The Body | Family Camp 2012

Memorial Day Weekend brought our 4th Family Camp with friends from church. Chris, Luke and I spent 2 nights at Higher Ground conference and camp facility. We felt like we had our best time ever.

This year focused on how we all have a special role in the "Body of Christ". Lots of opportunity to connect with our family and others. We love it all!

Here we are part of the Brown team, "The Honey Badgers" - yes inspired by the You Tube classic unbeknown to Chris and most of the children. We were fierce in our own minds. The games throughout the weekend are a ton of fun - from relays to tug of war to egg tossing.

There's also time for worship and singing. And other reflective time. We "marked" the body with a family tattoo on a mannequin at one point. And wrote words of encouragement to all the families we know well who were also there. So much to do it's actually quite tiring!



I tend to like the party Sunday night the best. This year's theme was Carnivale. We dressed up in colorful clothes, masks and feathers. Limbo-ed, ate snow cones and other activities. The party was followed by a night hike through the woods. We really love how our friends organize this. Great memories!

You're probably wondering what Mitchell was up to while we partied, sweat and swam. Mitchell had an opportunity to stay for the weekend at a respite home specifically for disabled people. It was quite pricey, but it was good to try it out. He seemed to enjoy it, but was absolutely exhausted by the time we brought him home. The nurses said he did better than most first-timers. They also said he was "nosy", especially at night. When they came in to turn, change or check in on his roommate, he seemed to wake up calm, wondering what was going on. It's always so funny to hear how others describe Mitchell's personality! I've never thought of him able to be nosy. Then again I grew up with my mom calling me "Nosy Rosy" so it should not surprise me that he's more like me than I thought!

While we would have loved to have our whole family at Family Camp, the temps were in the 90's...not good for Mitchell. And being more free to come and go really gave Chris and I the chance to connect with people better. I know I was able to be more present and relaxed not having to always have to be managing Mitchell's needs. Having Mitchell be well cared for for the weekend really worked out.

Well, he's singing/squeaking now in his chair. Better go check in on him!

Last year's Family Camp highlights HERE.

Young's Dairy and Other Adventures

We tried to fit in some fun, local activities over Labor Day weekend and for the most part everything worked out except the weather was bizarre. Saturday +90 and we headed to Grandma Kay's pool. Sunday was overcast and we filled our time with lots of things around Lunken Field including a visit to the airport. Monday turned cold - beyond Fall "sweater weather" but we still ventured up to Young's Dairy in Yellow Springs, Ohio for some fun on the farm. Would you believe we drove an hour to get there and ran into our friends who live right next door? Crazy. It was a fun day and the buckeye sundae with their homemade ice cream was my favorite part - I should have taken a picture!















Soon after Labor Day was my birthday. Chris and I celebrated by spending the night away. We headed to Cleveland and had fun downtown. One of the places we went to Saturday night was the Greenhouse Tavern. I HIGHLY recommend it. Amazing rooftop deck too. On Sunday we started early at a tailgate outside Cleveland Stadium with Chris' friend Ed from the Navy. He and his friends set up quite an operation with 3 reserved parking spaces and a large, but older RV they use for just this purpose. All and all much fun and I'm ready for more!

Stadiums + Mega Churches

We noted some counts over vacation. Specifically how many states, how many major league ball fields and how many mega churches we've each been to. Yes I said mega churches.

Chris won the baseball stadium race hands down. It was his 2nd time to Wrigley but he said this time was better because we had better seats. I loved how the field was so low-tech with one of the 2 oldest scoreboards in play, minimal screens and ads. When built in 1914 it took $250,000 and 6 weeks to complete. The ivy was nice too.



When we found ourselves at Willow Creek church Sunday morning, the well-known teaching church with Bill Hybels at the helm, I realized I've hit some biggies including Saddleback (Rick Warren) in California, http://www.northpoint.org/ in Atlanta (Andy Stanley). I think the businessperson is me is drawn to the missions of these churches, but also how well they are led, operated and overall infrastructured.

At the service we went to we were surprised with a concert from the notable David Crowder Band from Texas who is currently on their final tour before the musicians disband permanently. Crazy to see young and old alike rocking it out to loud and lively Christian music so early. Pretty cool.

It should be noted Willow Creek was also conveniently located 5 miles from the Lego Discovery Center Luke couldn't wait to go to!

Chicago Vacation 2011

I know, I know...haven't been posting. I've been working on my summer to-do list. That has included taking our annual trip without Mitchell. This year, we went to Chicago and a wonderful time.

It's so hard to list everything we did...we nearly did it all. From museums, a Cubs/White Sox game and the beach to the Taste of Chicago, an upscale steak dinner and 2 boat rides, we found the city so kid friendly. But a handicapped-friendly city? Not at all. You take buses, trains and taxis. And one minute you are walking on a street and next thing you know you are on a lower level with a street above you requiring you to take stairs to get back to where you thought you were. When we are on our respite trip, we actually seek out a more complicated environment so we can do things we usually cannot. For us, it was perfect.

Hopefully these picture collages give you an idea of our experience, not to mention the fun I'm having with my newest camera lens purchase!











