Maybe Even Better Than Disneyland

If I could spend the rest of my life only vacationing at one single location it would probably be Family Camp. Disneyland would be a close second, since I’m a total sucker for Disney magic, but Barnabas Family Camp definitely has a magic all its own.

I’ve written about Barnabas before and all the reasons why it’s the perfect vacation for families (despite the fact that it sounds a little bit corny – it’s not I swear!), but here’s the gist of what it is…

Barnabas is a Christian family camp on a little island in BC Canada called Keats Island that my husband and his parents have been going to for years…21 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 four times and to a marriage retreat as well as an engagement retreat before Craig and I got married.

Basically Barnabas is my favorite vacation because: 1) You get breaks from your kids – and they even tuck them into bed for you if you want! What other vacation can say that? 2) You still get lots of fun family time. 3) The scenery (as you’ll see in all the photos below) is absolutely incredible. 4) The food is ridiculously delicious and I don’t have to cook for an entire week. 5) It’s peaceful and a great time for reflection and spiritual growth. I turn off my phone for an entire week and read and nap and relax and it’s pure magic.

I’m totally happy to answer more questions if you have any, but for now I’m moving on to this year’s trip. Be prepared for a massive photo dump… #sorrynotsorry

This year my mother and father-in-law headed up early to do a bit of volunteering on the property, so they took Fern with them. She had a blast hanging out with her Oma & Opa and we had a far more peaceful road trip without bickering kids in the backseat. A win for everyone really. Clive was amped about our trip. I’m not sure if he remembered it from last year or if Fern’s tales about it got him excited, but he kept telling us “I wanna go to Barnabas!” all week long leading up to the trip. Every time we would get in the car to run an errand to the grocery store or the park, he thought we were heading there and he would get so sad when we pulled back in our driveway. Like, there were actual tears as he cried, “I don’t wanna go to Mama’s house! I wanna go to Barnabas!” After all the hype, I’m pretty sure it still managed to live up to his expectations.

In order to get to Keats Island, we had to take a ferry boat and then drive a bit further to where a charter boat would take us to the island. Clive was super stoked about the ferry boat ride and talked about it all week long.

Once we were on the island and settled in we got to spend some time exploring. Being able to wander around outside all day long was probably our kids’ most favorite thing about being there. We have a great, big, wooded backyard at home, but it’s nothing like this. playing in magical forest forts, blackberry picking and visiting farm animals at their leisure is kind of what childhood dreams are made of. Not once did they say they were bored.

 

 

One of the coolest things about Barnabas is that it has a farm. Not only is it fun for the kids to visit the animals (the 74 chickens – all named Becky – were definitely the fan favorite, but it means that much of the food they serve is sustainable. They raise chicken, pigs, sheep and bees. They also have an impressive garden filled with beautiful vegetables. The food is seriously amazing, and I’m not just saying that because it gets me out of cooking for a whole week. It really is and part of the reason is because of the farm-to-table aspect. We had some really great conversations with our kids about where our food comes from and it was fun to see how it encouraged them to try new foods. We learned that Clive LOVES radishes! Who knew?
                                        

During the day parents have a couple of sessions with a speaker who comes to share on a topic during the week (our week was all about family, friendships and showing love to one another) and during those sessions the kids get to break off with their own groups by age. They do all kinds of fun activities – building forts, running on the playground, visiting the animals, art projects, and the like. The kids LOVED their leader (she actually happened to be the sister of their leader from last year who was also fantastic) and they made some really sweet friends. It was actually pretty funny, because Clive actually had a little group of 7-9 year old girl groupies who thought he was sweet and he totally loved all the attention. He even snuck a kiss from one of his favorite little girls. Lord help me when this kid is a teenager. #sendalltheprayers

 

Every afternoon there’s 4-5 hours of free time and we took advantage with TONS of water play. I mean…none for Alice and I, but Fern, Clive and Craig were practically fish! They bounced on the water trampoline, slid down the slide and even went tubing! There was a also a kiddie pool at the general store where they could splash while eating ice cream if they were feeling more low key. I kind of want their life.

Aside from the fun day-to-day activities, the staff always has skits and songs and funny games for the families to participate in. Craig got volunteered for a game of dad Twister which was pretty comical. They also had a multicultural festival at the end of the week to tie in with the week’s theme and the kids were pretty stoked about the cotton candy and the dress-up photo booth.

 

Barnabas also has a couple of special traditions to help families create memories. One of these is a picnic lunch. One of the afternoons instead of eating together with everyone the kitchen staff packs picnic lunches for the families and everyone heads off to find their own little area to hang out and enjoy time together. Some years there have been questions packed in with the lunches as conversation starters which is such a fun idea! Below is Fern and her Oma who joined us for the trip and was a total godsend. Vacations with kids are always so much nicer when you have an extra set of helping hands. Also…Alice totally slept through family picnic time…and pretty much the rest of the trip too. I’ll take it!

The other event that Barnabas always does is hosting a special adult dinner and a special kids dinner one of the evenings. Everyone gets dressed up for a sit-down meal (the rest of the week is buffet style) and everything is so lovely – pretty plating, decor, the works. This year we got to enjoy our meal in “The Station” which is the new building going up on the island right now. It’s still in progress as you can tell, but the view was stunning and it was really special to be able to get an idea for what the space will become! I didn’t remember to take photos of the set-up before the meal (or any pictures of the food), but at least I managed to snap one at the end. That view was so incredible!

 

The kids also had their own dinner…filled with kid-favorite foods and crazy, fun activities. Plus, Fern was pretty excited to have an excuse to wear a fancy dress.

 

I think my favorite thing about the week though was that Alice started taking magically long naps, which meant I hung around in the community areas of our cottage while she slept and had the chance to read and relax and have wonderful conversations with new friends. There were a few wonderful families who we really connected with and who are ahead of us on this journey of parenting and it was super encouraging just to get insight from them during this challenging season and also to be reminded of our end goal. A family who is engaged with one another (i.e. who actually likes each other) and really wonderful kids. 

Obligatory family photo before heading out to catch our ferry…also to prove that Alice and I actually did join everyone else on vacation too!

 

The kids were pooped after their week of fun, but are already talking about going back next year!

If you think family camp might be your jam you can find out more details on their website: Barnabas Family Ministries and read my post about it from last year (maybe we’ll see you next year!). Also, follow the Barnabas Farm Works Instagram for cute, fluffy animals and other modern farming goodness!

 

xo

Lauren