The Great Cornerstone Getaway 2025

It's time for Camp Patmos again! Both kids were talking about camp for weeks ahead of time this year.  We arrived on Friday and promptly headed for the beach!  Parker was really in to floating on top of the water in any way he could. I think he was a little skittish of the fish swimming around.

Esme was a paddle board queen the whole weekend and wants one for herself.

After dinner games on Friday night. There is almost always a great group of girls for Esme to pal around with.

She also helped with breakfast prep Saturday morning.

Then back to the beach before anyone else as usual.

Esme and I took a longer paddle board excursion with Jinjer and Katie.  I am really impressed with her balance and endurance.

Ice cream break!

Here is most of the group from the weekend.

We had a baptism after supper which is always a special moment.

The an inaugural talent show! Esme did a dance and singing routine that can be seen in the video further down.

Ruby and Christina dance routine.

Jimmy and I did a skit about my "magic house." 

John did a ping pong paddle challange

Mary, Linnea, and Elika did dance and karate.

Lee with some coin catching tricks.

Mary finished the show with some karate skills.

The formal activites ended with Saturday night's campfire and smore's.

Looking forward to next year!

Moana Jr

Esme's whirlwind theater production came to end last week with 3 performances in the Maui ensemble and as Left Claw.  

As usual, we had lots of friends come to support.  Khali's grandpa, sister Virginia, and dad Dave, along with Jo and Tom.

Dad is always a #1 fan.

Elika, Andrea and Khali's mom, Karla.

Tamatoa and her claws!

Grandpa and Nana

Ryelle and Sherry

Jinjer, Mark, Victoria, and Victoris's boyfriend

Heidi and Rick

She had such a fun time with this show and is already looking forward to Willy Wonka Jr starting next week!

Second Half of July

We've stopped exchanging gifts with my parents for the most occasions, but I surprised my mom with some flowers and cashews this year.

Esme and I caught a performance of Aladdin Jr that featured 3 of her softball teammates the day before the tournament.

The costuming has a 70's theme which was really fun.  This was a summer camp like show that they prepped in less than 2 weeks.  Violet, Isla, and Ramona.

We celebrated the end of the season with a small meet-up at Urban Air with Carleigh, Isla, and Avah and their moms.

We closed it down and chatted for another 30 minutes outside. It was fun just to chat with other adults.

Parker was invited to a summer gathering of kids from his school.  He quickly found a garage door he could open and close manually (with parent approval) and that kept him busy for a while.

Even though the season is over, Esme has continued to ask to play catch and practice batting with anyone she can.  Here she is with Grandpa.

She even played a bit with Jaxxon.

Summer storms knocked out our power one night and Esme and I hunkered in the basement before going out to Grandpa and Nana's house with our food.  It ended up being the right call because it took a whole for it to come back.

The kids have been home on Jimmy's off days this summer and have taken a few scooter rides to the donut shop in the morning,

Some acquaintances from our old church moved to our neighborhood at the end of the month.  Esme and I stopped over on moving day.  Esme made a couple new friends that will be great to have so close.