Big sigh!!

Phew! It came and it went just as fast as it came! This summer was full of unexpected adventures. If you would have asked either Nate or I what we would be doing in May guaranteed we would not have said "working at a summer camp." Although that is one thing we are both passionate about. But as God works things out in our lives we are finding that planning is not always something to count on.

Our first summer at Tilikum has been a great start! Nate was blessed with an outstanding staff to work with! These college students quickly became friends.

I think one of my favorite memories was watching Nate get his laugh back again at work! I believe at one time during the summer he was caught on top of the summer camp office roof with a 5 gallon bucket of water awaiting his onsite Justin. His unexpected employee came outside to see what Nate needed only to get a full body wash of ice cold water! Naturally the consequence for that was a pie in the face later on...but oh what a fun week that was!!

Every morning our camp day started off with silly kid songs. Nate and I would try to get the staff to laugh every morning with all kinds of new motions to go with the songs. Sometimes Nate still sings those songs to me when we are driving in the car. And yes, that makes me laugh too!!

So the big question that everyone has been asking..."what do you do now that summer is over?"

Surprisingly there is a lot to be done to get ready for the following summer. I know....9 months worth? Sure, there are still groups coming into the camp facility to use it for private events. And of course a lot of work goes behind the scenes to get ready for the following summer. But for the most part it shouldn't be as busy as we were during the summer months. There were 2,500 kids who came through the day camp program this summer. Wow was it ever hard to remember all their names!! (just kidding...name tags were a must!)

But as for now? Well, we're doing a little kick-back time here in Hawaii. We're enjoying not having a schedule and getting a lot of quality time together.

We hope that you all had a great summer as well. And we look forward to hearing what you have been up to.

Tilikum pictures at last!!!

At last here are a few pictures of Camp Tilikum! I'm not sure of what order they will appear online, so I'll just give a brief description of each.

1). Tree house in the woods. The kids like to cross the rope bridge and time themselves to see how fast they can go each time.

2). Rock wall - is next to the tree house in the woods.

3). School house - is about 120 years old and houses the Bees!! We actually keep like bees in there!!!

4). Path in the woods - this is the typical scene on the camp. There are several hikes you can take on the camp property on trails like this one.

5). The Lake- This view is from the school house looking down the hill at the lake. Over the next hill is a vineyard and a few farms. The location is great for camp since it's a quiet area and not fully develped yet.

I'll try to add more pictures of the staff this week!

Thanks for keeping updated with us! We have 2 more weeks of camp left and then it's vay-kay time for Nate and Lissa!!!