Castaway Club - Awesome!

Hi friends - this is McKenna.  We are currently in Vermont and have lots to catch you up on since we last posted.  I get to tell you about Detroit Lakes, Minnesota and specifically, Young Life's Castaway Club Camp.

When we first got there, we went to Walmart to look for some things and try to figure what was going on with the car.  We then went back to camp,  set up our trailer, ate dinner, and went to bed.

The next morning, me, my dad, and my sister got up and went to the "Windjammer" otherwise known as the cafeteria to eat breakfast.  Meanwhile, my mom was back in the tent sleeping and snoring loudly.  We went in and very quickly realized that my dad's watch was wrong and we had missed camp breakfast.  But, luckily, there was food still left ...cinammon rolls and cereal...two of my favorite things.  Fruit Loops and 4 cinnamon rolls - 4 to be exact and it took me awhile to decide which one to choose because I wanted to make sure I got the one with the most cinnamon and frosting.  Unfortunately, one had good frosting, one had cinnamon, and one was the biggest so I just closed my eyes and picked one. 

This is a picture of "Windjammer".

After digesting my roll, we went to chapel in "Anchor" where they do there evening stuff.  They have big carpeted riser thingies and we sang songs and we prayed and prepped for the next group of kids to come to camp.    They also let us know that we were going to put together a surprise for the campers...a video/slideshow of all the things you can do at camp...otherwise known as a lipdub.  All of the summer staff got to participate and we got to join in.  They gave us a job to do...me and my sister got to go with some girls and we went outside and got piggyback rides ...other jobs were going on a HUGE swing, rock climbing, zip lining, canoeing, wakeboarding, laying in hammocks on the beach, and back flips!  The lip dub was to the song "Dynomite" and they had huge speakers that made it really loud and so fun to rock out to.

We then waited and got ready for the campers to come to camp in big buses.  We then met the video intern who got to make movies everyday of what went on at camp.  He was recording kids getting off buses. 

Later that evening, we went to club where we sang songs that I know like "Hey Soul Sister" and "Baby" by Justin Bieber, and"Firework" by Katy Perry.  It was awesome!  A guy got up and spoke and he talked about how to jump out of an airplane when your parachute won't work that was really funny.  One point he made was that when you are falling , you have to hook arms with your partner and your arms might break ...that was very funny. 

I also got to go to the gift shop where I almost bought two things  - a collection of  at least 6 fake teeth and some mustaches but instead I got a young life notebook with a Castaway sticker and a harmonica so I can play with my papa.    We also got to make cool bracelets with some staff girls that I am going to make at my birthday party.  And of course, we got to swim in the lake!

Overall, it was very fun there and I was very sad to leave.  Onto Michigan...

 Shout outs to Jess, Rachel, & Amanda, Emma, Jessi, Gummy, Uncle Seth, Grammy Lynn (the state bird of Minnesota is the Loon), Dawber, Emmy, and that's it for now!

Love, McKenna

Road

 

Emergency Post (AKA the Curse of Wis Dells)

Hi there.. it's Aaron from the passenger seat. Didn't intend to post but when times are tough sometimes you just need to vent. We are on day seventeen, so if you have been following the twitter updates you know three important things by now:

1. Our AC went out as we were coming through Wis Dells Wisconsin (the subject of many jokes in twitter) and heading into Chicago. Chicago was hellfire hot by the way (not that I know firsthand how hot this is).

2. We got the pleasure of 3 days on the beach in Grand Haven Michigan (beautiful city) with our good friends Ed, Heather, Eli, Hadassah, Eden, and Wyeth (beautiful people). We miss them already.

3. We left Grand Haven having dropped a "cool" G on the AC (pun intended),  but we were refreshed and ready for the next part of our adventure in upper New England. Next stop Niagara Falls...


With these fact in hand you are prepared for what we will be known as the "Curse of the Wis Dells" (pronounced Wiz Dells) - be very careful all who would mock Wis Dells... it will have the final laugh, which usually involves water/liquids of some kind (it is the Water Park Capital of the World after all).

So let me recount the last 24 hours.

1. Leave Grand Haven enjoying the cool ride with the AC working fantastically in both the front and rear of our vehicle.

2. Cross the border into Canada, (the curse begins) and we discover just how painful a gallon of gas can be... 4.80/gal. Canada is not all that great (sorry for the dig Meghan),  so we start changing the next days travel plans to get to Montreal via a US route instead

3. After 10 hours on the the road, we arrive  into the "water" heavy area of Niagara - picture the gods of Wis Dells smiling as you trot unsuspectingly like prey into their den.

4. Camp is struck and we are just sitting down with a tall glass of "BFT cooler", when I step into the camper to see a very large puddle of water easing its way across the floor. Using my immense deductive powers, I follow the flow back upstream to its mighty source.... the toilet/shower area - which we have converted into a closet for all our clothes. Opening the door to our "closet", I discover that 6 inches of water has becomes the new habitat for our undies, towels, bras, and all sorts of necessary "unmentionables". "Wis Dells"!!! I cry, shaking my fist at the gods. Karie, looking for a positive spin on this, suggests putting all of our Canadian quarters to use in the campground's coin-op laundry. I suggest natural drying and so we leave our clothes out for the night on the picnic table. It starts to rain about 530 in the morning. Now, I don't sleep in much, but I can honestly say I have never put a load of "unmentionables" in the dryer quite that early!!

