Pine Cove Day 4: Wednesday

Wednesday morning we had another camper call because Jay and I were supposed to ride the wave runners.  Unfortunately it was raining-but the counselors (God bless them!) suggested that we just go to the coffee shop and have some adult time instead.  So, we went and had a cup of coffee and played scrabble with another couple for about an hour and a half.  While I did feel a little geriatric playing scrabble and drinking coffee at 7 in the morning it was really fun and relaxing.  And hey-it was a date with my man!  Since we weren’t actually doing an activity we wanted to have breakfast with the boys. . .we were missing them! 
At breakfast Bear’s best bud Addison walked by and stopped and gave him a big hug.  These two were inseparable during the week (although they were in different classes because she’s 5).  It’s so funny how kids become best friends so quickly. . .and then forget just as quickly.  They were pretty cute playing together though.

After breakfast the kiddos went to their classes and it was FREE TIME ALL DAY (well, until 3 p.m.) for the adults.  Seriously. . .this was literally more alone time (9:30-3) than Jay and I have had in over a year.  It was great.  These Pine Cove people really know what couples need!  So, since there were no sessions we went into Tyler and just knocked around.  One stop we made was to Janie’s Cakes.  It’s been on the cover of Texas Monthly and is supposedly just amazing.  After our cake date we went back to camp so that I could nurse Lincoln and then left again and went to lunch and a movie.  As sad as it is to admit, I hadn’t even heard of a single movie that was playing.  We haven’t been to a movie in so long that we were both laughing trying to figure out what to see.  It was a great date and a wonderful day.

That night at dinner I got some snuggle time with my favorite nephew.  I love that silly little man so much!

While Dinka didn’t sleep well during the trip he was a super sweet baby and very good spirited during the day. 

Our room adjoined to Gaga’s (she, Mia and Lennon shared a room) which was really fun and convenient.

That night was safari theme night.

Mia looking beautiful with her moustache.

There was so much energy from the counselors that everything was a lot of fun.

This sweet face just melts my heart!

He was, however, NOT a fan of the moustache.

Getting ready for our fun dinner and show.

Loved spending a week with this girl!

To say my boys were having a fun week would be a gross understatement.

That night was the talent show.  Mia showed off her hula hoop skills for her first act.

For her second act she played the piano (or keyboard) and sang an original song that she had written.  Um, yeah, she’s kind of a big deal.  She was amazing and everyone loved her-as usual.  Lennon also performed his diablo skills but unfortunately I missed it because I had to take a very sleepy (and slightly disruptive) Bear back to the cabin to go to bed.

And for the professional shots:

It looks like Bear had a fabulous time with his counselors at the pool.

During the kids only lunch (parents were having date day) the kids were encouraged to get up and tell a joke to the crowd.  Mia, Lennon and Jackson all got up and told a joke.  No public speaking fears in this family!

Yet another wonderfully fun day!

Pine Cove Day 3: Tuesday

Tuesday morning we utilized a magnificent thing called a “camper call.”  A camper call is when you and your hubs get to leave your cabin at 6:45 a.m.   The reason you get to leave is because two counselors come to your cabin door.  They wait outside the door until your kids wake up (we told Jackson the night before what was going on so that he wasn’t freaked out to wake up and not have us there) and then come in and get them dressed and ready and take them to breakfast.  That’s right-they do ALL of your morning work! 
CRAZY AWESOME! 
This vacation just kept getting better and better. 
The reason that we had scheduled a camper call is that we were signed up to go on the morning trail ride and then have a special breakfast.  I had been told by everyone who had gone to Pine Cove not to miss this.  We showed up at 7 at the stables and were assigned to our horses.  We went on about an hour ride enjoying a wonderful, cool (that’s right, God even gave us amazing weather this week) morning and some beautiful scenery.

Jay and I are in the middle in the picture below.

After our ride we went to an adorable little cabin for the most amazing breakfast EVER!  Multiple people had talked about the bacon at this breakfast and it definitely lived up to the talk.  The girl that cooks gets up and puts bacon (covered in maple syrup) in the oven to cook at 4 a.m.  They also do eggs, fresh blueberry muffins, homemade biscuits and gravy, fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice, warm apple butter, etc. etc. etc.  It was outstanding.  And it was also such a luxury to have a nice, adults only breakfast getting to know other couples.  Jay and I were seated near Swanee (the horse wrangler who had worked at Pine Cove for 30+ years) and really enjoyed getting to know him and hearing stories about his years working at camp.  He remembered our sweet friends from Plano and was just such a neat guy to get to know and hear stories from.

