Girl's Camp

This year, Brinley's Girls Camp was held at Camp Smokey, the same place we went last year. It is a beautiful camp, and we were pretty excited to get to go back. This year we had 38 girls and 16 adults. Monday we got there just after noon, and got to work getting our cabins moved into, setting up the outside games and activities, and getting the kitchen set up. After dinner, we held a flag retirement ceremony before free time and bed time. 

Tuesday morning  was pretty laid back, and the girls had some free time to do whatever they wanted. After lunch, we all packed up and headed over to Lake Alturas for the afternoon. They all had so much fun kayaking, paddleboarding, and playing at the beach. After we came back and had dinner, the girls had skit night.

 

 

Wednesday morning a group of girls and leaders got up with the sun to Polar Plunge. Some of the girls were really nervous and took a little longer to get in, but everyone did, and they did awesome! I'm so happy that Brinley and I did it together! 

After breakfast it was time for our hikes. There were 2 hike options available (one easy and one a little harder), and the girls got to choose which one they wanted to do. Brinley chose the harder hike (Yellow Belly trail), while Cahl and I led the easier hike (Fishhook Creek). Both turned out to be great hikes, and all of the girls enjoyed them. On the way back to camp, we took our group to Stanley for ice cream, and stopped at the fish hatchery. Once everyone got back to camp, the girls had some free time to work on their craft projects, or just hang out. After dinner, they also had a glass lantern activity, and learned about sharing their lights with the world.  

Thursday morning we divided the time between getting packed up and free time, then after lunch we held our Olympic Games. The girls were slit into teams, and had to work together for events like 3 legged race, tug of war, wood skis, stick pull, and sack races. After dinner, we had our testimony meeting, which was really sweet and powerful. 

Friday morning we finished packing up and cleaning the camp, before heading home. It was a great week, and everyone had a great time. I'll forever be grateful that Cahl and I are able to attend, and make these memories with Brinley!

Summer Camp

This summer Hunter and Brinley were able to go back to Camp Balcones Springs with their cousins, and they had a great time. There were 15 total cousins this year, and because of his age, Hunter was on the work crew. That meant that he spent a portion of each day helping with chores around camp (trash runs, dishes, etc). Brinley was not able to swim or be in the water for her first week, due to her stitches, but she still had a great time with the other activities. And the camp nurse was able to take her stitches out halfway through camp, so she still got some pool and lake time. We sure missed them while they were gone, but they had a great time, and Brinley especially can't wait for next year.