Camp Wildflowers (post by Mark)

Good friends of ours, the Griffins, had told me about a cool Daddy/Daughter Day Camp that they went to last year in Wardensville, WV called Camp Hemlock. It is a faith-based camp that was out in the middle of nowhere. Located about 90 miles from home, Nina and I left on a Sunday and returned home Wednesday. The camp itself provided rustic cabins for sleeping separately for Dads and Daughters. The girls would have junior counselors and “Grandmas” taking care of them at night while the Dads slept in bunks of their own. The day started early at 7am with some Dad devotional time followed by breakfast with the kiddos. Then Nina and I spent the days swimming, hiking, canoeing, rock climbing, shooting a rifle, slingshots, bow and arrows and chucking tomahawks. We also got to learn a Sound of Music dance together, assemble crafts, and hand bells. Lunch was served and more hiking through an adventure course, rock gardens and streams. The rains came and went but that didn’t deter from the awesome time we had in the great outdoors. At night, the whole camp sat around a campfire, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, sang songs and the junior counselors did some skits.

  

The story of camp came when Nina and I hiked up a steep rock garden and outcropping to do or daily devotional together. We sat perched on a huge boulder looking out over the valley between the mountains. It really made me realize just how precious our children our as Nina prayed for our family and us. As we finished up we need to figure out just how to get back to the trail, as it was no easy task getting out to the big boulder itself. I had lifted Nina up and she proceeded to jump across another rock gap towards the trail, she heard a rattle and a hissing noise. I, at the time was just climbing onto the rock in the front of the gap she had just jumped across. She looked back and said “Daddy! There is a rattlesnake there, be careful!” I approached the 1.5-foot gap slowly. I could only see part of its body but it looked to be about 3.5 feet long. I could not see the head so I asked Nina, “Is it coiled up?...and which way is its head pointing?” After knowing it was not coiled and ready to strike I peeked over for a closer look. It was pointing away so I jumped over to Nina. We researched it to be a Timber Rattlesnake, very popular in the hills of West Virginia. Of course about 30 seconds after getting back to camp, the entire place knew we had encountered a rattlesnake and that Nina had saved my life.

Thank the Lord for Daughters!

All in all it was a great camp. Being out in the outdoors is what I remember so much as a kid. Camping, hiking, canoeing and fishing were what our family vacations were made of. Perhaps we may get back into it this fall with our family.

   

Sunflower Field at Burnside Farm

Mark and Nina just got back from their four days at Dad/Daughter Camp Wildflower.  It was four days in a rustic camp in West Virginia – just dads and daughters.  They had a great time, and I have solicited him into doing a guest blog post about it, so that’s coming!!

Yesterday was Nina’s first full day back, and the girls and I went to a farm that was growing fields of sunflowers.  It was beautiful!  We grabbed a wagon, some snips for cutting a few, and enjoyed the walk through the beautiful flowers.

  

     

 

In addition to the sunflower field, there was a little animal barn at the back of the area where we saw some animals, swung on a swing, and the girls played a funny game of “follow me” with a white rooster.

One of Nina and Lyla’s favorite parts of the whole day was playing chase with this rooster.  I only videoed part of it.  They actually chased back and forth for much longer, but here is a little sample: http://youtu.be/GX8Wacqsx3E

        

At the end of our visit, we payed for our picks, arranged them in a jar, and were on our way home.  I’m enjoying having this beautiful arrangement in my kitchen now!

Kings Dominion

On Wednesday, we spent the day at Kings Dominion.  The girls had been wanting to go to an amusement park this summer, and you don’t have to ask Mark twice to go (although I need a bit more convincing), so off we went.  We really lucked out with the day.  There weren’t crowds of people there so we didn’t wait in many lines, the weather was relatively mild, and the kids got to ride everything they could ride – multiple times! 

