A week in the life of Qwanoes

October 30, 2011 – 4:03 pm

Ken Bayley defending his office while working on his computer!

Many wonder what happens during the non-summer months at Qwanoes. Yes, we sometimes break into a spontaneous all out finger rocket war in the offices… hey we are at camp! The other times we are busy getting ready for a retreat, recruiting summer staff, running the Kaléo program or making sure summer 2012 will be the best it can be for our campers! I heard at staff meeting this week that the Squirrel (Russ Smith) is back in the studio writing a whole new CD. That’s right…a full-length, all-new CD! So get ready campers for brand new songs this upcoming summer, I know that I can’t wait! Be sure to tune into qrok.ca every week and send an email to the Squirrel saying hello or give him an idea for a song! Who knows – it might inspire a song!

Nicole is one of our Qwanoes students this year in the Kaléo program! Go Nicole!

Last week our leadership students in the Kaléo program were out on adventure in Tofino to go cold water surfing. Did you know that Tofino is the surfing capital of Canada?! It was a fantastic trip with lots of fun together plus digging into God’s word in the evening and morning. God’s creation is a wonderful thing! The trip was highlighted in our Kaléo 2012 blog. This past week they were deep in academic study. Don Taylor, a professor from Briercrest, flew out like professors do for all the classes and was teaching on Old Testament Literature. The students said they learned a ton, and had fun doing it as they made a video that highlighted the Old Testament story.

Retreats, Retreats and more RETREATS! So far we have our women’s retreat, Juniors retreat and still to come is Junior High, Senior High and then Men’s retreat. This is a perfect chance to come on back to Qwanoes and spend some time with God at camp. Life can be busy, but something special happens when you step out of the ordinary and go to camp. We hope to see many of our campers from this past summer and their friends! Junior High is coming up this weekend!

Rob on the left, and Chris on the right.

Right now we have many youth groups here from the Fellowship churches from the greater Vancouver area. This youth retreat is put on by a group of great youth pastors. I can hear them upstairs right now rocking out with their band. I ran into Chris Synesael who is the speaker this weekend and Rob Schweyer who is a youth pastor in Maple Ridge and both past Qwanoes camp speakers.  Are you in a youth group? If not check out our youth group church finder on our website. It’s a great place to connect with people at camp, school friends and youth pastors who really care about you. Stevie-G just told me he was off to a finger-rocket battle in Q-Town, so sounds like lots is going on!

Hope to see you at  Qwanoes soon!

 

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Juniors Retreat – Something’s Different Here!

October 22, 2011 – 7:28 pm

Here come the All Star Games crew!

Wow! What a great start to Juniors retreat last night. Something is just different at Qwanoes when campers are here, it makes Qwanoes come alive!! It’s hard to explain, but I think this video will help - Check it out !

Club Coco was transformed, and we started off the night with having Q-Town right in Club Coco! What a special night as the Squirrel (Russ Smith) was back on the stage leading Q-Town songs once again with the rest of our band Quixotic. Our Juniors campers got a very special surprise last night, as something happened that was very different! Russ didn’t leave the stage after we were done singing! What!? That’s right for those that guessed it…for the very first time Russ the “Squirrel”  is our camp speaker, and he is doing an amazing job! Our theme for this weekend is “Something’s Different Here” and Russ is talking all about how Jesus did some things that were a little bit different, and said things that were a little bit different. Something else that is a little different at Qwanoes this weekend is Scott Bayley led All Star games on Friday night! Now that is very different, but it’s all part of our very special weekend!

Hanging out and getting ready to go down the "Screamer!"

Mug-Up, cabin devos, cabins eating together in the dining hall, All Star games, this weekend is packed with so many great things. This afternoon campers spread out across Qwanoes for activity time. The Sky-Scraper was swinging through the trees, campers were hanging in Club Coco, and screams of delight could be heard loud and clear from the “Screamer.” I even saw campers lined up at Ice-Cream Island enjoying some great tastes of summer.

Right now the campers are engaged in an epic battle called “Under Siege.” They are sneaking around the forest trying to infiltrate the enemies territory, defend their own territory by catching those who dare cross the line, and seeking to attack the enemy base with “grenades” and even rockets! It’s anyones game right now, RED, BLUE, GREEN and YELLOW, when the gong goes, someone will be victorious!

So much more in store for this weekend! More Q-Town, more All Star Games, more friends and the town invasion is coming up tonight where all the campers head to the pool and take over!

Junior High and Senior High retreats are coming up fast and it’s not too late to sign up! The theme for these two retreats is “Brighter Yet?” and you won’t want to miss it! Go online to find out more about the theme.

