S is for Seaside Church's Family Camp

One of the other highlights of Tony's time with us was Seaside Church's Family Camp! We didn't actually 'camp' because we thought it'd be too much hassle to borrow all the gear, so thanks to my cousins Janel & Kevin - we actually had a great night's sleep... but we did have the benefits of the Family Camp...

 Tony arrived at LAX on Friday 21 September... and since the camp officially started that night, we thought it best to get a good sleep at Mom & Dad's house before venturing out. Mom had plans for Tony's tech skills, but we finally did get on the road to join the rest of our family and a bunch of the Seaside crew for two days of fun in the sun!!!

 "on the road again..."

 The crew set up at a YMCA camp in Carlsbad... we always pass this place on the way to San Diego, but it's a super cool place for a camp like this! First of all, there are heaps of toys to play with...

 Whoever decided that kids MUST wear lifevests was a genius!!! This simple rule made it so less stressful as a parent and so much more fun for my kids!!!

 Everyone worked together to make sure that everyone got to ride, do, play, see, experience what they wanted to... Hunter loved these paddle boats...

 I gave the paddle board a try... it was a lot easier with one settled passenger... a little less stable with a hi-jacker!

The other good thing about this camp was that there's space enough for just sitting around...

 There's a spacious kitchen and dining area... and boy do these Seaside 'aunties' and 'uncles' know how to cook!!! There are a few couples (mostly parents of kids with young families) who come down for the weekend to cook and clean so that the parents can hang out and focus on spending time with their kids! (WOW - what an amazing concept) and they take their role very seriously... we ate smoked tri-tip for dinner and breakfast burritos in the morning - this is not the camp food we ate as kids! No hotdogs here...

After a long day of playing in the water, it was time for some 'structured' fun...

 FAMILY GAMES!

Tori and Matt were in charge of organising the games so she called me over earlier in the week for some advice. After explaining the 'challenges' from the year before, I suggested the "tribal wars" concept (thanks HUGE) and we came up with a bit of a mix that seemed to work really well... everyone was involved and nobody got hurt (that I know of)...

 So families were assigned to a "tribe" and after everyone put on their colours the games were explained and we were in for some serious competition...

We had dinner with the campers and joined in the evening chat... it was cool because Nate had emailed the families a 'challenge' for the month leading up to camp encouraging them to incorporate a biblical principle into their regular lives and then share what God had been doing. It was great to hear what principle or characteristic people chose and how they went about being purposeful. The theme of the camp was "Living Out Loud" so they focused on how to live faith in daily life. And as good as the discussion was, our kids began to melt-down so we said good-bye for the night and headed ten minutes down the road for a fun visit with the Carroll family. 

 Thankfully our kids fell right to sleep, but Hannah and Elizabeth took a while to re-settle - oops! By morning, though, they were all awake and ready to play!

I'm always impressed at how quickly kids get into each other's lives. Last time they met it was two years ago when they all were just really little:

 but now... they're... well, they're 2 years older!!! Thankfully they're a family of girls so Helena was in pink paradise!!!

 And I bet you didn't know this but Tony is the hair expert in our family...

 Helena (4), Elizabeth (3), Hannah (4)

We had such a leisurely morning at their house that my parents and most of the other campers had already left when we returned... but we did stick around to play longer and made sure we said a big happy birthday to TREVOR!!!

 Hard to believe that I actually lived in California at the time he was born... and left when he was 9 months old!!! And now - he's 11!!! We love you, Trevor and we're proud of you!

 We cleaned up the campsite, cleaned up Hunter (Tanner was much more into it... or was that Tripp... hard to tell, they're all so cute!) and then made our way back to Fountain Valley...

 for Grandpa's favourite part of camping - the clean up!!!

 So glad that we got to hang with the broader family while building memories with our immediate family... I love that about Seaside... we are actually (and literally much of the time) family!!! And it was really good to have Tony with us after him being on the East Coast for the previous week.