Summit Day 5

WOW!

What a last day of camp we’ve had for Summit.

Last night the campers were surprised with a late night game of find the counsellor. Counsellors were hidden throughout the camp with glowing infinity stones. After completing the games, campers headed to their cabins for the night and were excited  to sleep in.

After filling their bellies with breakfast cake, campers did one last cabin clean up and were sure to leave some bribes for the judges- it’s all about getting points for your team.

Following the session worship, Nolan shared chapter 9 of the HIStory series. He shared about the value we have in Christ and the session artifact was Roman coins Some lucky campers were gifted with some to bring home.

Lunch was a camp favourite- mac n’cheese with hot dogs. Dress up for lunch today was Battle Aftermath. We had mourners for Iron Man, piles of dust and of course lots of “injured” campers.

Campers had fun with the last day of their activities and majors. Campers wrapped up the last of their activities with free swim, which was most welcomed on this warm day.

After the formal dinner, campers and counsellors gathered for pictures. Once they changed into active clothes, campers competed in the last camp wide game to earn points for their team. Campers were tasked with finding all the infinity stones and the gauntlet that were hidden all around camp. Once they put together their gauntlet, they had to find, chase and tag Thanos in order to win.

Nolan wrapped up the last of this week’s series by talking about how we get to go home and share all that we have learned about God and his love with our families and friends. We were encouraged to be bold and ended the session with an amazing time of worship.

To end the time of worship, Greg and Caleb played some fast music and our campers sang and danced their hearts out. There were glow sticks and lots of jumping and even a call for “one more song”.

Campers then headed down to final campfire to receive their major certificates and to find out the winners for the week. Black Panther who started out in the bottom of the standings managed to pull ahead for the win! They enjoyed sundaes complete with all the toppings and even a brownie.

As we wrap up the blog for kids camp, we can hear the campers out on their porches singing songs, trying to enjoy every last minute of camp that they can. Camp is truly a special place that has left an immense impact on all the campers that have visited in the last four weeks. The staff at Kahquah have done such a fabulous job pouring everything they have into making the kids experience one to remember. We can’t wait for you to hear all about your camper’s experience when they come home 🙂

Please check out our end of the week video for more of a glimpse in your child’s week at camp: SUMMIT 2019

CREW AND L.I.T. UPDATE

To celebrate the end of their two weeks, crew had a surprise party with tons of goodies and lots of dancing. L.I.T. Also wrapped up their time at camp with their graduation ceremony. Thank you to CREW and L.I.T. For spending so much of your time serving at camp- YOU ROCK!

Summit Day 4

Campers were moving a little slower today as the fun of the past three days has caught up. Everyone was delighted to be greeted by yogurt parfaits for breakfast and despite being tired, campers brought the energy to this morning’s big top session.

Greg and Caleb led an acoustic set and Nolan started sharing from the New Testament. His message was called ‘Kingdoms and Empires’. For this morning’s artifacts, Nolan shared a Greek arrow head and a replica of Greek armour modelled by Caleb.

Today’s lunch theme was Guardians of the Galaxy. We had committed cabins who painted themselves as the various characters, and another who showed up ready to garden- ‘Gardeners of the Galaxy’ they called themselves.

For today’s activities we visited beach volleyball, craft, water sports and photography who took a break to play some games. We also got to watch campers tackle the ‘pamper pole’ at the high ropes course and practice their balance at low ropes.

At dinner, campers ‘monkeyed around’ in order to receive their letters from home. After our rice, meatballs, veggies and salad dinner, the Outdoor X crew prepared and left for their camp out.

For tonight’s camp wide game, campers were scattered around camp looking for infinity stones and had to safely return them to their teams bucket without being caught. Thanks to their sneaky campers, team Spider Man retrieved the most stones.

We wish you all could have joined us for tonight’s session. Hearing the campers sing their loudest was a memory for the books. Nolan shared with the campers the epic story of Jesus on the cross and how it was the ultimate “Endgame”. The message was impactful and many students joined Nolan in praying.

Quickly after session, the students headed down for campfire before a special surprise night game…. (to be continued)

Some of the many faces of Summit…

Summit Day 3

We’ve officially hit the halfway point of Summit! With all the fun that’s been had, the time seems to be flying.

The kitchen Crew team was busy this morning making sure everything was ready to feed the masses of Kahquah campers, while the rest of the camp was working on waking up and participating in morning activities. After fuelling up on croissants, fruit, oatmeal and cereal, campers made their cabins spotless and attended morning big top session.

Campers played a game of clap, clap, boom to get the wiggles out before Nolan continued with chapter 5 of the HIStory series- the Exile. Nolan overviewed a large portion of the Old Testament and summarized the harsh reality of what happens when we turn from God through the stories of the exile of Israel.