There’s Going To Be Tons To Do! Late Night Madness, Town Invasion … The Hot Tub & Pool Are Ours!, Outdoor Adventure, Awesome Counselors & Staff, And Always… And Always A Few Surprises!

If you’re looking for something completely out of the ordinary…welcome. If you want something different…this is it. If you’re tired of the same old same old…sign up now and prepare for the unexpected. Go online to find out more!

 

Retreat season is underway!

October 14, 2011 – 4:10 pm

What a great weekend to have a women’s retreat! The sun is shining, the cool Fall breeze is just right. It promises to be an awesome weekend for women to connect with each other, good food, fun activities, spiritually challenging and excellent weather! The speaker for the weekend is Patti Larsen. She brings to Qwanoes a wealth of experience in ministry to women over many years. The women this weekend can expect to be challenged to know Christ, and to go deeper and wider in their relationship with God to be used for His fullness. The women’s retreat kicks off tonight!

Somewhere in the Gulf Islands - two students getting ready to climb to the top of the sail!

Here is a quick recap of what has been happening at Qwanoes and what’s coming up!

Qwanoes students head off on a sailing trip! What an exciting trip for the students in our Kaléo Leadership Program. They started in Victoria and spent a whole week together on a big sailing ship! They learned a lot about each other, leadership and God. You won’t want to miss the pictures and the blog post on our Kaléo Program blog site.

Stevie-G is married! Our very own Stevie-G got married over the weekend to a past summer staffer by the name of Alycia! Many staff from Qwanoes headed all the way up to Williams Lake to be part of the celebration. It was a wonderful wedding day! The ceremony took place in front of a beautiful lake outdoors, we had a BBQ, campfire, and fireworks in the evening. Stevie-G even led us in some All Star Games! Okay, I’m kidding. Be sure to congratulate Stevie-G next time you see him! We wish Stevie-G and Alycia the very best and we are so happy to have both of them a part of our Qwanoes family :) (Williams Lake is also where Scott Bayley, our Executive Director, was born…so he also enjoyed seeing his old home town, as did his parents Ken & Betty Bayley.)

Congratulations Stevie-G and Alycia! We wish you the very best!

Thanksgiving for all! We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. One of our highlights here at Qwanoes is our annual staff and student Thanksgiving dinner. What a feast! Our head chefs prepared a delicious home cooked Qwanoes meal, and it was a a great time of sharing with each other what we are thankful about. Many of our Fall staff are from Brazil, and this was their very first Thanksgiving in Canada!

Retreat Season: We have many retreats coming up for campers to choose from! To check-out the line up of opportunities to be a camper here in the Fall, you  can go online to our retreat page.

Our Juniors Retreat is our first kids retreat coming up on October 21-23 and it is for campers ages 8 to 11 (a seven year old can come as long as they turn 8 by Dec. 31, 2011).We plan to take a bit of summer and pack it into one fun-filled adventure packed weekend! There will be TONS to do! All your favourites will be here…like Q-Town, All Star Games, the Sky-Scraper and the rest of the Challenge Course will be open, great meals…and we’re even going on a town invasion Saturday night that you will NOT WANT TO MISS!
You can check it all out here and register anytime – we still have some space available.



 

 

What a ROAD TOUR!

October 3, 2011 – 1:41 pm

Enjoying Qwanoes Road Tour at Parksville!

Four locations in four days! First it was in Victoria on Sept 28th, and then over to the mainland to Ladner, followed by Abbotsford the next day, and ending with the grand finale back on the island in Parksville!

It was a whirl-wind tour of seeing campers, staff, meeting new friends and connecting with many, many youth groups. I was just at the Parksville Road Tour location, and it was a blast! There was a giant welcome with the “Rocket” greeting everyone at the front door, and then as soon as you walked in there was Beach Betty manning the Tuck Shop! Staff were everywhere and I could hear the Q-Town music pumping in the background. We started off the night with some great Q-Town music led by the ‘Squirrel’ (Russ Smith) and then Stevie-G hit the stage with some front & center games. I never knew someone could eat a banana that quickly!  Scott Bayley also jumped in and gave away some prizes – one person even won a free camp registration to a Fall Retreat!

Quick build the castle! (Allstar Games!)

There were so many favorite parts of the night, but one of my favorite had to be when we had the giant box All Star game right in the middle of the church. There were finger rockets flying, boxes being stacked like a fortress, doctors saving people, it was an all out battle!

That castle is coming down!

