Crestridge 2016 - 2 Chippewas

For years, I have been dreaming of sending the girls to Camp Crestridge.  This is a fabulous Christ-centered camp just outside beautiful Asheville, NC.  I have great memories of going twice while I was growing up as does my mom.  We decided this would be the perfect summer to send them.  At the camp, there are seven age groups or tribes.  The girls would be in the same tribe, Chippewa, this year which I thought would be great for when they do tribe activities.  Because they are two years apart though, they would be in different cabins and make different friends.  They were both so excited about going, though Lily admitted to being a little nervous too.  The camp is 12 days long which is the longest we've been apart; I'll admit I was a little anxious too, but we truly believed they would have a great time.  We drove up to Asheville on Saturday evening, and on Sunday morning we drove over for check-in.  Upon check-in, the girls passed their lice check (whew!) and were given packets with lots of information in it.  They immediately started poring over the map to see where their cabins were (Chippewa 1 for Mia, Chippewa 5 for Lily), and where everything else was located at the camp.

The packet also included pictures of their counselors and letters to the parents from their counselors.  Lily was excited to meet Emily and Kari, while Mia looked forward to  Trina, Mary and Hannah.

As we waited for the bus to pick us up to drive us into the camp, Mia immediately met 2 or 3 other girls in her cabin and began to play.  She started telling me about "her new BFFs" that she couldn't wait to spend time with.  Lily didn't meet any cabin mates while we waited, but she kept a great attitude.  Finally the bus arrived, and we headed into camp.  Lots of counselors were gathered around cheering as everyone exited and headed for their cabins.  We took a couple of pictures along the way.

Both girls were thrilled to get top bunks!

Mia loved that the Chippewa/Chickasaw playground was right outside her cabin.  We heard later she had tons of fun playing on this during free time.  The creek also runs right by her cabin; she apparently was in a pretty prime spot!

Lily's cabin sat at the top of Chippewa hill which provided a nice little view down the mountain.

I loved remembering so much as we walked around!  Everything was clearly marked which put Lily's mind at ease.  We walked through the chapel with the beautiful stained glass.

We all loved how Enos were all throughout the camp for people to enjoy.  These two happen to be right by the playground outside Mia's cabin.  This is one of the creeks which is a great spot for having some quiet time.  On the other side of this bridge is a nice prayer garden.

Of course, what camp is complete without a great lake?!  There's a blob, slide, zipline, canoes and kayaks here to enjoy.  The girls told me they didn't go swimming in it again after their swim test though; they had other things they wanted to do!

After a couple of hours and eating lunch together, it was time to say good bye.  Both girls gave us huge hugs and then walked happily to their cabins and counselors.  It was hard to see them go, but we knew they would have a blast; of course, we had a trip to CA planned, so we were looking forward to that.

Even though we knew they'd have fun, it was great to get these first letters.  I'm not sure if Mia was trying to hold her letter above her as her handwriting is usually much better than this, but we could tell she was having so much fun.  We were glad to see both were making friends.

The camp was really good about posting lots of pictures on a secure portal each day.  This was fun for me to look through and find them.  I loved seeing these pictures of them learning their skills.  Lily took Intro to Ballet, Gymnastics, Guitar, Drawing, Arts & Crafts and Needlework.  Mia took Horseback Riding, Treasure Hunting, Chippewa Adventure, Needlework, Archery and Outdoor Living.  We were glad to know they were in the same Needlework class.  Here are the pictures I ordered of them.

There were also pictures of all the other activities going on which helped us to see what their days were like.  Here are some of those.

After getting their honor bands.  Chippewas receive green bands.  It was really neat to see older girls who have all the color bands together.

Lily's cabin on the first day getting ready for swimming.

Mia with some archery friends.

A group performing during Singspiration.

Getting ready to open the Sock Wars game.

Each Chippewa also received at least one "big sister" to help them adjust to being at camp.  Lily absolutely adored her big, Chaney, who's pictured here.  She also loved Aly, her second big sister.

Lily, Chaney and some of Chaney's friends.

