For our 15th anniversary, Jen and I wanted to take a big trip somewhere. Our previous trips have included Jamaica, Bermuda, and the Bahamas. Given then infinite wisdom of the Beach Boys, we knew we had to complete the first verse of the song Kokomo. So, we booked our trip for Aruba.
This was a trip for just the two of us for an entire week. The girls stayed with Grams (thanks Grams!) and had a great time. The girls actually said they wished we’d stayed for longer, as Grams spoils them more than we do :)
We stayed at the Amsterdam Manor resort on Eagle Beach. The big high-rise American hotels are mostly on Palm Beach, while Eagle Beach has much fewer people, making it much quieter.
We arrived at our hotel before check in time, so we hung out on the beach in front of the hotel until we could get in. It’s a very nice beach, and despite being much less crowded than Palm Beach, still had plenty of vendors offering jet skis, tube rides, and parasailing.
Our hotel room had a kitchenette and was within walking distance of a grocery store, meaning we didn’t have to eat out every meal. This was nice, since eating out is very expensive in Aruba. So, we usually had cereal for breakfast and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, knocking out two of our daily meals. We then ate out for the third meal.
We ended up going all over the island. To do so, we took a lot of taxis. We also took the bus a couple of times, when the location we were headed to was on a bus line. In the end, we saved money by not renting a car, but we still spent a lot on transportation. Some people may not need this as much if they just stay at the hotel, but that’s not really our style.
As you can probably guess, we did a lot of stuff while in Aruba. I’ll post about all the things we went and did in the coming days.
Molly had an event at karate a couple Fridays ago, so Leah and I had a date night. She chose Cheeburger Cheeburger, and an Oreo Shake to share.
We then went roller skating to complete our date. We’ve been roller skating together a lot, but always during an afternoon session. This was our first evening session, and it was very different. Crowded with teenagers and rap music (afternoon sessions are less crowded, lots of kids, and mostly pop music). It was still fun, but I don’t think we’ll be back in the evening any time soon.
Now that Molly has told you all about camp, I thought I’d tell you about the day we dropped her off. We drove Molly to Camp Manidokan (which is a Methodist camp in Knoxville, Maryland, right where Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia meet). It’s about an hour drive from our house (assuming you don’t hit too much traffic).
All four of us went to drop Molly off. Leah really wished she could go to camp too. We had hoped she’d be able to go to their mini-camp this year (that’s the only session she’s old enough to attend), but it fell while we were at Callaway Gardens. But she’s determined to go next year and already trying to recruit friends to join her.
After sign-in, Molly was quick to hit the pool for her swim test.
Then we hung around for a while in order to say hello to all the families of all Molly’s friends. Leah fit right in with the campers during that time.
Finally, we left Molly for a week at camp. We decided rather than head home, we’d drive over to historic Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia to look around and get some dinner. We had a lovely meal (and ice cream) at the Cannonball Deli. Then we wandered around a bit.
We walked across the bridge from West Virginia to Maryland (and back), just like Molly does on a hike with camp.
It was a fun outing, though parking in Harper’s Ferry was difficult and there was traffic headed back to Maryland. Between the busy day and the long drive home, we were all tired.
Posted in Church, Molly, Trip on August 3rd, 2017 by molly – Comments Off on My Manidokan Trip
Hi, it’s Molly. I had a great time at camp. On Sunday, first I got there. Then I unpacked. I was sharing a room with my friends Riley and Keira at the time.
I also had some more friends named Sarah, Emma, Jordan, Haley, Grace, Lilly, and Camille with me.
Riley, Keira, Molly (me), Lilly, Camille
Sarah, Molly (me), Emma, Sarah (Emma’s older sister)
Jordan, Grace, Molly (me), Haley
Last year I only had one friend, this year I had nine friends.
After unpacking I changed into my bathing suit to take the swim test with Riley and Keira. After the swim test I had to say goodbye to my family. When they left I hung out
in my lodge until dinner. After dinner I went to the campfire with my group. We sang some
songs, saw pirates, and then some of my counselors came back from somewhere else claiming they had not seen the pirates like we did. We did not have s’mores that night though. After everything we went back to the lodge and had snack. Then I went to bed.
On Monday, first I woke up. Then I had breakfast. After breakfast I did Bible study. The 5-6 kids (me) had two groups of kids to do some things like rafting and pool games because we had 30 kids. I did the rock wall with group B. Group A did rafting. Here is me on the rock wall.
After the rock wall Group B had lunch. Group A had lunch at land near the river they were rafting on. After lunch Group B had pool games. We didn’t have pool time though because they heard thunder. So I hung out at the lodge. Then after an hour of waiting we had store time. Store time is when you can buy stuff from the camp store. After store time we went back to our lodge and had free time until dinner. After dinner we had the evening activity. After the evening activity we went back to the lodge and had snack. Then I went to bed.
