Memories from Gregory Drive

I'm about to sum up as many memories as I can from my 9 years at Gregory Drive Public School. This should be fun!

Kindergarten and Daycare:

I don't remember much from Kindergarten except these few things:

• the cubby closet where you hung your backpack, coats and shoes
• the alphabet around the top of the classroom
• painting with smocks
• the water/sand table

Michael and I started school the same year, he in J-K and me in K. He got to play in the room with the jungle gym with Mrs. Cummings and I had the cranky Mrs. Saddler.


There was a YMCA Daycare attached to the school I went to.We used to go to Daycare before and after school. We had our own separate playground with really cool triangle seated bike thingys that you have to move the handles back and forth to make the contraption move. I think they're called Roller Carts, but I can't find a picture of them anywhere online! The water table was fun to play on.... I remember teaching all the cool boys how to braid! We used to sit at the tables and I taught them all how to braid with embroidery floss. I don't think any of those boys are married yet, but one day their wives can thank me! One of the worker's named Linda I think was our favourite. Sean McLaughlin's mom used to run the day care. Daycare did introduce me to one of my favourite meals... cream of mushroom soup with rice in it!

Things I hated about daycare:
The bathroom had a window in it, out to the main room which seems sooo wrong, but I understand why they had that sort of. Eww. Also they used to make us dip banana's in strawberry yogurt and then in coconuts! I hate yogurt and coconuts.... Ewww to this day I still have a hard time eating banana's! I remember hating nap time, but now I wish we had those ugly green canvas cots everywhere and that naptime was still mandatory. That must have been during the summer that we had to take naps.

Grade 1:
I had Mrs. Simmons. I don't remember much from her class, but I remember after that year or right before the year was up, she moved to New Zealand. I also had a best friend named Chrystal who also moved Down Under that year...  Several years of school I remember we celebrated the 100th day of class by bringing in 100 somethings... (100 pennies, or marbles, paperclips etc.)

Grade 2:
I had Mrs. Peach. She was sweet! I liked her a lot.  I remember that year I was put in Mrs. Powells class and then I was taken out of it. I was told it was because Michael, Jacqi and I were all in the same class (it was a 1/2 split) and you can't have that many relatives in once class, but in all actuality my mom wanted me to spread my wings and fly and not feel like I had to take care of the youngins (I was a typical big sister). I was mad though because you see Mrs. Powells class was the coolest because she would bring in eggs and raise ducks! I thought I missed my chance because she only taught Grade 1, but then she got a split class!  Oh well I'm pretty sure I learned to love reading in Mrs. Peach's class!!!

Grade 3:
I had Mrs. Flannagan. She was my favourite! I still see her from time to time, run into her at the mall or something.... I think I saw her at a church function one time. She still remembers me. I'm pretty sure it was in Grade 3 that I had my tonsils out, January 28th and also that was the year Matt Laird's dad, whom I now affectionately call Phil came in and taught all about Bread. He brought in a ton of different kinds of bread and we got to try them all! That's when I fell in love with Pumpernickel Bread. I also think that was the year we learned to tell time. I know I think they learn that in Kindergarten now.

Grade 4:
I had Mrs. Sharp (appropriately named). I hated pretty much everything about this year, except that's when Mandy showed up on the scene. That was the year, I sneezed really loud (like I always do) and a substitute male teacher made some rude comment and hurt my feelings. I was embarrassed. I also had to start going to science class and NO one liked the science teacher. Girls felt weird around him. A lot of the girls I grew up with ended up in his homeroom class in grade 7, I'm SOOOO glad I didn't! I do remember we read James and the Giant Peach that year. We also had Mrs. Mitchell, the best Substitute in the city for a significant period of time that year! She had a smiley face system that could get you treasures from the treasure chest! She died way to young about 6 years ago...

Grade 5 & 6:
I had the same teacher: Mr. Robertson. I didn't like him, he was weird. He loved art though I got good grades in his art classes which I remembered loving his art class. He also was a computer geek and I learned a lot from him, although all that stuff I learned is completely obsolete now!! As weird as he was, he was the teacher who teacher who made us watch Les Miserables for the first time! I am grateful for that for sure!!

Grade 7:
There was 1 teacher who everyone loved! He was the one you couldn't wait to have and he taught Grade 8! The last teacher before High School. However he ended up teach a Grade 7/8 split the year that I was in Grade 7 and I was luck enough to get him! (sad that it wasn't my last year though - best to go out with a bang!) Mr. V or Mr. VanKesteren is still my friend today! I remember we had a Euchre tournament, and he taught us how to make and paint wooden birdhouses. We also had an assignment in his music class to bring in a song we like on the radio and to dissect the words of the song. He was a Christian man who taught his values in the best way how in a public school. He wanted us to realize, that though a song my be catchy the lyrics that we're subjecting to our minds may not always be the best. He was in a men's quartet that sang together at church, not our church but I did get to hear him sing a few times! He also was one of my favourite customers at Gospel Text!