5. Off to Niagara we say... car is loaded, family fed, campground in the rear view mirror, I leisurely reach over to blast our family with a cool breeze from our fully functioning air conditioning, when to my great surprise, I am smited by the hot breath of Satan himself. "Wis Dells!!!" I cry again. Goodbye for now air conditioning.

6. Okay, stuff happens. "Move on", I say.  "The BFT is an adventure and all adventures have their hiccups." As we drive into the  GREAT Niagara Falls (as all the signs say), I am greeted by the hail of multi story casinos, major resort hotel chains, power lines, souvenir shops, boat tours dotting the base of the falls, and parking lots with weeds growing out of them - from the glory days gone by of Niagara as a major destination. To say we were all disappointed is an understatement. We didn't bother getting out and paying the 20 bucks for parking. We just snapped some picture from the car and kept on trucking towards the US border. "Wis Dells," I whimpered.

7. Wet backs, moist creases, sweaty fore heads, and pooling navel regions (yeah - more than you wanted to know), we are now 4 hours into our drive.  With the windows down we  pull over to the side of road. Karie.... not so happy. Aaron ... a little bit better than Karie. Kids... well, they're kids. Things like  "I need food, need water, need to check if that sticky stretchy toy the tooth fairy gave Sydney is still in her bag, need to potty, Sydney's not sharing, McKenna hurt my feelings. And ... how much longer?" are all making their way out (although I will say they have been awesome travelers so far).

8. Last but not least... its Sunday. The warranty we have on our AC parts doesn't do much good when there are no working mechanics. To commemorate our woes, we have taken to cracking ourselves up by putting "Wis Dells" (don't forget the fist in the air) to the tune of "Roxanne". Try it, you might crack up too!


Well - if you have made it this far into the post, then you probably have time enough to pray for us. Pastor Ed anointed us all (Thank you!) with oil before we left Grand Haven...I am not sure if the anointing just takes a few days to kick in or if it simply isn't supposed to ward off curses. Either way, we would be thankful for any additional blessing you would like to throw our way.

We are having fun and learning to laugh at a lot of really odd things. (The subject of a later blog).

Take care
Aaron

Custer State Park - South Dakota

Hi its Karie.  My girls now want a pet donkey after our two days in South Dakota.  Let me explain.  We pulled into Custer State Park and headed to Blue Bell Campground which was great.  Very Rustic and campy but also very fun and somewhat relaxing after running away from West Yellowstone as the swarm of mosquitos were crying as we left because we were good blood I guess.  Final tally - Sydney's face had 25 bites and McKenna's had 21. 

Here is our set up - so fun!  I can't believe that I am saying that...ME!!!  (Tour of the camper coming soon too).  The scenery in Custer State Park was amazing...rolling hills, lush green foliage, rivers, streams, animals...my camera was hot from all of the pictures I was taking as we drove!

There I am ! 

One night after dinner, we took a drive just before dusk hoping to see some animals and animals we SAW!  This is where the donkeys come in...We came across a pack of burros that were so sweet and obviously used to people and cars.  We were one of three cars that were enamored with them...

 
A giant donkey even wanted to give a little kiss to P-Dawby  :)  Head is in the car...he even let Aaron pet him...  We also saw prairie dogs, a group of elk with at least 6-points on each animal...ginormous!  Lots of dear, and oh the buffalo, actually they are bison...buffalo live in Africa and Bison are in South Dakota according to our park ranger.  We now know where they roam...

After Custer State Park, we headed to Minnesota...Detroit Lakes, Minnesota to be exact where we experienced the following:
1)  Car stuff - I wouldn't call it issues but more to come on this one...
2) Our longest drive to date...14 hours...the girls did GREAT!  Total troopers.
3) Saw more lakes in a small area then I have in my lifetime...so many...
4) Castaway Young Life camp which was beautiful and so fun...another post about that coming...
5)  Sydney is about to lose her first tooth..we will keep you posted on the progress..

We are in Grand Haven, Michigan now with our dear, dear friends, the T's...spent the day at the beach and the farmers market...

Love and hugs - Karie

Fun Cody

Hi it is McKenna .  When we were in Cody, Wyoming (June 29th) we did many fun things. We first found a campground  which surprisingly, had a playset.  They had one toy that had a saddle that you could sit on and it felt like you were riding a horse.  We played a game of tag with the other kids at the playground and that was fun.  Then, when we went to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center...there were 5 parts to this museum - Yellowstone, Buffalo Bill, Indian Plains, Firearms, and one other that I can not remember.  We first headed to the Yellowstone wing - there are 3 levels and when I walked in, I was on the top level.  There were a lot of figures of animals that looked real and a sign that said "Look, Explore, but please do not touch!"  I thought to myself, "How am I supposed to explore when you can't touch it?"  So, I kept walking through and saw a man figurine on skis.  We then walked to an area where there were viewing boxes under the floor where you could see what a chipmunks home under the ground looked like.  Another one was a hornets nest and the third one had the bones of a black bear.  Very cool!  We saw all kinds of bears and watched a video of bears at Yellowstone -- we learned that we have to keep our food in a safe place where they can't smell it or they will do anything to get at it, even toothpaste.  One lady put her garbage in a bear safe container and when the bear found it, he played with it and jumped on it to try and get it open but could not do it and walked away.  Here is me and my sister in front of the museum and me with animal puppets from the Yellowstone area.

