UPBC

So back at the beginning of August a lifelong dream of mine came true.  I grew up going to this family camp with my family and ALWAYS dreamed of taking my own children one day.  And this year it came true!! 

I was worried my high expectations wouldn't be met.  I was a kid.  Maybe it isn't as fun as I remembered.  However, it lived up to my every expectation and surpassed it!

My whole family was there and two other families that are friends of ours came also.  Having family and friends there made it for sure!  If you'd be interested in joining us this year we would LOVE to have you!!

Be prepared for a MILLION pictures!

Before we left the girls had a t-ball game, they loved having a lot of fans! ;)

We have arrived!

So thankful to see this beautiful place again!  Such happy memories.

Love grandparent time!

Coffee on the office's front porch each morning before breakfast.

The dining hall.

We did some wall climbing...

Bella kicked butt!!

There was a ledge she got to the top of right here and she finally peaked down and freaked out a bit.  We reassured her that she was SO close and that was all it took and she finished it!!

Even more amazing, little Brynn, my normally too scared to try much little one, stepped up and she literally took off and never once stopped or looked back.  Like no big deal!  Now we majorly assisted her to help her get to the top but I was amazed at her fearlessness!!

Made it!

Then daddy stepped up and cruised to the top like it was nothing. :)

There was pottery to do each day.  The girls loved crafting their own creations.

Not really sure what she made. :)

Of course we hit the lake every afternoon.  Brooke literally napped 1-5 every day, it was amazing.  It was such a godsend!!  That way we could enjoy some activities with just our big girls.

We enjoyed some paddling boating...

Canoeing...

Bedtime stories with our friends and cabin mates...

We also enjoyed leather crafting, we made some awesome necklaces and bracelets and the hubs did a belt.

(Listening to directions)

And I think Bella enjoyed the gun and archery range the most, go figure!

Waiting her turn!

Not sure how I feel about this! :)

I however got in on the action too. :)

Swimming with Uncle Lec!

My awesome sister-in-law skiing!

This year's theme was Olympics so each family created their own team and family symbol.  The hubs made these cool shirts for our little fam.

Hobo breakfast is one of my fondest memories as a child.  Back in the day the hobos would walk the tracks near by and there was a woman that would give them sacks of food for them.  So each Tuesday we have hobo breakfast.  We dress up like hobos and "beg" for our brown sack of food.  Here we are getting the demonstration on how to cook our food.

Then we walk down to the near by tracks....

And cook up our breakfast! Which is an egg sandwich with bacon all cooked on a old coffee can. :)

Okay I know my hubs is definitely metro-sexual but these pics scream it. :)  He didn't want to get grease on his one pair of jeans!

This little hobo loves her daddy!

There is usually some competition going on in volleyball, soccer, or basketball between staff and campers.

The hubs and I hit the zip line one afternoon...

Terrifying to get up there....

Especially that first step....

But it was SO fun!!

My mom, hubs, and girls enjoyed a sand castle making contest...

They went with the Olympic theme!

The girls working on our family's banner for the closing ceremonies...

Another afternoon the hubs and I hit the high ropes course, again terrifying but SO fun!

Scary part was when we first started, it started to rain on us.  That was not cool. :)

To me this (below) was the hardest part, especially since my arm span could not reach across like my tall brother's here.

Bonnie and Alec chatting like no big deal we're so high up. :)

I don't really have a fear of heights but I was holding on dearly. :)

The hubs, the stud.

Me not so graceful.

Getting a bit more comfortable.

Yikes!

This was another tricky part and thankfully the weather started clearing up at this point and then was gorgeous!  Only time we got rain during the day the whole week.  Here you have to go from walking on two ropes and holding one to standing on the one rope and holding the two you were previously standing on!  Tricky!

Scariest part for me!

This one the arm span was a little closer together than the middle one.

Here is going from the two ropes to one...

I survived!! :)

Bells and Uncle Lec getting some tubing in!

Our last afternoon there I actually woke Brooklyn so she could actually join us in the afternoon for at least a little bit and swim but she just wanted to cuddle.  Ok! :)

Uncle Lec took Bella out to the raft, which I always loved doing as a little kid. :)

We loved the outdoor picnics by the lake too!

My mums liked to knit during our down time and Brooks enjoyed trying on her hats. :)

Our Olympic flame that stayed lit the entire week.  And boy did the girls love every minute, lots of fun people for them to play with!!

Ready for the closing ceremonies!

The staff was hilarious!  The girls were Greek goddesses and the boys Greek gods posing and being very regal.

And nothing beats smores by the campfire!

One morning the hubs took the big girls for a sail. 

Joe took his daughter Anna out too for a ride.

Another precious moment was when my brother decided to get baptized.  He has been a Christian since he was little but never found a place he wanted to be baptized.  So with all of us together and being in a place that means so much to him and where he met his wife, he knew it was the perfect opportunity.  So blessed to be a part of it!

And dad helped baptize him.

We had some Olympic competitions one afternoon to get the winning team/family of the week.

Wheel barrow races.

We won!

Other relay races, Bella was amazing!

And we won again!

And since we were all together we had to get a family pic!

I have to say another high point is the food.  It is not your typical camp food, it is amazing!  You will come back fuller and fatter, so good!

These were the desserts one night, amazing!

We also had a day trip out to Lake Superior and a canoe trip.  Its a beautiful and fun trip.  And we stopped to jump off a cliff using a rope swing.  Even Brynn did it!  Brynn actually didn't let go when she was suppose to but thankfully Uncle Alec was there to rescue her.  

 Brynn was a little apprehensive pretty much the whole time about how much the boat rocked. :)

Bella was with my mom and Uncle Lec

(poppi graciously stayed back at camp with Brooklyn :) )

Lake Superior is freezing but Bella braved it with her uncles.

After our day of canoeing and swimming we found an awesome park to play and have pizza at before heading back to camp.

The girls were BEAT by the time we left.

This may seem silly but one of my other favorite memories as a kid is getting the silverware cart and helping clean up at the end of meals.  It was so fun to see the girls get into it.  Even Brooke loved it!

Also on our last night we had toy car races.  It was quite the sophisticated computerized system and so fun to cheer on our cars!

Practicing and picking the fastest cars. :)

Kept track of our cars' times and who was in what place.

All the cars lined up for their races.

A little rock tossing with Uncle Conor

Brooke lost interest in the car racing pretty quickly.

Definitely taking on the grubby, been at camp all week, look. :)

This is her winking, ha!

Handing out archery and gun awards for the week.

Grabbing our last ice cream treat at the trading post, yum!

We also enjoyed late night game playing once we got the kiddos into bed.

The hubs and Poppi took the girls on one last boat ride before we had to head home. :(  

(unfortunately they ran out of gas, ha)

Girls still loved it!

What an amazing, amazing family time we had.  It will forever be one of my fondest memories with our girls.  I can NOT wait to get back up there.  The last day is always a bit sad knowing you have to wait a whole year to go back.

It started out WAY more organized but this was our place for the week!

Running out of clean close options!  That's ok its camp! :)

And this is how you know you had a fun, successful trip to camp: even after a bath your nails are filthy!! ;)

And since she was asleep for most of our pics had to throw a couple more in of this cutie! :)

August can't come soon enough!!  We would love to have the company if you want to join us!!  It's not a glamorous vacation but it is one the kids will cherish and remember FOREVER, trust me, I know first hand and its reasonably priced. :)

Definitely check them out:  https://upbiblecamp.org/