2017
We celebrated our 11th Summer Camp since arriving in China. This is our 8th Camp with our kids!!! We apologize for the length of this post but it will be well worth your time, and we apologize for those apple users as some of the pictures are flipped sideways on apple devices.
We would like to give a special thanks to the Shirt Shack crew for donating our shirts again this year!
We also want to give a big shout out of thanks to our staff (not pictured) and our older children. The children pictured above and below were our team councilors and captains. They helped get things ready and helped the kids do each of the different activities. This was one of the easiest camps for Michelle and I because they helped out so much. Thanks guys!
Team RELY
From left to right:Team Councilor Sarah, Team Captain Graham,Team Councilor Jaxin (our eldest son) and Team Captain Ellie.
Back Row left to right:Sarah, Ellie, Jaxin, Graham and Wendy. Wendy is one of six kids starting high school and had to leave the camp early to start school.
Front Row left to right:Kelly, Patch, Danny, Gene, Frank, Davey and Dana.
Team UNITE
From left to right:Team Councilors Hollie and Gabe. Team Captains Lester and Emma
Back Row left to right:Chris, Becca, Tyler (our youngest son), Gabe, Emma and Lester.
Front Row left to right: Noah, Joey, Robby, Crystal, Tammy and Hollie.
Team SHIELD
From left to right:Team Councilor Abby, Team Captain Eli (our middle son),Team Councilor Eddy and Team Captain Debbie.
Back Row left to right: Abby, Eli, Eddy, Aaron, Debbie, and Anna.
Front Row left to right: Zoey, Brendan, Jake, Catina, Sammy, and Thomas.
DAY 1
Day 1 started off with getting the kids into their teams, passing out shirts and decorating flags as you can see in the below and above pictures.
Joey on the left writing his name, while Emma helped Robby write his name on the right.
Thomas
Kelly
Robby
Trust Games
We played many different trust games that helped build TRUST and team building togetherness.
Robby
Davey
Catina
Blind Fold Obstacle Course!
Ellie carried Davey while Eli carried Brendan. The younger kids had to tell the older brother and sisters where to go to teach that everyone needs to listen and trust, no matter what age they are.
Trust Fall!
This trust fall game, we circled all the kids around one child. The child in the middle had to keep their feet in one spot, then fall into their team mates trusting that they would catch them. Crystal enjoyed this game!
Knotty Hands!
All the kids circled up and held someone else’s hand. Then they had to untangle the knots to make one flowing circle. They had to trust that no one would let go of anyones hand and then, had to trust in everyones patience and obedience while the captains gave instructions to untangled them.
Everyone in the Hula-Hoop!
The team had to stand behind a line and jump 1 meter into a Hula Hoop as you see Eli doing above. Then, try to get as many team mates in that hula hoop without touching the ground outside of the hula hoop.
Carry the Councilor
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches!
This game involved team work and trust. One person stood behind the other making and feeding them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Whoever was the first one done and the cleanest won the game!
DAY 2
This was Robby’s first camp, so when he heard we had a water day, he came ready to play!
Our 2nd Day of camp is our water day. Pretty much the goal for this day is to get everyone as wet as possible…then throw one more balloon at them
just to make sure we did not miss anyone:)
We started off doing a balloon toss.
Lester(left) and Tyler(right) caught their balloon without it popping! Eddy’s (below) last catch popped, but he won anyway!
Hot Potato
The kids pass the balloon until the music stops. If they were caught with the balloon…Uncle Hobbs (below) was blessed to be the one to pop a balloon over their head!
Left Gene got pretty wet. Crystal and Davey both were caught with the balloon, so they got to share the same balloon.
Musical Chairs
Same concept as Hot Potato, if you did not get a chair, you got a balloon popped over your head!
Patch
Joey on the left and Aaron, won the musical chair game, so we blessed them by dumping a bucket of water on their head.
