Adventurer Camp-out at Pine Lake Retreat

Last weekend was the Adventurer Camp-out at Pine Lake Retreat in Groveland, Florida. As usual, the co-pilot (*cough, cough, me, cough, cough*) had a little trouble navigating the directions. Fortunately, a phone call to Grandpa and to the Dieningers (our chalet buddies), a drive-thru McDonald's to satisfy the tired, hungry kiddos, and we were back on the road to a fun-filled weekend.

We stayed in a 2 bedroom/2bath chalet (a little smaller than a single wide mobile home) with some fantastic friends of ours. In the picture below - Megan (5), Joshua (7), Luke (3), Daniel (4), Adam (6). Joshua and Adam were in the same K class last year at FLEC, and are in the same Sabbath School class now. Daniel and Luke are in the same Sabbath School class and are best buddies. I had some serious doubts about getting any sleep with 5 kids sleeping together in the living room. The kids did great, they all slept pretty well. After Sundown, the campers that had already arrived met for Vespers.

I was pretty surprised that Daniel volunteered to go up in front of the crowd to sing. He's usually the one that wants to hang back. We did have some squabbles about who was going to sit beside who. This seemed to be a recurring theme all weekend long.

The park was our saving grace in the early morning when we seemed to be the first families up. The kids had a great time chasing each other around.

Megan and Daniel enjoyed "hanging out" with Kylie.

At some point, while playing around in front of the chalet, Joshua ran smack into a tree. I think he was stunned for just a second and then he was mad about it. He managed to get a great looking bump on his head.

I think it was Sabbath morning that the lesson was about rocks and sand. Joshua really thrives on this type of hands-on learning. It's so wonderful to see their little brains at work.

At some point on Sabbath afternoon, the Adventurers were working on earning their Button Honor patch. Keith took Megan and Joshua to earn their Honor. While I took Daniel out into the field so that he could kick around the soccer ball. Of course, I also snuck in a nap on the grass. We tried to go for a walk with the kids, but we had some mutiny on us.

Keith and Megan had to leave midway through our walk. They were due back at the campsite to make dinner. For anyone who has not been on an Adventurer camp out, each group of kids is responsible for helping to prepare and serve a meal. Joshua's group - the Busy Bees - made a delicious Sabbath lunch of spaghetti. Megan's group - the Eager Beavers - had it a little easier with (veggie) hot dogs. Again, we are equal-opportunity parents, so we divided to conquer. I took the Busy Bees and Keith took the Eager Beavers.

Megan looks like she is listening intensely to her directions on how to serve hot dogs.

Megan "reading" Joshua's Bible. I would imagine that at the rate she's going, she'll be a pretty proficient reader in the next few months.

Daniel and Rob fooling around. Later that night we all went on a hayride through the dark campground. With the chill in the air and the amazing starry sights, it reminded me of Kodiak. Megan, of course, just had to go sit with her friend Kylie. They are so cute together.


After the hayride, the kids peeled off their multiple layers of warmth to run around in the gym on the bouncy-house.

Back outside, and bundled back up, it was time to roast some marshmallows for s'mores.


I asked Megan how her s'more was and she gave me a big sticky thumbs up. And here's where I confess that when Daniel turned his back on his s'more, I took a HUGE bite so that he only got about 1/4 of the actual s'more.




By Sunday morning, we were all feeling pretty tired. It was quite chilly outside. Keith shared his jacket with Megan.

Mornings were chilly and Daniel wasn't sure if he was interested in eating any breakfast, he just wanted to snuggle.



Me and Megan as we were getting ready to load the minivan up for the ride home. As usual, she looks adorable.