We had such an amazing ward youth campout in Kalaloch, WA! It was a great success, and we had so much fun and made so many memories.
We started out in Kent on Wednesday morning and drove the 3 hours to our campsite for the next few days.
Our campsite was in so many gorgeous trees and right on top of this bluff, right by the ocean. We loved all the beach time we had this trip and got to see so many new things. Kalaloch is beautiful! It was low 60s the entire time we were there, so it was not overly warm and there was always a fog/marine layer. The trees were so green and so much beauty for us to take in the entire time we were there. We were with the young women at our campsite, and the girls struggled a little but are getting better each year at setting up their tent.
Then we had some time to go and explore the ocean. It was just a short walk from our campsite. The Tree of Life was right there, which was cool to see. There was lots of driftwood to climb on and of course the ocean to play in.
Then for dinner, the youth did a cook off. I divided them into two teams and gave them the same ingredients. They both did a great job, and each team made one dish to be judged and then everyone enjoyed what was left for dinner. We also got to enjoy an absolutely delicious blackberry cobbler for dessert.
Our campsite had a forest playground that Baylor and McCall loved to play on whenever we were at camp. There were also two other kids, Theo and Liam, joining them and they went everywhere together and had so much fun playing.
These two pictures pretty much sum up their relationship! Cute and smiling and holding hands in one and then teasing and hissing and teasing each other in the other. :)
It was a successful cookoff and it is a great way to start the campout and get the youth all mingling together.
We had a wonderful fireside in the evening around our little propane firepit (there was a burn ban in effect for wood burning). The topic was how our covenants are like the string of a kite, keeping us connected to our Father in Heaven. We even got to watch some movie clips from the Avengers and Karate Kid which the youth loved. Then the youth got to put together their own kites and color them before calling it a night.
The first night was rough. McCall fussed quite a bit throughout the night, and I really don't feel like I slept at all. McCall ended up throwing up around 6 in the morning. She didn't eat much the day before and it wasn't much that came up and she felt much better and acted like herself for the rest of the day. Since the girls were up that early, I took them down to walk on the beach at low tide so Nate could get some more sleep. It was really such a nice way to start the day!
It was a slow morning and since we were up so early and it took a bit for the youth to get up. The girls had fun climbing on the trees and exploring while we waited for breakfast.
Then we all drove to Beach 4 but unfortunately, the tide was pretty high and was coming in. We did see a dead whale carcass up on the beach and we enjoyed sitting on some rocks that were high up for our lunch. We took our time eating and had lots of seal popping up their heads to say hi and even saw a whale in the distance. You could see its back come out of the water and then the spray of water, so we knew it was a whale.
We got back to camp and had a little downtime and these two took a nap which was the cutest thing ever.
Then the rest of the afternoon was spent down on the beach. First the youth attempted to fly their kites though they did more running than actual flying. There wasn't much wind, but they still had some success.
Then for about two hours we had a sandcastle competition. It was fun to watch, and I got to just walk around and enjoy it all.
The young women were divided into two teams and really got into it. They had great creativity and both of their sandcastles had this spiritual theme for it.
These three had so much fun in the sand! Theo and Baylor even made their own sandcastle.
McCall was happy to hang out with Mom and Dad and had her own little bucket of treasures- a dead crab and jellyfish, a feather, some sticks, all in some ocean water- what more could a little girl want.
I asked the young men if they wanted to participate and they said no, and that they just wanted to dig a big hole. I was happy for them to do that but then they ended up making a temple sandcastle and their big hole was the baptistry. It was funny to see how they said they didn't want to do it but then you could tell put some thought into their final product. I had to judge it quickly though, because as soon as I was done looking at it, they destroyed it.
The sea turtle was done by the men leaders of the group, and it was by far the crowd favorite. We had quite a few people walk by and comment on it. It was pretty impressive! That night we enjoyed some baked ziti, garlic bread, and salad for dinner. I did a fireside on the Tree of Life and how we should all strive to be rooted in Jesus Christ. The young men hung out at their camp playing Monopoly and the young women hung out in their tent playing card games. It was nice for all the adults to hang out around the fire and talk. Most of the have been in the Kent Stake for a very long time so they had all sorts of commons stories to share and talk about. It was such a nice evening, and we even enjoyed some root beer floats and smores for dessert.