Lily's cabin before Night of Chaos games.

Mia's cabin before Night of Chaos.

Lily with her two counselors.

Mia's cabin before swimming.

Lily's cabin having fun together.  Maybe they were on their way to Nibble Nook which is the ice cream shop in town, or maybe they were getting ready for Carnival Night over at the boys camp.

At a lakeside service.

We received these wonderful letters from the girls' counselors.  I just about cried upon reading them.  I love seeing these characteristics in them, and I appreciate the counselors taking the time to write and let us know what they are seeing as well.

After 12 days, it was time to pick them up.  We were all glad to be together again!

Sweet girls at the closing ceremony.

Mia with two of her counselors.

Lily with both of her counselors.

Both girls absolutely loved this experience.  They talked almost non-stop telling us all about their adventures, their friends, their skills, their counselors, their food and all the fun.  They are already looking forward to returning next year!

California Vacation

Ryan and I just returned from the most wonderful vacation to California.  After dropping the girls off at camp on Sunday, we drove on home.  On Monday, we worked, did laundry, cleaned the house and packed up.  Tuesday morning we headed on to the airport.  We couldn't wait!  We arrived in San Francisco about lunchtime, picked up our rental car and hit the road.  We stopped at Guy Fieri's Johnny Garlic's San Jose restaurant.  They had a menu overhaul since we were last there, but it was still pretty tasty.  After lunch we kept on driving south to Carmel until we arrived at Tickle Pink Inn.  Once we got into our room, we couldn't get over the view from our balcony!  Absolutely breathtaking.

 Every evening, there was a wine and cheese reception as everyone would gather on the back veranda and take in the beautiful views.  At times it almost like being in Italy instead of California.  

We stayed in "Sweet Sixteen," and we would definitely request this room again.

 I was perfectly content to sit in our living room and look out at the ocean.

 The sunsets from the balcony were lovely!

  The flowers everywhere were so beautiful!

 One of our days we spent enjoying the little town of Carmel.  It was a lot busier than we expected, but it was fun to simply stroll around and window shop; there were a few good meals enjoyed here as well. 

We spent another day touring 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach; we saw the famous "Lone Cyprus" and several of the attractive areas on this golf coarse.  We also drove along the Coastal Highway through Big Sur.  Even though we had visited this area before, it was still just as stunning and beautiful as we remembered.  You just want to pull off on the side of the road all along the way to take in the scenery.

 One of the places we did stop and hike around for a little bit was McWhay Falls.  Gorgeous!

 On Friday, we headed back North and decided to drive through Napa.

 We stopped at V. Sattui Winery for lunch.  We've stopped here just about every trip out to California.  They have a great store to buy delicious cheeses, breads and of course, wine.  Then you can eat those goods on their expansive picnic areas.  It was a great stop.

 After lunch we made another stop at The CIA, Culinary Institute of America.  We love this place!  It's a gorgeous building to admire, but really, I love to visit for the chocolates.  They are amazing to me.  It was a lot of fun to walk through and see the chefs in class and see where they make their famous foods.  They also had a cool cake exhibit going, so that was neat to see.

 We had a tough time narrowing down our chocolate choices; we couldn't help but repeat the "Tropical Ganache" one.  Not only are these jaw-dropping beautiful, but they taste incredible.

After our CIA visit, we finished the drive up to Mendocino where we checked into the always fabulous Agate Cove Inn.  We typically stay in the Sunstone room, but we went with Obsidian this time; not really sure we'll be able to stay anywhere else now.  This was the view from our little front porch.  Into the garden, with the picturesque main house on the side, lovely trees for shade and the ocean right behind that.  So charming.

 On our first evening in Mendocino, we were coming back from dinner when the most beautiful sunset ever appeared.  We pulled over into a parking lot to watch.  I've never seen one quite like this before.

 We took a little trip to Philo one morning to visit Husch winery.  They produce one of our very favorite wines, and we love that this is a multi-generational family business.  We stopped in for a tasting which was a lot of fun.  Of course, we ordered a case to be shipped home to remember our time!

