Family Camp Weekend!

We've been looking forward to this weekend all year! We got to go to Family Camp with my dad. My brother and I have alot of great memories of going to this family camp when we were little. It's a treat that now I get to take my kids there. Camp started Wednesday night be we waited until Friday afternoon to go up so Tom could work at job #2 Thursday night and I could work at the store on Friday.

We got there Friday afternoon. It was 101 degrees when we left town so it ended up being a really hot weekend. They had a new big water slide that the boys enjoyed trying out Friday and Saturday afternoons. It wasn't there last year when we went. It was a fun surprise for them. Tom had fun on it Saturday afternoon too. =) I wished I was there to watch that day but Hallie and I were taking a little nap Saturday afternoon. I got some fun pictures on Friday. After dinner we headed to the church service for the adults and the kids got to go to their class. Bradley had a hard time because he didn't want to go to the 'big kids' class by himself. Ryan, Tyler and Hallie were all going to be in the same class and he wanted to be with them. Last year my brother and his family came with their four kids so Bradley got to be with two of his cousins Jaron and Evan, and Ryan and Tyler got to be with their cousin Ethan and Hallie got to be in class with Lydia. They had alot of fun together. Bradley said he wished his cousins were there so they could go to class with him. =) He ended up going with Ryan, Tyler and Hallie and it worked out great.
The kids were very excited to head to bed that night and stay in our room. Last year we stayed in an 'A frame' cabin next to my brother and his family. It was fun. It was just a little house with beds in it. We had to walk down the hill to use the restroom. This year we decided to stay in a lodge they have there where we'd actually have a bathroom in our room. It was alot more convenient when the kids had to use the restroom at bedtime, but a pretty big walk up the hill to get to the lodge. It was fun to try something different. We ended up being the only people staying in that lodge so it was really quiet.

Something else that happened on Friday was kind of neat. I was watching the boys go down the water slide and a gal came up to me and asked me if my name was Greta. She said she remembered me from when my family went to family camp back when I was a little girl. She said she was 5 years older than me and that she remembered me coming when I was just a baby. She said the reason she asked if it was me was because she was watching my kids and said Hallie looked just like I did and that my boys looked so much like my brother. I thought that was pretty amazing realizing I was probably about 5 or 6 the last time we went to family camp and that was quite a long time ago. Amazing she'd remember me.

Saturday after breakfast they had another church service for the adults and the kids got to go back to their class. They LOVED their teachers. They were so good with them. Their room was full of different stations for them to do different activities. It was really neat. The theme for their class was "Bee-A-Servant". The adults speaker was David Carr, from England. He was great. After that session they had a 'family connect' time and we watched a little episode of Andy Griffith and it was about gossipping and then they handed out questions for us to go over with our kiddos about what the Lord says about gossip. After lunch they had Family Fun Day. They had a little carnival for the kids with different booths to win prizes, get their face painted, do crafts etc. They remembered this from last year and loved it. After a lot of time outside in the heat we got to go inside where they set up a room with miniature golf. We ended up being the only ones in the room at that time and had a great time golfing with Grandpa. It was a great time to play and to cool down a bit too. That evening we had a BBQ dinner outside and then another church service for the adults and the kids got to go to their class again. After the service they had a movie night outside and had popcorn and lemonade. They started the movie "The Rookie" at 9PM and Ryan, Tyler and Hallie were all ready to go after eating their snack. =) They were all tuckered out. So, I took them back to our lodge and Tom and Bradley stayed up for the movie. I was glad they got some special Daddy / Bradley time. I was amazed how quickly the kiddos fell asleep. Usually they like to visit a little before bed but I don't think they said a word and next thing I knew, they were sound asleep. I stayed up reading and waited for my other two boys to get back. They came in about 11PM. They had a great time!

Needless to say, we all slept in this morning after all this activity. We were a little late to breakfast but it was fine. I had to wake up Hallie poor lil girl was worn out. After breakfast they had a really neat "Prayer Walk" for the families. They had 7 tables set up in the auditorium. Each table had a paper with a question for you to talk about and pray about together with your family. Then the last table had communion for us to take together as a family. It was a great idea! After that we had our last service and the kid's last time in their class. It was a great conference. After lunch we headed home. Bradley didn't want to leave, he wanted us to live there. =)

Thanks Dad for a wonderful time!! These are moments our kiddos will never forget!!