Final Day of 2015 GGC

Our last day of camp - all the campers wearing their GGC shirts.  We have learned about the 7 days of Creation this week, and memorized Psalm 19:1-2.  We made mobiles with each day on them, so we can look back and remember.  This morning we discussed the final day, where God rested.  

We're off to the Hines Farm in Lizton, IN.  First a quick check on the two frogs that our friend Travis caught.  F.R.O.G. stands for "Forever Rely On God", so frogs are pretty important at GGC.  

We have arrived at Jeff & Kim's farm!  We've all got our long pants on because Jeff says we'll be in long grass and take a walk through a cornfield.  Bug spray is essential. Then we're off in the Ranger.  

What is this thing below that we are riding over?  Jeff explains it's a Cow Catcher - cows won't walk over this, so no gate is needed here at the entrance to their neighbor's farm. 

We pass some geese by the farm pond.  Jeff says they might be the mean kind of geese.  We cannot know without getting close, and if they are the mean kind they will bite.  We decide not to find out if they are the mean kind or the nice kind.  It is a beautiful day, and we see the reflections of the trees (that God made on Day 3) in the pond. 

Inside the sheep barn, we see how the sheep all follow each other.  One goes, and they all follow.  Jeff talks about how God calls people "sheep" in the Bible.

The hay is just inviting little people to climb up in it ... 

 One of the sheep had a tag on its ear that Micah read, and it said Micah 20.  Jeff told us that the boy at his neighbor's farm was named Micah, and that sheep must belong to him.

Abby and Hannah spot Sasha the sheepdog, and before long all the kids want a chance to pet her.  

Jeff tells us to be really still and quiet, and he catches a sheep from the barn!  Micah and Papa watch from the Ranger, but soon everyone gets a chance to pet the wooly sheep while Jeff holds her. 

Jeff shows us deer paths - they walk the same paths over and over again.

Jeff saved a trailer load full of brush, just so we could get to help dump it! 

First we have to open the doors and lock them open, then Micah and Caroline get to raise the trailer bed.  

Just watch how cool this is when Jeff pulls his truck forward!  

 Hannah and Abby get to bring the trailer back down: 

Elliott has shown up on the tractor, and he pushes the load onto the pile. [Then he lifts it up and dumps it way up on top of the pile, which was pretty cool, but I was not quick enough to get it on video.]

 The kids all got to ride in the trailer with Elliott.  Hannah, ever the determined one, did not need a bit of help getting out of the trailer.  

Papa drives Nana in the Ranger while Jeff and Elliott take the kids on a walk through the cornfield.  Caroline gets to have an ear of the feed corn (not so good for people to eat!).  Nana and Papa could not only hear them coming through the cornfield, but could see the stalks waving high up in the air, so we knew just where they were as they were coming out of the field to meet us

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The kids asked Elliott where the end of the cornfield was, and they decided to walk to the end of it.  Jeff, Papa and Nana waited for a while and finally went looking for them.  They had walked to the end of the cornfield, and were up in the loft of the barn.  Elliott and Caroline (waving) are in the top window.  Micah (yes, that really is Micah up there) was excited he could see the whole farm from up that high!  

Jeff let Abby and Hannah sit in his lap and help drive the Ranger, while Elliott took Micah and Caroline on the tractor.  

Back at the house, Elliott took the kids on a little ride in the front of the tractor.  [I flipped the phone and you'll have to turn sideways to see the last half.]

No trip to the farm is complete, says Uncle Jeff, without a trip to the Dairy Bar.  The kids are delighted, and surprised that the people know Jeff and Elliott by name.  This makes the second time this week that we have had ice cream before lunch!  What a great morning at the farm!

 Back home after lunch, we had to go dig up the trash we had buried at the beginning of camp.  We were surprised to see that someone or something had already dug into our pile.  A groundhog?  A raccoon?  We looked at what was left, picked out all the plastic that wasn't turning back into dirt, and saw how the napkins and apple peels and things like that were getting pretty rotten.  Further away, Caroline found more pieces of plastic that the critter had stolen from our pile.  One thing we never did find, though - the metal can of Redi-Whip.  

We ended our time at GGC 2015 by painting our stepping stones, and that is just where all the parents found us when they arrived with our little siblings. 

GGC Day 3

Micah and Caroline were usually up a little earlier than the younger girls.  They both enjoy logic games, so they were allowed to play some of Nana's Lumosity games on her computer until Hannah and Abby were both up. The favorites were Train of Thought and Pet Detective. 

 We learned that God made all the land animals on Day 6 - creepy crawly things, tame animals, and wild ones.  Here the campers are coloring just a few of their many animal masks.  They really liked these!

 Can you tell who is who? 

 Just in case you couldn't tell, they'll show you their names, but Micah and Abby wanted to switch just to make it confusing for the parents.  :) 

Since God did everything in such an orderly way, step by step, we decided to make stepping stones.  Papa mixed up the concrete for us, then the kids smoothed it in their containers.  

 

 There were plenty of colorful decorations to choose from, and here are the (not yet painted) creations, Caroline's with a "C" in the middle. So sorry Nana chopped Hannah's head off!  :(

 

 We girls did Jamberry nails while the guys went for a bike ride.  The heat required was a little much for them, so many of them came off in the pool later, but they liked the pretty designs - sparkles, rainbows, stars, flowers, and "Frozen" designs.

 After lunch we headed to our friend Bev Spolnik's home for swimming.  The kids picked out colorful stickers and a bubble wand to take for Mark.  We got to ride in the elevator that Mark uses, and Bev had plenty of fun pool toys out for us. 

Micah kept ducking under the water so we couldn't take his picture.  Here, Papa called to him and Bev quickly snapped the picture just as he popped up out of the water! 

Hannah laughing after splashing Nana:

 At home, Nana popped popcorn and Papa set up a movie for us - Aristocats.  Seemed to be a winner.

 There was some awful stuff we had to eat after dinner called Dirt Pudding - and it had tons of worms in it!  Surprisingly, every camper had second helpings. 

At our very last Bible time we learned (or re-learned, for most of them) that on the 7th Day, God rested.  Micah and Caroline normally would read our Bible story for us.  Here is Micah reading from Genesis. After that, we all rested!