Grade 8:
Mr. Rehl was a new teacher at our school and I had him his first year teaching there. He was an older gentleman and got sick halfway through the year and was out almost the whole rest of the year. Sadly I don't even remember who filled in for him.

The rest of the things I'm going to write about, I can't necessarily pin to one year, or I know they spread across several years.

Remembrance Day Assemblies: We used to have amazing assemblies... they would take up half the day, we'd watch a war movie, we'd have my vets there representing, the Town Crier (Mr. Simms) was our principle so we got special perks and were featured in the newspapers a lot!

Mr. Simms - was our principle my younger years along with Mr. Beatty! They were great! They were sooo much fun! Mr. Simms got us all kinds of perks because he was our Town Crier - which no town has anymore but he would get all dressed up and yell stuff in  parades and at big town events! He was also just really fun. Mr. Beatty was a sweetheart. He had a goofy Christmas sweater with lights in it the light up! At an assembly when I was young, it must have been a talent show, Mr. Simms did a rendition of Achey Breaky Heart.

Colour Guard - This is something I'm soo glad I got to be a part of! I did this probably when I was in Grade 4? There were 13 of us that would carry around the Canadian Provinces/Canadian flag in formations and in goofy red and white windbreaker-like outfits with white gloves! I got to be in a parade and attended other cool events like when the Snowbirds came to town for an airshow! We got to meet the pilots on several occasions too!

"Elmer the Safety Elephant - knows just want to do, Elmer the Safety Elephant says to me and you, I am the Safety Elephant here we go again, I'm Elmer the Safety Elephant, I will be your friend. verse 1 - when you walk across the street......." He is a blow up costume that goes around to schools and teaches about being safe in all kinds of places in song!  Constable Lauers was the dude who brought Elmer to all the schools! 

choir - Mrs.Geneau the french teacher taught the choir. We would practice at lunch time, and we sang at assemblies and in nursing homes. We sang a really cool song for Remembrance Day, apparently it's by Simon and Garfunkel. I also remember the other music teacher, Mrs. Wellington was sick once and we had Mrs. Linklater as a substitute. I remember singing out of a red or green hard cover music book. My favourite was something to do with a covered wagon. Mrs. Geneau was our French teacher, and to this day I'm still kind of friends with her daughter which is cool because she didn't go to our school. She didn't have her own classroom, she had a cart that she pushed from classroom to classroom and a closet to keep it in. But she had this Green puppet, Dimoutu (sp?) (pronounced Deem-wa-two).  We also learned about Bonhomme de Neige, the snow man.

Recess - Everyone's favourite class of the day, what ever happened to that concept of required play time! Well when I was in Grade 1 we used to spend recess after recess building castles in the snow, not like a sand castle, these were huge and consisted of making paths that were like walls. We'd have rooms upon rooms in these castles. Some times when there was enough snow we'd build up walls, sometimes we just made pathways.  We also would get married to other kids at recess. Pretty much like how they show it on TV... then getting mad when the person  you were supposed to marry, would marry someone else instead.... crazy.
There was also this brick wall around the Air conditioner unit that was close enough to the wall of the building that we could walk up the wall into a planking - horizontal position! That was fun. We did that around Grade 6 or 7. My friend Sarah and I used to speed walk from the front to the back of the school yard and talk, yep when all the other kids were playing games we speed-walked.

Grade 7 & 8 - I've always said that I think Junior High is stupid! I think we're already awkward enough at that age, why would you take them out of a comfortable environment and put them into a new one.... any who I was still a typical Jr. Higher and there are things I did as a stupid tween that I never want to relive! All of us though, had a crush on this kid named James who was actually a year younger. I remember in Grade 7, my desk was set up where I could actually see him in the room diagonally across the hall! He had the same hair cut at one of the N-Sync boys.



Fundraisers - all schools do fundraisers, we sold Chocolate bars, they were delicious chocolate bars. We had a secret up our sleeve, so every other year Michael and I would switch so when we won our class would win the class prize! My uncle Eldon would take the boxes of chocolate bars to his work, at the Chrysler plant and sell them on his breaks! We won almost every year! One year I won a 10lb chocolate bar, one year I won an electric pencil sharpener, which I still use to this day!



