For as long as I can remember, I've spent the first weekend of December at Tecumseh for the Mother Daughter Friend Quilt Camp. Ladies come from all over the Midwest with their sewing machines and supplies in tow to gather for three days. I was so happy that when I arrived on Friday afternoon I got to hold my friend Mel's baby girl Lillia right away. She was born in October but this was our first time to meet.
My mom runs the whole show and does a phenomenal job from planning, to organizing, and hostessing and making everything festive and fun. I get to help with the Hot Chocolate Club, the band of twenty something little girls that come with their moms and aunts and grandmas. I always bring a friend or camp girl or someone from YL to help out through out the weekend. This year I got to bring several friends to help.
Kat and Grace, two Day Camp counselors, drove down from Chicago after school on Friday. They carpooled down with Gianna who spent the weekend with Sophie so I got to see both of them a lot too. I'm such a fan of this whole crew and loved getting to spend time with them.
Shannon, a Session 3 CILT, came down from Chicago too but she wouldn't arrive till Saturday morning.
Julia came with me from Fishers last minute, we seriously planned it Friday morning when I realized none of my other helpers could be there the whole weekend. Luckily it worked out for her to come again and she was already familiar with what we would be doing.
Arden and Scarlet Friend are long time Quilt and Summer Campers and I always look forward to seeing them and hanging out on this weekend. Arden will be a CILT this summer and she's so excited to be there for two weeks. Arden and Julia may end up being in the same session.
Friday night we sewed the binding on my friend Sarah's quilt that we made together about a month ago. Nancy J quilted them for us and I'll get to deliver it next weekend to her new house in Champaign. The Hot Chocolate Club played some games, colored a mural and talked about Christmasy things. It was late by the time we finally fell asleep in the Nightingale.
Saturday morning we were joined by Shannon Flynn and I was so excited to see her smiling face. The whole crew was together all morning and most of the afternoon.
We took the Hot Chocolate Club on an adventure hike across the Suspension Bridge...
down to Mermaid Lagoon...
and back around the Richard G Lake. I loved getting to spend time with camp kids Shay, Sophie and Bryn. Everybody loves Camp T but we camp kids share a special bond with this place since it really is our home.
In the afternoon the Hot Chocolate Club competed in the Annual Amazing Race. It's a very, very big deal. The girls are split into two teams that come up with a name and cheer.
Then they race around the building finding clues and finishing different challenges.
First they found five hidden stockings that each held the pieces to five different Christmas puzzles they had to assemble.
Next they had to throw "snowballs" at a snowman and score a total of 8 points.
Then they ran downstairs and filled in the missing words on four different Christmas Carols.
Finally they came back up to the dining room and scooped up hundreds of snowballs by only using spoons.
The finish was close but it was the Red team that pulled through with a victory.
We took a walk in the afternoon to see the progress at the Green Cathedral and to visit the Longhouse, our favorite cabin in all of camp. Shannon was in Choctaw with me last summer and Julia will be a Session 3 CILT this year.
Then Julia, Shannon and I drove back to Indy for the Under the Sea Wyld Life Club at the Barn. We made it there in time for leadership. After a week of one on ones with new leaders, these friends are now officially our Leadership Team. We are so lucky to get to work with every single one of these people.
Once kids started coming in the door the room was bursting with energy and fun and excitement. I loved seeing people's outfits and how they carried out the "Under the Sea" theme.
I really love all of these girls. Sophia has been with Wyld Life for two years now. Sarah, Grace and Sydney are all 7th grade girls I have in class this semester and seeing each of them is always a highlight in my day.
We sang songs like Under the Sea, Spongebob and Surfing USA. We played Savage Woman and got to pull all of the boys apart as they desperately hung onto one another.
Then Sarah, Caroline, Evvy, and Sarah got to make jelly sandwiches with their feet and then feed them to Jake, Ben, Garrett and Cameron. It was amazing.
Then four more kids came up for "What are you drinking?" They saw three glasses on the table, one had live goldfish in it, before they were blindfolded. Then they each had to pick a cup and drink it. We replaced the live goldfish with Swedish fish candy but they didn't know that.
TWilly went last and he got the live goldfish. The audience was screaming but I think Tanner was pretty proud of himself that he got to drink a live goldfish.
BGrad gave the Club Talk tonight and I was so excited to hear him speak. He's been here since the beginning and in the past two and a half years I've seen his attitude, choices and life be transformed because of his faith. God is producing fruit in him and it's so cool to watch that. He shared with the kids about his camp experience and how he and his friends carried one another's burdens in love.
Then we made the announcement that this summer WYLD LIFE IS GOING TO CASTAWAY! That means our Junior High kids are going to camp in Minnesota at a Young Life property called Castaway. This is a very big deal. Usually Wyld Life groups in the Midwest are restricted to Michindoh or Timberwolf but we're going all the way to Castaway. We have 70 kid spots and 14 leader spots available for this summer.
This 7th grade crew of girls is pretty phenomenal. Most of them are going to come to camp with us next summer.
Registration opened on our website at 9:00 after club finished and people started signing up right away. We were flipping out on Sunday when all 70 spots were filled by 1:00 pm. In less than a day our whole trip is filled. Insanity. I'm so excited for this adventure.
We hung around Club to say good-bye to friends before heading back to Quilt Camp. Julia is a sophomore so she wouldn't ordinarily get to come to Club but tonight was a special exception because she came with me from Quilt Camp and hung out with Shan the whole time. Shannon doesn't have YL at home and I loved that she got to see the people and place that mean so much to me here.
Sunday morning we finished the binding on the baby quilt that we put together on Saturday. The Hot Chocolate Club put on a talent show complete with singing, violin playing, a balancing act, a fashion show and a disappearing act. Our Chicago friends headed out after that and we were sad to see them go. Julia and I were busy with friendship bracelets and a little Gilmore Girls until lunch. We helped my mom pack everything up and carry it out to our cars as people were leaving. I love my mom so much and am glad I'll see her and the rest of my family in just a few weeks.
Sunday night I got to play with one of my favorite camp people, Molly Henry. She's been in London all semester and I have definitely missed her. We had dinner, talked about very important things like how we'll get Taylor's attention at her concert and what we should do at the CILT reunion in two weeks. I'm so thankful for Molly's friendship and ideas and heart and spunk. She's a great one.
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