My mom and dad said they had a surprise for us - they took us to the Irma Hotel and we watched a gun fight based on Buffalo Bill.  They taught us that if you find a gun, you should "Leave it alone, call 911, and do not touch it" because if you touch it, you will leave fingerprints.  Ms. Mood, one of the characters, found a wedding ring in one of the guys pockets and wanted to get married but no one wanted to marry her.

That was Cody...we left Cody and drive to Custer State Park which is where we are right now.

Shout outs to my furry friend, Dawber, Eden, Jessi, Anika, my cousin Anya, Grammie Lynn (P.S.  The state bird of Idaho is the moutain bluebird), Mason, and Kate!

Peace out - McKenna

Beauty

(Occasionally these posts will be a bit more serious)

Psalm 66
All the earth bows down to you;


they sing praise to you,

they sing the praises of your name.”[a]



 In the run up to the BFT, I personally knew I needed time to listen. The process of resigning from my job of 16 years took its own course and soul searching... as one friend put it, this was going to be "a purposeful pause" for me. I liked how he put it, but admittedly, I did not feel purposeful. I felt certain of God's hand in what was going on. I knew He was asking me to let go of some things, control being a big one, but I am not so sure I knew what the next step beyond surrender looked like. As I have said to the numerous friends and  wise counsel in my life (too numerous to count - I will name you at the end of the BFT) "I am clear God is asking me to trust in His goodness, to have the kind faith I always talk about, but I am much less convinced that he will provide a specific kind of thing to pursue. He is not going to "zap" me with answers but rather nudge me to lean into a work with him." Admittedly, this has been one of the more interesting/difficult parts of this whole process - that is,  knowing God is so good (from experience), but being somewhat convinced that his goodness works itself out slowly, often non-obviously, and requires our participation and decision making without the absolute certainty that each decision by itself is the end of the matter or that God even cares about it. 

 Whomever said being a Christian was without nuance or for the overly simplistic, really should dwell on the wisdom and history of scripture for a while. Being only 16 years into the process myself, all I can say is that I couldn't imagine a more joyful and difficult life than this - almost like the two cannot (necessarily)be separated.  He keeps revealing the pieces as I am ready for them.  Thanks God.:)


Anyhow...the real point of this post and echoed by Psalm 66, was to say that the BFT so far has spoken to me most in two places where, in all honesty, I felt most the insignificant. Go figure.

#1 Mount Rushmore - In postcards and posters, the artistry of this place cannot be truly appreciated. Like other great pieces of art, the work and detail is different from every angle you take it in. I didn't expect to be so affected by the place. Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln are simply overwhelming - their ideas, vision, leadership, and sacrifice just hang over you with the combined power of placement on the surrounding hills, it is simply humbling.

#2 - Custer State Park -Diverse, lush, sweeping, quiet, alive. Wide open plains, tucked into rocky outcrops. Rock formations covered in pines, winding through one ravine after another. Wildlife everywhere - bison, burros, wild turkey, marmots, 10-point elk...it just goes on. We took what we thought was going to be a 30-minute drive and ultimately turned into one of the best 3 hours of the last 3 years. Torrential rain one moment, quietness, and beautiful sunsets wrapped in clouds that just sat on top of us the next. I didn't realize how long it had been since I had felt the "rightness" of simply being alone with so much beauty.

Today is Mt. Rushmore day

Hi -  its Sydney again.  Hello friends!  Today I went to Mt. Rushmore and I saw 4 carved presidents and we walked along the Presidents trails and we got little things that looked like phones and you pressed numbers and listened and learned things about the building of Mt. Rushmore.  I also became a Jr. Ranger at Mt. Rushmore by filling out a president book where we had to answer questions about what we learned.  I learned the following things:
1)  It took 14 years to build - the workers worked very hard
2)  THere were 400 workers that worked together to build the statue.
3)  President Roosevelt's mother and wife died on the same day, on Valentines Day.
4)  The road we drove to get there was very twisty and made my stomach hurt a little.

I loved looking at the presidents.  Me and my sister had a great time there.

At the campground we are staying at, there is a barn where they have horses...you can go horse back riding there but we didn't do it because it was too much money.

That is all from me - shout out to Gracie, Cameron (who loves the presidents), Kaitee, Tatum, Sara M, Blake, Melanie, Leah, Maggie, Jessi, Jess, Rachel, Amanda and Ms. C!

Talk to you soon!

Syd