One year, maybe around Grade 5 or 6, Lauren Sparks who goes to my church, got the chance to ride in a  Hot Air Balloon, in our school yard! She had been really really sick and almost died and I think it was a make a wish wish kind of dealio. I remember the whole school went out to watch! It was very cool!

Who were my friends? I was Friends with Jessica Isherwood most of my young days. She called me B and I called her J. Us redheads stuck together. She was friends with Katie Poredos, so I was by association. She was also good friends with Laura Goulden so I got to be her friend too! I love that girl to death to this day! Sarah Mayes moved to our school in the later years, and I remember she couldn't open a bottle of water because she was too weak, so we would do it for her. In Grade 4, Mandy arrived on the scene, new from out of town! She was going to be my new best friend. Her family started going to our church, but she refused to go to Pioneer girls with me, even though her mom became a leader!  Anyways I shared my juice box with her, because she had to take this medicine that tasted GROSS! She had run over her arm with a toboggan and lost a lot of skin and needed fancy antibiotics I think.... So there were a few of us that would share our drinks with her so she could take the medicine without tasting it. Over the next 4 years though we became best friends and we biked to school together everyday! She was at the border of taking the bus, but most of the time she would bike or roller blade or walk to the park behind me house, and then we'd go together from there to school, stopping to pick up Katie, then Jessica at their houses on the way! She would often roller blade and I would pull her on my bike! If the water was low enough we would cross the creek on the rocks and logs that were at a crossing point instead of walking all the way down to the bridge and then back. One time she roller bladed down the hill, the steep side of the hill. She also used to fall over a lot, and I was always there to catch her. Funny the thing we remember. One day we found a hurt squirrel and named him Ezekiel and tried to take care of him! When she had to go home, we talked on the phone for like 3 hours that night, I would report how he was doing.... "oh his leg moved."

I don't wanna grow up - Beth Townsend and I used to sing this with each other when life was getting stressful!

There was a talent show every year. One year Mandy and I did the Lip Song from Veggie Tales, she was Larry and I was the Shrink! I still have most of the song memorized! I also did a backstreet boys song with the chair dance.

I was a Crossing Guard for 3 or 4 years, I want to say 4 which is like the most you can be. We had these ugly reflective belts and vests to wear, and we got to go to training every year (which was really the reason to do it). The training was at St. Paul's church for all the crossing guards. We learned how to put on the belts, we learned all kinds of safety stuff.We got out of school for a day, and got free food! Fun! You would get divided into how many years experience you had, and you'd get training specific to that. Carrie did it too, so I got to see her at the training which was sweet! I had to be at school early or stay late depending on the schedule to help all the little ones cross the street! It also meant I got to hang out with Elmer more than the other kids!

Also the crosswalk was in front of Art & Verla's house. Art is my Grandpa's cousin and those 2 couples were best friends! They're more than distance relatives to us. We used to stop in and say hi or climb in their tree. One time while I was hanging from the tree, there was a bat in the knot whole in the tree....

Grade 8 Graduation was a big deal, bigger than it is here in America. I wore a black dress that I got a Sears, and the day of graduation I got my hair cut! I chopped off like 8 or more Inches! That may have been the first time I donated it... I think. It was crazy because I hadn't had my hair that short in like 5 or 6 years and didn't know how it was going to turn out! Can you say Risky!?!? I graduated in 2000.


I'm sure there is more and I will add to this as I think of things....

Kings Kids

This memory is fresh in my mind because I'm am helping with the Kids Christmas Choir at WBCC.

Growing up my mama led a kids choir that sang once in a while throughout the year, not just at Christmas.

We were called the Kings Kids.

We had a song: I'm gonna be a Kings Kid! (with people everywhere)


We also learned to sing lots of other songs, including: The Mission, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms (hymn #271), Be Bold/Be Strong, Hallelujah Heart, All Day, What a Mighty God We Serve, Your First Day in Heaven, 7 Times a Day, I just want to be a Sheep. etc.

It was fun. As the child of the choir director I got to help pick out the songs, and learn them before all the other kids.

I loved getting all dressed up at Christmas and singing on stage. Being the daughter of the Adult Choir director as well, I got to do special things. One year when I was wearing the navy blue and sparkly stars homemade dress, I was in charge of changing the "Scene Title" card that was up on an easel.

I also remember as a kid, and this is separate from Kings Kids but my mom used to sing solo's and on Mother's day she would sing this song and look directly at Michael and I the entire time!

The Colours of My Room

The room I grew up in was my room my whole life. Although the 4 walls never moved, the room changed looks a lot!  When I was just a wee baby, my mom decided to paint the light grey carpeted room a "dusty rose" however either someone mixed the paint wrong or named the paint wrong because it came out HOT PINK!!!! So I had a very pink room for the first couple years. I barely remember this so I must have been young when my mom turned my room into a Victorian magazine. The bottom third of my room was thin stripped pink & cream wall paper, with a very florally border above the stripes. I want to say the top of the room was also pink?? Mom correct me on that??

