Family Camping At It's Finest!!!

After years of hoping, the coveted "Group Site" was available on the weekend of the annual Boyer family camping trip and boy did this family fill it!!! What a blast! We enjoyed the family camping trip last summer, but something about San Clemente just equates to summer so I was stoked we were able to experience such a perfect ending to our California summer! Here's a glimpse of the action between July 22-26... just before we had to pack up and fly out!!! Nice timing!

Pre-Beach Activities

Each morning after breakfast we would gather in a rather large circle and a different person/rep from a family led the rest of us in a devotional time. This was the first year there a bit of organization and the topics worked together to form a better understanding of who God is and how we fit into and care for his community. One of the mornings we even had a baby dedication - it's a perk of having an uncle as a pastor and a family the size of a church!

Amber and Janel wanted to have Evan, Hannah and Elizabeth dedicated in front of the whole family so it was a special time to pray for these two families.

Evan with his loving care-givers

On the final morning, Matt organized for us all to do some 'team bonding' as a demonstration of how we as a family can build a stronger community...

Family Huddle

Steph did a great job of pointing out the creative power of God... while her assistants shared tangible evidences of that power.

After our spiritual input, most days the crew would go for a walk to the local market to get some sugar input.

The shelves are overflowing with temptations for hungry little campers...

Can you imagine being the shop owner when a group this size walks in??? Good thing we're all honest folk... and we came everyday... otherwise he may be suspicious.

Beach Time Activities

Before the sugar wore off, lunches were packed along with all the beach gear and down the bluff we treaded and along the beach to the left where we set up our secondary camp for the day.

 The San Clemente Junior Lifeguards have a muddy tradition which the younger rellies took advantage of.

 Surf's up!!!

There's always a bit of rough-housing going on in this family... even at the beach! But soft sand is fairly forgiving!

 Of course there are plenty of card games...

 sand...

 infamous Tootsie Pops...

 water play...

and the introduction of new babies to the sun's UV rays!

This year there was also a bit of dodge ball, bouy swimming, napping, reading, snacking, sunburn, body-surfing and of course general happy memory making.

Back At Camp

So when we'd had enough surf, sun and sand, we'd head back up the hill and prep for the night time activities...

There were plenty of happy grandparents and babies enjoying their cuddles,

 lots of cousins catching up,

plenty of s'mores eaten,

cross-generational relating,  

game organizing,

encouragement,

photo-taking,

and just simple quality time being spent.

 

It was my mom's 61st birthday on the day we arrived so my dad brought down the party!!! What fun to celebrate mom's birthday three years in a row!!!

Helena loved the party more than grandma!

 

There were a few clear sunsets and one absolute stunner!

Elijah is a bit spoilt now, but with two new additions arriving in Uncle Mark's family, I'm sure the love will get spread around - still very thickly which is how it's meant to be!

Ambrose girls

 

One of the most fun desserts were the "helmets" Jason and Amanda prepared - they required a whole lot of sitting around chatting while waiting, but once cooked - thoroughly enjoyed.

And most nights we stayed up later than we should've playing cards and catching up with our uncles and aunts... but it's always worth it (unless you lose).

Besides organizing the devotional time, a couple cousins also organized the dinner menu so that only a few families each night had to prepare. You would've thought we were at a 5-star restaurant... well planned, Tamara and crew!

Amber and Evan enjoying a moment!

 

We even had good friends coming in at nights to visit the families... it was a privilege to see the Adair's two years in a row!!

And a surprise to meet Miette! What a lovely girl with great parents!

Helena and Hunter did well in the tent, but if they got up too early we'd send them out to Grandpa's tent!!!

Sleepy head

And Grandpa and Grandma were of course in their hay-day with such a grand turn-out!!! What a wonderful memory - what a blessing to have such a family!

Roughin' It - Kiwi Style

One of my least favorite features of this blog site is the challenge of moving photos around, so no matter how organized I thought I was when I started this entry, it's a bit sloppy now... but heck, I just want to share the joy... so here we go!!!

After 7+ hours of driving in our hired Subaru Legacy wagon loaded down with camping supplies (in a major spatial reasoning exercise by my amazing husband) we finally arrived at our destination - WAIMARAMA BEACH RESORT!!! What a gorgeous day to start out... we were very relieved considering we heard there was a tornado type wind that swept through the day before!!!

