Beating COVID with Backyard Camping

While out on our Sunday walk this week, we noticed that the kids needed something to look forward to, since this week is Spring Break.  For the past few years, we have been on some amazing adventure during Spring Break, so all the kids were expressing their disappointment that we couldn't go anywhere for Spring Break.  It was right then when Kevin and I got the same thought, and we asked the kids if they wanted to go camping.  Every single one of them started jumping up and down and planning our camping adventure.  We told them we would treat it like we really were camping somewhere and we would make all the food outside and sleep in a tent in the backyard and even go on a hike, just like we would if we were camping at a camp site.  

We picked Tuesday to Wednesday to camp, because Kevin didn't have to work those days and the weather was going to be pretty perfect. Around 10:00 Tuesday morning, all the kids helped to bring out all of our camping stuff.  Big Sis and M&M helped me set the tent up, while Monster and Little A got all the camping chairs set around our fire pit.  Kevin went out to get charcoal for our dutch ovens and some of the groceries we needed for our meals.  We had everything set up before lunch time and enjoyed lunch out in the camping chairs by our tent and fire pit. 

After lunch, we packed a backpack with water and candies and decided we were going to hike to the Landstuhl castle.  When we normally go on hikes when we camp, we always have a destination, so we knew the kids would enjoy actually going to a destination rather than just going around in the forest behind the house.  The GPS said that the hike should only take about 40 minutes, but I guess we made too many stops and Little Monster has little legs, so it took us an hour to get to the castle.

We didn't stay at the castle very long.  In fact, I completely forgot that Big Sis and M&M had cello and violin Skype lessons, so Kevin took the two older girls and they ran all the way home to make it back in time for Big Sis's lessons at 4:30. Luckily there is an alarm on my phone that goes off to remind me of all the Skype and Zoom lessons that the kids have right now, so they made it back just in time for lessons.  Monster, Little A and I took our time walking back and just enjoyed the forest as we walked slowly home. Luckily, I had the backpack with the candy, so I just had to keep bribing them with candy to keep going.  We had a really great two hour hike.

 When we got back home, while the girls were having their lessons, Kevin and I started the fire.  We knew it would take a while for the charcoal to get hot enough to use on the dutch ovens, and we didn't want to be eating dinner at 7pm. Big Sis got done and helped me make the peach cobbler in the dutch oven.  Kevin and I had hamburgers, so we double stacked the dutch ovens that we have and had the hamburgers right on top of the peach cobbler.  I seriously LOVE my dutch ovens.  I actually use the top one for my every day cooking on the stove.  It's great if I have a meal that needs to be on the stove first, then put in the oven, I just use the same pan to cook it then stick it right in the oven.

While Kevin and I waited for the hamburgers to cook, we helped the kids spear hot dogs and roast those over the fire.  They loved it and Monster got the biggest laugh from putting a hot dog on a stick, since he hasn't done that before. The hamburgers were done not long after we had all the hot dog warm and ready.  We enjoyed eating dinner around our amazing Korea table.

Camping would not be complete without S'mores, so right after dinner, we all roasted some marshmallows and enjoyed the glorious flavours of graham crackers, chocolate and roasted marshmallows.  Monster actually doesn't really like the taste of s'mores, but he loves roasting marshmallows, so before I knew it he had packed four s'mores on my plate.  Don't mind if I do!

As it was almost bed time, we spent about an hour doing our Come, Follow Me church devotional around the fireplace.  We are learning about the Holy Week of Jesus Christ and each of the kids read a parable that Jesus taught.  They each drew a picture of their parable, then we all shared the pictures and stories of Jesus Christ around the fire.  I absolutely love learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ from my kids.  It has been so wonderful to take the time to focus on Christ this week.  Since this is the week before Easter we had plenty of time to focus fully on our Savior.  I just know that without COVID and home isolation, we would have been travelling this week in Holland, and we wouldn't have given the Savior as much time as he deserves this week.  It's been such a special week spending about an hour of each day, talking, learning and focusing on the last week of Christ's life and get a more full understanding of His atonement.  I know that I felt the spirit of the Lord tonight, and I know that my kids did too.

When we were done learning about Teaching Tuesday (what we call the last Tuesday of Jesus Christ life when he taught all the parables), it was past Monster's bedtime.  We already had the tent and cots set up, so we read some books, and Monster went to sleep, happy and warm.  Now, I can't say the same for me.  Kevin and I ended up getting to bed about 11:00.  We stayed up talking around the fire pit and just enjoying the fire and the crisp air and the stars in the sky.  When we went to bed at 11:00, it was freezing.  I had a sleeping bag and a blanket and I couldn't stop shivering.  I was so cold that I just couldn't fall asleep.  Monster came to my rescue about an hour later when he woke up crying and saying that his legs hurt.  Poor guy, our 2 hour hike was just a little too much for him.  I willingly offered to take him inside and give him ibuprofen.  I insisted he would sleep better inside, so I would just have to stay with him and would make that sacrifice, hehehe.  Monster took a while to get to sleep, probably about the time it took for the medicine to take affect.  I rubbed out his legs and just tried to calm him down.  I went ahead and just slept on the floor in his room.  It was the floor, but it was warm!