Then I got old enough to make my own decisions and that's where it got crazy! I was still in Public school so I was probably 12 year old, when I told my mom I wanted to paint my room lime green!!! She just about had a cow!  However the amazing parents that I have let me do it! I got really creative! That might have been around the same time as the "Floor Incident".

What is that you ask? well that's a whole other story but I will tell it to you anyways!

My parents were having the hard wood refinished that was under the carpet in the living room and the old wide pine hardwood that was in the kitchen/dinning room replaced to match it. We went on vacation and put all of the furniture in my brother and my rooms. The fridge happened to be in my room! In that fridge the floor workers stored their lunches....also in the fridge was a pitcher of red Kool-aid that one of the workers lunches pails accidentally caught on and spilled all over my light grey carpeted floors! AND HE DIDN'T TELL ANYONE! Crazy right??? So we get back from vacation to a beautifully hard wooded house and one big deep red stain in my Victorian bedroom.  Once the owner of the flooring company learned of this, he offered to replace the carpet in my room or re-do the hard wood that was also under my carpet. My parents left it up to me to decide! I wasn't crazy I did grow up in a classy house so I made the right decision and picked the wood!

Back to Lime Green!! I, being the grown up that I was at 12 years old picked out 3 colours that no one in their right mind would put together today.... lime green, pastel purple and a pastelly-blue-almost periwinkle. I came up with this crazy idea, that who knows where it came from, because Pinterest wasn't around then.... heck the internet was barely around then! I painted the bottom the light purple with a darker shade of the same purple sponge painted over top. The Top 2/3rd of the room was the Lime Green and the border is where it got crazy!  I had 4 of my best friends forever come over and we painted the bottom of our feet, rolled around on a computer chair and placed our feet wherever our initials were on the wall.

I remember I had a sophisticated sticky-note system: something like: KP - P, MK- B, JI - G, etc. which stood for Katie Porados -Purple, Mandy Kenney- Blue, Jessica Isherwood - Green. I think the 4th person was Laura Goulden but I sadly can't even remember!! I'll have to go back and look at pictures! I'm still friends with Mandy and still sort of friends with Laura, Jessica was my best friend for YEARS and I should write a whole blog about that.  Katie was a really "cool" girl thought she was best friends with Mandy, but that is iffy, again a whole other blog!   I was the 5th set of feet around the room and I also put 1 hand print on the back of my door surrounded by 1 foot of each girl! I remember that if I could remember the order of the feet pairs I could always figure out who's were who's because Mandy had the biggest gap between her big toe and her next toe, so I would find hers and go from there!

notice the hand print on the door

The next transition of my room came as the final transition. I wanted the room to be empty for wedding pictures of me in my dress in the big amazing floor to ceiling mirrors, but I wanted a rich colour on the walls and I promised my parents I would do all the work!! However sadly due to immigration stuff I had to stay in the USA up to my wedding so they ended up packing up my room, and painting it (every parents worst nightmare).

My brother was moving in so we agreed on a colour that would work for the rich wedding pictures as well as make him happy to live in that room until further notice.... We decided on a burnt orange, and after the wedding he painted all the trim a tan colour!

The Basement

This is one of those memories I'll never forget because as soon as I light a wood burning fireplace, I'm transported right back to the basement of the house I grew up in.

The basement, now home to a new guest bedroom with a gas fireplace on the wall, and the laundry room was once our main living space. The upstairs living room used to be full of antiques and was more of a formal living room.

There used to be an ugly green and off-white-ish sort of couch as well as a burnt orangish red lazy boy chair.

There was a large hutch, which I believe is still there that used to hold our box TV and if I am remembering correctly it had a dial to change the channels. I remember watching cartoons and Sesame Street on it! I remember my dad coming home for lunch and us RUNNING upstairs

Most of my memories stem from looking at pictures of my childhood which might be why I LOVE pictures so much! But we had many birthday parties down there. We had a long table set up along the front side of the house of the basement... There are home video's of these parties and I love seeing my Grandma in them!

We also used to have Christmas down in the basement. We used to get a REAL Christmas tree that went in the basement every year and the fake one in the living room upstairs. The one down stairs had all the goofy, animated, colourful ornaments and the bead strands. We also have a wood burning fireplace in the basement which is why we lived down there. Once we got the "fake" one upstairs the downstairs ceased to exist as "the" hang out place.