Getting closer to the end of the night now…the speaker, Dan from Parksville, came up to do his talk and he challenged all of us to make sure we are plugged into a church youth group, because that’s where a lot of growth is going to happen when you aren’t at camp. So if you aren’t plugged into a youth group yet, let me encourage you to check out our webpage where it lists a lot of good churches!

And of course no Road Tour would be complete with out Mug-Up! Mug-up! Mug-Up, got to get yourself some Mug-Up! I love that song and I love Qwanoes cookies and juice.

If you missed the Road Tour, no worries! There are still plenty of chances to stay connected with Qwanoes. Did you know you can come to camp when it’s not summer!?? If you haven’t been invited yet by anyone, let me officially invite you now to come to a Fall Retreat! Check it out online to get all the info. See you soon!

Mug-up! Mug-Up! One cookie and one juice - yeah!

 

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September is full of activity!

September 24, 2011 – 11:58 pm

Trinity Western University leadership students arrived last night to a lively Qwanoes welcome with bus horns, fireworks and a steak dinner! This is the last event for the Trinity leadership students to wrap up their training and orientation for being leaders on the TWU campus. Q-Town was alive once again with chapel last night and this morning. It’s so great to have a speaker on the stage again with awesome worship music. The weather is just fantastic! This afternoon the TWU students will be in the challenge course, being pulled behind our three Tige wakeboard boats and shooting some hoops on the sports court. The sun is so bright, the Sky Deck is full at meal times, it almost feels like summer again… except one little thing, our campers are university students!

Almost at the top! Look at those mountain peaks!

What a great first week for our very own Qwanoes students! (Kaléo Leadership Program) This past Sunday we gathered together in the Qwanoes Leadership Centre (Pacific Woods Lodge) and packed our backpacks for what promised to be an adventure like no other! We headed up to Mount Washington here on Vancouver Island to attempt to summit Mt. Albert Edward. The purpose of the trip is to bond as a group, learn about leadership and God in a whole new way…. and indeed we did! What a great way to learn perseverance!

Qwanoes welcome tunnel at the top of the mountain! We made it!

Mt Albert Edward, standing at 2093m, is the 6th highest peak on Vancouver Island and one of the most nicest to summit of Strathcona’s giant peaks. The trail takes you through the tranquil alpine area of Paradise Meadows and ascends up the gentle-sloped ridge to the summit, providing outstanding views of the snow-covered peaks of B.C.’s oldest provincial park. With this being the 1st backpack trip for many of our students, it stretched many outside of their comfort zone. I personally loved it because that’s all part of the training! So did we make it? Is what you probably wondering???!!! Well I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Coming up next week is Qwanoes Road Tour week! The Squirrel (Russ Smith) & Stevie-G are packing the van and could be heading to a town near you. This is a great chance to reconnect with Qwanoes…a wild night of music, fun, mug-up and togetherness! Enjoy a typical Qwanoes evening- from the energy of Q-Town to many crazy, interactive events! There’ll be lots of staff from our Summer 2011 Staff Team-plus youth groups from all over. Invite your friends! All Junior High’s & Senior High’s ages 11 (or turning 11) to 18. Whether you attended camp or not…this is a night for everyone!   Don’t forget the Fall retreat season as well!

 

One season ends and another begins!

September 18, 2011 – 12:22 am

An amazing night of great food, fireworks, and hanging out at Qwanoes!

Our campers are back in school and we are gearing up for Road Tour… it feels like just yesterday when our campers were on the grounds enjoying summer camp! Just a couple weeks ago now we completed our ninth and final week of summer camps – and what a grand finale it was! Youth Camp is always such an extra special week. The weather was ideal…especially the last full day where we enjoyed an outdoor banquet and fireworks.

Sunday, September 4th was a very sad day at Qwanoes as it was the last day of what was an amazing summer with over 3700 amazing kids. All of us at Qwanoes already can’t wait for the next summer. Until then, we invite you to a fall retreat, a Road Tour event…and we will be praying that all of our campers have a great start back to school. We would like to send a BIG thank you out to all our campers and staff for making summer 2011 so special! THANK YOU!

Our students have just arrived and the Kaléo Leadership Program is well underway. On Wednesday our leadership students rolled in from as far away as Newfoundland and as close as Vancouver. We are just loving the energy these students bring. Our hope for them this year is that they would hear God’s voice and discover His will for their life. That’s what the word “Kaléo” is all about! “voice” and “to be called.” The theme for the Kaléo program is “inspired for life, called to lead” – and we have confidence that it is going to happen for all of these leadership students. It’s been non- stop action since they arrived…settling in, staff and student day, orientation, meeting their church they will be serving at and activity training today, just to name a bit of their schedule so far. Tomorrow we will be packing our backpacks and getting ready for our backpacking trip at Mt. Albert Edward. It promises to be an awesome adventure, and a great way to learn about leadership and get to know each other even more! Our student’s year is going to be filled with academics, ministry, leadership development, community and lots more adventures! Stay tuned…

Our Qwanoes leadership students have arrived!

