Arrival!

Bryan's welcome outfit - BUBBA NUBBINS...he was trying to get Mills to make a mean face. It just isn't in her!

one of the buses is making its way down the curvy road into camp...its in there i promise!The Welcome crew getting ready to talk to the kids coming off the buses...thats bryan back there hiding. Once everyone is welcomed and gathered round - he'll jump up shoot his shotgun and tell them that its his camp and they should go on back home...more or less - He loves it. Playing the bad guy for Bryan is so great. Its only one step away from his real life personality!
The Work Crew - high school kids serving for a month of their summer (for free) doing jobs like serving in the dining hall, outdoor crew (mowing etc), laundry girls, tawashies (they get to washie your bathrooms and clean), the pits (do dishes for the whole month) AND THEY LOVE IT! They begged to come. Here they are celebrating a bus pulling into camp! Makes me tear up every week...You know how great it feels to be welcomed somewhere like that? To come to a place that has done all this amazing stuff for you? So you can have the best week of your life and see life lived as it should be - with Jesus? It feels good.
And here they are cheering kids right off the bus - right after this they will help them carry their luggage to their cabins. Actually one of my favorite parts when I go to camp. I mean who really wants to carry their own bag anyway? Oh Yeah - some great moments happen when you have to get off the bus and run down the chute of work crew to the welcome. Think Ginny Hughes whooping it up running with all her pillow and blankets so excited to be at camp....then taking a nosedive to the pavement when she tripped over something. And it was all caught on tape by the video intern! Hilarious!

the kids on the "tank" or sound truck...Bubba Nubbins running the bases on the wifle ball court after hitting a home run! He just interrupted some kids game, walked up to the plate, hit a home run, ran the bases and walked off...
this is the swing - i cannot wait to get on! You climb to the top of the building, get harnessed in - then the floor falls out from beneath you and you go sailing out over the side of the mountain!!! today was my first time watching it. I will try to put a video of it up so yall can see it! Bubba Nubbins and I will ride it together!

the buses come today!

Today is the day it all begins... Any minute now the buses will begin pulling into camp. All those high school kids...they have no idea what they are in for. How much they have been prayed for. How much they will laugh. How great the food is they will eat -and I mean good. They are in for an amazing week! Mills and I are headed out to take some pictures of the welcome to post here - but first we thought we'd give you a glimpse of our last couple days.

Well - we are all adjusting to the altitude. Drinking lots of water and acting like we've run a marathon everytime we walk up any incline. Goldsboro is soooo flat. Most of us have had some headaches. They are all gone now for the most part - however Hallie asked me for a bandaid. I asked why...she said she had a headache

As we were exploring I heard this lady say something about bear tracks - so of course we went to investigate. Check em out. He/She walked right through camp night before last. The kitchen staff told us to always lock the kitchen if we were there at night because bears can open the doors and the walk in cooler and eat stuff in there! The girls were thrilled!




Since we were up by the adult guest lodge we decided to go in and check it out. No one was here yet. So we went in grabbed a coke out of the fridge and walked around. Check this place out. If you have never been to Young Life Camp as an adult to check Young Life out - you should! No boring cabins here! This place is amazing. I mean its nicer than my house...and the view...and a place to plug in your hair dryer (why do people awlays think YL camp = roughing it?) We are far from it! Little slice of heaven...


We spent the morning swimming. Here are Hallie and Lucy Sloan living it up in the hot tub!

Sorry for the lack of pics of Noah. He's officially off and running with whoever will have him. He's helping the ODC (Outdoor crew) and basically hangin out with Bo a new friend from Florida. He sits with Bo at meals and basically does his own thing. I see him when he is hungry or tired... Yesterday Bryan and I went out walking around to try and find him and he was on the wifle ball field with the assigned team (all folks on YL staff). Definitley the youngest on the field by 20 years. He hit Three homeruns while I was watching for about 5 minutes. What a baller. He just is not afraid to join in whatever is going on around here. I love raising my kids on Young Life Staff!

Well the first bus just rolled by my window. Gotta get out there and take some pics! Miss yall!

We are here!

Well...We have arrived! I thought I would start a blog to keep all of our friends and family updated on the adventures of the Hancocks! Seemed like the easiest option. I know you are all proud. Plus I want yall to know what is going on here so you can pray for us and for kids as they really see Jesus this month at Crooked Creek Ranch!

So - to get here we had to fly! We flew nonstop from RDU to Denver CO. I thought it would either go very well - or very bad! I am happy to say that it went amazing! The kids did great and the flight was a perfect first flight experience. Bryan and Noah sat on one side of the aisle - the girls and I on the other. I took a video of take-off but of course I forgot the cord to upload it. So as soon as I can find one I will put it up here...Suffice it to say not many people really talk much during take off - so our kids hollering about how cool it was and how it really wasn't scary and wow we are flying were entertainment for everyone onboard our flight! Mills says her favorite part of the ride was the BLAST OFF! and really who can blame her!

Kids in the airport - playing their new leapster games!

After getting ALL of our 9 checked bags plus 3 car seats and 5 carry ons...we loaded in a van and drove 1 1/2 hours to camp. We are near (10 min) Winter Park Ski Resort and about 8500 ft above sea level. It is cold. Young Life owes me a month of my summer back! When the sun is shining it is really OK even though I have not put on shorts yet and I am typing this inside in my North Face jacket. The kids don't seem to mind though and of course after dinner we all had to get in the swimming pool and hot tub - well mostly because we promised.

The hot tub - check out that view...

The rest of the staff arrive this afternoon and the work crew/summer staff tomorrow AND the campers roll in on Sunday afternoon for the best week of their lives! It is really exciting to be a part of this and to get to be here! I sure I will have tons of cool stuff to share as we get going. I will try to post a good bit so you can see what a week of YL camp really looks like!

Our kids are great! They love being at camp - they think they own the place already... I love being their mom!
Well more to come!
Peace - Talk to ya! (we miss you Scalf's!)

Thought you would like this pic from Noah's kindergarten graduation last week!