My brother and I used to make some forts down there that were pretty cool! I remember a series of tunnels we made with the amazing cardboard boxes my dad used to bring home from work! I need to remember to bring home random stuff like that for when I have kids!

I also had a fancy tea party birthday down there one year!

I remember falling in love with  Kristi Yamaguchiand Scotty Hamilton's backflips there, snuggled up under ugly but warm (yellow, brown & orange zigzag striped) blankets, sipping cocoa, replacing wood in the fire. Such wonderful, wonderful memories!


One year I hosted a big dinner for 21 girls! It was formal attire, and it was a full turkey & potatoes spread on Valentines Day! After dinner we had an awards show in the basement that Carrie helped me plan! We had a red carpet lined with Christmas lights, and a podium! We invited Anne - the Youth Leaders wife, and we even had entertainment; Nikki & Nicole sang a duet! We gave each girl an award based on something from their personality!  That could be a whole other blog post as well!!  But here's a picture of the senior girls from the party!!

Practically an Older Brother

Way back around the time we got our first computer, whenever that was, I also got a big brother.

How did I get a big brother you say? There was a guy who was attending our church who needed a place to live. He had been kicked out of his home and my parent's offered our basement to him. Man was he cool! I think he lived with us for 2 year or so but I don't remember for sure... He had a really cool set of weights and a bench press. He also had a really cool sterio set with a lot of speakers.  Isn't it funny what you remember from when you were really young.

The thing that I think my whole family will never forget is that he made the BEST French Toast.

He dated this one girl for like 5 years, and then it didn't end up working out but they both ended up getting married within a couple months of each other!

It was really fun to have an older brother who had a girlfriend. We made some fun memories together.

Random Weddings

You remember that age when you look up to all these people who are older than you and you feel so special when you get included in their life?

Well there are a couple weddings that stick out in my mind that I thought were sooo cool when I was young.

I got invited to Susie Groombridge's (Thames') Wedding and I think it was the first wedding that I specifically was invited... you know I wasn't invited because I was the kid of my parents.....  I was probably 12 years old or so... She had her reception in the gym of our church and she had a tent in the middle of the gym and that's where the newlywed couple sat. It was so different than normal! The groom also wore a kilt and bagpipped into the ceremony! How cool!


Another moment I remember was most likely way before that. I was invited to Susan Ewald "shower". But it wasn't a shower.. I can't remember the word for it... (I'll have to ask my mom) it was a lingerie display party... which sounds weird but it's a thing rich people do. She had invited women to her home and had fancy snacks and stuff and had all the "outfits" that she planned to take with her on her honeymoon!I  was just a kid, and I remember thinking that it was sooo cool!

I didn't go to this wedding, but Shawn was practically a brother to me so I wish I was at the wedding but I had another event that took priority in my mind. However one of the little boy's that were there, pulled the fire alarm in the middle of their ceremony! 

Taking a Class with Mom

Ok a whole bunch of years ago, approximately around 1999... my mom and I decided we wanted to take a class together! How fun is that!! So we signed up for tole painting classes.

Tole Painting:  is the folk art of decorative painting on tin and wooden utensils, objects and furniture. Typical metal objects include utensils, coffee pots, and similar household items. Wooden objects include tables, chairs, and chests, including hope chests, toy boxes and jewelry boxes.

We took our classes from an eccentric lady who taught classes in her barn way out in the country! I wanna say it was Tuesday nights? I specifically remember that the time period that we took the class was the time that "Breathe" and "This Kiss" by Shania Twain were really big! I think every single week we were there it was on the radio at some point during our class.   Anyhoo each were able to do several projects. I did a green calendar holder, we both did matching cornucopia's .....

 

.....and we both did matching teddy bear Christmas ornaments, but the ornaments we painted differently.....  I still put the ornament and the cornucopia up every year at their respective holiday's!

It was such a fun thing to do together with my mom... if you are a mom, you should do something similar! When I'm a mom remind me to do it as well!

(Pictures to come hopefully!!)

amplified

As mentioned in my previous post, I concocted an idea while at Fair Haven's to plan an event that would be a city-wide Worship event.

I named it Amplified because like an "amplifier" we need to be loud and get the word out, our Praise needs to be amplified.

I got great cooperation from my church, after proposing the idea to the board of deacons and getting approved, Pastor Jeff helped out so much! We had 2 worship teams participate, our Youth Choir performed a whole production and I also had a speaker present a message. We had food and drinks and really cool lighting. I had to do all kinds of advertising and the event was a success!

So much so that I did it again a 2 years later. I must have been only 13 or 14 the first year that we put on the event.

The first year it was in our church gym and the 2nd year it was in the main sanctuary.

pictures to come soon .....

