Family Camp 2011

We had a blast at Family Camp this year. It was a fun-filled, memory-making, high adventure week. Enjoy a photo narration of our good times.

Catching Creatures




Kayaking



Fishing

Trevor caught about 6 fish! His biggest was as 12 inch Rainbow Trout. He learned how to clean it, prep it, and cook it in the fire. He was so excited to eat his catch, "It tastes like chicken!" he said.


Skit Nite



Lounging on the beach



Hanging out with the teeny-boppers



Playing games in camp



We had 2 boats this year! The Sanger and the Malibu Skier



Talent Nite
Zachary kicked things off with the Star Spangled Banner and Jackson favored us with his sword fighting talent.





Celebrating the 4th





Eating!



Rafting



Water balloon fight!



Rock Jumping






Trying to go home

There is always a challenge when trying to pack up and leave camp. This year was no exception. Pulling the boat out of the water posed a challenge for our oversize trucks. Getting stuck in the mud is never fun. How many guys does it take to push a 2 ton truck out of the lake?

We are proud to announce that there wasn't one single trip to the ER this year. Woo hoo! That was a first. We were so spoiled to hang out with good friends and family for a whole week. The Minnicks came all the way from Montana to be with us! It was a fantastic week of good times, dirty fingernails, blue hands, HOT and/or COLD showers, card games, ghost town exploration, scary stories, staying up late, adult conversation at the late night campfire, and excellent dinners. We are already looking forward to Family Camp 2012!

Family Camp 2010: Campfires & Treats

Campfire is a well loved tradition at Family Camp. The kids and adults alike look forward to these evening activities. Each family took a turn preparing a treat for the group to eat around the campfire and the kids provided most of the entertainment. Here is a short tour of our fireside moments.

Talent Night
This evening speaks for itself. Whatever the kids wanted to do in front of the crowd - they did it. Check out my short video below for proof that "anything goes" on talent night!

Fireworks Night
Shaver Lake always does a great fireworks show over the lake on the weekend of the 4th of July. They never do the show on the actual holiday, so we were there on 4th of July EVE - or, July 3rd. We always use this fireworks show in place of an actual campfire (less work for the adults and lots more fun for everyone!). The kids always enjoy some glow in the dark dollar store items before the show begins. Jackson held still long enough to get this awesome picture.

My family came up for a couple of days and got to be there for the fireworks show. It was so nice to be together - especially since we got to celebrate Jordan's birthday! He's our Independence Day baby brother - born on the 4th of July!

Patriotic Night
For the evening that actually was the 4th of July we got a tasty treat - a down home All American dessert - Peach Cobbler. It was more of a Peach "Crisp" than a cobbler, but oh, it was so delicious. It was served up hot by the Davey family with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. YES! Ice cream while camping! It. was. amazing.

Skit Night
Smores were on the menu for treats tonight. The kids roasted and ate and roasted and ate marshmallows to their heart's content before the skits began. The kids were stoked to get 'SIX PIECES OF CHOCOLATE' on each smore. Wowza. Who knew that's all it would take to please those little people.

Jeremy was our MC tonight. He (along with his ipod, sound system, and microphone) worked the crowd like no other. He had the sound effects (tooting noises), intro theme music (Indiana Jones for the boys & Miley for the girls), and corny jokes for all to enjoy.

Zachary and his boys did "Dad Impressions" and the Daveys did a cool water trick

Emma and the girls did "American Idol" and Logan did "The Important Papers" with the boys

It's amazing the creativity inside these children. They came up with great skits on the spot. Most were unrehearsed and impromptu. They love being in front of a crowd!


Movie Night
One of the kids favorite nights is Movie Night. They get the ambiance of a movie on the big screen while still enjoying the outdoors. Jeremy hooked up his great sound system to a projector and DVD player and showed a movie on a portable screen.

Notice the absence of parents. Ahhhh.... it was a blissful moment as the children were entranced by 2 episodes of Phineas and Ferb. The adults got in some good conversation time while the kids vegged in front of the screen. See? Campfire is good all the way around. It has benefits for everyone big and small, young and old. Er. We parents are not old. How can I rephrase that? It has benefits for children of all ages! YES! That's it!