Lyla and Nina were both over 48” but not over 54”, so that meant they could both ride all the same things.  There were only a few roller coasters in the park that they couldn’t ride, but they rode every other roller coaster they were allowed on.  This was Lyla’s first time at Kings Dominion, so we “warmed up” with the Woodstock Express (a smaller roller coaster), and after that, it was straight from one big roller coaster to the next.  If it weren’t for mom turning a big green after consecutive times riding again and again with no wait time in between, I think they would have kept up that pace the entire day.

Thanks to me, we did take a few breaks from the roller coasters by getting completely soaked on the White Water Canyon, and other water rides like the Log Flume, but if you ask the girls, their favorites included (but were not limited to) the Grizzly, the Anaconda, the Drop Tower, and the Rebel Yell.

The Intimidator was one ride that the girls weren’t big enough to go on, so Mark tried that one solo.  I was happy to take a break on the bench and just watch for this one! 

The whole family rode the Drop Tower.  It’s 270+ feet in the air, and it takes you up and drops you straight down.  At first, Lyla wasn’t sure she wanted to ride it, so Mark and Nina went together.  Lyla saw them do it and wanted to try, and Nina took a break.  Then, it didn’t seem right that I didn’t go on the Drop Tower, so all four of us got back on and rode together.  That was something!

     

I was surprised that both of the girls liked the Grizzly as much as they did.  It’s so fast and so rough, and I was seriously afraid that Lyla was going to fly out of her seat on some of the turns, but this is one they wanted to ride again and again.  They love the Grizzly!

The only roller coaster that they could ride together was the Woodstock Express, and I’m guessing they rode it at least five times.  By trip 4 and 5, both of them had their arms in the air the whole ride!

We left the park quite exhausted, still wet (at least I was), and quite fulfilled on roller coasters for at least a little while (again, at least I was). I would say it was a great day at Kings Dominion.

   

Bake Sale and a Visit to PB

With Nina feeling back to her old self, we resumed our normal activity last week.  Last weekend, the girls did their annual August bake sale.  They “helped” bake and decorate the goodies, and we set up on Friday evening to get the after dinner crowd for some treats.  The girls sold a ton of goodies, and thanks to some generous neighbors, got some extra donations with all proceeds going to Jill’s House this year. 

We also got over to Maryland last week for a nice visit to see PB.  The girls got to see him feed his Koi fish, and of course, they had a thorough photo session, keeping their latest looks up to date.

Here are two of the pictures he sent.  The girls are really growing up!!!

Phone Photo Catch Up

I’m playing a little bit of catch up with my phone pictures.  My phone camera doesn’t take good pictures, but sometimes it’s all I have on hand, so it’s got to do.  Just before Nina got sick, we took Cayenne to WagFest.  It was supposed to be a festival for dogs, and they were announcing the top 10 cutest dogs in the contest I posted about previously.  So, we took the girls and the pup to enjoy the afternoon at WagFest.  Cayenne did not get the votes to be a top 10 cutest dog, but we still think she’s the cutest!  Here are the three of them on a train at WagFest.

Just after the previous photo, Nina got sick.  At first the doctors thought she had strep throat, but when she didn’t respond to the treatment for strep throat, they saw her again and determined that she had pneumonia and bronchiolitis.  Thankfully, the pneumonia was in the early stages, and she responded really well to the medicine they gave to for that.  One of her treatments was a breathing treatment to keep her lungs clear.  Cayenne just wasn’t sure about what was going on.  She senses when the kids aren’t feeling well, and she just wasn’t too sure about this particular treatment!

   

After Nina got the free and clear to join normal activity again, we were so happy. Her energy level was still pretty low, but by Thursday of last week, we were just glad to be able to get out and about after two weeks of her being sick.

By this past weekend, we felt that Nina was back to her old self, so we decided to take a family hike on Sunday.  We went out to Silver Lake, and at the end of our hike, we came across some beautiful and very friendly horses.  It’s felt great to be out enjoying a nice weekend as a family!