Classis Fall Retreat @ Circle Square Ranch - Oct 2016: Part 1

On October 14 - 16 several youth groups converged once again on Circle Square Ranch (CSR), Arden,  for Classis Eastern Canada's annual fall retreat. 


We have been doing this retreat at CSR for several years years now.   It's a rustic, yet wonderful, place to have a retreat.  

Registration happens each year, with John and Debbie making that happen. 
This year I made it easier for them to register.  : ) 

Slowly people arrived and the chatter started.  

Our group relaxing until things get going. 

Sarah and Ella and Rosy being, well, Sarah and Ella and Rosy : ) .  

The male contingent.  : )
Not looking nearly as happy.  : )  

Hey there Rhys.  

Dave, a member of The Fidgets, as well as our speaker again this year.  He's a nut.  : ) 

Our set up for the weekend.  

Filled with people, and of course, John with his finger up his nose.  : ) He's another member of The Fidgets.  

And it seems he's "kid"napped Reuben.  
He's the youngest member of our group this weekend.  

Because he's the son of Mike and Melanie who are back again this year to help us in worship. 

Last year Melanie was pretty much due to have Reuben. :) 

After worship time, we opened with The Fidgets. 
They like to start with some crowd breakers.  
Once again, we did Rock, Paper, Scissors. 

Rhys and Sarah seeing who will be the winner. 

And others. 

I wonder who won.  

And some decided, nope, I'm not gonna do that.  : ) 

The finalists. 
We had some of our group make it to the top 10. 

However, Rosy lost. 

As did Kyle (who is part of Calvin's group when it's convenient, eh Kyle  : ) )  . 

And Sarah

Our finalists.  Whoot.  

We then did some other games. 

Then Dave spoke to the group.  He's a good speaker.  

Chris, the final member of The Fidgets, once again helped out with the sound part of the weekend. Thanks Chris. 

Once the large group gathering was done, it was time for a snack and then group games. 

Bingo was the first one.  
One of the questions was, "get the signature of anyone with an iphone 6"  
Apparently I was the ONLY one who had one. Interesting. 

Then we gathered in a large circle and played a fun game.  

Involved running between chairs.  

I think we end up wrecking a couple of chairs each time we do this.  

After a "brief" nights sleep, we woke up to a beautiful fall day at CSR. 

The Ranch has a nice facade.  

Cold enough for the fireplace this morning. 

The early risers.  
I'm NOT one of them.  : )

Good morning Thomas and Rhys.  

Everyone ready for breakfast to begin. 

Yes, Sarah, it's real food.  : )

Digging in.  

I think Peter likes little kids. 
He's also liking young people more as well.  : ) 

Worship once again.  

And Dave spoke again as well. 
The Fidgets did some fun stuff too, but I think I forgot to get pics.  Oh well.  : )

We all then went outside for some more group games.  

I tried to get a nice picture of Sarah, Katrina and Ella, but someone crashed it...hmmmmm
Such a goof that Rosy can be.  : )

Here's the man of the hour. : ) 

Me with all my friends.  :)  

Seems that CSR has made it's own GAGA ball.  We didn't even need to bring ours.  

A picture of the whole CSR building. 

Explaining GAGA ball.  
Apparently some people don't know how to play. : ) 

I took video today.  

Someone else took pictures.  

Christine and Rosy watching from a far.  

Ella trying to get up the skate board ramp. 

She almost made it.  : ) 

GAGA ball in full swing. 

Pastor Joe in the thick of it.  

Kyle endures to the end.  

When you get hit with the ball, you are out.  

Rosy, don't fall.  

Our group hanging out and watching. 

Time for Ella to go down the ramp, her own way. : ) 

Rhys doing quite well. 

The trees were in full fall foliage at CSR.  
Just beautiful. 

We played another game where you had to line up and hold hands. 

And then each row had a person start a handshake squeeze.  

The squeeze was passed along to the end of the line. 

Ben and Ryan waiting for that hand squeeze. 
But they aren't holding anyone's hand...hmmm

The person at the end of the line, once they receive the squeeze, run to the front of the line and try to be the first to kick the soccer ball into a net.  

Sometimes they miss the net and have to fight to get the ball in. 

John getting his pictures.  : ) 

We then played a game (forget the name) where someone shouts out something to do, and you you do it. 

Play dead I think this is.  

Horseback riding?  : )

Take a knee. : ) 
(No not really what it's called, but I'm just going with it. : ) )  

hmmmm.  

Grab a partner.  

play dead again. 

The final few left.  

Peter must have won. : ) 

Little do all these people know that the horses were out in this field a couple of days ago.  
I hope they didn't lie in the poop.  : )

The sun was very nice today. 
Warmed us all up. 

Hey, time for are group picture. 
Here's Ben's spoon. AGAIN ! 

Time to gather everyone up. 
A different venue this time, and on Saturday because it was supposed to rain on Sunday. 

A nice group. 

Some decided they wanted to jump off the rock face. 

More than once.....

Another nice picture. 

And a more strange one.  

My camera had a unique setting I think.  
Look at your arms Janika.  :) 

More interesting shot on the jumping. 

A different angle for the jump.  

Awe a nice swing set.  

Selfie time.  

The result of that camera selfie.  

That concludes part 1 of the entry. 
Move on to part 2 to see horseback riding and high ropes.