Lavender Fields Forever

Once again we jumped from Mount Hermon/HiCamp week straight into VBS week this year.  Though we're always worn out after a week of setting up and teaching Bible lessons to the 4 rotations of students, we were once again blessed by the experience.  We believe some good seeds were planted as we told the kids stories about God's love and provision from Psalm 23, Esther, Hezekiah, Jesus and King Josiah.  And once again we saw that the majority of the kids who come to VBS are not from our church, so we trust that God was at work.

Today, for the first time in a long time, we are all HOME and able to tackle things that were neglected during this busy week.  One of those things is posting some 2 week old pictures.  Dave always leaves for HiCamp orientation a few days before we leave for Mount Hermon, so there are a few days for us to fill with "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!" activities.  This outing I took the girls on was indeed lovely and totally girly-- we visited a local lavender farm.    

  

We wandered around the fields and fields of extremely fragrant lavender.  We watched the workers harvesting it for a little while.

We had some snacks.  The farms sells their famous lavender cookies and lavender lemonaid.  We decided that the flavor was unique and tasty.  And enjoying these treats at a table in the middle of a lavender field was just fabulous.

On the day we visited, an orchestra was there to serenade the visitors!  This music group included 5 harpists and listening to them while smelling and seeing the flowers all around us was truly a taste of heaven.   The girls were making me smile as they twirled each other and danced to the beautiful music.

We spent a lot of time watching a dozen swallowtail butterflies swarm this particular purple flower bush.

This lavender farm day was a great day-- one of many we've already had this summer.  And we're still in the month of June!  Hope your summers have been off to a great start as well, Friends! :)

Thrill Seekers

This year we spent a ton of time in Mount Hermon's adventure section.  First, both girls were bold enough to  suit up in harnesses and give the giant rock wall a try.  

Ella easily made it to the top to ring the cowbell...twice.

Delia struggled a bit with the footing, making it a little over half way, then discovering that the rope ride down was actually more fun!

Aaaand...for the first time Delia tried the Discovery Grove ropes course!  She was sooo pumped to try and went as my partner.  She flew over the first few obstacles, but then got pretty freaked out at a tightrope walk with logs to climb over.  By the swings which dangle 25 feet in the air, she was in tears.  Delia is tough and stubborn, I knew she could complete the course and would want to feel the pride in doing so.  So, with A LOT of encouragement, we made it across.  But, not without quite a bit of drama as well.  Anyone who considers partnering with a petrified Delia on a ropes course should be warned that you will be blamed for every breeze that blows the obstacles, every rope that is spaced too far from the one before it and every step you take that she is capable of feeling in any way. "STOP IT MOM-ME!!!" was hollered at me repeatedly.  At least the audience on the ground found this amusing! :)

But, she did make it all the way across and she did love the zipline down and she did give me a giant hug of accomplishment at the bottom and she did ask to do it again the next day.

Ella is an old pro at this ropes course now.  She doesn't need me at all and prefered to partner with her buddy Mikaela.  They even went multiple times!

They cruised across the hardest elements like it ain't no thing-- cool, calm and collected.

The first thing Ella did when we got home was to take out all the chairs and shoelaces and recreate a ropes course with block and dangling marker obstacles for her little stuffed animals.  I know she felt really proud and grown up to fearlessly conquer this course again and with such independence!  

Beach and Boardwalk

Sun, sand, surfers, sea otters, smiles...this year's Beach Day held all the familiar things that make a trip to the Pacific something to look forward to!  Including another afternoon with Dave.

The day following Beach Day, we had the annual trip to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.  We missed Teri, Phil and their kids, the friends we've traditionally shared this day with, but loved getting a morning with Jeff, Amy and their kids!

 Ella is so used to being taken care of as one of the "littles", I think she really liked being an older one in this group!  She guided Grace down the long path to the train station.  As they always do, crazy counselors serenaded us as we hiked.

We just love that open air, hour long train ride through the redwood forest!  So peaceful and at such a perfect time halfway through the busy Family Camp week.  We're looking for some peace by Wednesday!

This year the girls were allowed to pick three rides on the Boardwalk.  They chose the same rides, which helped to keep that peace we found on the train! :)  Together they picked the historic carousel, which is also an old game involving the grabbing of rings to toss at the clown face.  As the merry-go-round spins, this is actually a lot harder to do than it sounds.  But, if you are able to get a ring in the target, the clown face lights up and makes lots of noise for you and everyone on the carousel cheers!

The girls also chose to ride the Sea Serpent roller coaster together, which was a totally thrilling 20 seconds.  Then, for the first time ever, we all took a ride together on the iconic Sky Glider.  Soaring over the Boardwalk with my girls and that great view of the ocean was a highlight of the whole week for me.  We've decided to make an annual ride on the Sky Glider our new Santa Cruz tradition.

We ended our Boardwalk day with an ice cream treat and an unexpected nap in the sunshine on our train ride back up the hill.  The picture below may show better than any other just how much fun activity Mount Hermon packs into each day and night.  As soon as my oldest stopped to be still, she crashed!