Around 4:00, Big Sis and M&M also came walking in the house.  They were exhausted and said they had been up for the past hour just shivering and not able to sleep, so they had said, screw this and came inside to warm beds.  The one kid, who surprisingly wanted to stay out and begrudgingly came inside, was Little A.  Kevin was freezing and with everyone else in the house, he woke her up and said it was time to go inside.  She said no way, she was camping.  He finally explained he was cold, so she said fine, but she was coming back out in the morning.  I love my little adventure seeking Little A.  Everyone got to their warm beds by 4:30, and I went downstairs to my own bed with Kevin.  Everyone ended up sleeping in until past 8:00, even Monster.  We had a great day camping and hiking.  The kids absolutely loved it and already asked if we can camp again.  We will, but it needs to be warmer at night, or we need new sleeping bags.

Girls Camp Ward Hopping in Germany

This is M&M here and I am going to tell you about my experience at Girls Camp in Germany. We had to pack up for girls camp a day earlier so we were all busy and bustling around on Monday.

On Tuesday, Big Sis and I woke up around 4 and got ready for the day. We left the house and drove to the place where our drivers were going to pick us up. We got there early and waited around for everyone to get there. After we saw everyone and found our drivers, we said our goodbyes to Dad and got ready to leave. Me and Big Sis were in separate cars, so after we said prayers, we separated and met up with our driver and our other car mates. I was driving with 3 other girls and our driver was Sister Andrews. The other girls in the car were Taya, Lilly, and Machelle. They were in the Ramstien 2nd ward and we were supposed to be in the K-Town one but they had no room. It was fun all the same. We all had a fun time talking, watching movies, playing games, sharing candy, and doing fun stuff on the 6 hour car ride to the camp site. After the 6 hour car ride was over, we got to the beautiful camp site with the most perfect view of the Bulgarian Alps. It was a nice cool day with a slight/huge chance of rain at night. So after we got to camp, we unpacked and got the tents all set up. After the campsite was all set up, we went to the meeting house and got paired up in our groups. Once again, Big Sis and I were in different groups. I was in the light blue group and Big Sis was in the purple group. After we were all paired up with our groups we got our schedules and went to our stations. We were able to have scripture time and we just socialized in the area, It was really nice. When it was dinner time, we had great food. There was actual kitchens so the food was super good. After dinner, the kitchen people made us all brownies and they were so good! I loved hanging around with friends and eating sweets. There was an actually bathroom and showers here. The bad thing was that it was like a 5 minute walk from the camp site so that was a little annoying. But, it was still nice to be in a normal shower while camping! After I was all ready for bed, I wen to sleep in my tent with my friends.

 On the first day at camp, we got ready for the day and ate breakfast. It was annoying again to walk around while it was still dark just to get to the bathrooms. We had some great breakfast and sense I was going to the ropes course, I got to pack a yummy lunch!  The light blue group was scheduled to go to the ropes course that day, so I got to go to the ropes course a little after breakfast. It had a 100% chance of rain that day, so I got to climb trees and do obstical courses in the POURING rain. After about 6 courses, I was freezing and sopping wet. I ate lunch with my friends and after everyone was done with the course, we went back to the campsite. We got back, the other girls were doing stations so I was able to go do archery. It was not as awesome as I thought because we just got to do it once then had to switch and wait like 10 minutes to do another turn. It was fun all the same. We finished stations and then ended the day with a delicious dinner and a devotional. The desert was really good too. I met a girl named Brooklyn and she was super nice. after we were done with our dinner, we loved to help in the kitchens for some reason. I weirdly loved doing the dishes there because the sinks were super big and we got happy hippos when we were done, (I didn't do it for the hippos, I loved the feeling after) It was fun helping. We all ate then washed up. I went to sleep a little sore from the ropes course.

On the second day at camp, it was more sunny. The girls that went to the ropes course this day were more lucky then we were. They got sun while we got rain. Oh well, at least we know we did good on the slippery wood! After the other girls left, we did scripture study in the field. I was able to get a personal progress thing done to. The weather was better and the mountains were so gorgeous! It was so peaceful as I read my scriptures. After we were done, we did stations. I went to the sling shot station. It was really fun. We tried to hit the tin cans and pie pans that hung from trees for practice. Some girls just hit every one! It was super hard. I barely hit any and that was ok. After, we had free time. Some girls went to the commissary because it was near our site. They brought back food and stuff. I didn't go with them.  I stayed at the campsite with almost half of the girls and I played with duck-tape. I made some purses with them and they were fun. After the other group came back, we went to a swimming pool. There was slides and a giant tall diving boards! It was so much fun playing in the water with all of my friends. There were so many slides and I loved going on the steep one because your insides squirmed when you dropped. The super high diving board was also fun. It felt like you left your stomach up when you dived and it hurt your feet when you hit because it was super high. We played for a while then left back to camp for dinner. We had a great devotional and it was a great dinner this night too. After we were all washed up again, we went to sleep.

