Ok, it's only Mallory because this is mostly about ME. 

Well, it is fun to be a pastor's kid, except it probably isn't that fun for Daddy because we get to go to both services.  We see our friends from both services because usually Mommy and Daddy didn't used to go to both services and so we wouldn't see our friends from both services.

And we get to walk to church.  And if Mommy and Daddy get their bikes fixed, or buy a bike, or whatever, we can ride our bikes to church and that would be fun. 

And so, I'm going to talk about Camp Kitchi now.

I got to go to Camp Kitchi with my class from Huronia.  It was really great.

I will start from the beginning, if I may.

Well, the boat ride was pretty nice.

This isn't the boat ride, but you can get an example from it.

That was when we were standing on a dock, like in this picture.

I'm the one three from the left standing beside the girl with the red and blue jacket.  We're sort of squished because the dock was so small and the guy was trying to get by.

When we got there, we played a few games and we met these two staff that played some games with us and they had this one game called Bob the Weasel.  There was this big circle.  You use a flip flop as the weasel and you pass the weasel behind your back so nobody can see it.  There is one person in the middle and they're trying to pick who is holding the weasel.  If the person in the middles' back is turned, you can lift the flip flop in the air and someone will yell out, "I saw the Weasel!"  And you sing this song with it and it goes like this:

Bob the Weasel, keep it going, keep it going!

It was a really fun game. You just have to trust me on that one.

I want to tell you about the dining hall and this weirdo guy that was really funny.  Because after we ate, this man would come in and he would be one of the staff.  He would be dressed up in a office suit, and office pants and office shoes.  He would come with a clipboard and a pen.  He would look at the food waste and he was called "The Dean."  He would see if there was too much food waste.  He would give us a mark.  He would either get really mad or really happy.  One time we got a C minus (but it was probably not our table).  And THEN we got an F and then we got a B and finally we got an A minus.  Whenever he came in, before we got the A minus, they would BOO at him.  Except our table.

Then I'll go into our hike.

This rock is what we saw on the Canadian Shield on Georgian Bay.  But that moss wasn't supposed to be in the picture because it was a silly dumb, disposable camera and it took pictures by itself.  I got a picture of my toe once with my dirty crocs!  The Canadian Shield is a big rock that was formed through, um, thousands of years by ice coming off... and yah... then it formed rocks with... sand... and stuff like that.

Now I'll go into our cabin.

This was our cabin.  If you see down at the bottom row, the very bottom, is me and Brieanna, my friend.  In a cabin there were four bunk beds and one single beds and lots of spiders.  They were all freaking us out because they were thinking of ghosts at night when our leaders were gone.  I was thinking, "That's not true!" and so I ignored them.  One girl was actually crying because they were freaking her out so much.  The other night everyone really had to go pee really bad and no leaders were coming so finally a leader came and they were about to pee their pants, so they all ran into the washroom and the pee sounded really fast!

I wasn't too cold at night.  The first night I was and the last night I was--wait, how many nights was I there?--oh yah.  I only slept with one blanket and then it got cold, and then it got freezing and I was practically an ice cube.

Now I'll go into the legend of Georgian Bay, if I may!

Well, once there was this village on Georgian Bay Island.  They were the first village to ever be on Georgian Bay Island.  So one time, the villagers, while they were out hunting, heard a baby crying.  They followed the sound because they were very good hunters.  They found this baby, but it wasn't just an ordinary baby crying in the woods.  THIS baby was as big as a full-grown man!  They were thinking for a few seconds what they shoudl do with it.  Finally, they decided they would take it home.  Two men had to carry this giant baby all the way home.  When they got there, all the villagers were like, "What have you brought back now?  We need meat, not a baby!"  They explained what happened and the village decided to keep it. 

 So the baby turned into a kid and the kid into a teenager and the teenager turned into an adult.  This adult was a giant.  He was as tall, maybe just a few feet taller, than the CN Tower.  But he was a good giant and he was a very good hunter because he could smell for miles, see for miles, hear for miles.  They decided to keep him and no other village would come and attack their village, they knew that if they messed with this giant called Kitchikewana, they would be in BIG DOO-DOO. 