"My Mount Hermon Home"

This year when the CA 17 freeway towards Santa Cruz started getting woodsy and curvy and we knew we were just minutes away from the start of our favorite week of the year, we put on Jack's "Goin' Back to My Mount Hermon Home" song and sang the lyrics about the "sweetest fellowship I've ever known" and "the little piece of heaven" and "our hearts always staying in the redwoods" at the top of our lungs.  This small musical moment on the ascent to our 6th week at Family Camp reminded me that Mount Hermon, in many ways, is like our second home.  We stay in the exact same cabin each year.  We share it with the same friends.  The schedule of daily activities doesn't change much.  We know exactly what to expect and make plans for what we'll participate in.  We can even predict what dinner we'll have based on what we haven't yet seen served in the dining hall.  Mount Hermon is so comfortable, it just feels like home.  And what a cool thing it is when the place that feels so much like home is also so much like heaven.

So, though the pictures are familiar and similar to those taken last year and the one before, here are a few peeks at what our Mount Hermon Home looked like in 2013.

 This year the facial artwork was of a super-hero nature at the opening night's carnival and picnic.

 One new thing for us was a hike down to the sling shot and archery range.  The girls seemed to enjoy learning about shooting, though mine were the only arrows to actually hit any targets.

 The dining hall silliness with good buddies was the same as always.

 We got to spend a nice day visiting Daddy's high school camp, meeting his new friends and watching their crazy slip 'n slide.

One night we had an all-camp dance party on the big lawn, led by a Zumba instructor.  Guess where Ella and Delia spent this whole night?  Yep, up on the stage.

 We survived the big hike up to Pancake Ridge once again and were rewarded with humongous steaming hot pancakes straight off the fire, Jack's fiddle playing and pancake flipping contests. See Ella's in the air?

 Being a 1st grader now, one huge change was Delia's move up to big kid Day Camp this year.  This means the counselors were wackier, the Bible studies a little more in depth and the activities more fun.  Delia had a lot of classmates from school with her Day Camp. (All boys, she loves those boys!)  She really enjoyed her slip 'n slide day.  Especially when a counselor would slide behind her and give her a boost!

 Dave came down to spend a day with us too.  This year we took him to the game room for some fuse ball, air hockey and table shuffle board.  He was also able to watch the girls do some more adventurous things on rock walls and ropes courses that I'll post about later.

Those incredible redwoods.  They've been around for thousands of years, so the 6 that we've enjoyed them are nothing.  But these old giants that the camp is built among are probably my favorite part of our second home-- a sentiment I'm sure countless others through the centuries have shared!  

Delia gives a little wave before her group performs their goofy "Tarzan" lawn chant at the final night's program.  And after their performance, these girls, like little groupies, enjoyed singing along to one from Jack on the Commons.  

And a final group shot of the kids.  As some of our kids get old enough to start going to the Hi-Camp Dave helps lead, and others were unable to attend this year for various family reasons, this year was actually our most different.  Our group all fit in one pew and around one meal table.  We seemed just a little bit quieter.  We missed passing some beloved faces in the daily to-do.  Despite these changes, our week at Mount Hermon was another blessed one.  We worshiped, we learned, we were challenged, we fellowshipped, we read, we wore ourselves out with fun, we laughed, we celebrated growth, we rested and recharged in God's great creation.  We were home. 

Interview with an 8 Year Old Ella

What a difference a year makes!  Though a few of Ella's answers remain the same as last year, these annual portraits do show off her new smile and earlobes!  And we who know Ella best have definitely seen more maturity and independence this year.  As always, our oldest blesses us continually with her servant's heart, love for Jesus, kindness for all, intelligence and creativity.

Age: 8

Favorite colors: Still silver, gold and black

Favorite food: Still mac and cheese

Favorite book: The One and Only Ivan

Favorite movie: The Tale of Despereaux

Favorite song: "More" (by Mathew West)

Favorite thing to play: American Girl Dolls

Favorite part of school: Doing art projects

What I want to be when I grow up: An artist

The perfect day is: To go ice skating

My best friends are: Chloe, Emily and Briley

I hope when I'm 8, I'll... lose more teeth and get better at piano.

Last Look

These are just the few last pictures on my camera that didn't fit into other posts.  We've been home for a few days now and have been asked several times how the big trip was.  The first thing we say is, "It was SO GREAT!  Tons of quality time with family.  The kids had a ball playing with their cousins!"  I think these pics show some of the cousin love.  They feel like an appropriate way to conclude this series of posts about our Midwest trip.

The goodbye was hard, of course, but not as gut-wrenching as it could have been, thanks to some wise family members who worked to keep it light.  Ella and Calvin especially have a hard time, so we had the kids make goofy faces for a picture shortly after hugging goodbye.  And while we loaded up the car and prepared to drive off to the airport, the whole family serenaded us with various versions of goodbye.  Some screamed, some chanted, Auntie Kris performed an opera.  This went on so loud and so long that Chris finally said, "Turn the key!  Put it in drive!  GO already!!!" :)

Words cannot express well enough how thankful we are for all the over-the-top hospitality we were shown in each place we stayed.  You opened your homes and treated us like royalty.  You were beyond accommodating and generous.  You were creative in the activities you planned for us.  You put a few pounds on us with the delicious meals you treated us to.  You loaned us your car.  You let us take over your children's bedrooms.  You took time off work to hang with us.  You paid for us to hike to the top of lighthouse.  You remembered our anniversary with thoughtful cards and messages.  You took the whole family to a water park for 3 days.  You gave Ella one of her best birthdays ever.  You drove us around in your convertible.  You flew in from DC to match your vacation with ours.  You made us pancakes with strawberries and whip cream for breakfast.  

You were each the best.  That's it.  We simply have the BEST FAMILY EVER.