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| Tuesday June 25th |
***WARNING: THIS WILL BE A LONG POST***
So, back in January, we booked a white-water rafting trip for Girls Camp. Sister Miller was called to be the Camp Leader, we got our camp site booked and were all set to go...planning for a Monday June 24th departure. Well, back during Memorial Day Weekend, I called to check on the water levels up in Kernville, and found out that there was no water! One Month from Camp! I went into a little bit of a panic. But then I prayed. For Reals! I prayed for help. I immediately got onto the ReserveAmerica website and searched for any/all group sites in Southern California that would have some nights available the week we needed. A bunch of places popped up, BUT only ONE had 3 nights in a row, the SAME week we were planning on going to camp (WEIRD!). I booked it, having no idea where this place was or what it was like. I read reviews on yelp and yahoo and everything was positive, but there were some concerns about whether the group sites were even open, due to construction. I called El Capitan State Beach and made sure the sight was really available and they assured me that it was. So, I called the Bishop and Sister Miller and we had to re-arrange our plans. I was so scared that everything would be awful. Sister Miller was worried too, so she headed up to EC SB to check it out the week before we were supposed to leave. She called and let me know it was BEAUTIFUL and had all sorts of things for us to do and that she was so excited. I felt so much better! So after getting Jeremy off to the Grand Canyon and Gav off to DC and the boys off to Nana's, Cali and I got ourselves all ready to go!
On Tuesday morning, June 25th, we all met at the church, loaded up the cars and trailer and headed to El Capitan State Beach - Santa Barbara. We were on our way, when the fuse blew in the pilot. The radio and dvd player quit working. We knew it would be a rough drive without those, so we stopped off in Mission Viejo at the dealership where Jeremy bought it. They replaced the fuse, threw in an extra and showed me how to fix it, if it happened again. They did it all in about 10 minutes and it only cost us some homemade cookies that Claire Haderlie made! Sweet Miracle! We arrived at our destination in less than 4 hours (another sweet miracle)!!!
Our site was the last in the campground. We were all by ourselves on this beautiful bluff overlooking the ocean. The bathrooms & showers had just been remodeled and we were the first to use them (sweet miracle-again!).
The site came with lots of tables, shade, a fire pit, an awesome counter/sink thing, and the train. We were worried about the train, but it only went by 2X's a day, and we hardly heard it! The freeway was just beyond the train tracks. That was a little on the noisy side at night. But Brother Riddle introduced me to ear plugs (sweet, sweet miracle).
Yep...it just kept getting better...WE HAD OUR OWN PRIVATE BEACH!
Since we were the only ones on the north side of the campground, we had our own staircase that led to the beach and no one was there! It was AWESOME and SO PRETTY!
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| Stair View |
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| Sunset - not over the ocean...weird! |
After we got camp all set up, we took a nice walk on the beach and explored. We went back up and had a yummy dinner, then headed back down to the beach for FHE. Sister Miller taught a wonderful lesson on Testimonies. She made of us a pillow case. "Before your head hits your pillow each night, think of one thing that happened to strengthen your testimony".
We ended the night with s'mores by the fire and then went off to sleep. It was an amazing first day!
Day 2 - Wednesday
We woke the girls up at 6:30 AM (they were not too happy), because there was a negative tide. We walked down the trail to the south end of the campgrounds where we explored the tide pools. It was so cool! We saw so many starfish, anenomies, barnacles and crabs. It was such a beautifully sunshiney morning and we had the best time checking out all the sea life.
We had a morning lesson right there at the tide pools about confidence. "Don't Shell Yourself Short!" We packed up our breakfasts and ate them there too. Good Morning!
We walked back up to the site and got all ready and hopped on our bikes! The trail was "officially" closed, due to erosion, BUT, the guy at the store told us to just go around the sign, AND the Bishop led the way! YAY!
It was a great ride, right along the coast, to the next State Beach, Refugio. That's a beautiful place too!
We were all hot and sweaty from the ride, so we hopped into our suits and jumped into the ocean!
The girls played in the water and sand for hours! They had so much fun!
They were sore and tired from all the fun, but still managed to play numerous games at the camp site all night long! They ALL played - TOGETHER! It was wonderful to see. It made me so happy. We had another amazing dinner and woofems, before passing out that night.
So, while we were sleeping that second night, the MM & Laurel tent had a little visitor- A SKUNK!
Yep, they left the bottom tent flap open during the night and the little critter got in. The girls woke to the skunk eating their oreos, pooping on their stuff and it climbed all over them! THEY DIDN'T SCREAM! They froze and the little guy (we named him Flower), left the way he came in. MIRACLE!!!!
Day 3: Thursday
That morning, after all the excitement and a pancake breakfast, we hopped into the cars and headed north a few miles to hike to some wind caves.
IT WAS HOT! And the hike was a little challenging, but we made it to the top...
And our fearless leader (the Bishop), found the caves! YAY!
We had our lesson in the cave-"Finding Joy in the Journey". It was very relevant to the journey we had just made. We spent the next hour or so, just resting in the caves and exploring.
What a View!
Again, the girls were hot and sweaty from their hike, so we hit the ocean to cool off some more!
They played and played and played ALL TOGETHER!
That night, we had another delicious meal and played more camp games and even made chocolate cake in an orange! It was so yummy!
This was the last night, and we stayed up pretty late. The older girls couldn't let anyone sleep until they took the Beehives on their first Snipe Hunt. They were so prepared-
Day 4 - Friday
The Last Day! (So Sad...Sniff, Sniff)
We all slept in. Everyone was so tired! We slowly got up and started breaking down camp. We all got our camp shirts on, had breakfast, and one last lesson. Then we headed to the bluff for some pics!
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| V10 Young Women |
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| Sisters!!! (And Bro Riddle Photo Bomb- Classic!) |
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| Sister Miller- The Best Camp Director! |
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| Cali & the Beehives |
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| So glad my little girl got to come too! |
We packed up the cars and started home, but made on last stop in Santa Barbara. Sister Miller had found a park where a nice bike trail started and ran all along the beach-front. It was such a gorgeous day and I got to lead the pack all the way to the pier.
It was so much fun and we could ride our bikes up onto the pier, where we stopped and got some ice cream.
We rode all along the trail until it ended...
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| Hippie Bus! |
"Finding Joy in the Journey" was the theme of our camp. We all truly found so much joy in this journey. I was so happy to see all these girls having fun together and bonding. I still can not believe we were able to have our camp in such an amazing place! I know it was just meant to be.
