Sun Lakes 2009 - This Is What We Come For!

The Cat Who Cried For Help - Say What?

Ok, this had to be the most random book I spotted in camp at Sun Lakes. Can you guess who took this book along?

And these were the other books being read in camp. I have a special Sun Lakes prize for any non-camper who can successfully match the books to the readers without help:

A Veiled Reflection - Tracie Peterson

Have A New Kid By Friday - Dr. Kevin Leman

Star Wars Epic Battles - Simon Beecroft

Dancing With Rose - Lauren Kessler

Little Britches - Ralph Moody

Rules of Deception - Christopher Reich

Ella Minnow Pea - Mark Dunn (winner of the Best Title award by me)

Crazy Love - Francis Chan

So Brave Young and Handsome - Leif Engler

Treasures of the North - Tracie Peterson

Western Legends - Zane Grey

Adventures of Frog & Toad - Arnold Lobel

Lies Young Women Believe - Nancy Leigh DeMoss

The Daily Message - Eugene Peterson

Random Sun Lakes Stats

18 campers
1 motor home
5 vehicles
2 trailers
5 tents
3 bbq grills
6 laptops
4 iPods
3 MP3's
2 PSP's
2 DS's

Magazines Spoted in Camp

Real Simple
Car & Driver
Bible Study Magazine
Computer Shopper
Warmbloods
Worldwide Challenge
Equestrian
The Journal
Interval
Cooking Light
Pottery Barn Catalog
Table Talk by RC Sproul
Horse.com
NW Businessman
Motor trend
Grill It!
People
US
Sunset
MS Living
Kipplingers
....and closet copies of Glamour & Cosmo that I promised not to tell about

Good-Bye's

All too soon it was time to say good-bye. Brandon and Greta were the first to leave on Sunday around noon, Britt and Shana left at 5:30 and Taryn & I around 6:00.

The rest spent the nite in a major thunder and lightning storm. At about 11 PM they drove up to Dry Falls and watched the lightening from under the pavilion at the visitors center. It was a spectacular show.

Unfortunately a spectacular rain followed thru most of the nite which was not so pleasant for the remaining tenters - Todd, Colleen, Daniel & David

Sunday Morning Breakfast

Vern made some amazing french toast for us Sunday morning...

...and Britt was in charge of the bacon.

Steak Night

Steak night is the mega meal of the trip and Jack was so ready!

Britt and Gary grilled up the steaks.

Not only did Gary serve them, but he explained them to Greta & Brandon!

Britt & Shana

Nothin' Better Than Bein' Together!

Ryan & Sam

Sam & Traci

Some serious Take Four.

Happy Birthday!

Both Gary and Traci had birthdays today so we celebrated with a fresh raspberry dessert.

Max and the Ants

At some point Max discovered some ants under the edge of their trailer which fascinated him, and he spent enormous amounts of time enjoying the adventure of the ants.

Conference

Not sure why but the guys held an impromptu conference
around the garbage can. Not even sure what the discussion was about but thot it looked so funny!

All the Fun!

This year our camp site consisted of a motor home, 2 trailers and 5 tents and a canopy we affectionately called "the pavilion".

Initially Taryn was not able to go along with us - the first time ever - but since her leg was not able to tolerate the long hours of standing at her job on the berry picker she was kindly offered a few days off which allowed her to come for three days and we were so glad!

Fishing in the morning is a big deal at Sun Lakes. Colleen even got a handy-dandy new pole this year. Don't ask Max about his new pole though.

Taryn is all about those early morning fishing trips. Sure glad Ryan is a sport and faithfully takes them! Oh, and ask Jack how many fish he caught! Word is the number grew the closer to camp he got.

Skiing and tubing are the reason we're here. The weather was perfect and the boat went out continually.

Ask Ryan how much he loves this pool! It really is part of why we come to Sun Lakes. Unfortunately the rest of the campground enjoys it too, and it can be wall-to-wall wet people.

Almost everyone at Sun Lakes reads something.

We also play a lot of camping games. This year the three favs were ERS (seen here) Take Four and the guys got in one game of Stock Market which I think Ryan won.

Sun Lakes Arrivals

**Please note the consistent stripes on the table cloth. I spent a lot of time on that**

The dates of our annual camping/water ski trip to Sun Lakes had to be moved up to July to accommodate the coming mega-busy August, so this was the long weekend that worked for most.

Britt and Shana came from Spokane after enjoying several days of vacation earlier that week; Ryan, Traci, Sam, Max, Jack, Todd, Colleen, Dan & David left Lynden before noon; and Gary, Brandon & Greta left around 4 pm. They all got there at various times and set up camp and enjoyed the first campsite evening conversations.

Taryn worked till after 7 PM on the berry picker. After she had cleaned up, and after we had moved her horse to the horse-sitter we drove the new Civic over the hill leaving Lynden at 9 pm.

It was quite an adventure for the two of us. We had several close-encounters with deer, but God very graciously spared us from hitting one.

And it was a beautiful nite for driving with an almost full moon in the sky which made the drive so beautiful. But it was a long drive and we were very thankful to get there at 2:18 AM.

Vern and Bev came the next morning on their motor bikes from Desert Canyon.