So the chief of the village was getting old and he wanted to retire.  He had to pick another person to become chief.  The answer was obvious, Kitchikewana.  But there was one problem.  He had a BIG TEMPER.  If he lost a Monopoly game?  He would stomp and he would cry and he would break down trees, so they probably always LET him win if he wanted to play with them.  They thought maybe if he got a wife, he would settle down, because you know that wives are steadfast and they won't allow that temper.  Day after day, these women came to check him out, but he didn't really like any of them.  But there was one particular one that he liked and her name was Wanaketa.  (And Wanaketa is the name of the girls' side of Camp Kitchi.) 

KITCHIKEWANA was sitting on this rock (the Canadian Shield) kind of depressed that he couldn't find a wife and then he saw HER, Wanaketa, doing the best Canadian paddle stroke in a Canadian canoe that you could ever imagine. So she came up and parked her canoe and she came up and they talked and they talked and they talked and they talked alllll through the night.  Finally she goes, "I have to go now."  So she went, and he was so excited that he had found her that he said, "Prepare the wedding! I have found her!  I have found her!"  So he came bounding into the village.  At that moment, they made him a new suit, which was probably hard to hand stitch for a big guy like him.  But they still had a week.  She said she was coming back in a week.  They prepared the feast and every building in the village was decorated.  Finally, in the week, Wanaketa came back and he goes, "Surprise!  We're getting married!"  But Wanaketa said, "I'm sorry, I have to go!  I already have a fiance!"  She paddled back away and he watched her and he was so sad. 

Finally, the sadness went away and he got into the anger part.  He went to the southern side of the island.  He got a big handful of rocks and sand from the bottom of the lake.  He walked all the way back to the north side and he THREW all the rocks and sand and stuff into the water.  THAT's what created the 30,000 Islands.  When he reached into the water, it made the five bays (I can't remember the names though, I don't listen to all the details sometimes).  And so he walked back and with one of the islands he made, he laid down in all the sand and rocks and covered himself with sand and he was so tired and he sort of slept in a ball shape and that is what the Giant's Tomb is and he's STILL sleeping there today.

So that's the legend of Georgian Bay.  I'm wondering if YOU can make up a happier ending - I don't like this one - and you could win a hemp bracelet and a picture that you can hang on your window!

(Sophia: Can I make one too?  OH!  Did you do a BLOG without me?  I just thought you were telling a story!)

Now that is the end.  Goodbye!  So long!

Mallory: We’re going home, home, home!

Sophia:  I guess you’re excited.

Mallory:  You were just excited and now you’re all gloomy!

Sophia: Because I’m sad!

Mallory: But you weren’t two minutes ago.

Sophia:  Because I was excited to go to Canada, but then I realized.  Don’t you realize yourself?

Mallory:  All of a sudden, I realized that it was only one day till we’re going.

Sophia:  You mean today!

Mallory:  Not today, exactly tomorrow night at 11:30 at night we’re going on the airplane.  I’m very badly excited.

Sophia:  We got new clothes to go on the plane.  I’ve got one word for you to get you excited about going home: Our Baby Cousins.

Mallory:  That’s not one word!  Maybe try “Babies.”

Sophia:  What I want to do when I get back is I’m going to go to the mall and see my family and go to the park and do everything I miss.  According to those things, I miss my family the most.

Mallory:  First thing that I want to do when I get back is… *long pause* go to the mall?  I’m going to give my family all a big hug.  They’re going to cry I think.

Sophia:  But we’re going to be really happy when we get there!

Mallory:  I mean they’ll cry for JOY.

Sophia:  We’re trying to get everybody’s address here so that we can write letters to them.  It will be so fun sending letters back and forth because we never did that to Ghanaian friends before.

Mallory:  My favourite part of going on the airplane is the cartoons, the music, and the washroom, of course.

Sophia:  She has a really small bladder.  Have I told you that before?  My favourite part of going on the airplane is getting to wear new clothes that Grandma brought us. 

Mallory:  When we get back I think the Bayfield Mall will have changed.

Sophia:  I think what will change is new friends, going to school, seeing our family, and having air-conditioning all over the place, snow - you got all that? – different clothes, and that’s mostly it.

Mallory:  I never thought of it that way.  Please pray for us and our friends.

Sophia:  Especially Anna and Maggie.

Mallory: Why?

Sophia:  ‘Cause they always read our blog and they love us.

Mallory:  Please pray that we would have a safe trip and have a fun time.

Sophia:  And that no robbers will shoot us.

Mallory:  They won’t shoot us.  We have nothing to steal! 

Sophia:  Bye!

Mallory:  Bye for now!  See you on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean!  Paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle…