Montecito Sequoia

During the first week of August, we attended a family camp in the Western Sierras called Montecito Sequoia.  It's fairly similar to Aspen Grove, in that there are classes for all the age groups, lots of activities, and meals provided in a central dining hall.  The main differences are that, while Aspen Grove is a church camp, Montecito is very secular, and has slightly better activities.  Also, it's a lot more expensive...

      

One of the best attractions at Montecito Sequoia is the private lake.  It's fairly small, but that just makes it safer for the kids.  Anyone who wants to swim in the lake has to pass a swim test and get a wristband, so all the kids got that out of the way pretty quickly. 
    

Swim Test

Elise Paddleboarding with her Friend

I trusted her not to drown Celeste

Net Fishing with Bread Crumbs

We loved fishing and frog-hunting in the evenings.

Each day has a published schedule.  Here are pictures of a few of the activities that we participated in:
   

  

Ukulele Lessons

Face Painting

Carnival Games

Raffles

Paintball (Ryan and Connor)

Horseback Riding Lessons (Elise)

Crafts and Story Time/Snacks

Bouldering (Ryan and Evan)

Theme Nights

Pony Rides

Slacklining

Capture the Flag

Corinne wasn't sure if she would be missing out by celebrating her birthday at camp, but now she wants to go back every year!  She was given a crown and sung to at morning pow-wow; she opened presents, showed off her presents to her friends, and ate birthday cake in the dining hall.
  

Seven Years Old!

Calico Critters

  
Connor wasn't thrilled with the pack of middle-schoolers in his age group, but he quickly found this group of older boys who stayed up late every night playing board games and poker.  They welcomed him in, and I let him stay up late in the lodge playing with them.
  

Ryan competed in a biathlon, which at Montecito involves biking around the lake four times and target shooting with air-rifles between each lap.  Some of the guys competing were serious bikers, but Ryan actually did pretty well!  I really liked how nobody took it too seriously (or would admit to taking it seriously.)  Elise also competed in air-riflery, and figuratively blew everyone away.  Her scores were better than any of the adults at camp!  Connor spent his time on archery, and also ended up with a good ranking.
       

Biathlon

Air Rifles

Archery!

Connor worked independently on archery, along with the adults.

  
Almost none of the activities Ryan and I did overlapped, which felt kind of weird, but we both had a great time!  I did a few yoga classes, including a great hike to the Mariposa Grove where we did meditation in a ring of sequoias.  I also went on a horseback trail ride, and later spent some time just hiking alone and looking at the wildlife and trees.
     

Bee-Colored Robber Fly Eating a Bee

Hippie Child

On the last morning of camp, the staff gave out awards and certificates.  Evan got one for bouldering, Connor for archery, and Elise for her amazing marksmanship skills.  Corinne felt a little left out, but got over it.
   

On our way home, we stopped at Sequoia National Park and spent a little time looking at the Deku Trees.