On the third day of camp, it was super nice weather. We got all ready and had an amazing breakfast again. We did a early morning devotional and scripture study. We did a service project a little after. We made some owl pillows for the hospital and we made some morse code bracelets for us. It was super fun and this took up most of the morning. We also went on a hike through a ravine and it was super cool. There was water everywhere and we walked through some caves and went through a forest. It was a lot of fun. After lunch, we did second stations and I went to the Red Cross one with my group and we learned some fun stuff. We were able to go to the last station for the day and make popcorn and muffins inside of orange peels over a fire! It was fun! The leaders did some fun stuff  every night where you guess the number of candies in a certain jar and you win it if you guess the closest number. I never won one and neither did Big Sis, but it was still great guessing.  I had a great time in the kitchens too. I was able to do dishes and help cut stuff too like veggies and help with the desert a bit. We went outside and had some root-beer floats! It was great! I went to bed excited for what the next day would bring.

On the fourth and final day at camp, we treasured the day more then anything. Scripture time was super spiritual and the devotional was super great. We practices our skits this day too. We did a skit with our ward and it was super fun! Because I was in the Ramstein 2nd camp but was also in the K-Town ward,  I was in both skits and we did a TV channel change for K-Town skit and we did a dating show thing for Ramstein 2nd. We did the skits after dinner and it was so much fun watching the other skits! I also was able to stay up also with my friends in my tent and one of them bought food and candy so we had fun playing games and talking and eating yummy sweets. I woke up a little bit later after I fell asleep and felt sick but I guess that one was on me. After, I was able to get back to sleep.

On the last and final day, we packed up the campsite and said goodbyes. It was sad leaving but it was a super great experience. We got in the cars and we set off on the 7 hour drive back. I talked with friends and our driver was so AWESOME and let us get a sweet for the trip from the commissary. I got Hersheys kisses. It was super great and enjoyable. I made so many great friends here and I can't wait to go next year! Every day, we had spiritual thoughts and it was super comforting! I had an amazing experience at camp and I felt the spirit so strongly that week. I can't wait to come back!

Hi there. This is Big sis and I'm going to tell you all about my adventure at the Germany girls camp.
So, since we had only just moved to Germany a few weeks earlier, and only attended church twice, I literally knew nobody. We had been attending the Kaiserslautern church, our real ward, but at camp, we stayed with the Ramstein 2nd ward.

Day 1: So since I was with a different ward, I got to ride up to Garmish with some new people. I rode with a girl named Angel, her mom. and a girl my age, Lydia. Since the car ride up to the mountains was 6 hours, we had lots of time to talk to each other. In almost no time I had a new friends. When we entered the mountain range, my first thought was, "I have got to come back here with my family!" It was so beautiful. And even though it was summer time, there were snow caps on the mountains and if you looked hard enough, you could see huge waterfall that fell down the sides of a few bare mountains. When we arrived at camp I met the camp leader, Sister Redd. She is super nice. We got into our tent groups and set up. Since our ward was one of the last ones to get everyone up to the camp site, we didn't have much time to set before we set up onto our first activity. We quickly put on our swim suits and the leaders drove us to an amazing water park. It had slides, huge pools, inflatables, and super tall diving boards. While swimming with Lydia, I met Michele. She is super nice and I hung out with the two of them. They are such wonderful girls. After arriving at the pool I then realised how many girls were here. I was super used to seeing the very tiny group of 30 girls in Korea, but here, there was at least 75-150 girls (not including the leaders). It was insane! We played at the water park for abut 2 hours then went back to camp and finished setting up. My tent mates are Vivian and Michele. I was super happy about that. M&M seemed to have already found at least 4 new friends. I was super happy for her. After our ward set up, we went to the huge meeting house for everyone. We ate all of our meals there. We have dinner and a little devotional given by a few leaders. After we have dessert, cinnamon rolls, we head back to the camp. After having a fun talk arounds the fire everyone went off to bed. It was a great start to the week.

