We are home from summer trip #2 - Mount Carmel Ministries in Alexandria, Minnesota. We had a great week of family fun and music as Andrew and his Dad worked with high school and adult campers (respectively) in putting together a choir for their fine arts week, all surrounding our wonderful Lord!
Here's the run down...
Left Friday and drove to Iowa City, where we met up and lunched with Milt, Carla, Rachel, and Brad. We drove to Mason City and stayed the night there. We had a great hotel with a beautiful pool, arcade games (couldn't get Andrew away from Addams Family Pinball), and ping pong tables. We pressed on Saturday morning, took a leisurely lunch break just west of Minneapolis, and continued on to camp.
Andrew and I were anticipating being in the same cabin we were in last year - tiny kitchen and living room, tiny bathroom, and 2 tiny bedrooms. We were fine with that as we don't spend much time in the cabin aside from sleeping. But we were met with a WONDERFUL surprise... instead of the lil cabin built in the 30s, a cancellation allowed us to be bumped up to the brand new, furnished with everything Ikea, beautiful cabin facing the lake! And it is HUGE! It was a blessing and relief to know we could spread out more and be comfortable.
While Hannah napped and I unpacked, Andrew and his mom took the boys around camp to do a photo scavenger hunt. The things on the hunt were crazy-fun and involved all sorts of antics. Like this... which I think involves zombies and the garage.
We were there over 4th of July, which was celebrated with the traditional parade (which entails whatever vehicles available getting decorated and completing about 10 laps around the circle drive!). The boys were pretty excited they got to ride in the old camp truck with the rest of their class. Hannah and I were excited to watch in the shade.
Catch all the pictures on Facebook!
Here's the run down...
Left Friday and drove to Iowa City, where we met up and lunched with Milt, Carla, Rachel, and Brad. We drove to Mason City and stayed the night there. We had a great hotel with a beautiful pool, arcade games (couldn't get Andrew away from Addams Family Pinball), and ping pong tables. We pressed on Saturday morning, took a leisurely lunch break just west of Minneapolis, and continued on to camp.
Andrew and I were anticipating being in the same cabin we were in last year - tiny kitchen and living room, tiny bathroom, and 2 tiny bedrooms. We were fine with that as we don't spend much time in the cabin aside from sleeping. But we were met with a WONDERFUL surprise... instead of the lil cabin built in the 30s, a cancellation allowed us to be bumped up to the brand new, furnished with everything Ikea, beautiful cabin facing the lake! And it is HUGE! It was a blessing and relief to know we could spread out more and be comfortable.
While Hannah napped and I unpacked, Andrew and his mom took the boys around camp to do a photo scavenger hunt. The things on the hunt were crazy-fun and involved all sorts of antics. Like this... which I think involves zombies and the garage.
The rest of the week was filled with the boys going to their age group class time, the grown-ups doing choir rehearsals, beaching it up the afternoon, worshipping in the evening, and trying to stay cool! It was hot for that time of July in Minnesota and none of the cabins are air conditioned (the lake is supposed to be the air conditioner but apparently someone pulled the plug on that!). We all slept really well with 2 fans in each of our rooms, but by Wednesday night, we were driven inside by the high temperature, and even more than that, the high dew point. We found out that one of the rooms in the lodge (and subsequently air conditioned!) was available so we moved over for the last couple days.
We had a great time swimming around in Lake Carlos. It was nice and cool and was a great retreat from the heat! We had the opportunity to take a pontoon boat ride on Monday and Joey fell asleep for most of it!
We loaded up our van (packed to the gills!) on Friday morning and pulled out at 8:30. We had a very easy and safe 12 hour drive home. We could have stayed a hotel in Iowa again, but it seemed so much easer to plow through than have to drag the kids into the hotel, keep them occupied, then still be in the car 4 or 5 hours the next day. We were home by 8 that night and were so thankful for another year's worth of memories!
We could not have had a better time, thanks especially to Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Rachel, and Uncle Brad, who helped with all three kids IMMENSELY. Catch all the pictures on Facebook!
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