Fall Retreat at Circle Square Ranch

This past weekend, Calvin CRC joined with several other CRC's in Eastern Canada for our annual Classis Youth Fall Retreat. We all met at Circle Square Ranch in Arden, Ontario, about a 1.5 hour drive from Ottawa. Below is a picture diary of the weekend.

As I entered the parking lot of Calvin, I saw Rosalynn, Hannah, and Leah jumping out of a van. They then proceeded to have supper, right there on the pavement. Those Bagels looked good.

Once everyone arrived (yes, some were late!!), we departed. Here's a group shot of us, minus me.

The drive was dark and uneventful. Once at the ranch we grabbed a place to sleep in one of the available rooms and then settled into the kitchen area to get a coffee/hot chocolate/tea. I caught Megan by surprise here as she prepares her hot chocolate. Nice tonsils Megan. Here is the sign welcoming us for the weekend. Kevin and another youth leader from another church sitting down and getting their rest before everything begins. Kevin once again looks like he's thinking about something...... Each year Deb and John handle the registration end of things. Here is Deb making sure all the numbers add up. Thank goodness for that calculator, eh Deb! : ) We began the evening with some get-to-know you games. Sarah and her group, from Kanata CRC were in charge of games. They were GREAT!

Here is the group doing a game with rock-paper-scissors. It looked quite comical...you had to be there....

Here is Fontana and Leah challenging each other to RPS.

Megan did VERY well, but didn't win.

After that is was people Bingo. Kevin seems ready and willing to help out, but Jeannine looks like she's thinking about it. Interesting.......

Here's the group actively involved in getting signatures from each other.

Yes Deb, I can sign in the square that says, "Brushed my teeth at least once this past week!" : )

More of the group getting signatures. Megan looks overwhelmed.

After that game, we did something fun and gross.

One representative from each youth group was chosen. Megan became our guinea pig. The game involved a can of pop, some alcheseltzer, and a garbage can.

Do you know where this is going....?

First you open the can, and the package of alcheseltzer. You place said tablet in mouth and then take a large swig of pop. If all goes well, the tablet will begin to fizzle in your mouth, causing it to expand in size quite rapidly. You are supposed to keep the stuff in your mouth for as long as you can, without swallowing.......

Megan didn't last long.....gross!

We soon gathered in a large room for worship and our speaker.

Here is yours truly give the rules and other announcements.

Jamie and Lynette led us in worship throughout the weekend.

Thanks for helping us get closer to God through music.

Some of the songs were interactive in nature.

Here Joy and Fontana are getting into it....Ken....well......

Days of Elijah......

Continued.........

Then it was time for our speaker, Joey to come and share God's word with us. Joey was great and shared with us how to find Jesus. Each session built upon the other with Joey challenging us to realize that what we do with the poor is what we are doing with Jesus.

Thanks Joey for spending the weekend with us.

Oh, BTW, those ARE real sideburns........

Joey would have people use a whiteboard to write things down at the beginning of each session.

After our session we had snack, and then it was relax time until midnight. Most of the group decided to play a game called Mafia. I'm not sure how it worked exactly, but it was very quiet at times, which was really nice.

Some of the more senior leaders in the group (myself included) settled down for our annual game of 7's.

Chris and others playing games to pass the time. Take note of the gentleman beside Chris. He ended up taking a trip to the hospital over the weekend. Looks like he knows it's coming.

A short sleep and then it was up for breakfast. Eggs and bacon. MMM good, eh Chris.

John and Deb. Here's Deb telling me what to do, AGAIN!

After breakfast it was time for worship and listening to Joey again.

Then lunch......no that's still breakfast....hmmmm, well, you'll have to imagine that being hamburgers and fries. I'm not feeling up to finding that picture and placing it on the blog! : )

Before lunch, we gathered outside for a game of capture the flag...revised.

It was more like capture the stuff.

Hey, there's my lunch picture. whew!

The idea for this game was to have three groups who all had "stuff" they had to place inside a rope made into a circle. People had to try to get that stuff from other people's circles. If tagged, you were frozen until someone from your team freed you.

Here is Chris tagging someone.....what a reach!

Hannah talking to Leah, "Hey Leah. What should I put in these hands....no wait, I've got an idea...."

At the back of this tee pee is one group's "stuff".

Here's another group putting their "stuff" in the circle. Getting ready to RUN.

Oh, now this picture tells a great story. You see Fontana and Rosalynn doing actions to a song you can't hear. Apparently this precise action caused Fontana to pull some sort of muscle in her body.......I laughed....and laughed.....(sorry Fontana, I couldn't help it).

Remember those empty hands of Hannah.....well, she filled them with leaves and tried to hide herself as the game was going on. Too bad she didn't realize that the REST of her was not hidden......

Here's a picture of Circle Square Ranch from end to end. The sleeping cabins are on either side (females on left, males on right) and kitchen and meeting room in the middle ish......

After the game was completed, our girls decided to engage in a bit of leaf antics.