Day 2: It was about 3 am when I felt a little nudge. I really didn't think much about it, but then I got the feeling to wake up, so I did. Poor Michele was crying and didn't look very well. So, at 3 am, we set off to bathroom. We both thought that she was sick. So I stayed with her for about an hour and half. Eventually, a leader that took a bathroom break said that she would help Michele. So I got back to bed for about 30 minutes before daylight broke through the tent. Michele was okay, but she said that cinnamon rolls did jack her up, so yeah. M&M and her group that she was part of set off to the ropes course. I forgot to mention, even tough we are in tent groups and ward groups, we are also put into groups depending on our age. She was in a blue group and I was in the purple group. So her and about 5 other younger age groups went to the ropes course. Us older groups stayed behind and learned how to make fires (with very interesting materials such as batteries and stuff) and did archery. It was pouring rain and so the archery adventure was really interesting. One girls arrow did a flip in mid-air. That was super funny. It was really hard to shoot in freezing cold rain and with a wet bow. That was the weirdest yet most fun archery lesson I have ever had. I felt really bad for M&M and her friends because they were going on the ropes course in the rain. After the lessons and activities, we had lunch and then ward time. Here, I met all the rest of the girls in the Ramstein ward. We played a whole bunch of super fun games such as "steal the clothes pins (that were attached to you), Mafia, Hot potato, and had fun with duck tape. I'd say that I had more fun getting to know the girls and playing games with them more than anything else. M&M got back. She said that she had loads of fun, even in the rain. Then after dinner, it stopped raining so we did the activity singing trees. Each of the 6 wards gathered around their own tree and sang the song that their wards were assigned. We sang "We will do what we believe" (at least that what I think the song title is) and listened to the other wards songs. It was super fun doing that. Afterwards, our ward gathered around the fire and played some active games. That was loads of fun. I had such a great day.

Day 3: Today's wake up call was the most funny. Our YCL stood outside all the tents and started to sing "Rise and Shine" super loud in order to wake us all up. Haha. After eating breakfast and making lunches for the day, all of the older girls groups, including me, got assigned to cars. Our leaders car wouldn't turn on, see me and few other girls that were in the car got to squish into another car with loads of other people. It was a quick drive up to the ropes course. We arrive there and the sun is shining and the weather is perfect. Much better weather then yesterday. We all get on the equipment and learn how to close all the safety harnesses and stuff, then we're set loose. There were a whole bunch of courses, about 15, and I wanted to go on as many as possible. I stuck around with a girl named Crystalena, which I met from the Kaiserslautern ward, and so me, her and a few other girls from K-town go on a whole bunch of courses. My favorite one was a course that had a zip line that raced across a lake. It was super high and super long. Down side was that you had to us a leather glove on your hand to stop yourself, so stopping was a bit nerve racking. We didn't get to go on all the courses because about half way through, we got stuck behind 4 leaders that were afraid of heights and  had a lot of difficulty get through, so we got massively held up on that course. We ate lunch when everyone finished getting off the courses, and then drove back to the camp site. Slight set back, our leader took a wrong turn and so we didn't arrive to the campsite for another hour. I didn't even realised it, but the leader said that me, and literally everyone else fell asleep in the car. Super funny. I do have to say, rope courses really drains you after a while. Eventually, we got back to camp and it was scripture reading time. We had the option to go wandering around in the forest, so me and about 5 other girls went into forest to read our scriptures. That was a lot of fun and super peaceful. After a while of that, we all head to the meeting hall for the service project. The project was to make stuffed animal/pillow owls for kids in Children hospitals. The project was so much fun and all of the owls turned out super cute. After dinner, we headed back to camp, but while we were preparing our skits the leaders from K-town asked if we wanted to help with their skit in their wards. Since that was our actual ward, we went over there and took part in the super funny skit there. It got really late after that and so we hung out with K-town for a little bit longer, then headed 30 feet back over to Ramstein 2. What a super fun day. My arms and shoulders are definitely going to be very sore tomorrow!

Day 4: It  was extremely cold last night. When I packed my bag, I packed some fuzzy pants and even though mom said I wouldn't need it, I brought it anyways, and I am super glad I did because without them, I would have been freezing overnight. Today is the hike day, so after breakfast, we made all sorts of snacks, then headed off for the hike. The car ride was super long, like an hour. We parked at this old olympic ski jumping area that was used during movies. It was a pretty cool place to start the hike. We walked along a long road for a while then started to trek up the mountain side. We stopped at a lake to cool off and eat lunch. When we started off back down the mouton I couldn't find my group anywhere, so I stayed with sister Redd and two other YCL girls there were also in my group that got left behind too. Our group of 5 set off towards the end of the hiking group of 100 girls and took our dear sweet time to get to the end destination of the hike, an underground river. We stayed behind and took loads of pictures, and I'm glad that we did. We wandered through the tunnels until we popped out at the end and headed back to the cars. I finally met up with my group and then we loaded back into the cars, and headed back to camp. We couldn't do much because the hike was faster than planned, so we tried to do activities while battling the massive amounts of rain for a few hours. We have dinner and do testimony meeting. After that, everyone presents their skits. It is super funny to see all the different skits and stuff. When everybody finished, we had dessert, then went back to our camps for ward testimony meeting. After that we all get situated and got to bed. Once again, most girls are pulling an all nighter, but not me!

Day 5: Today is the last day. We wake up, have breakfast, then break down camp. Breaking down camp is always so much faster then setting up, so we were down in about an hour. We go to the meeting house and make our lunches for the road, and then we do ward awards ceremony. K-town was going to do theirs the next week end, and Ramstein did theirs today. Weirdly, me and M&M took part in both of them for some reason. In Ramstein I got marbles because they said that even though I was left behind by my group, I just kept on rolling along the hike. Later on in the week, K-town gave the award of party-hopper because I was always running between both camps in order to take part in both of their activities. Anyways, we got all of our bags into the cars and drove back to where we set off the first day. What a fun adventure. Just one day after I got back from camp, I went to FSY. This was my first adventure in Germany, and I have to say that it was the best time ever.

