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/

A Crazy Fun Friendship

These pictures represent 2 years, the 1st 2 years of this crazy fun friendship. We were both 2 different people back then, so different from who we are now.  She was so anti-technology, the only one on our floor who didn't have her own computer, she had a line up of boys with 1 clear winner, she cared what people thought of her, but not so much that she couldn't get crazy! I was single and eager to have a new friend! We were a lot of fun together. We were all about having fun with very little stress/responsibility in our lives. We had so many things in common! We were also kind of weird.

Cougar Camp

Out of the blue the other morning I woke up thinking about Cougar Camp... I haven't thought about that in probably 8 or 9 years, which is just sooo long ago!!!

It's actually hard to believe I'm not a freshman in High School anymore or as I grew up calling in; grade 9! Anyways unless you're Carrie or my brother you probably are wondering what is Cougar Camp? Or if you know me from SAU, you are probably thinking; you were a Cougar in University, where you really a Cougar in high school too!? If you know me well then you know the reason why I initially decided to attend SAU, and that was the Cougar correlation!

CCI - also know as Chatham Collegiate Institute is the High School I choose to attend instead of the High School that was down the street and around the corner from my home growing up. I had to get up really early (7:10 was too early for a morning person), and ride the city buses to the other side of town. But it was worth it! My friendship grew with Carrie into something life-long! AND the experience I got there, the green and white that coursed through our veins, then poured out of our tear ducts. But that's not what I'm supposed to be writing about....

Cougar Camp, very similar to Cedar Bend. A weekend at the beginning of the school year. Senior students there to assist and make the transition smooth. Crazy fun activities. There we sang a crazy fun song,using rhythm's with our hands.... I can't explain it, but I have it on one of our band CD's. Camp food.

That's all - such good memories!

The Ghost of Valentines Day's Past

This will be our 4th Valentines day together. I think.... but here's a look into my past Valentines days!

The first one was particularly nice... we have been dating for 3 months and I talked him into buying tickets to the Piston's game through his dorm RD. He bought me the Rip Hamilton Jersey. We went with Adam/Cheryl & Chris/Kd. That night after the game, about 1am on the morning of the 15th - we had our 1st kiss.

Our 2nd Valentines day, we had passed the next milestone in our relationship of the saying of "I love you" 3 months earlier after 1 year of dating. We were busy and poor, so we unconventionally had a date in the SAU Library... we took over a study room on the 3rd floor and watched I believe Newsies on my laptop... we hooked up speakers and everything. We ate cougar den food for dinner and spoiled ourselves with coffee from the Sacred Grounds (Starbucks) in the Library. We also babysat Hailey Rae Pollak for a night so that Nich & Jennie could have a night out with out their baby, and me and my Babe got to hang out with the CUTEST girl in the world!

Our Third Valentines Day is documented here: but the nutshell version is 3 roses, swept off feet, a night at the theater.... check it out.

Our 4th Valentines day was our first as a married couple... here's a link to last years Valentines Day, which in a nutshell was Olympics in Canada, 1 small box of chocolates shared, yoga & chinese food.

Before I got the boyfriend, I still celebrated Valentine's day! My senior year of high school, I hosted a party for all the girls in my youth group. 21 girls came over to my house in FORMAL gowns! We all have them, we all want an excuse to wear them more often. I had this idea, and my bestest friends helped me to set it up.

 My parents and aunts helped cook the meal; a full 4 course meal,

with ambiance music, followed by a Red Carpet...

 ....awards show that awarded each girl with an award catered to their personality!

We also had special music!

We even had a photo shoot individually and in groups:

and a Dance party afterward:

You can't beat that! Pretty much a really fun night!

Before that my parents always made sure my brother and I each felt special on this most uniquely weird day that gives an outlet to those who love.  We would wake up to a heart shaped box of chocolates on our pillows every year! No matter if you love, you can celebrate that tomorrow!

missing those nights

This past week, instead of falling asleep on the couch and then slumbering to bed when Nick is done playing on the computer, we have been crawling in bed together and he's actually been awake enough to talk at night. It has made me miss the nights of my past.

1. the weekends growing up where I shared my room with my aunt, whom I would kick to keep awake because I was not done talking. We would talk for hours and hours! It was the best.

2. the nights in college, specifically Junior & Senior years when Mel and I were roommates and would talk in bed, plan her wedding, sing songs from our childhood.... good times.

These wonderful things are the things we remember all though our lives.

I remember: the years of TICS when every Christmas we had a surprise Christmas video and a Surprise guest to our youth group nights, during Christmas....  It was always 1 of 2 Christmas movies, and I can only remember 1 of them, but it rotated every year, so it was never really a surprise! 1 of the movies was the Grinch... the old one, the cartoon one.... Melissa - do you remember the other one? Every year 1 of the Ottaways dressed up like Santa Clause! I remember 1 year it was Marty, the years before he was old enough to be in the youth group. I don't really remember what he did or brought. But That is my memory of the TICS Christmas's.     (TICS stands for Teens in Christ's Service)

I remember: the Christmas that my family took off on Boxing Day for Disney World! That was certainly a different Christmas than I had ever had before! We had to go to bed early that night, so that we could get up early and fly to Florida! That was my first and only time to Disney! I will never forget it! We took Aunt Steph & Aunt Bessie!! How cool is that!!!?

I remember: the year that Dana got a Calendar for Christmas and as she was pulling it out of the wrapping paper, she hit me in the nose with the calendar causing me a bloody nose all over new clothes I had just received that morning and was wearing for the 1st time!

