family CAMP

Our family is preparing to pack up and take off to Portage Lake Bible Camp tomorrow. This will be our 7th year of family camping. We wouldn’t miss it for the world. It is one of the most peaceful, relaxing places on earth…I like to say it’s like a little piece of heaven on earth. Posh it is not. I did say we were camping. We stay in a cabin, with bunks, and we share a bathroom with another family. Mmmmhmmm.

I know what you are thinking…that I have very low expectations for heaven. But family camp is not about the accommodations it’s all about the fellowship. Being with your family and meeting up with friends, with out the distraction of TV, computers, phones, laundry, cooking.

Well I cannot lie, we will have our cell phones, and I will probably bring the laptop, but only for late night email checking(wink). I will have the chance to meet with people and put some some things together for the cookbook I and a group of others are doing as a fundraiser for camp…I am super duper geeked about this project.

Once you and your family arrive and get settled in there are many options to choose from, so you can make yourself as busy or as unbusy as you want.

Above, would be the beginning of “The Portager Challenge”. It’s always on Thursday and it brings out every ones competitive spirit. Teams form, with kids and adults. Usually families combine, and then your team has to canoe out to a point in the lake, run a mile, climb a 50ft wall, run a short sprint, do a swim out to another point in the lake to get matches….when the swimmer finishes, the rest of the team needs to get busy building a fire to pop Jiffy Pop popcorn over. The first team to get their popcorn popping wins the rights to say they won the Challenger and of course the coveted T-shirt. Over the years we have figures out it is ALL about the fire. You can come in last and still win if you can get your fire going. My oldest son was on the winning team one year…yeah, I know….I am still pumped over it!

This is the waterfront…look at these little munchkins. The lake water in Northern Michigan lakes is so beautiful. Crystal clear!

My Cece likes to be the big helper and hang out with the staff. They all love her. This day they gave her mop bucket duty(only because she begs to help them, really you don’t have to clean a thing if you don’t want to all week!) If only she was that happy to mop the floors at home.

Earlier, did you catch that I said NO cooking? All the meals are prepared for you…the bells rings 3 times a day and we run like cattle to the trough. MAaAaOOOO.

AAAAAHHHHHaaaahhhhhAHHH! Two years ago I conquered my fear of heights…which I have not always had, just since I had my chitlins have I become Ascardy Cat of high places.

I even sky dived once….in my other life.

Here I am finishing the high ropes course. I am smiling, but one hour prior to this picture I was skeet-a-dee-bruky…if you get my drift. I was so petrified, I was seeing stars and my bowels were not very cooperative…..it was the fight or flight response….ah yeah I would have been the talk of camp for years. Luckily I overcame my bowel cramps and made it through the course. I am thinking of trying it again this year…..or not.

This would be the canteen, or Sugar Shack. It is open in the afternoon and after night chapel. My youngest junk food junky son, loves to just hang around this red lil building just in case it opens early.

The last night is the Talent Show. It is the perfect ending to a perfect family vacation. There are always so many talented people. And then there are these mothers who get wild, weird ideas and talk there children into doing them. And then want to crawl in a hole when the time comes for the fruit of their womb to get up on stage and do this cwazy thing there mothers told them everyone would love and laugh uproariously at. It’s really way too long of a story. One I should save for a cold January day when I have you trapped in your house with nothing else to do but read about how I made my kids make fools of themselves.

So today I will be packing, and making sure I have all the stuff we need for a week at Family Camp. Like my camp sweatshirt with the little skunky on it. Did I tell you Big D and her family come to camp too? One year a Mama skunk and her babies were guests under their cabin. Oh…my, my, Big D was a trouper…it was really quite funny………to all of us that were skunk free. The next year the camp sweat shirt had a skunk on it.

Towels flappin in the wind. Naps on the cabin deck,with a cool breeze off the lake. Wunderbar!

BECAUSE I am going to miss you terribly while I am away MONDAY I am going to have a much needed giveaway. It has been way TOO long. I was starting to feel antsy and anxious…like something was missing. I am super excited about this giveaway. It is something anyone could use! Monday through Friday the giveaway will be going on. So come on back…bring a friend.

Have a great weekend! See you Monday!