That being said, I am going to do things differently next year .... There was no real downtime other than the evenings. My thoughts are to take that final activity on Sunday morning and condense them to only a handful of activities that women can participate in one of them being a chapel service. To have all these amazing women from all these different backgrounds and not have church on Sunday was hard for me. And by Sunday morning we all just wanted to have a cup of coffee and sit around! But I needed to ring that bell and get women off to their activities really quickly .... It would have been really nice to let them enjoy breakfast a little bit longer and then fold into whatever activities they have chosen that will take place on property with no off transportation ... With chapel included as one of those options!! With so many women from non-faith backgrounds, I really didn't know how to maneuver around this so that everyone is comfortable but still able to intermingle with other women of faith ..... So that's what's been on my mind this last week as I process the weekend.
Here are some pictures to highlight that final day on Sunday!
Search and rescue came and gave the women a wilderness survival class that made it onto a lot of the cards at the end of the weekend as one of the highlights! I was happy to hear that.
but it all seriousness ... to have family and friends and people who love adventure and this camp and being outside, it really was a great weekend to be part of. I honestly went into the weekend wondering when my last year would be, because it's so much work, but I finished the weekend just feeling thankful that I get to be part of it.
Another highlight of this weekend that I had never been able to do before was actually take part in of course! Not only was it of course that scared me a little but it was a course taught by one of my campers that I've known since she was 13!! Meet Leanne!! She was able to secure five $2000 bikes for the workshops!! It was amazing!! As a sidenote, she's getting married in a few weeks and I was pretty flattered to hear that she called me hours after he proposed!! I'm pretty excited for her and hope I can make it to the wedding!!
Susan ended up doing the training and warm up and then passed the bike along to me for the trail riding because her wrist was acting up.
Mountain biking is way harder than it looks! Don't get me wrong it looks good right here as were all comfortably in the BMX track!
But, oh my goodness, as soon as we hit those trails, I bit it pretty early on hitting a tree trunk because my wheel caught on some roots!! I was pretty nervous for the rest of the time. All I kept thinking was I can't get hurt! I can't get hurt! Stupid adulthood and responsibilities....
As much as I hated making announcements at lunch, I took the opportunity to let the women know that I was happy to finally have joined the ranks of a league of extraordinary women who come to this retreat and do things that completely scare them! Women are always coming to me expressing your fears over things like caving and repelling! I have always been thrilled to be the facilitator that helps him to conquer their fears so I felt pretty glad to be part of that group now...because mountain biking is terrifying on some of those crazy trails! Way more fun to map them off on the quad with Chris that's for sure!!!
Oh Gina ....
Baristas worked hard this weekend and used 54L of milk .....
It was time to go .... But I thought I would join them as they soaked in their last few minutes!!
My buddy Rob thought he was being pretty funny here .....(thought this would be pretty funny to end the post with)
I learned a lot from this year with the numbers being increased and all the different new activities! As often as I try to get females to do the leading of the activities I really have to give a hats off to the men that were involved. Chris and Jim and Paul lead the Mount Balduc hiking trip up to the plane crash, women said they were very respectful and informative. Jim and Chris also took the women caving ! Another scary endeavor for many, but they felt very safe with these two men leading them. The women couldn't speak highly enough about Jon helping them rappel down a big scary mountain and when they got to the bottom that there was Mel to give them a high-five and give a hug to say congratulations ... Those are only a few on my mind right now but there were so many moving parts and so many instructors and helpers and workers!! (Kelly alone took on 3 big classes over the weekend!) People just came alongside each other to make sure that everyone was having an amazing but safe adventure and it was thrilling to be part of it!!
Time to start planning 2016!!!!
