We just went to family camp at the Bluffs at Pine Cove and it was just one of the best weeks ever! Their goal is to make it the best week of your year and it totally was probably one of the best weeks of our year. We all just had so much fun and were so thankful to be there! We looked forward to it all summer and our expectations were not too high - it was a blast!
Family camp is basically church camp for your whole family. We stayed in a cabin together - just our family. It had a queen bed, two bunk beds and a futon, so we even had extra beds. We had our own bathroom with three sinks, two toilets and two showers - plenty of space and such a comfortable place to live for the week! We were there for 7 days and 6 nights and it was just perfect - the perfect amount of time and the best ways to spend it.
I worked at Pine Cove when I was in college, at family camp, so I knew a little of what to expect. We have also had friends start going the past few years so they had told us what it would be like, too. Our friends Amy and David and their girls started going to Pine Cove in Tyler last year, and they were the ones that came home and told us we had to check into it. We signed up to go the same week as them this summer and it was so fun getting to be with them and for our girls to be with Kate, Hannah, Natalie and Vivian. We had just been together two weeks earlier in Longview for our reunion, so the girls were ready to see their "Longview cousins" again.
This is how our days looked: we got up in the morning and all went to breakfast together. The staff serves you every meal and you don't lift a finger to do anything - not even refill your own drinks. They cut the girls' food. Get them more of something. It is awesome. After breakfast, we have family devotionals. Then we took Cooper and Calli to "Cove Kids" and we took Kendall to "Wild Woods" at 9:45. They have their own activities with their counselors while we go to speaker sessions with the camp speaker for that week from 10-12. At 12, Kendall met us back for lunch, but Cooper and Calli stayed with their counselors and ate in Cove Kids. Calli even took a nap there every afternoon! After lunch Kendall would go back with her counselor - Wheaties: Kendall is in love with her - and Randy and I would have free time until we picked all three girls up at 3:15. Some days we sat on Amy and David's porch and visited, every day Amy and I went to Sonic for Happy Hour, and some days we napped! At 3:15, when we picked the girls up, Calli had already napped, so they were ready to play more! We swam in the pool, the girls did the huge slide there, we rode horses several times, played on the playground, or just hung out in our cabin. One day we were able to take just Kendall out on the banana boat with Amy, David, and Kate, and that was super fun. Kendall also did the zip line with her counselor, the girls all rode horses with their counselors, swam, and did all sorts of other fun activities. One of our favorite parts was just watching them try new things, meet new friends, and love their counselors so much.
At 5 we would come in and get showered and ready for dinner. Dinner was at 6 and each night had a theme. Three nights we all dressed up - neon night, holiday night - we dressed up like July 4th - and knights and ninja night. Two of the nights were date nights where we took the kids back to their age groups and they ate and played there with them, doing all sorts of large group games and such and we had time with just the adults. One of those nights we took a sunset cruise on Lake Palestine. It was just the best combination of time together as a whole family, time for just me and Randy, and some time for us to spend with each girl. I got Kendall and Cooper up early separately and spent time with them in the mornings before everyone else was up. We just can't say enough good things about it - Pine Cove does an awesome job!
We have lots of pictures that we took and that also the camp staff took - they aren't in any order, but I just wanted to have them all on here so that I will have them in our books.
Calli with the Cove Kids. They got to draw on horses!
When you drive in the first day, the moms get roses and the dads get root beers. The counselors are all jumping and screaming and are very excited that you are there.
Kendall with her "cabin." Wheaties was her counselor and she is an Aggie! Kendall loved the friends she made in her group.
On the knights and ninja night, there was a rodeo. At one point they asked for two couples to come and compete in a game and our family devo counselor volunteered us. I had to ride Randy like a horse and get these three rings. It was ridiculous.
Date night on the lake!
Our family devo counselor, Coo Bear. She sat in with us for our devo time each morning and we loved getting to know her!
The Mitchell girls minus Vivian when they drove in the first day!
Calli reading a book with Shark Bait in Cove Kids.
Cooper looking big on a horse!
At the pool!
Kendall with Wheaties after she got her CQ - Camper Qualities. Wheaties gave her loyalty and gentleness. Love it!
Kate and Kendall had so much fun together. They are two peas in a pod and loved being goofy together.
On the last night we were there - "Happy Hula-days" theme night.
Love these friends and all these girls!
Out on the sunset "cruise" - but we talked our boat driver into going super fast around all the other boats!
Watching the rodeo!
One afternoon the girls and I did a Mommy and Me craft - we painted a trivet and then they fired it for us.
If you ask Calli what her favorite part is, she will tell you it was the swing. The girls all loved this big swing that was in front of the main building where we ate and had club (family worship).
Amy made the girls all shirts with part of the chants for their age group on them!
Knights and Ninja night - all the Dane and Mitchell girls went as princesses.
On our way to Tyler!
This is the front porch of our cabin.
It was so much fun!! We are so very thankful we were able to go and can't wait to go back again. The girls are all telling us they want to go back "tomorrow!!"
No comments:
Post a Comment