The last of the men from our Men’s Retreat just rolled out of Qwanoes, and with their departure ends our Fall retreat season at Qwanoes. It was a great weekend with the men, with so many great memories to take away. We had an awesome band here from The Meeting Place in Nanaimo. They bring a lot of energy and excitement to the stage as we enter into our worship times together. Steve Sundby from Saanich Baptist church in Victoria was our speaker, and he got right to the point in many areas as we talked all about what the Bible says it means to be a true man through the series “Play The Man.” So many men commented on how it was just good to be at Qwanoes with friends, good food, and a quality time of reflection and time to just be together as guys. On Saturday night after a great session together, it was cool to see some watching the Canucks win yet another hockey game! Others having a big fire down at the fire circle and still others having a soak in the hot tub. So many great options over the weekend. Some of my favorite times were having a great steak meal together, plus late night nachos and chicken wings! We already can’t wait for next year… but we hope to see many of the men back for our family events soon.

Qwanoes looks a little bit different during the winter, and there is one place right now where that is very obvious. Remember where the tideline usually ends during the summer? You can always usually take a walk on the beach or at least on the rocks by the beach. Well, as you can see by the picture that is just not the case right about now. Julie Bayley, our Associate Program Director, couldn’t believe her eyes when she snapped this picture. Can you believe it?!

And as a chapter is quickly coming to a close here at Qwanoes another exciting one is about to begin! That’s right – SUMMER 2012!! And we all can’t wait for our campers and their friends to start signing up for camp on January 3rd at 9:00 am. Be one of the first ones to go online and check out the new summer theme which will be unveiled on our website on January 3rd! Russ, the Squirrel, is working hard in the studio coming up with a brand new full-length album including our new theme song. The 2011 theme “HERE WE GO” brought us so many great memories and things we learnt that will always stay close to our heart… but as we look ahead to summer 2012 and the unveiling of our new theme, we can’t wait for it to start all over again!

Stay tuned for more info on what is coming for 2012!

On Friday night our senior high campers descended on Qwanoes for an out of the ordinary and fun packed weekend! Many of our campers this weekend have been to camp before and it has been so good to welcome them back! Some come with friends that have never been here before. I talked to one camper that said now she knows about Qwanoes and she is for sure coming this summer with her friend!

This afternoon I ran into our camp speaker for the weekend, Storm Moore. It’s great to have Storm back once again! I have to be honest though…I didn’t really run into Storm, I went out looking for him during activity time and I knew it wasn’t going to be hard to find him. You see…it was a little chillier today, and I knew Storm was in one of two places, he was either going to be warming up by the Club Coco fireplace or lined up for a nice warm drink from the Coco Hut. That’s right if you guessed it! He was at the CocoHut! Storm said he was excited about two things this weekend…  1. talking about how God makes a BIG difference in our lives and 2. a piping hot drink from Club Coco!

Club Coco is one nice, warm place to be to be on a chilly day – that’s for sure! If you take just one look around you’ll see so many different options to kick back with some friends and have some fun. On one end there was a roaring fire going that was warming up the whole room. There’s only one thing that makes a nice fire even better on afternoons at Qwanoes during a retreat… playing Mario Cart! I saw a few campers battling it out on the big screen! If you turn around to other parts of Club Coco there are options galore! There were campers playing carpetball, foosball, battle top arena, bubble hockey, and some were just kicking back with friends. Got to love Club Coco… especially after being outside on a Fall fun-filled afternoon swinging from trees or climbing to the top of the Elevator in the challenge course!

The night is still young at Qwanoes! There is still so much left to do! It’s Q-Town right now, and then an awesome night game coming up right after that called “Firestorm!” I heard it involves water balloons and fire! Now that’s going to be exciting. Then off to invade the town wave pool, water slides and hot-tub! Oh and don’t forget about Mug-Up!

It’s been a great retreat season for our students in our Kaléo leadership program! They have been involved in every retreat and done an amazing job! You can see lot of pictures of our students serving on our Kaléo program blog.

It’s hard to believe how fast time flies as our retreat season is quickly coming to an end. The Men’s Retreat is coming up in just two weeks and it’s not too late to sign up! Our youger campers have had their turn, and now it’s time for the men! If you would like more information or want to register, visit us online today!

Christmas? Yes, that too! But something else that is two month away is the first day to register for SUMMER 2012 at Qwanoes. We can’t wait to welcome you into what promises to be another great summer. Stevie-G is thinking up new games, Russ the Squirrel is working on the secret new theme song and a brand new full length CD! I wonder what the theme is going to be!?? Well come on back in just under two months and you’ll be one of the first to find out right on our website. For now… put on your camp DVD, or Q-Town tunes, kick back and think warm summer thoughts!

Some of our campers aren’t waiting until the summer! They are here right now during our Junior High Retreat! Everything that is great about the summer packed into an action packed weekend. Today has been filled with great food, awesome games, Q-Town talks and cabin discussion, activity times, music, Club Coco and more! Tonight we think warm thoughts and take over the town pool & hot tub and more Q-Town time!

Dan King, who is the youth pastor from a church in Parksville, is our speaker this weekend. I caught up with Dan on the Club Coco deck and he had this to say about what the challenge is for this weekend: ” Our theme this weekend is ‘Brighter Yet’ and we are talking all about how Jesus brings light into the darkness and shows us what real life is all about and how we can walk with confidence in who he made us to be and created us for.” What a great message for the campers as they dive into all the fun of camp including some pretty big challenges on life.

I ran into some girls who just  finished getting off the Sky-Scraper and then headed to Club Coco to hangout and have some treats. I asked the girls how they were liking the retreat and boy oh boy…are they ever liking the retreat! All of them at the same time answered my question! I heard, ” I love the food, my counselor is the best, the Sky-Scraper was soooo fun!” Nicole mentioned that staying in the Qwanoes Pacific Woods Lodge is like staying in a hotel for kids! Shannon said: ” I love the warming feel and atmosphere at Qwanoes, feeling loved by everyone.” That was all very cool to hear!

There are still two more retreats coming up to conclude our Fall retreat season. We have the Senior High retreat coming up next weekend followed by the Men’s retreat! So it’s not too late to jump in on the Fall retreat action. See you soon!

On Friday night we had an awesome kick off with Quixotic. Click on the picture and listen in! Qwanoes Q-Town