Fair Havens

Have you seen that Hallmark Commercial where Grandma records her voice reading a book the the grandchildren... I wish I had a book with my Grandma's voice recorded on it.. I miss her lots.....

I was originally going to post about Fair Havens' but she is really what made Fair Haven's the amazing childhood memory. Here's a Video from the camp so you can get a feel for it!

Fair Havens is a campground about 5 hours from where I grew up, in Beaverton, ON. We used to spend 2 weeks there as a family every summer, and sometime Michael and I got to spend even more time there. On our way up, we always stopped in Shomburg and shopped at this same store, and ate Caesar salads at the same restaurant with extra pickles on the side.  We also always picked up KFC in the town right before the camp to eat when we first got there!

Man just talking about it makes me want to go back there!

We always camped in the same section of the campground and my grandparents had a camper that permanently lived in the same spot. We had about 3 or 4 lots that were "ours" whenever we were there. It was wonderful to be able to walk over a few feet and be in the love of our grandparents. You can walk, or bike all over the whole campground. One of my cousin's also biked right into a dumpster causing her to need stitches in her lip.

First I should explain our relationship with our maternal grandparents... We often were dropped off at our grandparents house in the morning before school and picked up by them and hung out there until my parents got off work. We would then beg to stay over at their house instead of going home! There was a special jar of bubble gum that was always in the cupboard! There was a bowl of mints always in Grandpa's room. There were always sheets available for us to make forts in the living room! There were cool games and this cool video machine thing that told stories.....

This picture was taken on the beach where many a sandcastles were built!

Camp is a wonderful experience because every summer you get to be reunited with friends. We had some great friends that made waiting for the weeks of camp agonizing! Every age goes to Chapel every day. The adults go to Chapel too while the kids are in their programs .... there were the TimbuckTwo's (toddlers), and I don't remember the rest of any of the age group names, but each class was always fun! I went through all of them in my life.

This is the children's chapel... I remember it being bigger.. but I was little.

"While you are being challenged and fed in Chapel, your children are connected to God's Word through songs, crafts, bible stories and games. All children are nurtured by experienced, motivated and enthusiastic staff members who have been chosen for their care and love of children.  Programming reflects the appropriate developmental levels of each age as it focuses on their emotional, spiritual, social, physical and cognitive growth. Children will experience joy, security and value as they meet new friends, explore God's creation and share within their group's various activities."

I remember this song, sung in that building above; Heaven is In My Heart!

 My brother and I even went to a teen winter camp one year! It was fun to see our beloved place covered in snow!  I remember we used to play on the playground equipment until the bell rang and then we would RUN all the way into the kids chapel building.

Guest Blogger:
This is my cousin Markie's rememberings of Fair Haven's.
"Most of the stuff I remember was playing around in the canoes (right side up or upside down), catching turtles, fishing, riding the bikes around. The odd game of tackle what every we were already playing (its amazing how many games are made better by adding tackle to them. Tackle spoons was interesting). I remember going over to locks and doing some canoe trips on the big lake up there.

Its amazing how much you forget. Kind of sad. I'll let you know if more stuff pops up. And I still remember Terry getting hury by a younger girl. Ha ha."
Every week you could sign up for 2 skills classes. The skills classes were M-F after Chapel. The Skills classes I took the most were: Swimming, Crafts, Canoeing, and Drama. Here are the descriptions of the classes:

Active Sports: Get active in developing your technical and team-work abilities as you participate in a variety of team sports including basketball, volleyball, and soccer. Our instructors look forward to sharing their skills, drills, and thrills, with hopefully few spills!

Archery: At archery, 'aim is the name of the game'. Our instructors are here to show you the highs and lows of a well-aimed bow. This skill has no 'drawbacks'. Through games and skill development you will be sure to experience improvement and enjoyment all week long!

Creative Art: Enjoy an array of crafts and creative arts as our instructors help you use your artistic gifts to create a satisfying piece. Our instructors will lead you in traditional camp crafts and other projects for aspiring artists. Go wild with colour and showcase your creativity.

Canoeing (ORCKA): Our helpful and certified instructors anxiously wait to share their love of paddling with you. We offer ORCKA courses each week and hope to help you achieve your goals in both tandem and solo canoeing. Key aspects of paddling, from safety and equipment to technique, will be taught according to the provincially recongnized ORCKA program.

Climbing (High Ropes / Mt. Moriah): Climb "on belay" in the heights of the Fair Glen forest on our exciting High Ropes elements or challenge yourself on our 8.5m (32') three-sided climbing tower, Mt. Moriah. This skill is suitable for both the beginner and the 'rock jock'. Like Abraham on Mt. Moriah, our instructors will challenge you to trust, stretch, and conquer fear, while securely anchored to mountain-rated ropes and gear.

