Taking Back Halloween Retreat

This past weekend was the annual Taking Back Halloween retreat at Soundview that everyone looks forward to after every summer. A good number of people came this year, with a few youth groups and various stragglers. We spend the weekend hanging out at the camp, usually with a few planned activities to provide a little order, but the weekend is knowingly hosted so that people can catch up. One thing that IS an event to anticipate is the carnival that is organized (by Tink most regularly) where there are lots of carnival type games set up around the activity shelter offering candy as prizes. There's a crazy hair station (with spray on hair color) and this year it was combined with a face paint table that myself and Ck ran quite successfully! One masterpiece I was particularly excited about was the orange pumpkin "sniffapotamos", a beast that was the mascot for a group of kids going around the carnival that was part elephant, part giraffe, and part hippo!
Most years that I have been at the retreat, the costumes are usually lacking.. The kids mostly just put on random things from the camp costume box that we use for skits during the summer and it is always a little disappointing. But this year things were great! Not only were more people wearing costumes they brought from home, but the people that did dress up did good! There was a Madeline, a flamingo, an ancient Roman (?) soldier, Cleopatra, cowboy, mermaid, one of the village people (with a blended chai painted on his face thanks to the face paint station), a carnival queen, a mental institution escapee, a few nerds, and "Tranji"(my favorite), among other things. I was proud! I myself attempted to be Max, from "Where the Wild Things Are" and it seemed to work, most people got it eventually. If nothing else it was run to run around and be wild!
Jason Asher, the staffer that was in charge of the retreat actually used the movie "Where the Wild Things Are" as a theme for the talks he did. He did an awesome job relating all sorts of God stuff to the movie and it made me want to go see the movie again just to remember what he was talking about! He mentioned that his talks were recorded and he'll be getting them up on the Soundview website (www.soundviewcamp.com) if you're interested in listening to them, which you should be. Jason is a great guy with a lot of awesome ideas and wise things to say if you ever get the chance to be around him, you won't be disappointed. He has such a spirit!


After learning guitar by playing songs at camp, I've been made the go-to girl for any camp activity that involves a campfire or gathering with camp music involved, so, as expected, I played quite a bit at the retreat. Allie Jo and I played for "campfire" both nights and morning gatherings as well. Also one of the youth leaders that brought his group to the retreat had changed up the lyrics to the Jason Mraz song "I'm Yours" and made it a christian song, so he showed me that and taught me to play it.

The retreat was awesome and the weather/ scenery was beautiful but cold! Soundview is such a gorgeous location any time of year, but the fall with all the huge maple trees in the array of color is a sight to see! I'd say it was a success and Allie and I even had the chance to duel each other for a powdered doughnut (leftover from one of the booths at the carnival). Everyone went home happy and exhausted from such a "wild rumpus" and the typical "hangover" that comes with spending time at Soundview.. over all a great weekend!

After the retreat was over and all the participants had left, the staff that was able to stayed around and sat up in calvinwood on the couches and shared what we'd been up to and those sorts of things which was good. Nice to get the chance to catch up with everyone and I was due for that much laughter! Its always a good time when Soundview-ers get together.. if you're prepared to handle it! :)