After two & a half years, we were reunited with lots of dear friends from our Arise Church family from Wellington who were there holidaying together!!! Thanks, Mike & Anne for inviting us to be part of the fun!!!

The rest of the gang had been at the campground for a week or so already, so they'd scouted out the best places to hang out... the kids loved this creek that ran into the sea. And they were very grateful for the Stanway's new sea kayak.

Pastor John demonstrating what it means to be the greatest in God's kingdom... learning to be a servant! You've got to admit though, that doing dishes is much easier when done outdoors in the sunshine with your other buddies around too!
Helena woke up a bit surprised each morning because we put her down to sleep in one section of the tent then moved her whole bed into the other section with Hunter fast asleep on the airbed next to her... We discovered this technique after a few nights of him crawling into her cot and what a difference it made! Basically they each fell right to sleep without the distraction of the other - a trick we'd recommend to anyone with a big enough tent...
Tony packed his wetsuit all the way from Taipei so he had to use it (at least once).

What a sweetie in her little pink chair all slathered in sunblock... very much a daily routine!

This is what you would consider 'typical' camp food, but really, this was the only day we ate sausages - and boy did they taste great!!!



One night the ladies went out for coffee and dessert at a local cafe (yes, we are camping) while the guys stayed back to hold down the fort, take care of the kids and try their hands at Texas Hold 'Em... and wouldn't you know it, our very own Tony Clark came out the winner!!!


For a bit of variety, we all headed to SPLASH PLANET in Havelock North for a day of fun in the sun and the water slides!!!!

Jessie Trimble was a sweetie and took a liking to Helena which gave me a much needed break every once in a while...

As most of you know, we've tried to keep our kids fairly sugar free (as best as possible)... but goodness gracious, we were on vacation at the beach and it was summer - so Hunter was in hog heaven... my grandma will be so proud...

but I do need to be honest - it's a "kiddie cone"!!!

At some stage in the day, Tony & Hunter went exploring the dry-land attractions with Mike & Caleb while Helena & I searched for refuge from the sun. These guys had a blast together and hopefully there will be lots of 'male bonding' between all of them in the future.

After a great day at the waterpark, we did a bit of grocery shopping in town then headed up to Te Mata Peak for a healthy dinner of fish & chips and Chinese takeaways... Hunter's truly a Kiwi with a love of tomato sauce.
Te Mata Peak - aka Tomato Peak - offered a spectacular view over the region... what an amazing place!!! Maybe next year we'll plan a run up...

Really... my photos don't do it justice but this place was amazing!!!

And wow... what an end to a beautiful day!!! Isn't God just so creative?!?

Another day we headed over to the 'watering hole' as I seemed to want to call it where I had to put on a brave face just to get my our feet wet in the freeeeezzzzing cold water!!!

Liz & Jay started the trend in our group... what trend might you ask?!? Well, see that waterfall behind them?!? Yep, you guessed it... we jumped!!!

I felt like a high schooler again at Beaver Falls in the Grand Canyon... Tony & I did it together and believe me, it really was the only way I was getting more than my feet wet in that icy pond!

After the thrill of the water hole, we stopped by a strawberry patch for a bit of traditional Kiwi
summer fare.

The boys were having a blast...

and we definitely did eat our fair share, though not continually as the sign warned against... we are rule-followers afterall...

Okay... so Caleb is almost 4 - well, he's 10 months older than Hunter and the two got on pretty well (except when Caleb needed a bit of personal space which Hunter in his exhuberant extroversion doesn't really understand just yet)... and it was funny because Hunter often tried to mimic things Caleb did.

And yes, more ice cream... this time Aidan is wearing it... too bad Helena was asleep, she missed out on all of it!!!

Well, maybe not all of it...

This was the best spot along the beach... it was a spot sheltered from the wind so it was a bit warmer and the creek offered the kids a place to play in the shallow water. This dog took an interest in us, but didn't want to play 'chase the stick' with Tony, instead he picked up a rock and brought it over to us - he obviously prefers ball-type objects to chase.