Hmmmm. I wonder what Joy is going to do with that.......

Oh, looks like Rosalynn got a mouth full.

Leah getting Hannah.......

Fontana and Rosalynn getting me. I got a mouth and ear full.

Kevin getting revenge......

uh, oh...now Megan is getting in the act.

Once again I'm hit.

Kevin and I decided to get Megan back.....

She survived, but I think she has to comb her hair. Hey BTW Megan, how did those wet willies from Kevin feel.....you shouldn't put sanitizer in your ears to clean them out you know.... (tee, hee). That's NOT what it's made for!

While we were waiting for lunch Jeannine and Chris played some volleyball.

Interesting moves Jeannine.....was that a serve, or a spike, or what!

That looks better.

After lunch, we enjoyed the sunny afternoon outdoors doing horseback riding, high ropes, archery, biking, skateboarding, and just soaking up the warm sunshine. Here is Hannah with her horse. She's smiling now, but you should have seen her when she got ON the horse. Then, when we started riding, her horse put her into the trees quite a bit. Hannah needed to learn to be more forceful with her horse.

Leah was a bit nervous about riding. It's amazing how a horse can pick up on that.

Chris is petting his horse, Spur. They seemed to come to an understanding.....

Here is Chris on Spur. He looks so serious.

Here is Ken on his horse.

Rosalynn.

Ah, there's me with my horse. Samson. More on him in a minute.

Deb also wanted to ride. She'd never done it before and wanted to do it before she turned _ _ :) (Notice I didn't put the age in Deb). She was nervous, but did well.

Now, back to Samson. He was a big horse. Very fiesty too. Once I got him out of the stall and parked where we were supposed to wait, Samson decided to show me who was really running things. He just stuck out his left front leg, and then firmly planted it on my right foot.....and he didn't move.

Now let me tell you that a horse Samson's size is HEAVY. I had to literally push him off my foot because he wasn't going to move. I think I even saw a smile and glint in his eye after that. Now my left foot is size 12 and my right is size 13...... : (

The instructions for riding a horse seemed pretty simple. Pull reigns left for left, right for right, back to stop, and way back for reverse. My Samson wanted nothing to do with that. As you can see, I'm supposed to be by the fence, but I'm off to the right. It seems that Samson wanted to eat and no amount of pulling on the reigns would stop him from his grass. I think I also did 7 circles with him as we waited for everyone to mount up.

Once we began moving, Samson was great. I think he just wanted to go. Here is our group leaving for the trail. I was a bit nervous at first, but it ended up being quite fun. I'd do it again, but I think I'll pick a different horse : ).

We also did archery. Here is Chris showing us his skill. Keep that arm DOWN Chris!

Some also tried their skill at skateboarding. It was a VERY good thing that we had helmets and elbow and knee pads for this. Chris fell many times, but he got progressively better.

There were also mountain bikes to use. Here is Ken on one.

Hannah trying her skills in Archery.......she needs alot of work.....

Joy did quite well.

Leah and Hannah posing with thier skateboards. That was about the extent of their boarding experience. They didn't actually skate board......

We also high roped. Here is Abigail getting harnessed in.

She and Kevin were going to fight each other way up high........

Here is Abigail waiting for Kevin. Kevin was trying to give the CSR people advise on how he should be tied up. He's done this before. Kevin, you should have just listened...it would have sped things up alot.

Here is Kevin (left) and Abigail (right) about to join hands for the fight.

Looks like Kevin lost!

Hey John.....is this how you catch your meals on the farm too?

Here Abigail and Megan raced to the top of the coarse and had to put their bums in a tire. First to do so wins.

Up they go.....looks like they tied for the tire.

Jeannine getting some sleep after a long day outside.

Ah yes. Remember this guy beside Chris. Well, apparently he took a bike ride that ended not well. One big jump, and a landing on the front tire and over the bars. Thankfully only some torn ligaments......and a wiser young person.

Saturday evening worship.

Joey sharing with us again. We ended this evening worship on a more serious note. A time of song lead by Jamie and Lynette and the group taking time to think about what Jesus meant to them. Some YP were very touched by the words of Joey. They don't always show it, but lots goes on in the mind of our youth......

After worship, and Joey, we ended the evening with an evening outdoor game.

"Mission Impossible".

Again, I have no idea what was involved...but people were screaming outside in the dark and having loads of fun. Here is Chris flanked by his body guards...

Nice paint Hannah and Leah....I think you missed your eyes for the highliner though.....

After breakfast (chocolate chip pancakes with syrup and sausages) we had our final worship time, and then it was time to pack things up and go home. Here's a group shot just before leaving.

I end with John doing what he did best all weekend....focus and shoot! Thanks for the great pics John and your friendship too. : )

That brings us to the end of our weekend away. It was fun. I got to know some new people. The weather was AMAZING,the speaker and worship awesome, and CSR is a great place to be. I think we'll be returning again next year......and I'll be watching to see if Samson is still around and snickering at me.......