I remember: the years at my Grandma's house for Christmas. I really hope I never forget, I was very young when we used to have all the kids over there, we were all kids then - young even Chad & Ryan were kids so I was like 3 or 4 probably. I remember 1 year my Grandparents had gone to Florida and brought us (Jacqi, Michael & I) back dresses and new clothes! I don't remember, but I have pictures to solidify the memories of making Gingerbread houses with Grandma and Michael and Jacqi.

I remember: chocolate chip muffins, yule log cookies, & crepes!

I remember: wearing my new PJ's to bed and then staying in them all day, or until I got something new to put on instead!

Another College Memory

I have a ton of college memories that are documented by pictures, and that is really why I love taking pictures so much, but the ones I like to post on here are ones that don't have pictures....

Tonight I'm going to try to think of 1 memory from each year of college that I don't have pictures to remember by, and I'm going to write the first thing that comes into my head:

Freshman Year: This one was a big part of my freshman year- but still one I don't want to forget. Every night that there were open hours (the nights that boys were allowed over) specifically on Thursdays but this also occured on the Saturday or Sunday nights tooo.... we would stuff a whole  bunch of people into Jennie's room (she was the RA - resident assistant, and she lived next door to me). We would watch a movie.... sometimes there were 16 people in that 1 little room, we'd be overflowing almost out the door sometimes..... That was so much fun and I'm soo glad we did that! It was a a major part in making us such a close floor!

After 10pm when they boys had to be off the floors, just on Thursday's we (Jennie, Nich, Me and a combo of Jessie, Magan and Rryan) went to Steak n Shake. We played Euchre until like 1am. I always mooched off Nich n Jennie's Cheesey Fries! To this day I love their cheesy fries because of these memories!

Sophomore Year: This was the year of sitting in our suite and talking! Hilary, Mel, Emily and I shared a suite which consisted of 2 dorm sized rooms attached by 1 bathroom and 1 small room that we put all our beds in. One afternoon I was sitting in the little room talking on the phone to my dad, when around the corner poked a head of a friend that I hadn't seen since the end of Freshman year! My ROOMMATE. She had I had a great friendship, but she was an interesting roommate.... in that she was barely ever there.... but she was crazy fun and I miss her muchly.  I literally SCREAMED with excitement which was loud in my dad's ear whom I had forgotten I was on the phone with. I pretty much hung up on him and just hung out with her!

Another Sophomore Year memory can be summed up in one phrase: "What's that Noise?! I'm scared.!"... ok maybe it needs more explaination.... Mel was under her desk for some reason re-plugging things in or something... and I had this wind-up flashlight... and I was winding it, which made a scary noise apparently.

Junior Year: This memory is hilarious!! Mel and I had our beds bunked above our desks, so it kind of formed a tunnel underneath.... we used a ladder to get up to our bed at night... then across from the tunnel of beds and desks, we had a coffee table, TV and couch - a living room you might call it. Well at 1 point during the year we had a nice ceramic leaf-shaped dish on the table that Mel had acquired and it usually had cookies on it! One morning the phone rang at 7am (way tooo early) and I was scrambling to get out of bed fast enough to answer it.... on my way down the ladder I realized that half of my body was still "asleep" and I literally fell off the ladder, landed on the coffee table and the ceramic leaf dish shattered!! All that for a phone call from Jaime Cade (now Jaime Hall) telling me that their power was out (and was going to be out for a while) in the apartments and she was wondering if she could spend the next night in our dorm!

Senior Year: I lived in a house with 8 girls.... we watched a lot of girly things on TV but we went through almost the entire series of Smallville, we also marathon'd Gilmore Girls and Full House!!! Great times!


(I have a tendency to write these posts in chunks, so read the 2 posts below!)

It's Dinner Time!!!

Here is a memory from my pre-teen-teen years!  My parent's made a rule that 1 night a week my brother and I had to cook! We were to find a recipe the week before, put the ingredients we would need on the grocery list and the cook it! It was a brilliant plan on their part because 1. they didn't have to make a meal 2 nights a week, and 2. now my brother and I both know how to cook a good meal.... now he can cook a meal way better than me, because well he was inspired so much by these cooking nights that he went to Sir Sandord Flemming College and majored in Culinary Management! He did several co-ops at several restaurants. He is a very good cook and we try to get him to cook as often as possible!

Well Thursday night was my night, Tuesday night was his.... the very first meal that I made on my Thursday nights was Broccoli soup with sour dough biscuits! It turned out delicious and over the years I have modified my recipe and turned it into a fabulously delicious soup! Even Nick who used to not eat soup, and wouldn't even try a small spoonful of my soup - now REQUESTS it regularly!!

(I have a tendency to write these posts in chunks, so read the 1 post below!)

Scrabble in K12

It's been a long time since I posted a memory, and I really want to post more random memories from that time that is considered "the best time of your life" which is also known as college!

I'm going to start with a memory from senior year, not because it is freshest in my mind, but because facebook just recently reminded me about the online game. There was a week or 2 when everyone in K12 (the boys house), and a bunch of my friends from home, and the girls in my house as well all played the game! It was sooo fun! You could post a word on the "board" and then leave, and wait for the next person to post hours later or days later or just a few minutes later... you could play a 2 person game or a multiple person game, so I would be playing 5 games at a time with all different people!  There was at least 1 day if not more, where there were probably 6-10 people sitting in the living room of K12 all playing the game at the same time, with each other, in more than 1 game.... it was a bit chaotic and oh so fun!