Tag Archives: Live It Up

Activities, Adult Retreats, Camp Staff, Events, Leadership Training, Q-Town & Music, Social Media, Summer Camp, Youth Retreats

What A Summer!

It is a gorgeous sunny day at Qwanoes today and it really feels like summer camp should still be going on here! Today, we’re hosting a large high school guest group, Brentwood College, and it’s great having students here with us again at Qwanoes.

Celebrating An Amazing Summer

We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who was part of “Live It Up” summer 2012! Over 3,500 campers came to Qwanoes this summer and we loved having each one here. Our staff team of almost 400 people came together from across B.C. and Canada and over 10 different countries – all for the purpose of loving kids to life. Thanks to all our staff for your dedication, your love for kids, your servant hearts, and for being sold out to making a difference in the lives of kids!

In front of the transformed qrok Tower at our "Shine" Youth Camp banquet!

Each week of the summer was filled with highlights and special memories, from the start of Junior High #1 and the giant Canada Day party, all the way to the grand finale week of the summer… Youth Camp! Our theme “Live It Up” was made a reality as campers tried new activities like Paddle Surfing and RC Speedway, went on our giant slip ‘n’ slide called Big Blue, played games like Castle Conquest, went to the Surf-O-Rama concert or carnival, sang energetic songs and listened to a great speaker in Q-Town, spent time with friends and made new ones, enjoyed barbeques and other tasty food, hung out with incredible counselors and other staff, and so much more.

A fun glimpse of what went on can be seen by taking a look at our Facebook timeline and our tweets throughout the summer on Twitter. You can also see many photos from each week in the summer plus the Summer Family Retreat by taking a look at our Summer Photo Galleries page.

Kaléo Program Off & Running!

Students & staff gathered together in front of Club Coco last Thursday.

Last week, we were very excited to welcome 22 students to Qwanoes for the 2012/13 Kaléo program year! On Thursday, we had a staff & student beach party at Qwanoes Beach that included fun on the Aqua-Park, Paddle Surfing, and Rocket Plus activities behind the boat. On Friday and Saturday, the students received some practical training as challenge ropes course instructors – as well as getting to try some challenges out for themselves! Right now, they are on their first out-trip of the year  to Mt. Albert-Edward, the sixth highest peak on Vancouver Island, in Strathcona Provincial Park near Courtenay.

Staff & students having fun together on the field!

A Look Ahead Into Fall

We miss everyone and are so glad we don’t have to wait until next summer to see many of you! Lots of ways to stay connected are happening in the fall. Next week, the Qwanoes Road Tour will be coming to a location near many of you. We’re getting ready to bring the excitement of summer to Greater Vancouver, Victoria, and Parksville! Click here for full details including dates and locations… and to invite your friends. We can’t wait to see you there!!

Enjoy a typical Qwanoes evening at the Road Tour - from the energy of Q-Town to many crazy, interactive events!

In October and November, we have youth retreats – Juniors, Jr. High, Sr. High – as well as Women’s and Men’s retreats. Our retreats offer a weekend escape from the everyday, and a perfect chance to connect with God and others while experiencing the fun and energy of Qwanoes. Whether you were here in the summer or not, we would love to welcome you! To find out more about the fall retreats or to register, please see this link.

We wish everyone the best as the new school year has begun. Wherever you may be, we encourage you to live up this life that Jesus came for us to have to the very full the whole year through!

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director

 

 

Activities, Events, Q-Town & Music, Summer Camp

On A Qwanoes Day

Juniors #1 Happening Now!

Camper soaring at the Qwanoes Skate Park!

Our third camp of the summer, Juniors #1, is on right now! We’ve just passed the halfway point in the week. Each morning, campers have been taking part in Q-Town at the fireside and activities like RC Speedway, Artrageous Crafts, Climbing Tower, Trapeze Jump, Skate Park, and more. In the afternoons, campers have been getting to try out a huge variety of activities at Qwanoes Beach and on the land.

After supper, campers have been enjoying games and events like Castle Conquest and tonight after a barbeque supper, the first Surf-O-Rama Carnival of the summer camp season will be happening! At this giant beach-theme party, campers will have the chance to test their surfin’ skills on the Boogie Board Bonanza, try many other fun challenges, go on fun inflatables like the Amazing Race that are coming in just for the carnival, enjoy some cotton candy or popcorn, and more!

Dancing along with the Quixotic band in Q-Town!

After the evening games and events, everybody gathers together in Q-Town which features singing along with Russ the “Squirrel” and our music team Quixotic, seeing video highlights of the day’s activities and maybe a “Captain Q” video, and listening to the speaker for the week Jonathan Headley. Jonathan has been a speaker at Qwanoes for many years and is here this week with his entire family! See more about Jonathan here. The energy in Q-Town has been unbelievable this week!

Heading up into one of our treehouses! Spending the night in the trees way, way up in the air is quite the adventure!