First Year & Third Year at Girls Camp in South Korea

Hi there peeps. This is Big Sis and I'm going to tell you about my second year at the Korea Girls Camp.
Day 1: Even though this was my second year, I was a third year because of the whole situation of the 11 year olds moving into Young Women's and so I got to move up. Last year, there was only the Beehives and so there was only 10 of us. But since this year, there was everybody, there were about 30-40 girls. We all arrived at the same camp site as last year, and set to work. We all pitched the tents, and then we were separated into our groups according to year. I was in the 3rd year, the Indians. It was so much fun because I was in a tent with London, Sadie, Amanda, and Faith. I knew Faith and Amanda from last year, and London and Sadie are in my ward, so it was so much fun having friends already at the beginning of camp. After getting ourselves, plus helping a few first years situated, everybody goes into their group craft rotations. We have so much fun going around to different leaders and learning some cool new stuff. It was really hot, and so for free time, I walked with 15 other girls down to the river. Sadly, the inflatables weren't there this year, and so we just played around in the water. The life guards didn't allow us girls into the water past our waist. Funny thing was that we later learned that the boys who went to the exact same spot for camp the week right after us were allowed to swim to the other side and go cliff diving, with the same life guards. LAME!!!!! Anyways, the day was already really close to being spent, we we had dinner and we had some awesome singing sessions of camp songs around the camp fire. That was so much fun to be singing super old girls camp songs. We all get ready for bed, but didn't quite go to bed. Our group stayed up a bit linger, but then we got tired at around 9:30, so we called it a day. Even for just the first day of camp, I had so much fun.

Day 2: It was 4:10 am when I woke up to the loud sound of very strong rain pounding at the top of our tent. We had a rain cap on so we didn't get wet, but then we remembered all of the stuff that was outside. We all quickly rushed out of the tent in our PJs running around camp, along with about 20 other girls, getting all of the stuff and putting it under dry places. After about 10 minutes of finding everything, we got back to bed. That was sure a fun way to wake up though. Today was the hike day, and so after a good breakfast and some scripture time, we packed our bags and set off. The hike last year we really hard, but luckily we started on the same trail, just ended somewhere different. It was luckily flat, unlike last year,  but much farther. Even though it was difficult at some parts, it was still a very beautiful hike. When we completed the hike and got back to the camp site, we ate lunch and had some really cool craft activities. After that, we had some really fun scripture study time. My goal this year was to finish my personal progress by the last day of girls camp. So, I worked super hard to finish my personal progress. After dinner and some really messy cinnamon rolls over the fire, we broke off into groups and played a whole bunch of games. While we are playing games, the Youth Camp Leaders (YCL's) set up a faith walk. One by one the groups got called to do the walk. It was a lot of fun going to each of the different leaders and learning something about the gospel and then getting charms after each lesson. At the end, we got our 2019 girls camp shirt. It is a super cute one. Right as we walked into our tent, it started to pour rain outside. I really think that God is blessing us and so it is only raining when we sleep. What a wonderful blessing. We caledl it a night at 10:00. What a day.

Day 3: I am so happy that I brought earplugs, for swimming, because the rain got so heavy that it sounded like a tractor was just sitting, on, right outside our tent. Anyways, I eventually got some sleep through the horrible storm last night, and then we all woke up, excited for our white water rafting adventure. The rafting wasn't so much fun last year, because there was no rain to cause the white water, but due to the super rough storm last night, there was a lot more white water than normal. Super exciting. We set off for the river and got into our raft groups. The ride was going to be about 12 Km (about 7 miles) where we were going to finish at a Korean restaurant for lunch. All of the girls and leaders got split up into 5 rafts and then we set off. From experience last year, I didn't bring a backpack this time, and I'm glad I didn't because the bottom of the raft filled up with water in no time. The white water rafting was so much fun. Towards the end of the rafting, we hit a clear area and some of the girls jumped in and swam around for a bit. I didn't want to get in the water because it was cold and I didn't want to get water in my ears, but our raft guide thought otherwise. He snuck up behind me, grabbed my life jacket and threw me into the river. I was more surprised then mad, but eventually, I had fun splashing around with the other girls. After about 10 minutes of that, we got back into the raft and went all the way to the end of the river. We had lunch at the Korean Buffet restaurant. I didn't expect the food to be so good, but it was and I loved it. When we got back to camp, it was shower time for many of the girls, and I didn't want to wait for 20 other girls to finish, so me, Evelyn, Sammie, and Kira went down to the river to skip rocks since the life guards, once again, didn't let us in the water. After dinner we did some lip singing for some songs that we were assigned at the beginning of the week. It was a lot of fun because afterwards, we all got up and started to dance. It got really late super fast, but we stayed up a bit longer. Me, London, and Sadie are going to pull a few pranks on the other girls. We planned to put glitter on the toilet seat, and tape the other girls' tent shut. After having a bit of fun, it got late and so we went to bed. My arms are definitely sore.

