Busy as a Bee . . .

This past weekend was a busy one at the camp.  On Friday, we had the Whitesburg RAs in overnight. The group makes a regular appearance in both the spring and the fall, and we always enjoy hosting their campouts!  You can count on the group doing some kind of a craft:

And there's a lot of games, devotion time, hiking, and laughing going on! Plus food ... the grills are working overtime ... or in this case, the griddle . . .

And this year, they gifted us with a three-burner camp stove, which we really appreciate.

This will come in so handy at the next fish fry!

The guys stayed through Saturday morning ... they even got a good tour of the new cabin.  By noon the camp was quiet . . . for a little while.  Late Saturday afternoon, the camp played host to a special two-year-old's birthday party!

Everything was set up perfectly for this sweet little girl's "Busy as a Bee" themed party.

The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time.

The new deck is a real asset to the pavilion, and parents love to be able to let their kids 'go'!  The new permanent counter has also proved to be a tremendous asset, well-appreciated by all our guests.

And was a great place to receive lots of fun birthday presents, too!

After an afternoon of lots of good food, fun, and birthday cake, this group called it an evening and the camp was quiet once again.

That changed on Sunday afternoon, when Union Grove Baptist Church held their evening service up at the pavilion!

They had a terrific crowd show up, and enjoyed what was probably the best weather of the weekend.

We sure enjoyed having all three of these groups at Camp MACOBA and hope we'll see them all again SOON!

Meadow Drive Church Picnic

Saturday, the third day of October, was not a particularly beautiful day -- not the kind you associate with early October.  It was grey, wet, and very cool -- but that didn't stop the group from Meadow Drive Baptist from making their first trip out to the camp for a church picnic!

Early we hung some tarps around the pavilion, and their pastor, Steve Andrews, got a nice fire going in the fireplace.  As folks started rolling in, the rain stopped long enough for them to head down to the ponds to do some fishing:

From the looks of it, the fish were biting just fine!

Then the rain started up again and they gathered under the pavilion -- mostly on the end with the fire place - and enjoyed some food and fellowship. 

Including a game of checkers . . .

All in all, it was the perfect day for just hanging out in front of the fireplace!

They probably left a little sooner than they'd originally planned, but they left the place spic and span and we hope they'll come back again soon -- we'll try to have some prettier weather arranged for them!

Wears Chapel Baptist Fish Fry

Sunday afternoon was a little rainy, but it cleared up just in time for our Wears Chapel group to come in and enjoy some fellowship.  When they got there, most of the crew headed straight down to Secret Creek and splashed their way up and down the water!

The group stayed down there until the fish were ready.  It was a fun afternoon of splish-splashing and chit-chatting!

New Hope Baptist Fellowship

We were excited to have the group from New Hope Baptist up to the camp for a fish fry.  They brought a pretty big group up with them . . . almost fifty folks!

One of their members had a tremendous grill contraption -- one that just made it's way onto the camp's wish list!

Three burners fitted with a three-tank aluminum fry well . . . one for fish, one for fries, and one for hush puppies!  

They also tried (and some of them found) their luck down at the ponds!

They had a great time and we'll look for them to visit again soon.

Three Days, Three Groups!

This past weekend (the last in October) was packed with groups and people enjoying wonderful fall weather at the camp!  The first arrivals were the fellows from Boy Scout Troop 8, who were here for wilderness/survival training.

They came in after dark on Friday and got their tents sent up quickly in the main campground and spent their first night around the camp fire.

Saturday morning brought daylight and an opportunity to check out their tent village . . .

 Everyone was busy doing something.  Chopping wood, collecting water . . .

 Working on and in the "kitchen" tarp.

Already water was boiling for Saturday night's dinner!

Which we did come back for!  By that time, all the work had been done and everyone was kind of kicked back and enjoying a lovely Saturday afternoon.

 We took the opportunity to check out the shelters that the boys had gotten set up.

They looked pretty good -- and I daresay, out in the middle of the woods, they'd have been near impossible to find.

One of the utilitarian chests in the kitchen area:

Everything the outdoorsman needs to cook up a tasty meal!  Speaking of which, the spaghetti served up that evening was from an old Italian family recipe and was very, very good!

While we enjoyed our spaghetti, the guys were preparing dessert in the Dutch ovens . . .

 We had some of that, too.  Peach and blueberry cobbler in one bowl and strawberry cobbler in the other.

YUM!

This was the first time Troop 8 had been out here (Cub Scout Pack 8 had visited several years ago) and they were all so impressed with the Camp, the beautiful setting and how perfect it was for the kind of camping they enjoy.  One of the men mentioned that his favorite part of the day was sitting around the camp fire, after all the boys had packed it in.  Several men agreed!

Talk about opposites . . . our second group arrived on Saturday morning, full of giggles and laughter!  It was the GAs of Hillwood Baptist Church, who were here for the FIRST EVER campout!

First thing they did was get their sleeping quarters up and in order.  They camped out around the pavilion.

Saturday afternoon they enjoyed some great crafts (painted frames and pillowcase prayers), a nature hike, and even some small group Bible study out in the field.

Come dinner time, the girls had really worked up an appetite!  They had roasted hot dogs over the fire and had baked beans and chips and s'mores to round things out!

It was fare fit for a queen!  Or lots of princesses!  And their Children's Minister (Jeff Whitehead), too!  He'd come up to share dinner and a time of worship with these beautiful faces.

 And after dinner was the perfect time for a couple of rounds of checkers, in front of the big fireplace!

 The braver girls sat around the camp fire and did Bible drills from their lessons earlier in the day:

We were so pleased with how excited all the girls were to be camping and how much they each enjoyed it.

And as a service project bonus, they planted a lovely bed of pansies to help us get through the fall and winter with a splash of color!  We certainly look forward to their return and appreciate all their hard work and kind words!

Last up was Cornerstone Baptist Church with their annual church picnic on Sunday afternoon.  By that time, both of the other two groups had already headed out and CBC had the camp to themselves.

We'd asked the GA group to not douse their fires, so it was nothing to re-kindle them both.

And so it didn't take long for the group to congregate around the fire!

 The children headed straight for the playground!  Love this sweet smile!

 And this smile too .... who says swings are just for littles???

And of course, the day was perfect for a little football tossing.  And a little attitude tossing, too!

It would seem that a church picnic is also a good spot for a little church business discussion?

They had a great afternoon and enjoyed the ponds, trails and creeks.  Not to mention a great feast of hamburgers, hot dogs, and loads of home made goodies!

It was a hugely busy weekend ... of the best kind -- filled with lots of happy campers!