October 28 – October 30, 2016
Camp Overlook, Virginia
Manassas was represented by nine members: Vanessa, Gigi, Katie, Zoey, Delanie, Sami, Isabella, Joella, and Abigail; three pledges with their moms and Mom J, three prospects; Denise (and her mom Helen), Akshita, and Sandi (and her mom Pong); and our adults: Mom Priscilla, Dad Tom, Dad Clancy, Mom Jean, and Mom Louisa.
I arrived at around 8:30 pm on Friday night and there were some girls already there. People were delayed since I-81 was shut down for several hours. We found our cabin and got unpacked and then introduced ourselves to the other girls on our side of the cabin. Girls were in one cabin, moms in another cabin and dads were in a third cabin. The dads had the nicest cabin. We then played Apples to Apples and Exploding Kittens; we brought plenty of snacks with us so we had so much food! We stayed awake until the last of the girls arrived which was around 12:30 am. Some girls were up much later so sleeping wasn’t easy but we had fun getting to know everyone.
Saturday morning we got up and dressed and went to the dining hall for breakfast. The weather was really nice and sunny. The dads made the meals and for breakfast they served pancakes, bacon, orange juice, milk, coffee, yogurt and fruit cups. After breakfast, the girls were divided into five groups for activities while the parents had training classes until lunch. We were purposely separated from our home Assemblies so that we could make new friends. I had a lot of fun.
For lunch, the dads served chicken nuggets, grilled cheese sandwiches, apple slices, baked beans, water, soda, various types of cookies, brownies, granola bars, and Rice Krispy treats. After lunch we had an Internet safety talk, a balloon relay race, and then took a break before a large group took a hike around the camp while others rested in their cabins. After the hike we returned to our cabin to relax for a while before going out to explore the camp again before dinner.
For dinner, the dads served spaghetti, bread, salad and drinks. Manassas Assembly was assigned clean-up duty after Saturday dinner. Once clean-up was done we all went to our cabins to get our Halloween costumes and then we walked over to the chapel for a costume contest, a movie and s’mores around a large fire. The girls had to switch cabins since all the toilets were backed-up, but once we moved our stuff we went back to the movie. After getting ready for bed we retired to our new cabin for the evening and played cards with our new friends until it was lights out.
Sunday morning we woke up and went to breakfast. The dads served scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits, yogurt, cereal, milk, coffee, orange juice, and fruit cups. Once breakfast clean-up was complete, the girls went to the chapel for an art project. Throughout the morning people loaded up their cars and left while others played air hockey and ping pong in the dining hall or hiked around the camp until it was time to leave. We left around noon and stopped for lunch on the way home. I can’t wait to go back next year!
In Rainbow Love and Service,
Isabella
On December 6th, Hampton Assembly went to serve dinner at Dad Joe’s installation. Mom Beth made Filipino food and it was soooooooo good! We also surprised Dad Joe by getting a cake and singing Happy Birthday to him since his birthday was the next day. After that, we continued with the surprises and told him we were going to talk about a fundraiser before the closed Installation started. Instead we had a little performance to give him a mascot. We gave him a Phoenix and Kensley talked a little about what it meant in different cultures. It was a wonderful time and I’m always so proud to help our Masons out.
