Family Camp

The camp that Kaylin works at always has a family camp during the first long weekend of August. We didn't think Gaelle would be able to handle all of the excitement but when Emily and Josh decided they would come with us, we finally signed up. The kids did great and we have some wonderful family memories.



What would camp be without campfires? With crazy campfire songs?



Who needs leaders when we have Emily? She has done her fair share of campfires and she helped Peter and Gaelle with all the motions and words. The kids are still singing zomma zooma zoomala...



Our first roasted marshmallow. Peter quickly discovered that he doesn't like burnt marshmallows. Time for a lesson on patience.



The campfire with hotdogs and s'mores was the first event of the weekend. It impressed Peter. He loves his food.



We had 2 big family games where each family earned monopoly money based on how well they completed the game. The money was used on the last night to buy pies at a pie auction. The first game was a giant scavenger hunt. Josh has also spent many summers on the island and was pretty certain our family would have an advantage.



And who was the only team to find a frog? That would be the Churchill family. Way to go Josh.



Most of the items were pretty easy to collect like seaweed, driftwood, purple rocks, etc.



The 2nd big game was a version of The Amazing Race. Each family had 9 events to complete and we were timed on how fast each event could be completed. We started with the ropes course where Peter raced through the giant net.



Then Gaelle tore through the squeeze net. She had already tried it the day before and was able to go through pretty fast.



We had to build a fire that would break a string. Note our master fire builder.



Emily and Josh raced through the kayak challenge easily beating every other team's time, even with Gaelle as a passenger. We had a bit of a competitive spirit and were able to get the most money for the auction. We handily won a peanut butter chocolate pie that was a hit with the 2 youngest kids.



The weather was perfect all weekend and the kids loved the giant slip and slide. It took them a while to get the hang of it, but once they got going, they didn't want to stop.



It's all in the run up to the slide. Once again, Emily showed the way.



Kaylin had to work throughout the weekend so she didn't always get to join us in the activities. She did introduce the kids to the joy of canteen. Each afternoon we let them buy one thing from the canteen. Ah... pure sugar.



Caton's Island has a large horse program which the kids were anxious to try. So we signed up and took our ride around the island.



Emily rode with Gaelle. She enjoyed it but there was also a look of pure terror at times. The horses are huge.



We stayed in a cabin as a family and Gaelle followed the Caton's Island tradition of writing her name in the bunk where she slept.



It was a wonderful weekend but with 3 very late bedtimes and jam packed days, the kids were exhausted on the ride home. Neither one of them could keep their eyes open. Gaelle was asleep within 10 minutes of getting in the car. I think it took Peter about an hour before he was gone.