Belated Birthday Camp Out at NorthCroft

There is no doubt, Northcroft is for children...and Mimi. I mean, boys can run wet and wild, but somebody has to dry out the boots so mildew won't grow in them!

Truly, this past weekend is one of the reasons I am so grateful for our little place in the mountains. My grandchildren are the best of the best and they have the best of friends...

For his birthday each year, Andrew has chosen to have a camp out at Northcroft. He usually has about a half dozen friends and their fathers. (I really like this idea. I love watching the father/son connection; and I know the memories they are making together are big time important! ) They haul in tons of camping gear, food, gifts and, over the years they have learned to bring extra clothes and warmer jackets. The extras are for the inevitable fall into the creek in temperatures about 10 degrees colder than in Atlanta. I have also noticed newer and better camping gear as the years go by, and therefore happier faces in the early morning hours after a long night on the cold ground.

Kim, Emily, Will (who was mostly wet from being out with the big boys) and Morgan joined Grandad and me inside. Morgan taught Emily and me how to knit, and from that time until they left, their pretty little heads were in the bowing positions, knitting. Cute, cute, cute! From inside the warm cabin, we could hear shouts of excitement during a game of 'Capture the Creek', hundreds of rocks being thrown into the water and then later guitar music and song coming out of the darkness, from around the glow of the campfire.

I love this camp out weekend! I'm glad that my grandchildren love Northcroft the way I do. I adore Tom and Andrew's friends. I love that Mike and Joe are not just family but friends too. I love watching the teaching, the learning, the playing of all things boy.

This year, I loved something else... Tom and Andrew had a prior commitment to the children of the church. They are the Knight and Page of Apostlelot, a troupe of actors that performs an on going Godly story each week during the children's assembly. The children look forward to seeing them and hearing what happens next in the play. In the dark of the early morning, Tom and Andrew got up (Andrew leaving his own party that he was enjoying so much), and went back to Atlanta, to do God's work. That's why you don't see them in the last half of the pictures, but a lot of other children at church saw them. Without knowing it, Tom and Andrew set a life example for us all and Mike hung around till the end to pick up the slack of their absence. Need I say more.

:) Mimi

P.S. By clicking on the slide show you can get to the photo album and save any of the pictures that you want to your computer.