Our Summer Vacation: Heaven on Earth

Somehow in all my years of writing here in this little space, I have never mentioned one of my most favorite places on the planet.

Far up north in BC Canada, lies a little island called Keats island. On this little island is a magical place where heaven meets earth called Barnabas.

{Pure magic.}

This past week while we were up there for a family vacation, soaking up its beauty and rest, I heard the idea of “thin places” for the first time. A thin place is a place where the boundary between heaven and earth is especially thin…a place where we can feel God’s presence is a greater way. Barnabas has become one of these places for me…a “thin place”. And  I basically just want everyone I know to go there and experience its amazingness too, so I decided it was time to finally sit down and write about it!

{When it comes to family photos, you take what you can get. This was legitimately our best option (insert eye roll). That background though. Dreamy.}

Barnabas is a Christian family camp that my husband and his parents have been going to for years…20 to be exact. Every summer since Craig was 10 years old, he has come to this place, so when we got engaged, I was ushered into the tradition. Not only does Barnabas host summer family camps, but they also have various retreats throughout the year. I have been to family camp three times and to a marriage retreat as well as an engagement retreat before Craig and I got married.

I’ll admit that family camp sounded a little bit nerdy when I first heard about it, but it is seriously wonderful. I legitimately cannot think of a better vacation for a family with young children. Here’s are some reasons why…

1. It feels like camping…but without the crappy parts.

Camping with kids basically sounds like complete torture to me. Having to do all of the things I do at home (i.e. cook, clean, care for tiny people, etc…), except having to do them in the woods without the proper supplies or a way to keep my children contained…how is this even a vacation? Family camp is all the best parts of camping – beautiful woodsy scenery, hiking, camp fires – but I don’t have to sleep on the ground or pee in the woods or cook my own food over fire.

{Wading pool fun with some ducky friends.}

2. No cooking/cleaning.

Glory hallelujah! This alone is reason enough for me to love family camp. I sort of (super) hate cooking, so the fact that they cook all meals for us for an entire week is pure bliss. Also, the food is delicious. Like…really, really delicious. They grow somewhere around 70% of their own produce right there on the island and raise a lot of their own meat as well. It’s definitely a farm-to-table experience at Barnabas.

{Clive enjoying some free-range snacking courtesy of the apple orchard.}

3. Childcare!!!

If you have ever been on vacation with young children, then you probably know that post-kids the word “vacation” is used rather loosely. Unless you vacation with friends or family, you probably aren’t going to be getting many breaks from your children. Of course, you could always just take a grown-ups only vacation, but there are only so many vacation days in the year and Barnabas is the perfect balance of family time and grown-up time. During the week, there is a speaker comes to share during adult sessions. You get to learn and grow in your faith, parenting, or whatever the topic may be for the week. During the adult sessions, the kids have their own groups to hang out in where they do fun summer camp-esque things. Fern adored her group leader and had a blast making new friends and doing fun things. They would visit the farm animals, do arts and crafts and the like. Even the babies have their own groups and Clive really enjoyed his. In the evenings, they read your kids bedtime stories and even tuck them in for you (if you wish), while you head off to do grown-up things. It’s pretty wonderful. As you can see Clive made quite a few new buddies.

4. Fun (free!) activities

There are a ton of fun ways to occupy your time at family camp. In addition to group times and family circle – filled with skits and such – there are so many activities all over the island. Sailing, wakeboarding/skiing/tubing, kayaking, paddle boarding, hiking, crafting, tennis and basketball courts, a playground, visiting farm animals, and ice cream eating at the general store…LOTS of ice cream eating.

{Excitedly awaiting her daily ice cream fix – complete with homemade waffle cone – at the general store!}

{Necklaces we made at the craft barn.}

{First time tubing. Fern had a blast!}

{I still can’t believe Fern went on the “Barnabob”. I was definitely nervous, but she wasn’t even a little bit afraid and it was all her idea!}

{More water fun!}

{Visiting the piggies. Clive kept pointing at them and saying, “Mooooo!”}

{The sandbox was a fan favorite this week. I think we may need one at home now. They also loved the playground!}

{Fern loved walking the plank during the pirate carnival.}

{Face painting carnival fun.}

{“Mama! I’m really a kitty!”}

5. Spiritual/Emotional refreshment

I always come away having learned something new and feeling closer to God. The speakers are wonderful and aside from being encouraged in faith, there are a ton of practical tools to gain as well. This week we learned a lot about our personalities and our family’s via the Myer’s Briggs test (in case you were wondering I am an ENFJ and Craig is an ESTP…we’re pretty sure Fern is going to be an ENFJ too) and about how important empathy is in parenting and really all relationships and how to be more intentional about implementing it. There are different topics for different weeks throughout the summer, so you can always get something a little bit different.

{Scenic views for days.}

6. No technology

OK, I suppose this could be a downside for some people, but this is one of the things I love/hate most about vacationing at Barnabas. Because it’s on a woodsy, little island, the cell reception and wifi signals aren’t particularly great (though you can get both) and since we are from the U.S. we just turn our phones off for the week to avoid international charges. I’ll admit that I usually have technology withdrawals for the first couple of days, but after that I’m so thankful for it! In all honesty, force is probably the only way I would be able to detox from my phone and it’s so important to do. It was really nice to have no distractions and just focus on family.

{Brother sister sweetness.}

You can’t tell I really like this place can you?

If family camp sounds like something that’s up your alley, you can find out more info at the Barnabas Family Ministries website, or shoot me an e-mail (loveoflittlethings@gmail.com) and I can answer any questions. I also just saw on the website that first-time attendees get 30% off too (it’s really affordable to begin with, but definitely a bonus!).

Anyway, this post totally isn’t sponsored or anything, I just thought it would be nice to share this place I love – along with documentation from our vacation at the same time. Two birds, one stone :).

Happy Tuesday!

xo

Lauren