 We took a little walk on one of the beaches and loved watching the waves crash onto the rocks.  No getting in the ocean here!

 One of our favorite things about Mendocino is visiting the headlands.  These cliffs are so beautiful.  I could just sit to watch and listen to the ocean all day.  This particular view was from the Botanical Gardens, but there are so many great places to enjoy them.

 I couldn't get enough of the flowers here.  We visited the Botanical Gardens which was a lot of fun.  Their dahlia garden was amazing.

 A selfie on the headlines closer to Agate Cove.  We enjoyed some wine and a sunset from here one evening.

 On Monday, we drove South to Sausalito where we were thrilled to stay at Inn Above Tide again.  The room sits right above the bay water and looked out at San Francisco, Alcatraz and the Bay Bridge.  We simply sat on our balcony and enjoyed that view for quite awhile.  We then walked around town to visit a few cute shops, and then we ate a delicious Italian dinner before we returned to the balcony to take in this fantastic sunset.  Purple, pink, orange and blue mixed together like I'd never seen.  We couldn't stop staring.

 On Tuesday, we had the morning to enjoy a lazy breakfast and packing up before leaving Sausalito.  We decided to visit the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge before heading on home.  It was a lovely day to be out admiring!

This trip was so much fun for us.  It was the perfect combination of relaxing and sight-seeing.  We enjoyed lots of wonderful meals, had many great conversations and made tons of fantastic memories together.  Until next time California!

Start of Summer

We started summer with a trip to Chicago, but we're already having some other summer fun!

Having fun at the new swim club.

We had dinner with the Smith family at Crafty Hog and then ice cream afterwards.  Eliza is such a sweetheart, and I'm so glad our girls are friends (the Smith boys are pretty awesome too, but they didn't want to be in the picture!).

So Amazon recently delivered a few things to our home; Lily made good use of the boxes by creating a board game called "Fairy's First Flight."

Mia turned a big delivery box into her own rocket ship!

Both girls love to be creative by cooking.  Lily made elephant ears for us one which turned out really good.  Mia created a smoothie in Chicago with Grandma Jan that she has dubbed "The Mia."  All sorts of goodies in there...peaches, bananas, blueberries, oranges, cucumber, lemon juice and ice.

It's going to be a great summer!

Chicago Trip

We were all excited to start summer off with a trip to Chicago!  We woke up on Saturday morning and headed on down to the airport.  I took lots of pictures on this trip, but just have condensed them down mostly into collages for here.

Here's a few pictures from our first day.  Mia broke out her summer workbook while we were still at the airport; this girl loves to do "homework!"  Both girls absolutely love Taz the dog, and they played with her constantly.  Judging by the smile on her face, I think she enjoyed it too!  We were all glad to see Nick and Brock again; the girls couldn't get enough of them.  We headed over to the Maggie Daly playground where Mia had a blast rock climbing; she loves this course!

On Sunday morning, we made a beeline to the American Girl store after breakfast.  Lily had worked hard to earn and save up her money to buy the "Lea Clark" doll of the year.  She was so proud!

On Sunday afternoon we visited the Lincoln Park Zoo which is always a treat.  It was amazingly beautiful weather too, so this was a great activity.

On Sunday evening, Ryan and I enjoyed a date night out at Bavette's while David and Jan kept the girls.  Yum!

On Monday morning we all took it easy, but then Jan, Brock, the girls and I spend several hours at the Nature Museum.  We had never been before, and it was fabulous!  We all really loved the butterfly conservatory.  Mia had one land on her finger and stay there for almost 10 minutes which she made her so happy.  There were lots of fascinating exhibits; what a fun afternoon!

We were sad to leave, but alas, we had to on Tuesday morning.  Mia was pretty excited to play co-pilot as we got on the plane.  How cool is it that Delta let her sit up in the seat?!

It was another wonderful trip to Chicago.  We love this city and we really love the people there!

End of School Year Art Work

The girls brought home a ton of artwork that they've created throughout the year.  I took their picture with a few of our favorites.  I love how creative they can be!