Eat, Sleep and Play

(I have been asking my kids for several months now what color scheme we should wear for our upcoming family pictures. Here we didn't even plan it and we all are color coordinated! I know it isn't that clear, but they only gave us a scanned copy. Too bad our other two boys were absent.)

With the arrival of a new grandbaby this summer, we didn't take our usual trip to the Beach in CA. Kaymee found a mini-camp schedule at BYU's Aspen Grove up Provo canyon just beyond Sundance. Two days of play was perfect.

Eat: The food was so delicious! Of course, it always is in the mountains, isn't it? How great to be served three FULL meals a day and no cooking!

Sleep: I have already mentioned our first night at the camp with the fire alarm. Also the first night, the air conditioning wasn't working efficiently, so Brian went down to Provo and bought a fan for his room. It didn't seem to bother me, but then the Cottrells keep their home at 73 degrees. Brrrr. Our bed was even more comfortable than ours at home. Our next purchase.

We arrived at Aspen Grove after the water games and activities had already commenced. A gal came up to us and said, "pick a name and a cheer . . . and then perform it when you want to enter a game." Hmmm . . . I don't think so. Since it was almost over we just went and played some miniature golf with the kiddies. The camp had an opening campfire program.

Play: This facility is a great place for a family reunion. During the day -- in the morning and again in the afternoon -- there are different age groups with activities of crafts, swimming, and games. How great was it for our married kids to have babysitting two times a day! There are plenty of athletic competitions for the adults to entertain themselves with -- fishing, air rifle, basketball, archery, a golf simulator. There was a crafts building with lots of different projects. Thursday night was Frontier night, and we all had a good time. Friday night the different age groups performed a little "ditty" they had prepared followed by a really fun family dance night.

I was very proud of myself for going on the ropes course and climbing wall. As you may recall we didn't have anything like that at our girl's camp in MT, so it was my first time doing it and I'm not a fan of heights. Not as scary as I thought it might be. Although my leg did shake when I was moving over to the climbing wall -- but it does that, like when we were descending the stairs of the Statue of Liberty and could see all the way down. Couldn't walk when we got out.

A real treat was having my favorite CES speaker, John Bytheway, giving two lectures a day. I told him -- it can't be easy to give the same lecture over and over again and still be energized and witty. He makes it look so easy . . . and we enjoyed him. He does a killer Barney Fife impression. So FUNNY!!

You can enjoy your stay at Aspen Grove no matter the age of your family. The grandkids always fought over who got to push the "alligator" (elevator) buttons. Plan on going with another family or two and Eat, Sleep, and Play!