Buddy Relay Race
Two people grabbed a balloon and then had to walk it down to their team bucket and try to pop it without using their hands as you see Dana and Michelle doing above. Whoever had the most water in their bucket won.
I helped two different teams. I went with our eldest son Jaxin on the left, and with our eldest Chinese son Gabe on the right.
Eddy(left) and Aaron taking their turn and trying to be as manly as possible by not getting too close.
Bear and Princess also wanted to join in on the fun!
Bobbing for Apples
Our team councilors helped make sure everyone was safe and only going after one apple at a time!
Debbie (left) getting her apple while Abby passed them out.
We either go to one of the other locations of the Home of Hope orphanages in Gongyi or Xuzhou, or they come to our place to play. This year, neither the Xuzhou nor the Gongyi Home of Hope could attend, so we used the extra funds to buy a swimming pool. This pool has a 10 year warranty and has already been well worth the cost. Anna was so full of joy to take her turn in the pool!
DAY 3
Day 3 was our Field Day. The kids had to do their best in several different activities to try to help their team win. Each person had to Trust and encourage everyone in their team to try their best to help the team win. They shot so many baskets as you see Frank doing above and shot so many goals as you see Tyler doing below.
Davey (left) and Jake tied to get as many sit-ups as they could din 30 seconds.
Anna(left) and Ellie tried to see how many times they could get the Hula Hoop to go around in 30 seconds.
Dana, Danny and Frank competed how long they could plank for.
Thomas hung on as long as he could to earn as much points for his team!
Frank jumped the longest out of everyone competing.
Tug Of War
We had 3 big competitions that were team against team. The first was tug of war.
Ball Over the Head
Jaxin and Catina getting the ball and passing it on to the next person in line!
Dodgeball 
Craft
The craft for the day was making a photo frame for their team photo.
Crystal was helping Robby with his picture on the left and Kelly working hard on hers.
DAY 4
Our last day we call our Carnival Day. We set up a bunch of different booths and pass out tickets for the kids to go around and play at. They win different prizes, get their hair fixed or get their face painted like you see what Uncle Hobbs (above) did for Danny (below left) and Emma (below right).
Sarah(left) worked the basketball booth while Ellie tried earning her prize!
One of the more popular booths was the ring toss that Jaxin worked at.
Abby enjoying the shade while waiting for someone to throw the ball at the clown!
Gabe manned the football booth.
Jessica, our translator, worked the Diva booth. She fixed and colored the kids hair like you see her doing for Anna below. 
Matthew, our maintenance guy, worked the snack booth!
Another popular booth was the one Eddy worked. The goal was to see how many marbles you could grab with chopsticks in 30 seconds time. Ellie, Danny and Joey were trying their best to win the big prize.
Hollie worked one of the most popular booths. You tossed a pingpong ball into a bucket, if you got a ball in each bucket, you won! Though everyone tried, no one won the BIG prize this year;(
Tammy with her spoils!
Thomas with his spoils!
Zoey with her spoils!
Robby with his spoils!
PARTY NIGHT!!!
At the end of each Summer Camp we have a BBQ, talent show and dance. Matthew and Lester helped BBQ the hotdogs. Then all the older kids passed out the other food to everyone. One thing nice about this is that our kids get to serve our housemothers(pictured below)!
Dana
Tammy, Becca and Anna.
Gabe was the host for the evening and did a fantastic job!
For the talent show, we had some singing like you see Anna, Debbie and Becca doing above and Robby and Brendan doing below
Some danced as you see Tyler, Mommy and Emma doing here.
Eli played a song on his guitar!
Abby tried showing her talent of being cute to talk to her Daddy to get her way:)
While some showed off their talents, others just kicked back and enjoyed the show as you see Chris (left) and Davey doing!
Then, after everyone ate and showed off their talent, we pulled out the spot light and danced late into the night…or until 9pm:) Crystal is pictured above and Becca is pictured below
