we managed to survive with the truck and the more than comfortably wide trailer. Sid was a little stressed, as I kept taking in the beautiful sights of Seattle late at night. We arrived at Black Lake Bible Camp late and night, and were greeted by a man named Tom, who graciously stayed up to help us park our trailer. Little did we know how beautiful and LARGE this camp was until the morning. The staff here is incredible, and they engaged us quickly. Our boys THRIVED here.
Payton had the opportunity to attend day camp on campus here. He LOVED his time. We would drop him off at 8:30am, and pick him up at 4:30pm. We were not sure how he would do, but he loved it. Payton, being Payton, spent the first few days just watching other kids, and finally by day three, he had found a good friend (Tyler) who he would spend the remainder of his week with. Swimming every day, crafts, games, tuck time, singing time.....we could hardly get him to come with us at the end of the day.
I think Sid found it a bit harder with Payton at day camp than I did. By day three, Sid gained confidence.
Payton graciously picked out the clothes for Cole this day, and we could do nothing to coax Cole out of them.
Payton and his camp leader T.V. (everyone has camp names)


Cole survived the week, but did miss his brother....a couple of times. Often I would find him running across the field with as many as 10-20 boys chasing him in an all out starwars battle. Sometimes he would be chasing them. What a site to see a large group of boys running from a three year old. Many with weapons of some sort in there hands. In this picture, you see some of them tending to their fallen warrior

Friday, July 20, 2007

First Camp of the Summer...Sunnybrae Bible Camp!

Still working on getting these pictures straightened out.



We spent every morning at the beach. Great weather, great lake!

Cole, playing the role of a fallen star wars character would lay on the ground for minutes as the campers would come to his aid.
Payton found a great friend, Pierce, who spent many hours playing with our kids.
The family who blessed us.



Friendship is what we received at this camp...You will notice the difference between the boys.....Payton, our steady thinker, and evaluator waits. Within moments Cole is surrounded by half of the camp in an all out Starwars battle. Payton always finds a good friend, only after a patient evaluation of events. Cole walks up and engages anyone and everyone. My week was amazing. I was able to run along the lake. I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the area. Sid worked so hard at connecting with campers and staff. It was a fantastic week.







The Journey of Our Summer!



On Our Way!
Our first stop on our long trek out to our first camp of the year was with our dear friends Chris and Lisa at Rozen Lake. One of our favorite spots. Swimming, sitting in the hot tub, turtle hunting, boating, crayfish catching, then feeding minows to the crayfish, campfire and smores, quading....never ending adventure! Sorry about the crooked pictures. We are trying to figure this stuff out.

Payton is watching a huge storm come across the lake. It knocked down trees, and power lines. The expression on his face shows how amazing the wall of wind was moving towards us across the lake.