Day 4: Our pranks worked! We woke up to a couple girls trying to get out of their tents. We tapped our tent shut too, to make it look like we didn't do it. It sure was a lot of fun to do that. However, one of the leaders were to ones to find the glitter, and they didn't really like it, but other girls thought that it was really funny. I don't think Emily knows that it was us, and I still don't think that she has figured it out! LOL! After everybody got up and had breakfast, we got dressed and we drove off to the caves that we were going to explore today. The cave were super long and the hallways got super narrow that there was one part that we had to get onto our hand and knees in order to continue down the path. Since some elders came from the different wards, they weren't able to fit, so them and a couple girls that got claustrophobic stayed behind. Me, M&M and a few other girls ran ahead and got to the end of the cave. It was so much fun to wander around the cave, but we had to eventually go back to the beginning. So back down the narrow pathway we went and soon met up with everyone at the opening of the cave. We got back to camp and had lunch. Then, since the day was super hot, almost all the girls got into swimsuits and for once, the life guard actually let us into the water, so we played around for a while. We get back, do a few activities with some devotionals, then have dinner. We reveal all of our secret sister and have fun talking together. It was testimony meeting that evening. It was originally planned to be 30 minutes, but it turned out to be 2.5 hours long instead. After the meeting was done, we have some fun eating s'more dessert's and mess around camp with flashlights. We had fun being kids and playing old game like tag for a while. After getting tired and saying good night to bishop and the leaders, we head to bed. Since today is the last night, most girls are pulling an all nighter, but I will never do that because, I mean come on, who does that???? Anyways, I got to bed while the others stayed up. What a fun day.

Nicole and Big Sis

Day 5: Sorry to say, nobody actually managed to stay up all night. My tentmates said that most people stayed up until only about 2 am, but then, one by one, started to fall asleep. Some girls looked like zombies this morning. We all got to wear our camp shirt. It's always fun to be matching with all of the other 30 girls. Like I said before, it was my goal to finish my personal progress before the end of camp, and I did accomplish just that. I finished my personal progress last night, and I will get my last ribbons before we leave camp. I'm so happy about that!!! The service project this year was to do a fan walk of the river shore and clean up all the trash. While we all started together, it truly only ended with about 10 people actually cleaning the shore. 25 of the girls just walked to the end and back, talking and not cleaning. So me, Evelyn, Sister Mayo, M&M and a few of her friends along with Sadie and London all stayed behind with me and we did two sweeps of the 1/2 mile long shore line. We picked up about 5 trash bags full of trash, plus a 6 foot long rusted over pole, and a fishing net basket. We found at least 20 fishing lines, 30 hooks, and so much trash. We all wore one latex glove, and me and Evelyn had to change ours out twice because hooks kept on snagging them. We eventually got back to camp and dumped all the trash. Kinda disappointing how much the girls didn't care, but that's okay. I did learn however that I am allergic to latex gloves, just like dad. My hand felt really weird being a bit swollen and red, but other then that, I was okay. Sadly, two girls didn't get very lucky and they got stung by Korean wasps. I felt really bad for them. After everyone cleaned up camp and packed the cars, we did the awards ceremony and goodbyes. I got the award for the most athletic because I was always ahead on the hikes and stuff like that. And I did get my last two ribbons. Super neat. After a lot of tears and good bye, we got settled into the cars and drove home. I loved my adventure at girls camp again, and I can't wait to see how our Germany girls camp adventure is going to play out too. I'm sure going to miss all of those amazing girls. Until next!

Big Sis, Nicole and Faith

Hi! This is M&M here and I am going to tell you about my experience at the Korean girls camp! It was so fun! This was my first time going and it was one of the best things ever!
Day 1 : We got up super early in the towers. Our HHG had already left so we had to pack like a month in advance to be able to keep everything and still be able to have it for the Germany girls camp. We woke up, and did double and triple checks on everything. We then left the towers at like 7:30 and went down to the parking lot. We said goodbye to Mom, Dad, Little A, Monster, and Bailey. We put the things in the car and set off. It was so much fun playing games with Claire and Aurora. We were in the same car so we played games and watched movies and talked. We drove all around the Korean countryside then finally made it to a total mountain area. We arrived at Girls Camp at around 11:00. We got the tents out first then set up the tents. I have never really set up a tent before because Big Sis and Mom and Dad usually do it. So we tried our best and we still had to ask the older girls for help. No biggy. We got all of our bags and set up the inside of the tents. Claire, my best friend, was not in my tent sadly, but my friend Aurora was! We got a 6 man tent and set up. I slept next to Aurora and it was fun making friends with the other 5 girls in our tent.

