Even though I feel like I’ve been going NON-Stop since school got out mid-June, there was no stopping us!
Long before school got out I was struck by a lightning bolt in my brain. I got the crazy idea of taking the girls on my own Bible campout. Bible camp is very expensive and it’s hard to find a camp that I would trust to take my girls. So I made a reservation at a campground out at the Washington State Park beach called Deception Pass for three days. It isn’t too far away and yet has great facilities, a lake AND beach in one spot!
The big week snuck up on me so fast that I almost wasn’t prepared to make it fun. I had been thinking of themes and ideas for awhile, but ended up pulling it together only the day before we left. Some of it I did on the fly.
On Tuesday the weather turned a little rainy, so when we got out to the campground in the afternoon later than we’d hoped, we weren’t too sad that we missed “beach” time. As I set up the trailer, the girls scoped out the site and found a super cool log (their favorite campground amenity). The log lead into the woods where they found what they called “the clubhouse” which was just a big open space back in the trees. There was a big rock there they could climb.
We even decorated the trailer for camp!
Once camp was set, our first order of business was craft time. We each made a journal. The girls seemed to have a good time decorating them.
I made dinner and afterward, I built my first campfire! I can’t believe I’ve never started a fire myself. It wasn’t too bad. We made a new treat. You take a marshmallow and wrap it in a refrigerator biscuit, then roast it over the fire. It is called a “cream puff”. Pretty tasty.
Each evening we had a time of reading a Bible story and finding interesting things from it. Our theme was “God Rocks” so our first story was about the wise man that builds his house upon the rock. The girls got to draw and color while we talked.
In the morning the weather was still rainy. The beauty of the trailer is that is nice in rain or shine! We were hooked up to electricity so we had lights and easy heat. The girls love to huddle up by the heater to warm up their clothes before they get dressed.
We began the day with a “rock walk”. We hiked down to the beach and collected rocks and drift wood for a craft later that day.
Even though it was rainy, the weather wasn’t miserable. The girls actually loved the opportunity to wear their $0.99 ponchos!
Later that morning we made our camp t-shirts! I’m especially proud of this easy idea. Before we left home I used my “Cricut” cutting machine to cut a stencil design out of contact paper. The paper is sticky so I stuck a stencil to each of our shirts. Then we used regular acrylic paint to sponge over the stencil to create our great “God Rocks” shirts! Super cute!
Here’s a tasty PBJ alternative that we tried! That’s a banana as the “hot dog” and peanut butter and jelly on a hotdog bun!
We went out into the woods for our Bible study time. I made pages for our journal using the SOAP Bible study method. “S” stands for scripture where you write your favorite scripture from the section you read. “O” is observation, “A” is application, and “P” is prayer. It was confusing for the girls, but we ended up doing it together and really got a lot out of it! I think they even liked it.
Our afternoon craft was building our little rock people! We had a ton of fun with these. Ya gotta love having a theme involving rocks!
The girls liked having free time where they could ride their scooters down the “bathroom hill”…which was obviously the hill that lead down to the bathroom!
We didn’t get any beach time on Wednesday because of the rain, but we wouldn’t have had enough time anyway. I can’t believe how fast the time flew. We were going to try to get some geocaching in and didn’t have time for that either.
I made my second campfire that night! Our campfire snack, “mock toasted angel cake” wasn’t as successful this time. It was bread dipped in sweetened condensed milk and rolled in coconut toasted in the fire. All the stuff fell off and burned in the fire.
One of our favorite activities was journal time at night. I brought along a COOL new art supply that the girls loved. I bought “watercolor crayons” from Stampin’ Up and although they are pretty expensive, the lovely art we created made them worth it! You color with them, then use a wet paintbrush to spread the color. They make us all out to be real artists!
On Thursday we woke up to sun, so the girls could hardly wait to get to the beach. I had them quick decorate bags for their morning craft and do Bible study. Then we packed our lunch and were off to the water.
The girls loved swimming and playing on the sandy shore building moats and mounds. The lake was nice and warm…at least compared to the ocean water on the other side.
Yeah for the concession stand where we got yummy ice creams. I finished a book that day, but also waded out into the water for a bit too.
We missed our afternoon activity time that day too because we stayed so long at the lake. It was time for dinner already when we got back. We did get a chance to do a quick craft where we turned one of our favorite collected rocks into a necklace.
That evening we didn’t make a campfire, but went for walk to look for a geocache instead. We were rewarded with a beautiful view of the ocean at the pass.
Here’s the girls, standing on the “rock”!
See, I was there too! Don’t look at my camping hair though! 
We tossed rocks into the water for awhile and then built this little tower. The idea came from the Bible story we read where the Israelites built a tower of 12 rocks from out of the Jordan river as a reminder of God’s power in getting them into the promised land.
Even though I really barely pulled this trip together, God tied together all the loose strings for me! I was surprised at how much fun we had and how we enjoyed learning about God together.
I don’t take enough time to teach the girls about the Bible on a regular basis, leaving that up to church on Sunday, but I’m so glad I had this opportunity. I want our spiritual lives to be something we can talk about openly and share together…what a fun way to open that door!
I learned as much about myself as they learned. I learned that they are old enough to understand a lot. I learned that I could keep them engaged and excited for three whole days at a time. I even learned I could build a fire by myself!
After the parade we went home and Great Grampa Lohman came over to play a game called Fast Track with us. It’s a great game that is a mixture of Aggravation with decks of cards.