We all slept much better the second night which was a relief!
We were still up before most of the youth, so we took advantage of the low tide and went back to Beach 4 to see the tidepools and I'm so glad we did. It was AMAZING! There were so many sea anemones to poke and so many gorgeous starfish. We were all in starfish heaven! Once we got there, I almost went back to wake up Paige, but I decided I would just take the young women that wanted to the next morning to see it at low tide before we left. We were only there for 30-45 minutes so we could get back for breakfast.
More fun in the trees while everyone ate and got ready for the day and we even had a chipmunk steal one of our knives that was most likely covered in peanut butter. :)
We drove inland for a good part of the day to explore Quinault. Our first stop was a short 1/2 mile interpretive trail that had everything you would want for a hike in this area.
There was this hollowed out tree and all the girls saw me crawl through it so of course they had to join in the fun. It got a little narrow at the end for me, and I have a bruise on my back from a little cut off branch that got me at the end.
Then we went and saw the Quinault Lodge. It was built in 1926 and is pretty impressive. It has a gorgeous lawn that goes right to the lake. We had fun exploring and had our lunches here.
Then we stopped at a tiny little museum with all the history of the area.
Next, we drove up the road to this small waterfall that is right off the road. It was a great stop and all the youth enjoyed climbing up the waterfall, exploring and climbing over all the big boulders and fallen trees, and just had fun in nature and all that it has to offer.
Then we made a quick stop to see the world's largest Sitka Spruce Tree. It is 191 feet tall and 18 feet, 9 inches wide. It is massive and impressive!
The girls in our car made a quick stop at the Kalaloch Lodge because Paige wanted to buy a postcard. There happened to be some ice cream cones there that were a great price that we all got to enjoy. McCall is a vibe and was not happy about sharing with Mom and Dad. :)
Baylor, McCall, and I all painted a rock and while we waited for dinner, we went down to the Tree of Life and put it with the hundreds of other painted rocks that are under the tree.
The two girls had some fun taking pictures once we got back to camp.
We enjoyed dinner and then McCall fell asleep on me. I loved it and was nap trapped while everyone else went to listen to a little informational session done by the park ranger.
Then we all went to Ruby Beach for the evening. The youth enjoyed looking at the tide pools, the boys threw a football around, and we enjoyed the beach as the sun set. We had a wonderful fireside right on the beach which really was the perfect setting for it. The youth had a rock stacking competition before we went back for the night.
We enjoyed some peach cobbler and ice cream when we got back. The young women made paper plate awards for everyone and they did such a good job. They came up with some fun things that happened during our trip here and there was laughter and it was a good moment for bonding and unity. We enjoyed some more late night conversations before turning it in for our last night. Each night, I went into the young women's tent, and I would read them a bedtime story, everyone would share their favorite part of the day, we could sing a song and have a prayer. It was really such a sweet time for me! I loved it every night. This last night I asked them if they wanted me to get them up around 7:45 to go to Beach 4 to see the low tide. They were all very unsure about it because they didn't want to get up early. I convinced 3 of the 5 to take a chance on me because I said it was worth it.
We got up in the morning, and I actually got 4 of 5 young women to join me and all of them afterwards, were so grateful that I got them up. It was the perfect way to end our trip at the beach! I was only planning on being there for about 45 minutes but we were there for 1 1/2 hours and it was worth it!
The girls were unsure at first as we walked down to the beach but then they saw all the starfish and then they understood what I meant.
We explored even more than we did the morning before and I loved every minute of it! You would look in one little crack or area and there would be 25-30 starfish all together. It was INCREDIBLE!
Then we started watching the water and there was a whale so close to us! It kept putting it's flipper up and waving to us. It was so AMAZING! It was most likely a humpback or gray whale. I have always wanted to go whale watching so Nate asked it this was good enough. It was amazing but I still have seeing orcas on my bucket list.
I'm so glad we added this to our agenda for the day because it was SO worth it and worth getting out of our campsite later than planned.
It was an amazing youth campout!