On Tuesday, first I woke up. Then I had breakfast. After breakfast I did Bible study. After Bible study I went on the Sawmill Creek Hike. I did not jump off the rock this time because the water was freezing. Anyone that jumped off the rock was shivering when their head was above water. It was hard to get used to the water. After Sawmill I had lunch. After lunch we did zip lining. Here’s a video of me on the zip line (I’m videoing on the zip line).
After zip lining I had pool time. Then I had store time. After I got my stuff from the store I went back to the lodge and had free time. After my free time I had dinner. Then I did the evening activity. After that I went back to the lodge and had snack. Then I went to bed.
On Wednesday, first I woke up. Then I had breakfast. After breakfast I did Bible study. Then I went to get ready for rafting with group B. After getting ready for rafting I got in a van and the driver drove us to the destination that we started rafting at. First we rafted to our lunch spot. Then when we got to our lunch destination and we ate lunch. After having lunch at the lunch destination we got to go swimming. Where we swam there was a jumping rock. The jumping rock was a long rock that was just above shore, but where you jumped in the water got a lot deeper. Here’s me and some of my friends when we jumped off.
After swimming for 30-45 minutes we started rafting again. After 50 minutes to an hour we got to the rapids. After everyone went through the rapids we got to swim in the water. During that time we played king of the raft. But sadly, Jordan couldn’t play due to her swimmer’s ear. Just swimming the current took us far. After all our fun we got in the rafts and paddled to our end destination. But the kids in my raft were the lucky few. When we were almost there the kids in my raft were very tired of paddling so the adult in our raft let us get out and swim the rest of the way. When I got to shore I went to tell the other kids from other rafts that we got to swim some of the way back. Some of them were jealous.
After some waiting I got in a van and the driver drove us back to our lodge. When we got to our lodge we relaxed and some of us got ready for the pool. I was one of the kids that got ready for the pool. When it was pool time I went down to the pool. After pool time it was store time. After store time I went back to the lodge and had free time. After free time we had dinner. Then we had Mission Night. Mission Night is a night that explains what foundation you can give the rest of your store money to at the end of the week. This year it was the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Also we played water games to learn about the foundation. After that we had our evening snack. Then we went to bed.
On Thursday, first I woke up. Then I had breakfast. After breakfast I did Bible study. After Bible study we got ready to go to Harper’s Ferry. After that we got in a van to drive us to the path that we walked on to Harper’s Ferry. The walk to Harper’s Ferry was long but felt short. After what felt like 10-30 minutes of walking and talking we got to the walking bridge. Then we stopped and got told a story. The story was about a man painting an ad for a powder company on a mountain. One day the man’s wife found out that the man cheated his wife and used his wife’s money! So one day when the man was painting the ad his wife cut the rope of the man’s paint bucket and the man’s rope. So the man fell to his death. On the mountain there was a splash of paint under the ad, that was from the man’s paint bucket from when the bucket fell. So we learned our lesson - don't cheat people, you could die. After hearing the story we walked across the walking bridge. Here is a picture of the train bridge right next to it.
After we walked across the bridge we went to our lunch spot. After lunch we split up into four groups. First, my group went to the book store. Then we went to a historical candy shop. I got cotton candy there. It was homemade! Here is a picture of me with it.
After that we went to an ice cream shop. Then we went back to the candy shop. After that I got some candy mint things. They were not homemade though. After shopping we went back to the lunch spot to meet the other groups before our journey back to where we started. When every group was there we started our journey back. Again it felt very short. But this time there was a lot of walking, talking, and singing. After some waiting I got in a van and the driver drove us back to our lodge. When we got back we relaxed in our lodge and then some of us went to the pool. After the pool we went to the store. After store time we had free time. Then we had dinner. After dinner we went up to the hill and played games and roasted marshmallows. After that some kids stayed at the hill to sleep there, and the rest of the kids went back to our lodge to sleep.
On Friday, first I woke up. Then I had breakfast. After that we had Bible study. After Bible study we did field games for 15-30 minutes. Then we had pool time for the rest of our two hours. After our field games/pool time we had lunch. After lunch we packed up our stuff. After everyone had packed we had snack while we watched the new version of Beauty and the Beast. In the beginning of the movie very few kids (including me) went to the pool. Then we had store time. After store time we had free time until dinner. After dinner my family came and every group there talked about their week at camp. All my friends were sad to go but had a fun time. Here is one of our final pictures.
I had a fun time at camp. It was even better than last year. Bye!
Saturday morning, we woke up, packed up, and began our journey home from Callaway. Here we are as we get ready to leave on the drive home after a great week at camp.
We drove about two thirds of the way Saturday, and spent the night in a hotel in Christiansburg, Virginia. We drove over to Blacksburg for dinner at Mellow Mushroom and to see a bit of Virginia Tech’s campus. It was the girls’ first time eating at Mellow Mushroom, and it was very reminiscent of college for Jen and me (eating at Mellow Mushroom just off campus).
