I can confidently say that this year's FCA Camp was the best one yet. We are so blessed to be able to do this each summer. We roomed with the Salyers family again and, since we've moved 4 hours away from these best friends of ours, we were so excited to spend the whole week with them!
This isn't the greatest picture to start off this post, but it happened the first night and I have to include it. The coach and I have a long history with possessed smoke detectors. As I was getting the kids ready for bed that first night of camp we heard the beep of a smoke detector. After hunting around the 3 level apartment we realized it was in our kids' room. Of course. The apartment manager was out for the night and we had no batteries or ladder. Keri was working on getting the schedule set for football camp that week, but when he finally headed home he stopped by and picked up enough batteries for the whole apartment, as we know from experience that when one goes off and you fix it, you can bet another will go off an hour later. Just a funny night!
The kids slept through the beeping of the smoke detectors and the train at midnight. In the morning (and every other time the train came through) we all ran outside to watch it. Brock especially loved it.
Great minds think alike, Ashley and I both brought wagons to pull the kids to and from the cafeteria and the pool everyday.
These kids had the best time together! Rylan 5, Doak 4, and Brock 19 months enjoying a poolside dinner at camp.
The girls of the group. Poor Addie is outnumbered by all the boys!
Cody and Keri have the best friendship. I'm so thankful for the whole Salyers family.
We had a fun week! The kids had 2 days of VBS in the morning while Ashley and I went to the women's Bible study. The speaker was fabulous this year and I learned so much! In the evenings we had dinner poolside as a family and then the kids went to childcare while Keri and I went to couples Bible study. Again, the couple leading it was so gifted, and we learned so much about how to improve our marriage. We also had free time in the afternoons. One day Ashley and I took the kids to the aTm ballpark, where they recently built an awesome playground!
We got all the kids dressed in their patriotic gear on the 4th of July. Look at these sweet friends!
I love that these kids are growing up together!
Here's a very blurry picture of the kids and Keri after breakfast at the cafeteria.
On the night of the 4th we parked our cars up on the top of one of the parking garages on campus. The kids hung out in the back of Keri's truck and feasted on watermelon while we waited for the fireworks to start.
Brock loves watermelon!
Brock and Hudson, messy and happy!
One of my favorite parts of FCA camp is being around other coaching families. There is a certain camaraderie among us and it's so refreshing to not have to explain why we moved again, but just to know everyone understands. Bethany and her family have become some of our favorites to reconnect with each summer!
Love spending time with my big girl watching the fireworks.
Brock is crazy about his Daddy. He sat with Keri during the whole fireworks show.
My view during the fireworks.
Our best friends, the Salyers. Hudson, almost 3, Rylan 5
Keri always amazes me with how he can plan and execute this football camp for almost 300 athletes and 30 coaches.
I'm so proud of him and I love hearing all the other coaches and FCA staff brag on what a great job he does. (His first year of camp there were around 50 kids in the football program. This year they had 280+ athletes in football and the whole sports camp is now the biggest in the country!)
This summer it hit me. We may never be able to go to Pine Cove or
Kanakuk for family camp, but this is our family camp. This is what our
kids will remember. I'm so thankful for that.