Today for lunch the theme was super powers. Our creative campers and leaders didn’t disappoint. We saw powers of invisibility, teleportation, flying, parting the Red Sea, Samson’s strength, the fruits of the spirit and the armour of God. Lunch isn’t just about dressing up and eating though.

Lunch is a time when you can hear song after song calling out other cabins or leaders to do entertaining things. There were calls for love songs, gun shows, sand from the beach in less than 30 seconds (not an easy challenge), and lots of running around the lodge. Crew camper Ella and Uncle Hayden were called out for elbows on the table and had to sing songs in front of everyone. Thankfully, the whole camp backed them up and sang along. Lunch is also a time for announcements, including who won for cabin clean up and best lunch dress up.

For this morning’s activities we visited the beach, canoeing, kayaking, makerspace and visual arts where campers were working on water colour paintings and clay sculptures.

This afternoon we got to enjoy the warm and gooey cookies baked by the baking group and watched as they competed in a pudding and jello eating contest. Our campers and program staff, Natalie, cleared two whole trays in a matter of minutes and thankfully they managed not to get sick. Camper Wyatt was the only one to tackle the pudding and took the approach of no spoon. It was certainly entertaining!

Following activities, campers took the chance to cool down. You could find campers taking the plunge of the main dock, paddle boarding and soaking up the sun.

Today was Outdoor X’s canoe trip to the waterfall. The group had a great time and got to see a snapping turtle having lunch, caught some crayfish and of course enjoy a swim at the water fall. They are certainly ready for their camp out tomorrow night.

For dinner campers enjoyed chicken burgers and fries to fuel up for tonight’s camp wide challenge- capture the flag. Crew worked quick and hard to clean up after dinner to join in on the game where cabins were combined into team Captain America and Iron Man. The competition was fierce.

For evening session, Greg and Caleb got the campers jumping and the leaders introduced some actions to the songs. Nolan then talked about the time before the Old and New testaments and how God still works in the silence. Nolan shared some of his personal story of how he waited for God in the midst of some difficult times in his life.

Following session, Crew took on leading campfire and certainly brought the fun and volume!

Summit Day 2

Before filling up on breakfast wraps, you could find the Summit campers participating in morning activities including aerobics. After making sure their cabins were spotless for the cabin clean-up checks, campers made their way to big top session.

Greg and Caleb were joined this morning by a special musical guest- Summit camper Andy! Andy joined in on the keys sharing his musical gift with the group and did an awesome job. Following a quick round of rock, paper, scissors, Nolan continued taking us through the Bible and shared about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and how God called Abraham and promised to make his family into a great nation. We learned how this nation ended up in Egypt for 400 years before God rescued them from slavery.

The artifact for morning session was mummy beads from an actual Egyptian mummy. Nolan had fashioned the beads into a necklace and bracelet which Ely modelled for the group- she even got to keep the bracelet!

During cabin small groups, the inquisitive minds of Retreat Lodge sat with Nolan and asked questions from a list they had prepared.

Campers then got ready for their morning activities. We were able to capture some archery pros and the ropes team conquering the rock wall this morning.

For lunch we were joined by a variety of villains including members of Hydra and Cruella de Vil and her Dalmatian puppies.

After lunch some campers took to the water for tubing, while others mastered their balance on the paddle boards. They made a far trip out to the island before returning for beach time with the rest of the camp.

After eating dinner outside, campers competed with their cabins in the camp wide challenge. Teams had to compete in high ropes, low ropes, archery, physical and messy challenges and even some embarrassment for the cabin leaders who were dressed by their campers.

Big top session worship time included some creative actions to Lion and the Lamb and Nolan continued the HIStory session by overviewing the kings of the Old Testament including their triumphs and failures. We learned that Jesus is our only King and it’s in our mistakes that we see our need for him. Our artifact for tonight was ancient pottery and the special helper Eric was given a piece to bring home.

CREW UPDATE

Crew has been working hard to serve on the various teams here at camp. Today the groups started their final rotations and continue to bring joy to the work they do. After dinner, Crew took a pontoon boat ride into town for some ice cream and after returning back to camp made some personalized pizza. After their game of mafia they will be heading off to bed with the rest of camp.

GOOD NIGHT!

Summit Day 1

And just like that the final week of kids camp has begun!

After arriving and setting up ‘home’ in their cabins for the week, Summit campers gathered together yesterday to get to know their cabin mates and counsellors over a spaghetti dinner with the most delicious homemade garlic bread. Following dinner, campers picked their activities for the week, took the swim test and met for big top where they were introduced to the series for the week taught by Pastor Nolan- HIStory.

“DA Bible is HIS story, it’s OUR story, it’s YOUR story”

To kick off Avengers week, all cabins were assigned to a “super hero” team and put together their team chants to close out Sunday night.

