Word of Life 2019

We love Word of Life camp! This year was Leah's third year, Andrew's second, and our second at Family Camp. It's such a fun place and the kids talk about it all year long. I love that they have a place that they look forward to going to year after year.

Some of these shots were taken by the camp photographer and I copied them from their website.
Leah & me checking in:

It was Leah's first year at The Wild, which is for 6th-8th graders. They get a bit more freedom, and of course the messages and Bible studies are geared toward their age range. She loved it! I didn't even have to go with her to her cabin this year-- after check-in, she went with her counselors and never looked back!

Andrew wasn't nervous at all, either, and happily went off to his cabin, "Korea" on his own, not even knowing anyone that would be with him. Andrew is still at The Ranch part of the camp, for 1st-5th grade. They share a campus with The Wild, so he saw Leah at meals but they did most everything else separately.

Brett & Jacob & Abi & I set up our new camper for its first week-long camping adventure at the Pines, just down the road from Leah & Andrew. We had a lot of help from a couple at church who were also camping with us. They loaned us a screen-house and rug and helped set up. 

With only the two kids, we had plenty of room inside, and Jacob and Abi did great sharing a bed.

Here's some of our favorite activities from throughout the week:

Brett and I enjoyed listening to speakers each morning while the kids had structured child care activities, which they both loved going to. We had a coffee break between speakers each day and enjoyed spending time with the two other couples from our church that were also there with us.

We bought meal plans this year so all our meals were made for us and boy did we eat! It was great food and we were never hungry. Thankfully the playground was right next to the outdoor seating area for lunch and dinner so the kids could go play while we got to sit and linger a little longer.

Abi loved being spoiled as the oldest child every day. (Plus she got to have soda for lunch!)

Of course the kids' favorite was the pool. These two were fish! And we were able to enjoy it most every day this year, because we only had maybe one short time of rain.

The Pines got a brand new putt putt golf course this year and we loved playing. It had a lot of neat features.

We went to visit Leah and Andrew at the Ranch. We didn't get to see Andrew but we saw Leah and she was in her element with all the middle school girls. She seemed so much older!

We enjoyed a few campfires at night.

On Family Day, the kids got to ride horses and jump in a bounce house. The guy leading Jacob around on his own horse is the director of The Pines.

More dirt = more fun!

Abi's group came on the last day to present us a song they had learned during the week. She barely even looked at us when we called her name. She made new friends and looked forward to going every morning.

Friday night is the Rodeo at the Ranch. Kids from The Wild and the Ranch go, as well, so we got to see Andrew on his birthday! 

These I got off the Ranch website of Andrew's and Leah's cabin-mates, and Andrew in the Mud Pit.

Vacation Bible School 2019

Vacation Bible School is always an anticipated event for our church family. This year Shipwrecked was the theme, so we were decorated like a tropical island. I enjoyed having a part in the decorating this year, as well as teaching the Bible study each night. The kids were well-taken care of by their leaders and I had no worries about them having fun. Even Jacob participated in a group this year. We had at least 30 kids from age 4- 6th grade each night, and they were all fairly faithful in coming every single night. We love the impact we can make on our community through this fun, but often tiring event!

Family Camping @ Button Bay

We had so much fun as a family on the inaugural trip of our new pop-up camper!  After practicing with a friend from church who is seasoned in pop-up campers, we felt ready to set it all up ourselves. We didn't go too far from home but instead decided to be tourists in our own little area. Button Bay is less than an hour away and close to lots of familiar activities.

We did it! It took maybe an hour or two to get it all ready to go, and that was mainly because we realized our awning had a faulty piece. We rigged it up anyway and had a nice little campsite! After unpacking we found we had plenty of room in our little home away from home.

We explored a bit around our campsite before it got too dark the first day. We were able to see a little slice of the Lake from our campsite. It was so pretty! We even saw a snake in the water.

The first night we went to the playground at the campsite, then had a fire & s'mores before bed. We all fit nicely in the camper, the three youngest on one bed, Leah on the table-turned-bed, and Brett and I on the other bed. The temps got pretty cool at night so we were comfortable, in spite of one mishap involving the CO detector in the camper beeping loudly at 1 am. That was an adventure!

The second day we set out for a hike at Mt. Philo. I had been wanting to do this hike awhile-- it is a summit up a mountain (a small one, but still, I knew it would have a great view!). It was a little tougher than we thought with lots of steep hills and rocky paths. There were some great rocks to climb. It took us about an hour to get to the top, and the kids complained a little and wanted to rest a lot but it was definitely worth it at the top. 

 

After lunch at a nice little cafe in Burlington, we took a quick trip up to a museum in Burlington for which we have an annual pass. We got to see a new Around the USA exhibit they have, which had a lot of fun hands-on things to do, and the kids love the giant imaginary play area they have. It was a short visit and left them wanting more, but we had other things to do!

After the museum we headed to ride on a Ferry to New York. We had recently won a free round trip, and didn't really have any need for it to actually get to New York, so we decided to ride just for fun. It was a nice 30 minute little trip and the kids enjoyed wandering around, up and down the stairs seeing the different views.

We found a neat little ice cream shop just off the Ferry and enjoyed some ice cream before getting right back on to head back to Vermont.

That was definitely enough stuff to do for one day, so we relaxed back at the campsite for our second night. Jacob happily played with his "Paw Patrol friends" for almost an hour while everyone else just played on the camper or wandered around or enjoyed our campfire.

The morning of our final day we packed up camp and headed to the pool at the campground. It's a nice little pool with a gradual entrance and fountains, which made it perfect for Jacob. He loved going through the "rain" again and again. Leah loved going on the water slide, which was a first for her. Andrew and Abi got a little bored, as they weren't allowed to use floaties or balls or toys but they did find a group of kids to play Marco Polo with for a little and had fun just being in the water!

We all agreed camping is definitely something we want to do again very soon!