Monday, July 30, 2007
cooking wilderness tea
Still no news from our camper...
but here are some new pictures of him cooking some tea with his wilderness group.
Friday, July 27, 2007
a bed full of dogs
Is there room for Ely in this bed full of dogs??
I don't know... but he sure is happy to share!
update from camp...
Thought I'd share a few updated pictures from Alpine...
Don't know who these boys are... new friends!
This picture is from Mountain Day yesterday. Haven't read the newsletter yet, but from the pictures it was the day of the big battle between the blue Mohawks and the red Cherokees. Grey is in the center of the front row (looking backward). Grey was only in this one picture, but I wish that I could share all the pictures with you... OH MY GOODNESS... it looked like such a fun day!!! I wrote him a letter and I told him that it seemed like every day at Alpine was better than the day before.
I have to share things from the newsletter because (since my child is having too much fun to write me) it is the only way that I have of knowing what is going on. (smile)
Here is a paragraph from the newsletter 2 days ago (the day before Mountain Day). I thought it sounded really fun too.
"After Morning Watch on Wednesday, breakfast was oatmeal and brown sugar, bananas, and cinnamon-sugar toast. After cabin clean-up, the campers ran off to their morning activities. At Waterfront, a flotilla of canoes circled about while campers dodged and tossed water balloons -- an epic naval conflict. Water bombs were flying also at the sand volleyball courts, where Minor Sports was playing Bombs Away, a real-life version of Battleship. The gym echoed with the sound of basketballs, and the Bouldering Barn was full of climbers."
Here's one last picture... made at Morning Watch.
WHAT A FUN PLACE!!!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
More news from Grey...
Here's another picture of Grey, just posted this morning.
I think that's a compass in the counselor's hand. There was another picture that showed a boy with a compass and the newsletter from yesterday mentioned the Wildeness activity group learning to use one.
I think that Grey went rappelling yesterday. His age group (the warriors) have been taking turns going all week. Cabins 1 & 2 on Monday. Cabins 3 & 4 on Tuesday. Since he's cabin 6.... that leads me to believe that cabins 5 & 6 probably went yesterday.
Today is trip day for the whole camp. The warriors are all going whitewater rafting down the Nantahalia!
It's definitely a week of high adventure!
Here's a paragraph from one of the newsletters earlier in the week. I really liked it:
"Back in the cabins, staff and campers had evening devotions. This typically entails a cabin's sitting together in a circle on the floor while the counselors read a brief Bible story, often from Catherine Vos's Child's Story Bible, a favorite here at Alpine. A short discussion often follows the story, with the sole intention of getting the boys to think about the promices of Scripture and how it fits into their lives. Overall, the way that the Alpine counselors want to minister to their campers could be summed up in the old quote attributed to Saint Francis: "Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary." We realize that the best way for a boy (or a grown man, for that matter) to understand the love of Christ is simply to be loved unconditionally by his peers and counselors. Long after a boy has forgotten what was discussed at evening devotion, we hope that he will remember seeing the Christian faith fleshed out in the daily actions and conversations of his counselors."
Monday, July 16, 2007
Our new puppy, Sherman!!!
Look at our cute new puppy!!! He is a 7 week old boxer puppy named Sherman. He is going to sleep in Ely's room and be Ely's "bed dog" when he gets bigger (since Beall sleeps in the bed with Grey every night.) Ely has already professed his love and devotion to Sherman all the way home (between giving and receiving kisses on the nose) and "ordered" that Beall and Miles be put outside so that they won't bother his new puppy. (haha)
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Grey's Having Fun!
Here's a just-posted picture of my baby at camp!!!!
He looks happy!!!!
We got a letter from him yesterday. Here is some of what he said....
"Dear Ely, Mom, and Dad:
I really like Alpine. I have met lots of people and done lots of things. Here are the events I am doing: archery, PA (you climb trees and stuff), canoeing, wilderness (hiking and exploring), tennis, riflery, waterfront (games, slides, ziplines and more), horseback, climbing, swimming, and team sports.
Matt and Sam are nice (they are our counselors). Matt teaches horseback and I did that today. That was lots of fun. The kids in my cabin are Peyton, Jack (we call him Captin Jack Sparrow!), Angus, Will Smith, and Sam. They are all nice and so are other kids I have met."
YEA!!! HE'S HAVING FUN!!!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Grey's at Alpine!!
We got Grey dropped off at Alpine Camp for Boys yesterday morning. Here he is pictured with the other boys in his cabin and his two counselors.
All of the boys that we saw in Grey's cabin seemed initially quiet and introverted (don't remember seeing the one in the yellow shirt -- he may be the clown in the group). They seemed like a mild bunch though. His counselors seemed really nice. The one on the left was a counselor last year also -- not sure about the one on the right but I think he was too. I just love the small group with two counselors!!
I have a password on the Alpine website and an email address if you are interrested in seeing additional pictures or sending him mail.
Contact me if interrested. I'm not going to post it on here.
He was naturally a little nervous. His counselors made a good first impression on me. As we were leaving (the boy with the Ole Miss shirt on was a first-time camper also and his mom was driving away right behind us), the two of them were initially standing there on the porch watching their families load up. But instead of letting them stand there and potentially feel sad as they watched us drive away, the counselors led them over to an outside area where other boys were laughing and playing some type of game and got them immediately involved with the group. I was turned around backwards watching them as we left and Grey wasn't even aware of when we finally drove off. That, to me, was an indication of both good training and experience on the part of the counselors. I liked it.
He is going to have such a fabulous time!!