After Q-Town, sometimes there is a fireside with some crazy skits and more singing… and then it’s off to the cabins for bedtime! Cabins who get the highest cabin cleanup scores of the day get to sleep in our treehouses for one night. A camper just came up to me so over-the-top excited that her cabin won cabin cleanup today and they are going to the treehouses tonight!

As all the fun is happening, campers are learning what it truly means to “Live It Up” in their lives, not just here at camp but wherever they go. So excited that we still have one and a half more days to go of Juniors #1!

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director

 

 

 

Activities, Leadership Training, Q-Town & Music, Summer Camp

Sun Shining So Bright

Camper enjoying the many different features of our floating Aqua-Park!

1st Camps of Summer Underway!

What a beautiful day at Qwanoes with the sun shining so bright! You know it’s summer when at 10 a.m. it is 23 degrees out! We are right in the middle of Junior High #2 and our summer camp season is well underway. This year’s summer theme is “LIVE IT UP” and boy oh boy, that is happening all over Qwanoes this week. Campers will be at the beach, swinging from trees, having cabin discussion time, in Q-Town, in the skatepark, playing All Star Games, all over in Club Coco, and the list could go on and on!

In Q-Town last night we rocked it out with Russ the “Squirrel” and Quixotic singing a lot of brand-new songs for summer 2012. Following that we listened to our speaker Randy Carter. Randy is a great speaker – full of stories – and we laughed together a lot! Not only are Randy’s life stories funny, they really help get the point across about what it means to LIVE IT UP in our day-to-day life.

Group of girl campers with their counselor Beth from Northern Ireland!

So what’s happening right now at camp!!?? It’s cabin picture and video time here at Qwanoes. I was just out on the main field and saw all the campers and counselors spread out in their cabin groups looking their “campy” best!

I ran into a group of girl campers hanging out in the shade and asked them what they are looking forward to this afternoon… and this is what I heard back as they yelled over each other: “Swimming! Tubing! Night game! Rocket Plus! Lunch!” Sounds like a whole lot of fun to me. Their counselor’s name is Beth and she is here all the way from Northern Ireland. I asked the girls what they like about their counselor and they drew in close to Beth saying, “She is super nice, so sweet, super chill, and we are going to visit her in Northern Ireland!” Beth replied back, “Ah, you guys are the best!”

Here go our CIT's for their hike to "the Point"! Then they slept out under the stars next to the ocean. (Counselor In Training Program)

We still have some room in some of our summer camps and the Counselor In Training program! Check it out online.

All Star games coming up next and then lunch! And then time for activities all over the camp! Love summer camp!

 

Giant Canada Day Party Last Week!

By the way, last week at Jr. High #1, we had SO much fun living it up at our giant Canada Day party! Hundreds of Jr. High campers and staff (from Canada & many other countries) got together to celebrate Canada’s birthday with music blasting from the qrok Tower, Ice Cream Island, Shave Ice Palace, eating cake, and seeing the sky light up! To catch a glimpse of this, see our “Giant Canada Day Party At Camp Qwanoes” video:

 

~ Written by Jay Kennedy, Qwanoes’ Assistant Director

 

 

Q-Town & Music

All-Night Video Shoot

The secret’s out! Q-Town was pumping out some tunes in an all-nighter this week!

One year it was a road trip to Alberta, the next year Stevie-G and Russ were in a race to Qwanoes from Vancouver – and this year the LIVE IT UP music video is yet another big surprise! There is so much to tell you, but what should I share first?? Well I was so curious about the tunes coming out of Q-Town in the middle of the night that I went out there myself to check it all out. I thought that maybe the Squirrel was missing summer so much that he was sleep-walking out at Q-Town, but he wasn’t :)…

Russ and Quixotic in Q-Town at the video shoot for the new "LIVE IT UP" music video.

The first thing I saw was the Quixotic band jammin’ away, and they sounded awesome! Russ Smith (aka the Squirrel) had this to say: “We’re at it again putting our new song LIVE IT UP on the big screen! This year it’s going to be an all-night video shoot and jam session! We are going the extra mile for our campers so the video is spectacular! So far it’s looking really good and we are just getting started!”

It was so cool to see all the lights and smoke and… ok I better stop there to leave some things a surprise! One thing for sure is that the new LIVE IT UP music video is going to be awesome! If you haven’t heard the theme song yet, you can listen to it online and see some sights and sounds of summer too. I love the start the best!

Click on the picture to see full update!

We look forward to welcoming thousands of kids to camp this summer and an email went out this week to give the invitation to as many people as possible! You can use this email invitation as a great way to invite your friends to camp. It is easy to share by “liking” it on Facebook, tweeting it to your friends, or emailing it. You’ll also find quick, fun links on this email to the LIVE IT UP full-length and mini slideshows, plus the new AT LAST I’M HOME music video.

Looking forward to when Q-Town is filled with all of you once again!!

~ Written by Jay Kennedy, Qwanoes’ Assistant Director.