After dinner, we went in search of a treat. We found Gardner’s Frozen Treats in Christiansburg, and it was delicious. They had lots of flavors of Hershey’s ice cream, and then a few flavors of their own. Leah opted for Hershey’s rainbow sherbet, while I went for the homemade blueberry lavender (which was very different, but very good).
Molly went for homemade double stuff Oreo while Jen went for homemade pistachio. They were both delicious as well.
Then we got a good night’s sleep before driving the rest of the way home on Sunday. I was worried traffic would be awful the Sunday after July 4th, but it really wasn’t too bad. It was still a long trip, though, and we were very glad to be home.
Our time at Callaway was fantastic, but all good things must come to an end. The younger kids have an awards ceremony at the end of the last day (Molly’s now in a group that is too old for this). Leah was named Future President (which Leah’s talked about as far back as preschool, though she is not currently planning for a term in the White House).
Emmie was given the Natural Leader award, so I guess we’ve got some leaders in the family.
Leah, Emmie, and three of their circus performing counselors.
That evening was the final circus, and they held the awards ceremony shortly beforehand. I won the tennis tournament (as I had done the last time we were at Callaway), and got another t-shirt (though this one was in a smaller size for Leah).
The kids again paraded around the tent.
And then the held the final circus. Afterwards, Leah and Emmie had to get a final hug from their counselor, Jess.
Molly got a picture with her counselor, Brooke, after a very busy circus performance including the Spanish Web, the Triple Trapeze, the Bicycle Built for Five, and serving as Ring Master.
Camp at Callaway was again incredibly awesome. I used to think Jen’s family was crazy for going to the same place every summer for ten years. I now totally get it. We wish we could go every year (and if any of you have a plan that might entail us going every year, I’m all ears).
There were lots of other fun things at Callaway beyond those detailed in the previous posts. I’ll highlight a few of them here. For one, there are lots of great places to ride bikes. We took a family bike ride with all 8 of us. My bike is holding up my phone to take this picture, which is why it did not make it into the shot.
And we couldn’t miss Bingo!
Emmie won! And Molly was kind enough to accompany her to the prize table.
We also enjoyed the pool near our house a couple times for some relaxing swimming. Or, perhaps, some flying.
And everything wasn’t always active. There was plenty of relaxing as well. Thanks to Aunt ‘Chelle and Uncle J for bringing their hammocks.
Last time we went to Callaway, they had a Hawaiian Ice truck. This time, it was replaced with an ice cream truck which I consider a vast improvement. We paid it a visit several times. Most of the time we had the girls with us, but this time we went while they were in camp. We tried almost all the flavors eventually, and this was my favorite - muscadine.
At Callaway, I play a lot of tennis. I don’t get to play daily at home, so it’s fun to get to at Callaway. I played 4 out of 5 camp days (TreeTop conflicted on Thursday). Friday was an especially busy day. I woke up early to run the camp 5K at 7:00. Then played in the camp tennis tournament from 10 to noon. And then, we finally found the time to take the whole family out on the courts.
JJ and Uncle J came out to play as well (yes, I brought enough racquets for everyone).
Thanks to everyone for joining me out on the court.
As part of the summer camp program, the kids all rehearse some skits that they perform on Thursday evening. Here are some of them. First, the opening number.
Leah and Emmie were involved in the same skit (though on opposite sides of the law).
And also performed a dance number.
In Molly’s skit, I have to say I wasn’t surprised that she was cast as the mom.
Everyone also got to have fun at TreeTop, the fancy ropes and zipline course. The kids did the Sapling course (the low ropes course) as part of their camp.
Leah and Emmie’s group got to do the course first thing Monday morning.
The final zipline was the favorite part of the course.
The littlest kids (JJ’s group) were very timid at the course, Leah’s group attacked the course with confidence. Molly’s group took it to the next level, practically running through the course (they all got to do it twice because of this).
Their daring was especially evident on the final zipline. Molly and another girl (also named Molly) chose to hang upside down on the zipline for fun.
The adults were the last to go during the week, and we got to do the high ropes course as well as the lake course with giant zippiness.
We were joined by our friends on the course, and I even got to be next to Monty in line. Monty was my first boss in a computer job. He hired me to work for him at the Naval Research Laboratory as a UNIX systems administrator when I was a senior in high school. I probably wouldn’t be the software developer I am today if it wasn’t for him, so it was great to get to reconnect.
Jen tried to duplicate Molly’s upside down/feet in the air zipline. She didn’t quite get there, but this was impressive none-the-less.
And the highlight (once you get past the incredibly high ladder) is the two giant ziplines over the lake. I’m not sure how long the first one is, but the second one is 700 feet and the first is pretty close to that.
I try to play tennis as much as possible while at Callaway, but I skip it to be able to do TreeTop. That’s how much fun it is.
