Family Camp at De Benneville

This was our first summer experience at Camp De Benneville, our Unitarian Universalist retreat center in San Angelus Oaks on the back side of Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains.  We spent a week at Family Camp, living in a cabin, having meals cooked for us, and coffee/tea available in the lodge 24/7.  It was wonderful and one of our kids favorite vacations yet!  They loved having other kids there to play with and the freedom of being able to run and explore all day without needing as much direct supervision.  They ran around in little packs of 3 and Bella loved being able to be a 'big kid'. 

The site has a playground with climbing wall, monkey bars, slides and swing.  There is a nice swimming pool with a deep end - 12 ft and shallow 3 ft.  Both girls loved it!  There are lots of trails that will connect to the hiking trails up to San Gorgonio.  There is a small cabin building, called the coffee house, used for morning yoga.  Lake Jenks is about 1 miles away where we all went canoeing.  At night there are a zillion stars and there are a lot of trees - great places to attach a hammock! 

Everyday there were loads of activities to choose from.  I started most days with early morning yoga before breakfast.  Morgan came twice with me and did fairly well considering the focus was on breathing techniques and more meditative.  After breakfast there was a morning service - this year's them was "learning to love better".  Then a morning activity - such a tie-dying, jewelry making, coffee roasting, hiking, swimming, archery... and then lunch and an afternoon activity.  Followed by vespers, dinner and evening activity - night hike, smores, camp fire songs, skits or movie night (we watched Shrek under the stars and had popcorn!)!  It was a lot of fun and nice for us to totally unplug from tv, cell phones, work, etc and really come together as a family and a community.  Because of the different ages of kids, Jeff and I were able to find teenagers that wanted to watch the girls while we went on a few hikes.  Two of the days we got in some nice walks. 

Wonderful week!  Love JeLiMoBe

 

Paper bags to put notes for campers

 

Poop Out Hill!

Root Beer Floats before Talent Show

Pictures of who's who - with questions, if we could be a dessert what would we be, what do we love or what do we need to learn to love better, and our cabin assignment.  Morgan said she would be Mint!

Clouds that appeared for seconds and then melted together; doesn't it look like a mountain?


We read in the weekly activities to bring fancy clothes for the banquet... which we did. Only it turned out to be a Viking theme.  We were a bit overdressed.  One of the craft activities was to duck tap a hat.  One of the ladies gave hers to Morgan at the end of the night.

 

Typical yummy camp food! Salad, desserts, sides and main dishes (veg and meat options!)

The Girls with Dean Amy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Model Photo Shoot in the Wilderness!

Having a nice camera and gorgeous subjects in an amazingly beautiful setting was a lot of fun!  Fortunately my models cooperated and let me snap away while barking out closer, hand down, look here, eyes opens less surprised, mouths more natural, etc!  Thanks to Aunt Kiki for the beautiful dresses!!  As you can see the girls love them and they are so cute..

I took a few hundred, which is easy to do, so hopefully these really are the best of the rest. 

 

Mom requested "Silly Face" photo

Fun with Photography at Camp

As I am writing this I am thinking, how cool would it be to have a photography workshop session at camp!  They were asking for volunteers for topics; however given my current photography skills I would need to practice for a few years!  But maybe with years of photographing my girls by these same trees I can get good at it.  Hmmm....  It is beautiful and we love Camp. 

These next few photos are of me walking around Camp with the girls - of course promising that when I've had enough cute photos they can have a piece of gum.  :-)   

 

 

Great Summer with Grandparents!

It was a GREAT summer having Grandpa Richard and Granny Annie in town.  It was fun hanging out, but they also ended up being very helpful getting Morgan to swim practice one week from the Boys and Girls Club camp which had tough traffic and attending her mid-day singing show at the end of Princess Week.  Mom came to swim practice a few times a week which was really nice for me to see her while the girls swam, and Dad would take the 2 doggies (Guinness and Dublin) to the nearby doggie park.

We got to see them a lot - Church on Sunday, a few mid-week visits by Granny Annie and then something else during the weekend.  For Father's Day and to celebrate my Dad's 70th birthday early, we took him to see the Abba concert.  Abba music is what we grew up listening to in the car and on road trips.  It was a fun concert and ended with "Thank You for the Music" and a glorious firework display.

Speaking of Fireworks reminds me that we also spent 4th of July with my parents watching Fireworks from their condo complex in Mira Mesa.  There is a grassy area on a bluff that has great views of the show.  This year we ended up having our own thrills as the sprinklers went on!  I heard them start and then thought to myself, "I'm not actually getting wet yet" and then realized that was because parents were sitting on one sprinkler and the doggy blanket was on the other!

Other summer highlights have been BBQ's at parents, our house, going out for Thai food, and playing parents pool.  Bella is almost water safe, and Morgan is a fabulous competitive swimmer!  I am so proud.