Hunter, our very own "Globe Trekker"

(for those of you who watch Travel & Living Channel, you'll know the program I'm talking about).

Meanwhile, back at the campgrounds - we had this little see-saw near our site and the kids were always eyeing up who was there playing... Helena in particular liked to join in the big kids' fun, though she needed a bit of help from her bigger friends.

Caleb's bike... there was one bike and 3 boys who wanted to ride it: Caleb (almost 4), Will (just turned 3) and Hunter (almost 3). You can only imagine the negotiations around this one... but somehow they all managed to get a ride and Caleb was the sharing hero in my book! On another topic, Hunter recently started wearing these footie pajamas that got handed down from Travis - he LOVES them... thus the reason he's riding the bike in mid-morning with shoes on - it was hard going to motivate him to change into anything other.

By January 10th most of the group had gone back to Wellington leaving us & the Burrows to enjoy the great outdoors together. Hunter, the social butterfly he is, began to extend his circle with the other kids in the campground... good thing we were camped near the bathrooms so he could make his picks easily.

We happened to be in the right place at the right time - the Waimarama Beach Day was a big event sponsored by a local radio station which brought a huge crowd and lots of buzz to the otherwise quiet place we'd been hangign out all week. You can tell we've been living in Taipei for a while because we were happy to have a crowd! One of the activities on offer were rides in the surf rescue boats... so Tony suggested we all have a go...

Anne & I were up for anything that gave us a few moments of time away from the kids... you moms know how that is... and this was a real adreneline rush as well!!!

Sandy sticks... what could be better?!?

One of the other cool things was a demonstration using the new rescue helicopter... the kids were SO STOKED to be able to see, touch and sit in a real helicopter!!!

Caleb was hard to get out of that seat over there... he occupied it for quite a while, but Helena grunted her way into Hunter's seat... she was super keen!!!

This was a lot of daddy time... both of the kids really enjoyed having so much of Tony's attention and affection... I guess that's what family holidays are about, eh?!? Parents may not get as much rest or relaxation as they otherwise could, but kids really get a lot from their parents at times like this... a good thing for us to remember!

Here they are, the champion Burrows bunch!!!

As if eating outside everyday wasn't what we were already doing, one morning we took our porridge to the park for a bit of a picnic breakfast! The kids enjoyed a change of scenery (we enjoyed it too) and it was perfect since it was the day before we had to go home and it was looking too chilly for going back to the beach. This campground was great in that there was this park, the surf beach and the river all within walking distance... I really appreciated the options.

Now here's the part about Kiwi style camping that I was impressed with... the Stanways are absolute legends!!! They brought their own BBQ set up in their own 'section' by a garden mesh fence that they set along their tent and even closed off with a gate to keep their kids safely nearby when necessary... well thought out!!! Not to mention all their stuff -they are fully kitted out! Walking around the campground, one could easily become covetous of all the cool gear available...

but our new tent was perfect for us, though!

Thanks to Tony's dad, we got this 3 room tent as our Christmas present this year!!!

We set up on the same site as Mike & Anne who were also right next to the Trimbles... so we had a great little communal area!

And again, this is where we did most of our dishes - once you got the hot water from the laundry room, you were good to go...

And this was the kitchen... two stove tops, two fridges w/freezers, two microwaves, two toasters... come on, folks!!! Is this really camping!?!? Well, I guess so and I guess this will make it much easier for us to want to come out in the future... forget all those propane tanks and slow campstoves... this is modern camping!!! (well, I should probably mention that the other sites had electricity and people actually had their own toasters, coffee makers, lamps, computers, dvd players, etc... but then one asks - is that a holiday?!? "YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT" is probably the resounding answer you'd hear!)

Time to pack up... after 8 nights of camping, it was time to head back to the big smoke... the boys enjoyed helping.

This was a cool view inside the Burrows' empty tent...

And this was a better view outside it the day before! Notice Hunter's jelly smile... there's nothing quite like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when you're camping at the beach!

So we said our good-byes to our dear friends and headed back up to Auckland via Tokoroa & Hamilton where we caught up with some of Tony's relatives...

Gosh... it's hard to believe that we'll be back 'home' in NZ in just a few months... I hope we'll still look at the beauty that is NZ in awestruck wonder when we return...