Drama: Learn new methods of communication and present yourself "dramatically" through games, skits, and improvisation. Our instructors will encourage you to view 'the whole world as a stage' and challenge you to let God be your director!Golf: Join our instructors in improving your game on our 9-hole golf course! You will have opportunity to work on your driving, chipping, and putting in a variety of games and drills. Our instructors will guide you through their enjoyment of the game in your development as a golfer and a person.

Swimming (Red Cross Swim): Learn proper skills and safety under our qualified instructors. Our classes are offered for 
beginner through experienced swimmers. Our instructors look forward to helping you in your attempt in achieving your next level. Join us for a great week to improve your skills and be water-safe.

Wilderness Adventures: Try this adventure and you will come away with new skills but more importantly a new appreciation for God's creation and divine power. Our instructors will lead you in a vast array of outdoor activities, basic survival techniques, and games that help you enjoy the wildness of God's creation.
There also used to be a mud pit that we could jump in and roll around in... that was fun. 

Did I mention that not only did my grandparents live there, but a lot of my aunts and uncles and cousin's would all come too! They usually parked their tents on my Grandparent's site or the one next to it.

Some good memories I have from my years there are:

"shampoo in hair, passing out, canoe trip, crawfishing, golfing with gramps, scar on back, Tuck Shop, Bookstore - bible/cover...., Christy Miller Series, Riverside Inn, sandcastle contests, bmx track, shuffleboard, Lawn Bowling, Tennis & Badminton, Playground, Campfires & Fun Nights, Walking Trails - finding turtles, Kirkfield Liftlock Cruise's, Ceramics, storms/tornado's"

(as I typed each word above, my heart swelled with fond memories... some words are words used on a semi-regular basis, but with Fair Haven's as their context they bring tears to my eyeball sockets)

shampoo in hair - My Grandmother used to put shampoo on top of our (Jacqi, Mark & Terry) dry heads to ensure that we would actually go to the bathroom facilities to shower!

passing out - I stayed an extra week one summer, and at one of the concerts, I passed out. We were sitting on the left side, closer to the the front than back of the chapel. I fell straight back, not collapsing, and not shutting my eyes... my Grandpa who as standing next to me had no idea what was going on. Steph did, but she was far away...I was carried outside and when I came back to consciousness, I was surrounded by vacationing nurses and firefighters. The concert had stopped and they were praying for me!

canoe trip - One summer we took a canoe trip with the whole family, aunt Steph, Uncle Paul, Mark & Terry etc. We portaged between several lakes, and cliff jumped! 

crawfishing - we used to walk down this path, next to the playground, around the corner, past the milkpods and bumble bees to the base of the liftlock. There is a lot of cray fish (they look like little lobsters) and we used to catch them with our bare hands.

This was near the golf course & pool. You could buy worms there, rent golf stuff... etc

golfing with gramps - There is a golf course on the camp ground. The summer I took the golf skills class, my Grandpa asked me to golf a round with him. That's a special  moment.

scar on back - One summer, I was sitting on the step of our motor home and my mom opened the screen door, digging a large hole in my back. I still to this day have a huge scar. I remember laying on my stomach on the grass reading a book/creating the idea of "Amplified" while the blood was soaked up by tea towel. (if you refer to the map below that happened on site 141)

Tuck Shop

Tuck Shop - how fun does that place sound?? It's the building in the middle of the camp.  I don't remember all that they sold, but I remember nacho's and ice cream!!

Bookstore - Bible/cover.... - In the basement of the Tuck Shop, there was a bookstore. I loved the bookstore. I bought my first Christy Miller Series 7th book in the series, I started out of order. But therein began my obsession with Robin Jones Gunn's books! I also bought the jean Bible cover that I used for a lot of years!

Riverside Inn - This building was the "mess hall" so to speak, but I don't remember eating there... I don't remember why I was there, but I think maybe there was a room in the basement that we had youth classes in when I got older?  I do know that is where my mom worked when she was a teen though, and had one of her first crushes!

sandcastle contests - In the afternoons there were often events that you didn't have to register for... one of them being sand castle contests. I remember trekking down there with Grandma lots of times, and there were always prizes. I don't know if we ever won or not but it didn't matter, those were great times!