M&M and Aurora

I made a friends with a girl named Natalie. She is really nice. Our other tentmate, Kiri, was sick so she had to go in a separate tent. She was also our leader for our tent (our YCL , Youth Camp leader) and she gave nightly devotionals and gifts! There is a river right next to our camp site so we went swimming after everything was set up. The Korean lifeguard wouldn't let us go past our knees! How weird is that! He yelled at us when we went deeper. So after we went "swimming", we did a craft. One of the leaders taught us how to cross stitch and now we are all making a Korean cross stitch picture. We all worked on it during free time. Dinner was ok. We had to do it over a fire because the grill was not used sometimes. So dinner was ok and we all just talked and had fun until it was time for bed. It gets freezing at night but hot in the day so it is always wobbly in the temperature. We all took showers in a big open room so we all wore swimsuits when we did. After we were all showered, we went to the bathroom, changed, and went to the tent. Kiri was feeling better and she gave us a cute devotional. Our ranking is Fairies because we are beehives so we got fairy dust necklaces. Mine was green and it sparked! We went to bed thinking of the fun of the next day.

All the Beehives

Day 2 : The Sun rose at like 4:30 so some of the girls like myself woke up at 5! We all got ready for the day and we sat outside in the cold weather and talked/whispered to each other while cross stitching, but choose to go back in the tent after we were too cold. We worked on them so much that I was almost finished! It had rained sometime during the night so we had to sit in the tents to cross stitch. After all the girls woke up, we ate breakfast. We had schedules and we all had fun. After all of us were ready, we got in the cars and set off for a hike. We drove almost 10 minutes then got out. We did a head count and then set off! We climbed up a hill then stopped for a water break. It was super steep and super hard. We walked and walked and enjoyed the scenery. We walked in the mountains and saw a river too. We stopped hiking up after about an hour-ish.

Claire, Nicole, M&M and Big Sis

The leaders were taking pictures and we got to stop for a water break. The hike down and was not as hard. We got back in the car after the hike and we all had free time. Some girls went down to the lake and some stayed at the campsite and cross stitched and had fun. I stayed behind with some other girls that cross stitched and we had fun.

We had a devotional and it was super fun. We did the faith walk too. We, the beehives, walked all along the river and we got devotionals and charms all along the way. After about 5 stops, we made it to the top and we got the shirt for the camp year. It was so amazing and spiritual and FUN! We all got ready for bed and had a fun time that day.

Day 3 : Lots of girls including myself woke up around 5 again because the sun was up. We did some more cross-stitching and talking. We all got ready in swim suit sand water shoes because we went white water rafting. After everyone was ready, we went to the river that was for white water rafting. I didn't have water shoes so I had to wear my tennis shoes. That was such a terrible thing because my shoes got SOAKING WET! We got in boats and set off for a long rafting that took place for like 6 hours. We paddled and paddled and it was super tiring. We sat on the edge and had one foot in the water always. That sucked but we got to put them in sometimes like during the white water parts. We went around rocks, stopped at swimming parts, and went all the way round the river and we didn't even make it to the end! We went all the way to the drop off point and we were all super tired. We went to an open restaurant that was reserved for us and man, the food was some of the best. It was a huge buffet and there was so many amazing foods. We sat with friends and we ate to our hearts content. I mostly just ate sticky rice and pork with some other stuff. It was good. The food was great and the people were so kind. After we were done, we headed back to the cars and went back to the campsite. We did fun stuff like stories and had treats.  My tent had to move to a new tent because Kiri was better and she moved to our tent. After we were all set up , it was time for bed and we all got ready. After, it was super fun talking with all of my friends in the tent and we all fell asleep to the sound of the river.

Day 4 : I was able to sleep in until 5:30 this time. It was still super early, so I just went out of the tent and cross stitched with the other 10 girls out there. After everyone was ready and full from breakfast, we got in the cars and drove to a cave. This cave was not as close as expected but that was ok. We went over a bridge that we saw while water rafting so that was cool. We had to all wear helmets inside so we choose the sizes accordingly. I brought a flashlight for this reason. On some parts, it was so dark that you could barely see in front of you. So I was able to shine a light through the darkness and let people see that there is a puddle here or stairs next to them. It was fun. The rock formations were cool and the cave was refreshing because it was super hot outside. I was glad I brought a jacket because it was freezing in the cave.

After we were done, we were all super tired. The leaders were super awesome and they bought all of us ice cream. We drove back to the campsite after we were all done. We got in our groups and practiced our dances. We had skits and we made our own dance with a song. My groups song was "I'm Happy". It was fun! We stayed up late because it was the last day. I didn't eat more than one cookie because I get sick if I eat too many sweets. They were so good and I wished I packed more for the car ride the next day! We did the testimony meeting and it was super fun. After that, DANCE PARTY!!! The girls in the other tents and our tent were so loud. Aurora and I were tired and we just fell asleep while focusing all of our mind power on the sound of the river. We were asleep a little later. The girls told us that they played candy poker and they found Aurora and I asleep just before they started. Good thing too. They didn't get to bed until almost midnight.

