Forest Home Family Camp

I have been a parent for just shy of three years, so I haven’t put a lot of thought into what our family vacations will look like as our kids are growing up. Disneyland? Seaworld? A year ago, I would have said those were vacation destinations, but then we moved to California and have already visited both in the past few months…

As a child, I remember sleeping in the back our minivan as my dad drove through the night to get us to family reunions in Oregon, California, Nevada, or Arizona. I remember visiting Disneyland exactly twice – once as a young girl and once during middle school. I remember taking a cruise with my whole family in college, which seemed luxurious since we didn’t travel a lot growing up. My family never left the country, and I didn’t get a passport until I needed one for a mission trip in college. Truthfully, traveling is expensive (and a lot of work with kids) and now that I have children of my own, I understand why it wasn’t at the top of parents’ priority list.

But cost and inconvenience aside, I love to travel. I think it’s so important to try new things and meet new people and see God’s work throughout the whole world. It’s also nice to take a break from regular life – from the chores and cooking and work duties that fill our days at home.

When we were unexpectedly blessed with a trip to Family Camp at Forest Home, I didn’t expect for it to feel like a vacation. I didn’t expect to leave thinking, “This is a place I’d spend money to take my family every year…” but that’s exactly what happened.

When we left for Forest Home, I expected it be great. I thought I would encounter God’s presence. I thought my kids would have fun. I thought it would be a great time of rest and reflection for Micah and me as we wrap up summer and head into a new school year. It was all those things…

The speakers were amazing. There was a morning and night teaching and worship session for adults, and Biblical truth was preached with love, compassion, and humor. The girls loved the activities. Every morning there was a youth program for three hours between breakfast and lunch. Talitha was in the toddler class, and Zianne was in the preschool class where she got to go on fun adventures every day including: a creek walk, a field sports day, and a trip to the splash pad. At night, a babysitter (CCA) came to our cabin to play with the girls and put them to bed while Micah and I enjoyed the evening worship session, night zip-lining, mini golf, and time with adult friends. During the afternoon, we had family time. The girls loved to go swimming, and we ate a few too many milkshakes. We ate every meal together as a family, but the amazing service staff cleaned up our kids’ messes with a smile. Everything about camp was amazing.

I saw the cost for camp before we left, and I assumed it would never be something we could or would spend our money on, but by the end of camp, Micah and I had decided that Forest Home is exactly what we’d like to spend our money on in the future.

As we looked around camp, we saw families who would probably not be able to enjoy a summer vacation if not for Forest Home’s reasonable costs and amazing amenities. For example, we became friends with a couple who went from having two to five kids in a number of months (through surprise biological children and adoption… aka by the hand of God!). They have gone to Forest Home for the past two years, where there they receive amazing childcare and programming for their kids while they enjoy cherished alone time.

Or take this as another example: Micah and I budgeted about $15oo for our trip to Florida earlier this summer. That paid for our airfare, a hotel/AirBnB for four nights, and a rental car for five days. That doesn’t include the cost of our food, gas, or activities. And we didn’t take our kids! If we had, all our expenses would have increased, and we would have been juggling sandy, jet-lagged children and apologizing for making messes in restaurants for the whole trip.

For roughly the same cost as our kids-free Florida trip, we could take our WHOLE family to Forest Home for six days, where every meal is prepared and paid for and parents receive the perfect mix of time alone and quality family time. And this all happens in an environment where God is being glorified. It’s so worth it! What I thought would be a one-time free trip to Forest Home will likely become a place where we spend our time and money to invest in our family year after year.

I was not supposed to write this post this way. I’m pretty sure I was supposed to wax poetic about lake day and milkshakes and laughing with new friends on our cabin porch and singing worship songs around the campfire to get you to click on the Forest Home website and check it out. Then I was supposed to subtly say at the very bottom: We were blessed with free week of family camp, but all opinions are my own.

Well, all opinions are my own… and this is what I have to say: We were blessed with free week at camp. It was amazing and now we are willing to spend our own hard-earned money every year for the same experience. There is just no better and budget-savvy way for families to vacation with young children. I’m seriously begging all our friends in CA and AZ… come with us next year! You will love it!