Week 1

We have had a great week and have made lots of memories:). We left last Monday morning and had a very long day of driving, the kids did great but were so glad to get out of the car and swim!  We had the chance to visit a few camps on our way to Camp Berea.  The first camp was right outside of Cleveland.  We were able to visit with a couple who ran the camp all by themselves. They were tired and very discouraged, it was good to visit with them and encourage them in what they are doing!  We also got to see the Angels play in Cleveland, which was a lot if fun!

This was the view from our house at NEO Retreat center:)

The next night we drove to Bufflo to stay at Lighthouse Christian Camp.  We were able to sit down with their staff and share about the Ranch and what we do.  They had several Sower volunteers who asked a lot of questions, it would be fun to see them come to New Life to volunteer:). This was a beautiful camp that mainly has family camps.  Here was our little cabin:)

This camp sat right on Lake Ontario and on a clear day you could see Canada.

While we were there we were able to go see Niagara Falls.  The kids had so much fun!  Their favorite thing was The Cave of the Winds.  We were able to go right up to the falls and we all got soaked!

Our last stop before making it to Camp Berea was Pathfinder Lodge in Cooperstown.  We had a great time touring and learning about what they do. When we got there they were hosting an Adult Special Ed retreat.  The kids thought that was fun to see another camp have special needs retreats.  This camp too was very beautiful and sat right on a lake.  The kids had a fun time fishing!  The wanted to swim but so far on our trip it has been very cool.  The lows at night get down in the 40's and the cabins don't have heat.  Very thankful we brought sweatshirts and pants!

A big Hit in Cooperatown of course was all the baseball fun:). We had a fun time at the museum and at the batting cages!

Finally on Saturday we made it to Camp Berea.  It reminds us a lot of the Ranch. And the kiddos are having fun meeting all of the staff.  Today was John's first day as a volunteer. He will be working on their maintance team for the next 2 weeks.  Bailey started camp today.  She seemed really nervous and was unsure about being in the cabin with no one she knew and taking the big swim test.  They have different levels of swim tests here and you can earn different color swim bands.  She passed the blue test...which she was very excited about so she can jump on the big trampoline in the water and water ski/tube:). We will post more pics of Camp Berea in another post but for now here is our view for the next 3 weeks from our cabin and Bailey girl in her cabin:)

Will update more soon!  Please pray for the staff here this week and for the campers...this is their largest week of camp yet:)