Leoni Meadows Family Camp – Grizzly Flats, California (part 3)

Continued from Leoni Meadows Family Camp – Grizzly Flats, California (part 1) and Leoni Meadows Family Camp – Grizzly Flats, California (part 2).

I wanted to take a moment to answer a few questions that we’ve been asked recently. Thank you to all our friends for asking us such great questions.

What do you do about the kids being loud and noisy with thin walls and lots of close neighbors?

• I try to pretend that the people living next door can’t hear us. There’s not much else I can do. lol. Sometimes, I yell at the kids to be quiet. It’s really counterproductive.

Do you get lonely?

• I’m an introvert through and through. I’m much more likely to complain about not getting enough alone time than about not having enough social interaction. E gets antsy for socializing more than I do. He has met a wide variety of interesting people in RV parks and mountain biking. The kiddos miss their friends, especially K, she’s our social butterfly.

How long are you going to do this?

• We really don’t know. We wish we did. We know that things change frequently and without warning. Our whole lives were turned upside down overnight. We will keep living in our Winnebago as long as it makes the most sense to us, or until we feel God leading us to do something else.

Where are you going next?

• My younger sister and her husband recently moved to Colorado, so we’re going to make our way out to visit them. E has a work conference in Florida at the end of the year. We may start heading to Florida after Colorado.

Are you going to rebuild in Paradise, CA?

• At this time, the likelihood of us rebuilding is very low. We have concerns about the environmental impact of the Camp Fire. The rebuilding timeframe is longer than we want. Most of all, it is simply too painful for me. I grew up in Paradise. My parents moved there when I was 2. My sister was born there. My 3 babies were born there. Many of the most important moments of my life were there. The Camp Fire destroyed all 3 homes that E and I had bought there, from our first home on Valley View Drive to our most recent home on De Sante Lane. it destroyed all 3 of the homes I had lived in growing up, including the home that my parents were currently living in. “My name is written on that earth” (a quote from Skylark by Patricia MacLachlan). To see it now is heartbreaking. It is a heavy reminder of all we have lost. It will always be a part of me. If my parents’ home was still standing we would probably feel differently. It is almost harder for me to have lost my parents’ home, than my own home. My parents spent years building that home from the ground up. My granddad plastered all the ceilings and all the walls by hand, my uncle W.B. helped a lot too. It’s all gone now and I don’t feel like I can go back.

Are you going to move back to Chico, CA (the closest town to Paradise, CA that survived the Camp Fire 11/08/18)?

• At this point, the likelihood of us relocating to Chico, CA is very low. Again, living in the area is just too painful for me.

We are so thankful for all of our amazing friends from Paradise, CA and our adventures with some of them last week. Here’s how we ended our week at Leoni Meadows Family Camp.

Friday 7/05/19:

After breakfast and worship we headed for one last ride on the go-carts. Then I met up with some Paradise moms for some encouragement and support (good peer pressure) on the ropes course. E took the kiddos to the pool with the R family.

After lunch I took the kiddos to the giant slip-n-slide and another round of archery while E did some laundry with breaks at archery and the BMX track. E also did a quick go-cart ride with the governors off. FYI, go-cart #20 is the slowest.

We had one last archery session before supper and worship. At worship, we sang praise songs and heard testimonies while 4 artists painted abstract images on 4 different canvases. During the last song the artists put their canvases together to create one image.

It was really a beautiful worship service.

Sabbath 7/06/19

We decided to skip breakfast in the cafeteria to have our family tradition of Sabbath Pancakes in the RV. This boxed pancake mix is excellent. Thanks to J.G. for introducing us to it! Our secret is to fry the pancakes in coconut oil for delicate, crispy edges. Yum!

S had been having a hard time eating in the cafeteria this week because he’s an introvert too, and it was crowded and loud in there. I can’t blame the kid. It was pretty overwhelming. Breakfast in the RV was a nice relaxing break. We headed to church outdoors underneath the massive ponderosa pine trees. Can we have church outdoors every week? It was amazing.

After lunch we headed back to the RV again for a little quiet time and ended the afternoon with one last train ride before supper.

K had a Marilyn Monroe moment in line at the cafeteria.

We opted to head back to the RV for a normal, on-time bedtime routine with reading aloud. The kiddos have been staying up way too late all week! We have a long drive tomorrow.

Sunday 7/07/19

After breakfast, we noticed the paintings from the Friday night worship service on the very top of the recycling pile. Well, we just couldn’t resist helping snag them with a friend. That’s right, we dumpster dive for art! For another embarrassing thing we’ve done on this adventure read, The City of Mount Shasta, California – Spring Visit.

There were so many other activities that we were unable to do. Too much fun stuff. We will have to do the nature center, RC cars, geocaching, hiking, wood crafts, watercolor painting, ceramics, giant zip-line, Goliath swing, leap of faith, and everything else we didn’t have time to squeeze in next time! Also, next time we’ll bring walkie-talkies like we saw so many smart families using! Thank you again, to pastor Craig and all the amazingly talented and hardworking staff of Leoni Meadows for the fabulous vacation!

B says, “Mommy, I want to live here! This is the best RV park ever and Daddy doesn’t have to work here!” When asked what their favorite part of Family Camp was, the kiddos all replied with an enthusiastic, “Go-carts!”

Now it’s ho for Colorado (with some other stops along the way)!

🏝 What are your summer vacation plans?