Vacation Bible School

This year, Cornerstone Stone Retreat Center, owned by the Dulac family of our parish, hosted their first all Catholic VBS week.  Their facility is in Silverado Canyon and is simply breathtaking.  It was cool to get to go to a VBS that was all outdoors.  I took the week off of work and volunteered, and they had places for all three kids.  Zachary, as a middle school student, was a "Captain" - meaning he helped the adult volunteers with the younger kids, with set up etc.  Nicholas was an actual VBSer, or camper.  And Katie was in the pre-school area.  Now this place was set up great - they had built sections for each part of the day - the music area, the craft area, the teaching area, snacks and sports area, out of pallets, tents, etc.  There was a big stage under some large trees where each day started with group songs, skits, etc.

Here are the kids on the first day.  We all had the same shirt, but in different colors to designate our roles.

They sang songs every morning as a group, and the older kids put on skits

I love this view of Katie and her yellow ribboned pigtails!

Momma and Katie in the Saintly Snack Area!  Even the snack time was a craft, a teaching opportunity as well as a yummy treat.  The group that put this week on spent a ton of time working on it, and it really showed how well prepared they were.  The whole week went really smoothly and made it so everyone could really have a good time

The learning tent - or Missionaries in Motion - is where I volunteered.  Each day the kids would rotate though the different activities.  I got to work with them all on scripture lessons, etc - as well as do some really fun crafts and activites.  Nicholas liked when he got to my station and could give me a big hug!

Craft time, music chapel, snack time - all of it brought the Lord into the day's activities.  It was spiritually rejuvenating for all of us to be living and breathing our Catholic faith together in such a special way this week.

And in the afternoon, each day we brought a picnic lunch.  We had lunch under the trees and then had activities for those who wanted to stay.  We of course particiapted in everything!  We went swimming in the retreat center pool, went for a hike and did water play.  My favorite was the hike as it is on trails that I run on during my long runs.

Katie is ready to go on the hike!

Zachary helps her along, while Nicholas and his buddy Geordie have some good conversations.

Zachary and I went deep into the trails

But Katie liked the water day the best.  There is something magical about a hot summer day and a sprinker on a large grassy lawn that every child loves!  Brings back memories for me too.

The last day was bittersweet - we were sad to say goodbye to the new friends we had made (and I was sad that my week off playing stay-at-home mom was coming to an end!)

Karen and Tabitha and I taught in the Missionaries in Motion tent all week and really got to be good friends.