Day 5 : Since most of the girls stayed up most of the night, we all slept in. When I woke up, all of us found out that the YCL's pranked us and duck taped our zippers together and we couldn't get out! We had to whisper yell for the other leaders to help us get free. It turned out they did it to all the tents and the leaders had to help them all get free. After we were all up and at 'em, we got ready and broke down camp. We all took pictures and set off in the cars. We all had to make room in our bags for the secret sister gifts that we got that whole week. It was just as enjoyable going back home as it was leaving in the car with friends. Spending time with friends is the best! I can't wait to go to Germany Girls camp!

Best Friends: Claire Walker, M&M and Aurora Mayo

Faith and M&M

Chiaksan National Park Camping

We had a free weekend in August and decided to spend it camping, since the weather has started to cool off.  We wanted to camp near a waterfall and temple hike that my friend, Alyssa Mayo said was amazing, so we found the Eco-Healing Campground in Chiaksan National Park.

It took me a while to find the camp directions, I ended up having to put it in Hangul in Naver to find the location.  It didn't take too long to get there, about 2 hours or so.  We arrived around 2:00, and started unloading the car.  This particular campground does not let you drive up to the campsites, they provided dolly's and you cart your stuff up a hill.

After Kevin  unloaded the car, we all set to work getting the tent up and making all our cots.  We bought the most amazing cots a few years ago, Bunk-O-Cots and Kid-O-Bunks!  We have used them so many times, and even friends use them when family comes to visit.  They are so amazing and so versatile, and did I mention, comfortable!

We got our tent all up, chairs set up, and fire pit situated.  This campsite is really nice because they provide a little privacy using bushes between the campsites.  So even though we were only 4 feet from the campers on all sides of us, it still felt pretty secluded.

The bathroom facilities were great!  There were showers, however they were never unlocked while we were there.  But the bathrooms were nice and clean and had hot running water.

We still had some time before we needed to start on dinner, so we decided to explore!  We found a nice path that lead down to the river.

There was a small stream and and lots of big rocks.  The kids ran straight for the stream and started walking over the rocks to get to the other side. The found a small waterfall, and M&M and Little A walked all the way around rocks until they were sitting right by the little waterfall.

Of course our Monster wanted nothing but to follow them, so Kevin and I had to take turns holding him.  The rocks were just too big and the water was just too unpredictable.

We stayed and skipped rocks, walked around the riverbed and walked over big rocks for about an hour.  All our stomachs started grumbling, so we knew it was time to head back and start on dinner.

In Korea it is illegal to have a fire in the ground, so we have a fire pit that we take camping with us.  We heated up coals and then put a cobbler in a dutch over, and then started the dinner right over the fire.

Kevin made the most amazing fajitas!  We had peppers and refried beans to go with the fajitas.  All the kids loved it and asked for more.  I felt so bad because I was admiring the beauty of the mountains and gestured with my hand at the scenery and just at the moment, Kevin walked by with his plate of dinner directly in the path of my sweeping hand.  His entire dinner flew through the air to the ground.  Luckily, there was still more on the grill!

We thought we were super smart to save space and bring a travel baby cot instead of the port a crib.  Big Mistake! Monster hadn't ever slept in the travel cot, and since he could pop right out, he refused to stay in the cot.  It also didn't help that every Korean around us had electrical flood lights that lit up the entire area as if we were at a football game.  Lights, music and loud talking continued through the night until 10:45, when magically all lights went out and all voices hushed.  Monster was so ridiculously tired and out of his element that he just kept screaming.  I didn't know what to do since we were surrounded by people and all the kids and Kevin were asleep in our tent.  So, I did what any good mom would do, I pulled him onto my cot, and gave him my phone to watch the only movie on my phone, Disney's Planes Fire and Rescue.

After a pretty horrible nights sleep, we got up and made our amazing breakfast of pancakes and eggs, except it wasn't very amazing.  We couldn't get the coals hot enough, and we didn't start with enough of them.  After an hour of trying to get the coals hot enough to cook over, we make-shifted a small stove using the ground, a pizza pan, and the long skillet.  We were able to painstakingly slowly make pancakes one at a time.  By the time we finally had the pancakes and eggs made, we gave up altogether on the bacon that we had brought.  Within the time that it took us to make our breakfast, every Korean around us had whipped out a portable gas stove or electric stove and made their breakfast in about 5 minutes.  Couple that with very little sleep and it made for an extremely grouchy mom and dad.

To escape our grouchiness, the kids ran off to a nearby field.  They found a bunch of Korean kids playing and catching dragonflies.  The kids played together and taught M&M and Little A how to catch a dragonfly.  M&M was super excited to come back and show us her new Korean skill!

Kevin and I were not in the best of moods, the kids would probably have called it our worse of the worst, so in the end we decided to forgo the hike and just head home.  However, even though the morning was pretty hard, everything else and the entire trip itself was absolutely awesome and I would do it all over again, except bring a port a crib and a propane stove. LOL!  Can you guess what I ordered on Amazon the day we got home?