After kicking off the first full day of camp with morning activities that got the music pumpin’ and filling our bellies with breakfast, we headed to morning session where we were led in worship by Greg and Caleb. To wake us up, we sang about the JOY JOY JOY JOY down in our hearts. Pastor Nolan then spoke about Genesis 1 and the creation story. We learned that everything God had created was GOOD. We were encouraged to remember that we were intentionally created by God who knows us intimately. As part of the creation story, Pastor Nolan brought some fossils to show to the campers. Ivy, the camper helper this morning, was lucky enough to go home with a couple of the special fossils!

Before and after a delicious loaded baked potato and veggie lunch where the campers dressed up as their favourite superheros, campers had the chance to experience their first activities for the week. From kayaking to high ropes, water sports to visual arts, crafts to beach time and more, the camp was bustling with excitement.

After a cooler morning, the sun showed up just in time for free swim. Following dinner, the avengers assembled for their camp wide relay race game where one team excelled with a time of 6 minutes and 48 seconds!

The evening wrapped up with big top session. Pastor Nolan shared about how we all make choices in life and just like Adam and Eve we can sometimes make bad choices but God still meets us in those choices. After lots of laughs and singing around the campfire the Summit campers are off to bed!

Blaze – Day 5 – Medieval Times

Sadly we have come to the end of the week. But what a beautiful day to end it on. Campers are now used to their morning routine as they woke up and headed to morning activity’s, and then a breakfast of fruit parfaits to energize them for the day. Campers then headed to clean their cabins, which they had manage to make a mess of in one day of course. With cabins all clean they went to big top to learn about how God split the Red sea for Moses.

Since art major were done their paintings they got to make friendship bracelets for their friends. Canoeing went out on the lake today and got to practice tipping and learned how to help there friends get back into the boat. They’re all ready for the LIT canoe trip now!

Lunch dress up was medieval times and campers got out their crowns. Some campers were paper bag princess’s and others took a classic twist on it and crowned a kid king.

Second activity guitar major jammed in the nice cool underground and other kids sun tanned and swam like fish in the water. It looked like lots of fun. Kids and staff continued to hang out at the beach all throughout third activity and free swim. The beach today was a very popular place to be today to escape the scorching sun.

Everyone got all dressed up for last dinner of the week. Everybody looked so nice! Scalloped potatoes, ham and salad filled everyone up as we head out for another classic camp game, the quadrathlon. A realy race consisting of swimming, canoeing, kayaking and running.

It was another emotional big top session tonight as we learned that we are chosen by God, and have hope through God. There was lots of time left at the end for kids to get prayed over by leaders and for one last great worship session.

Campfire was run by our fantastic LIT’s tonight. All the kids had a blast watching their leaders become different people in funny skits like royal paper, and the movie theater skit. After campfire the 4 winning cabins headed to the lodge for a special snack of nachos!

What a good end to the day. And I know I say that at the end of every blog post but I don’t think there is any better way to end the day then spent in community with people who love Jesus and are here to love and support each other endlessly.

 

Blaze – Day 4 – Pirates Vs. Vikings

What a beautiful day at camp. This morning campers got to sleep in and skip morning activity’s. Staff took turns going to staff devos were we did communion together, a great way to start the day.

We had a sweet breakfast of turnovers, cereal and fruit. Before campers headed to their cabin to clean, and go to Big top for another great session by Pastor Dan.

First activity started as kids headed crafts to make a fidget box. Art major finished all their beautiful paintings today, after working hard on them all week. Archery went and practiced their aim across the road while makerspace got to play with remote control helicopters.

Campers got to chose whether to dress up as pirates or vikings for lunch dress up. Since when we fixed the time machine this morning we accidentally brought a pirate and viking back with us. One cabin took a twist on the theme and became the pie rats. For lunch we had delicious chicken wraps.

For second activity photography practiced taking portraits. Kayakers of course went out on the beautiful lake. What a great place to appreciate Gods handywork. Kids in water sports were able to get up on the skis today, what an exciting accomplishment.

Third activity was filled with lots of love as cookie baking made a heart shaped cookie.  Campers ventured to low ropes to swing on tire swings and try to shimmy across the tight wire. Campers had fun on the beach again during free swim as they splashed about in the lake.

We had a good dinner of rice and meatballs with salad. Which gave the kids lots of energy as they started a game of capture the flag, pirates vs. vikings. What a classic camp game, always a favorite.

Crew and aspire had the annual crew vs. aspire challenge. Of course crew won. And after Crew headed across the road for a sleep out. Hopefully the ground isn’t too uncomfortable.

 Big top was very emotional tonight with lots of tears (don’t worry all good tears), as lots of campers felt God in this place tonight.

Camp fire was a blast as support staff took the spot light,perform the bear song and the ever popular baby shark song. The bus skit was a hoot, and it was followed by the classic pass the salt skit.

What a good way to end the day.