 

Where else but Qwanoes!

August 20, 2011 – 10:27 pm

HANG ON!

Where else but Qwanoes can you be woken up by a tower blasting music through the forest letting  you know it is time to start another awesome day of adventure!? That’s what happened every day at Qwanoes this week! We actually have a sign right on the main road as you enter Qwanoes that says “Let The Adventures Begin!” What does that mean exactly? Well one minute your surrounded by your friends enjoying lunch on the Sky Deck and the next you might find yourself in any number of places from Q-Town to the waterfront or soaring through the air on the Sky Scraper! You could even find yourself defending the Kingdom of Utasia from total destruction in one of our many All Star Games!

Where else can you chase down a shaving cream man with water guns!

It’s amazing what happens in the world of a camper as they  quickly get caught up in an unforgettable life-changing week in a place built for kids from the ground up!

Another adventure that campers have quite often at Qwanoes is discovering life like no other. This week many of our campers discovered a world that they never thought was possible, a world with Jesus at the center, which is truly life to the full. This week our speaker Sid Koop shared all about how we don’t have to walk through the adventure of life alone, we can walk confidently with the one created us.

Jieun, Ye In and Sujin visiting Qwanoes and Canada all the way from Korea!

I just got back from being out at tuck time and I ran into some campers from Korea! That’s right, all the way from Korea. A group of about 30 students just arrived in Canada two weeks ago and they will be here for five more months. I was so curious to see what they thought of all of this and what they thought of being at camp. The three girls that I met were Jieun, Ye In and Sujin. Right away they told me Canada is very cold… and it was +24 out at the time! They love the big mountains, and said everything is so green and big. Their favorite thing to do a camp is the SkyScraper and they love cookies at Mug-Up! They enjoy Q-Town music very much, and said it is very different then their chapel times back in Korea. I have to admit… our Q-Town’s are quite different than most chapels! Oh one last thing that I thought was quite interesting… they think Canadians say “excuse me” ALOT!

Another great week of Junior High camp comes to a close at Qwanoes – our very last Junior High week of the summer. We are sad about that, but still very happy we have our Juniors Camp coming up and then Youth Camp!

Qwanoes sign on the main road coming into camp by Club Coco!

 

 

 

A day at camp would not be complete without Tuck time!!

August 4, 2011 – 10:55 pm

Tuck time is a grand old tradition at Qwanoes! It’s a time when the whole camp takes a break together and heads to the main field to hang out. It is quite something to see 400 campers and almost 200 staff descend onto the field from every corner of Qwanoes. I just got back from a walk around the field and boy was there a lot going on!

Zack enjoying a trip to "Ice Cream Island"!

First I stopped by the most famous island at Qwanoes –  ”Ice Cream Island” of course! There I met Zack who just got his order of a coke and mint chocolate chip ice-cream…now that is quite a combination! Our stores at Qwanoes are really neat, as everything is run through personal Tuck accounts. Our Juniors campers feel so grown up as they walk up to the counter and put in their order at one of our 5 stores spread around Qwanoes.

Josh has his eye on some shave ice!

Walking past Ice-Cream Island you can find Shave Ice Palace! It is brand new this summer to our Juniors campers and they are loving it! I just walked the line and the campers are feeling the Hawaiian spirit as they can’t wait to get their mouth around a cool tasty ice treat. Shave ice can be found on many Hawaiian islands, and we thought hey! we are on an amazing summer island too, so why not have shave ice right here at Qwanoes! Russ the “Squirrel” even wrote a song called “on the island” and he sings it while playing a ukulele!

Talking about the Squirrel, there is something going on at the qrok Tower across the field! I better make my way over to see what’s going on! It seems that some crazy summer staff and campers have spontaneously broken out into a dance party ont he qrok deck. Wow! What a day! The sky is blue, the qrok tunes are playing, tuck is happening, it is summer at Qwanoes!

Our Tuck store was the first store at Qwanoes, and still a favorite of all our campers. I like to walk inside sometime as you can smell the wood, and all the treats… it reminds me of camp so much. Okay, that might be a little weird, but you should try it sometime!