After breakfast the counselors had our kids fed and ready for family devos (devotions).  So, Jay led our devotions and then we took the boys to their classes.  Jack and Bear were both so happy and had really enjoyed the camper call and asked if we could do it again during the week. . .um, yes, we said we’d try to oblige that request.

While they were in Cove Kids we went to our daily adult session.  The speaker for the week was really great.  God is so awesome and we were blessed by everything that we heard.  All of his topics either really spoke to us about things we needed to change or implement in our lives or things that really encouraged us and validated the way that we were already doing things.  We always walked out feeling refreshed and motivated.

When our speaker sessions ended we had lunch as a family and then had free time together.  Bear wanted to go to the arts and crafts building with Mia and her best camp buddy Kaitlin.  He had a ball painting a “pirate treasure box.”

That night the kids went with their counselors again for dinner and a fun night of skits and activities.  Then all of the couples got a picnic basket and blanket and were instructed to go find a beautiful place to have dinner together.

We chose a spot by a pond and had a fabulous time just talking, laughing and eating.  We also had a list of questions to go over and discuss during dinner which was kind of interesting.  At the end of dinner Jay and I both commented on how much fun we have together.  Some how with the chaos of the last year we’ve only had one dinner together without the kids and while we know we love each other tremendously, it’s also nice to be reminded of how much we like each other and what a great time we have together.  I swear this was Jay’s happy place.  My sweet guy was so relaxed, laid back and happy while we were at camp.

And for the professional pictures of the day.  Looks like the kids were having a great time too!

By the end of day 3 we were already praying that the week would slow down!

Pine Cove Day 2: Monday

Monday was our first full day and it was fantastic.

Here’s a little sample of our schedule.  I snapped a picture of the schedule each day so that I didn’t actually have to carry around the piece of paper.

Lincoln was not interested in the sippy cup that one of the counselors brought him.  Then the counselor offered to hold him for the meal.  That’s right, every meal for the entire week one of the counselors came and held and played with Lincoln.  Never once did I hold him while trying to eat. . .friends, THIS.IS.HUGE! 

Sweet cousins eating breakfast.  They were wearing their swimsuits because right after family devotions (which was right after breakfast) they were going swimming.

Later that afternoon we all went down to the dock to ride the water rockets.  Mia’s class was doing archery at the same time so she skipped the rockets since her class would be doing them later in the week anyway.

Lennon preferred wearing his helmet backwards.  Luckily he happily allowed me to fix it before we got on the rocket.

For the first ride everyone other than Gaga (and the counselor driving the boat) was on the rocket.

After we crashed Bear and Lennon were a little shaken up.  Luckily I grabbed Lennon and Jay grabbed Bear and everyone was fine.

Jack was in heaven.

For ride two Bear decided to stay in the boat.

After we flew off the second time only Jack stayed on.  Here he is quite happy with his victory.

Lennon decided that flying off of the rocket was not as fun as it sounded and kept Gaga and Bear company on the boat.  But he still cheered for us!

When just Jay, Jack and myself were on the rocket we asked the boat driver to give us, in the words of Jackson, “the craziest drive possible.”  As you can see from the awesome action shot (thanks to Gaga for taking all of the pictures while I was in the water), we got it.

Jay and I collided in a way that left me unable to hear out of my right ear for the rest of the day.  Super fun though. . .and I see the merit of the helmets!

For the last ride Gaga was with Lennon and Jack and they asked for a slow and gentle ride.  Lennon and Gaga were thrilled that nobody flew off during this ride.

Later that night was “Clue Done It?” theme night so we all dressed up.

Not a shock to see Jack’s feet at the top of the tree.

Lincoln with his finger mustache.

Luckily the mystery of the missing moose was solved!

And here are the pictures that we got off of the Pine Cove DVD.  I love being able to see what the kids were doing when we weren’t with them. 
You can see Mia in the Dallas Cowboys jersey.  She is much like her Aunt Hillary in that she always has a camera in her hands.

Playing dodge ball.

And some shots of Jackson and Lennon having a blast in the pool.  They are right next to each other in most of the pictures.  Their counselor said that they got along perfectly and were best buddies about 95% of the time and fought like brothers the other 5%.  Sounds pretty good to me!

Pretty cool nature shot.  The camp grounds were just beautiful.

More of Mia’s group having fun.

All dressed up for Clue mystery night.

And last but certainly not least, the camp photographer got some great pictures of Jay pushing Bear on the “T Swing.”  All of the boys loved this swing and spent lots of time swinging.

First full day and we totally understood why so many families there had been coming for so many years!