BMX track - To the left of the beach there was a BMX track. I think now it is a baseball diamond, but when we were kids we had sooo much fun riding our bikes fast and on angles so steep we were almost horizontal! I will never forget the fun we had there!

shuffleboard - Ahh Shuffleboard, the course was near the Tuck Shop, but out of the way under the trees. A leisurely afternoon... something fun to do with Gramps.  If I remember correctly Gramps did some leisurely

Lawn Bowling as well.  I remember playing some version of Flamingo Frisbee in the field next to the pool with the youth, which I believe you had to catch and throw the Frisbee like Ultimate, but you could only be on 1 leg.

Tennis & Badminton - The Tennis Courts were sometimes in our backyard depending on where our camp site was that week. We loved going out there and playing... that is really one of the only places that I've played. Any other time in life I've played, it takes me back to these memories!

Playground - The playground was also practically in our backyard. I remember one summer, I stubbed my pinky toe on my left foot on the bench in Grandma's camper, and she made me put on my running shoes to go to the playground, even though I was pretty sure my toe was broken and it was so swollen I had to shove it into my shoe. I used to love to hang from the monkey bars there.


Campfires -  an essential to any camp story. We used to invite our friends families over to the fire with us, we used to eat Pie Iron's with Cherry Pie filling. Yum! Grandma used to eat all the burnt/caught on fire marshmellow's. Grandma always went in early "because of the Misqita's" (aka Misquito's). 

Guest Blogger:
Mom says - remember the time the neighbour put cayanne pepper out to get rid of the skunk and it spray him and then walked right thru our campfire spot - we all just sat frozen while he passed through

Walking Trails - finding turtles -I remember Steph used to love to go on walks, around the lake looking for turtles.  That was always fun. It was also fun to look for golf balls in the shallow waters.

Kirkfield Liftlock Cruise's - I mentioned the locks earlier. There were cruises you could take through the locks. There was this little cruise boat, that you could pay to ride on that took off at the beach dock, and went around the camp and through the locks. Have you ever been in locks? These big doors open and the boat drives in.... then the boat sits there while the water from the upper lake fills in between the 2 sets of doors. Then once it's filled all the way up the doors in front of the boat open and you continue on in the upper lake. I remember spending a lot of time at the locks. I don't even remember the rest of the boat ride at all! I do remember Uncle Paul having his boat there near the locks and traveling out into the lake and jumping off and swimming with the fish! I kicked one once. There are 5 Hydrolic Locks like this in the world, 3 of them are in Europe... The other one is in Peterborough, ON which is where my brother went to College.

Ceramics -I mentioned the bookstore, there was this room off the bookstore where you could paint your own ceramics. Grandma did many ceramics, and I think Steph made a couple squirrel ceramics (mom lets me know that it was Michael who made the squirrels). I made a bunny, and a Christmas Night Light, my mom did a Wreath. I think maybe even Mark made a pirate mug if I remember correctly. That was a fun activity!

storms/tornado's - I remember several summers we had scary storms or tornado warnings. The bathrooms were the only storm shelters we could go to. That was fun. There was one storm, back when we had a pop-up camper, not a motor home and I had to go to the bathroom really badly late at night. My mom said instead of walking all the way over to the bathrooms, that we could go knock on the neighbours trailer. They let us in and I remember being in awe of their trailer. They had everything, even a big screen TV, you stepped down into their living room and I think they even had a fake fireplace. I could be exaggerating the truth but to a kid, in a pop-up trailer, theirs' was soo cool. Oddly enough I don't remember what the bathroom looked like!

Grandpa's shed - Being that Grandma and Gramp's trailer was permanent they had features on their site that were cool. They had a stone patio, and a shed. Gramps stored all kinds of cool things in there, like fishing poles and a lawn mower. I don't know why I think that it is so cool, but it set them apart from everyone else. Their site was actually in the middle of this oval circle - closest to all the action! Half of the outside of the Oval were all permanent camper's, and I think my grandparent's might have been one of the only if not the only one in the middle that was permanent. They were almost directly in the middle... never mind I've found a site map. They lived at #139, shown in the red box and we camped at all of the purple ones... which ever of those 4 were available.  

This is most of the camp. The red box is zoomed in below and where I spend most of my time!

The Red Box is the Grandparents site, the purple ones are the ones we camped on most frequently!

Fair Glen is the Youth camp part of Fair Haven's but a lot of the Skills Classes take place there, such as drama, crafts, archery etc.

There is this one family that we used to see every summer that had foster kids. One of the little boys had that disease that if you get bruised you could die.... he wore a blue helmet whenever he played! We loved their family! There were the Cox's that lived there every summer, they were great friends of my Grandparents! My favourite friend name was Leslie, my mom is helping me look into her last name so I can look her up on facebook!
Did I mention my mom worked there when she was a teen?

I think that's all for now, but if you want to check out this wonderful place, go here:
http://www.fairhavens.org/ministries/familycamp/program/schedule/