Up on the hill I can see Grandma and Grandpa doing memory verses with the campers! During tuck the campers gather together in their cabins and tell their memory verses to our camp Grandma and Grandpa. I yelled out “What are you guys doing?” A couple campers spun around and said: ” Earning points! Memorizing verses is a way God can teach us about Him!”

And last but not least, it’s a special day today as the winners of “Cabin Clean-up” were announced. The winners all receive an ice-cream party right on the qrok deck. I asked one of the girls cabins who won what their secrets were and Evelyn told me: ” Stick everything in the bottom of your sleeping bag and no one will ever know!”

So long from tuck time at Qwanoes! Until next time!

One of the girl cabins who won" cabin clean up" for the week!

 

Another great Junior High Week!

July 30, 2011 – 11:34 pm

A camper making it to the top of our Climbing Tower!

Another great week just concluded this afternoon. Only a few short hours ago the qrok Tower was pumping out tunes, and campers were running around in the summer sun after finishing our last meal together. It was an incredible week filled with so many great stories and memories. It’s hard to say good-bye at the end of  a week… but I have to say one of my favorite parts of a last day is being in Q-Town one last time and watching all our campers give one last giant “cabin hug” to their counselor and all their cabin-mates. To those who have been campers – do you remember those hugs?

What makes Qwanoes so special? There are too many things to count! But I can tell you a few things that made this last week so special!

We just love kids! And Qwanoes is built from the ground up for kids to experience an unforgettable life-changing week.

Last week was filled with life-lasting and life-changing friendship! Something very special happens in a week at Qwaneos. A certain bond that’s hard to describe… but even harder to forget. Campers experience real love and acceptance by people who really care, all in a safe place where kids can be kids!

Last week was filled with adventure! From wakeboarding and archery to mountain boarding and the Sky-Scraper… there’s over 75 activity options that were in full swing. Crazy games, and great music, wild action and pure fun… and this all happens in a spectacular setting – the West Coast of Canada! There is nothing quite like it.

It is so quiet now as I hear the wind whistling through the trees and really nothing else… but soon, yes very soon those buses and cars will come rolling in again, and the sounds of kids having fun at camp will be all over from the front gate down to the waterfront as campers challenge the swimming test. We can’t wait!

Hold on! Nothing like a wild Rockin' Roll ride behind a Qwanoes boat on a summer afternoon!

 

 

1st Juniors Camp of the summer!

July 19, 2011 – 10:14 am

It’s always an adventure walking out onto the main field at Qwanoes during activity time! You never know who you might run into and what campers are up to…but one thing is for sure, Juniors Campers know how to have fun!

Campers enjoying guitar instruction during activity time

Today I came upon a group of campers all mesmerized by one of our summer staff strumming on his guitar and teaching how to play. The camp counselor would show a few chords and then all the campers would try together… it was so cool to watch the kids learning and trying new things. One of the campers yelled out, “I think I have it!” It was quite fun to watch the camper strum one chord over and over and then after a few successful attempts spontaneously break out in a rock star performance for the whole group to laugh and play along.

The newest addition to land activities - RICOCHET!

Off in the distance across the field I can see a big game of Ricochet going on! Ricochet is our newest addition to our land activities and it is extremely popular with our campers. As I walked up I saw scrambling, cheering and some healthy competition happening amongst a group of boy campers. One camper told me that this is the “BEST GAME AT QWANOES!” I asked a camper what the basics were of the game and he gave me the gist: “Well, it’s like dodgeball but way more fun and there is only one ball, you can’t double touch, and you have to always hit it with your hand, I love it! I have played like a million times!” Maybe next time I’ll have to jump in and see how long I last… but by the looks of these campers skills I wouldn’t last very long! I asked one boy on the side what he was learning this week in Q-Town and this is what Adam had to say: ” I am learning about how God loves me and really cares no matter what. That God will forgive us even if we do bad stuff.” That’s some pretty big things to be learning… and the neat thing about camp is that you can learn about God while having a blast playing Ricohet!

Whoa!!!! Who is sneaking up behind me? It’s some girl campers coming back from the beach! Emma, Kaitlyn, Madison, Mikela, Agusta, and Jayden just to name a few. “So what were you girls up to? It looks like fun at the beach!” It was hard to capture all they were saying, as they were all talking at once, but I heard: “The blob! I fell off the Rocket! So amazing! Tons of fun! I went on the Aqua Park the whole time!” One girl made me chuckle as she looked up at me after all of her friends were done and said with a straight face: “There are no words to describe the fun I just had.”

Oh Summer at Qwanoes… it truly is life like no other! That was just 10 minutes of my day…it is incredible to think about all that happens in the life of a camper in just 6 days and 7 nights.