Incredible Vacation!!!

Last week we got back from the most amazing vacation of our lives. Jeremy and I have been very blessed to be able to travel to many beautiful places and stay at some of the best hotels, but somehow the simplicity of our week at Kanakuk Family Camp (http://www.kanakukfamilycamp.com/) seemed to out do any of our other destinations. This was the first time that Jeremy, the kids, and I had been on a trip with just our little family. Usually we travel with family or friends. It was a week that we will never forget.

We started our vacation with a visit to the Exotic drive thru Zoo. We bought some food for the animals and headed through the six mile park in our car. The camel was the first animal to approach our car and of course he decided to make his way to my window. I freaked out and just about jumped in TW's lap while throwing the food at the camel. It was hilarious!!! I warmed up to the animals quite a bit and actually did feed them. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Our car got a few scratches on it from the hooves of goats jumping up on the side of the car and the horns of other animals scratching the side of the car trying to get to some food. That wouldn't stop of from going back again though! It was great!

We then headed to camp. It was supposed to only be about 45 minutes from the zoo, but I took us on a 45 minute detour around Branson so it ended up taking closer to two hours to get to the camp. Usually it is TW that gets us lost, but this time it was my fault. I entered the address wrong into the GPS system so it took us to the wrong destination. It was another fun memory of the trip looking back at it now. :)

At camp we did all sorts of amazingly fun activities. Monster golf, ropes course, swimming, paint ball, canoeing, crawdad hunting, boating, tubing, bluff jumping (or juff blumping as they call it), painting pottery, board games, archery, relay races, water volleyball, eating, singing, laughing, ping pong, water slides, high dive, whew...I am sure there is more I am forgetting. The best thing we did...bond as a family. Our love for one another grew so much in this one week away. No TVs, not even in our rooms, minimal cell phone and internet use, no distractions. Just good ole' simple, plain fun. It was amazing how well the kids behaved the whole time as well. Everyone's love tank was full and in turn behaviors were good and we enjoyed each other's company. When it was time to leave we all cried. We cried because we were going to miss the staff/counselors that we had grown to love. In one short week many of them came to feel like family to us. Their love for our kiddos was amazing! I also cried because I didn't want to leave the "safe" feeling that we had accomplished that week. The safety of each other's company, the safety from the hectic schedules that we allow ourselves to get wrapped up in, the safety from crime, the safety from others who are out to hurt us, and most of all the safety of being with others who understand the way we are living our lives. No condemnation, no criticism...all love! We still, two weeks later, are singing the songs we learned, doing the silly chants that we did at camp, talk about the friends we made, and miss those that we grew close too. Our hearts miss that place...we will for sure be back next year!