By the way, she is even prettier in person:



The ominous sky as we drove into town. It cleared up beautifully, only to bring in 90+ degree heat. Then while at the baseball game, the temps dropped to the 70's in under an hour. Best of all, no rain to speak of!



There were a couple times on the trip sadness hit me. I saw 2 boys close in age conversing with their parents at breakfast. How I wished that was my two. At a park I was behind a dad starting a running race on the sidewalk with his two boys, again close in age. How I wished my two could run alongside their daddy.

These moments are fleeting. Actually I surprise myself all the time how quickly I bounce back from these flashes of what could be. Our normal is different and I have accepted it. How lucky we are to be able to take a break and recharge to keep going.

We had such an enjoyable time full of freedom and late nights, we could have stayed longer, but we wanted to get home to see Mitchell too. When I swept him into my arms, there was not a flicker of recognition. But when Chris, Luke and I rolled around with Mitchell on the floor getting him to smile, I knew we were home.

Photo Shoot

There is a photographer I came across who has taken photographs for numerous Mito families. I contacted her before the holidays to schedule a photo shoot to find she was booked until March. Well the way the calendar went we didn't get together until May. Therefore I'm happy to report I am now planning way ahead and will reserve some of the great shots she took for our Christmas card!

It's so hard to take good pictures of Mitch, but it was Luke who seemed to have more trouble. He's at the stage where he excels at delivering a fake smile. The more the photographer tried to get him to be more natural, the more frustrated he became. Just last week Luke volunteered a reflection on the experience saying, "Wasn't that weird the picture taker didn't like me to smile?"

Uncle Darrell

My uncle Darrell, who is my mom's brother,came for a visit recently. He lives in Mississippi and was seeing family throughout Ohio. Both boys took to him right away. You can tell he's a good grandpa himself!

The Great Adventure | Family Camp 2011

Over the Memorial Day holiday, we spent our 3rd weekend at Higher Ground Retreat Center for Family Camp with our friends from Crossroads Church. We had an incredible time with 40 or so families. So many special moments were made through the planned adventures outdoors. We really were sad to see the experience come to a close on Monday.

Some of you might be wondering, just what happens at our Family Camp? Well first know REALLY organized and creative people plan it and no detail is spared. Every instruction is masterfully designed and given provided in full color. Like this year when we got to our room, it was already equiped with plastic canteens for water, name tags, a bound guidebook, trail mix, hand sanitizer, bug collecting stuff for the kids and commemorative T-shirts.

You are immediately assigned to a team. This year we were the yellow team. We called ourselves the Lemonheads. We are instructed to create a team chant and create a song with each team member's name used for introducing ourselves to the other campers over our first lunch together. Our chant went something like...

"The Lemonheads you want to meet.
Our name says sour -
Our hearts are sweet.
Pucker up campers!"
Then we blew a big kiss.

Here is another team as they start their chant and song:



You are never hungry at Family Camp - 3 squares that's for sure. The staff does a great job of keeping us fed.

There is daily time for group singing and worship during which each family sits on a sheet they've brought decorated with their family name on it. Each year a song defines the themed experience. Luke loves singing "Praise Ye the Lord" and this year got up on stage to help lead the guy refrains. Go Luke!

Over the 2 full days, there were 8 adventures our team traveled to on the grounds. Each one had a fun element and a learning element. Here is our team after one of the adventures. Then Chris fixing a pin to Luke's lanyard - a badge was given after each accomplishment.





We were in the middle of an activity on the camp's football fields and found a wayward baby mouse.



Here's Chris smiling at me during a more creative station after I busted him. We were to cut out words and pictures from periodicals, but of course Chris took the opportunity to read one of the newspapers instead. Only Family Camp can come between him and his daily paper so he was pretty excited to be in the vicinity of one.



And then there are the games. During the first two camps, the competition got a little intense so this year there were no points awarded trying to make it a kinder, gentler Family Camp.

So why did we get so upset when the Lemonheads sucked?



Granted other teams seemed to have their teams stacked with older children while we had 4 infants/toddlers, 1 child over 7 and our own special needs 4 year old. You can tell I'm over it!!!! No way!!!!

I had the most fun during the Shoe Relay. Each team member took off his or her left shoe. All teams' shoes were put into a big pile and in turn you had to run out to find yours, put it on and return to your line.





Our size and youth were disadvantages during the Pile On Game in which you had to see how many teammates 1 person could hold at a time. The winning team had something like 14 on top.



I laughed hard from the sidelines during the Dizzy Spinning Game. Chris and Luke also participated in the Egg Toss, the Running Sprints (Luke came in 3rd in his age group!) and the Cracker Eating Contest (last year this was the event where Luke "left it all on the field" so to speak.)



The first night we gathered around the campfire for s'mores and songs. The second night was Guys' Night and Chris played 4 consecutive games of Ultimate Frisbee until the wee hours.





Some of the most fun I had was at the 70/80's Dance Party Sunday night. We dressed the part and had a ball. I even crammed in learning moves to participate in a flash mob to surprise the kids. It was as much fun as you can have without a sign of a Bartles and James wine cooler. We had our sitter watch Mitchell this day because of the heat and the terrain and frankly it was fun to enjoy the day a little more free.



I know it may seem like your typical church picnic, but to us it's a treasure. I always say I know I'll count these family memories among our best. Until next year!