Candice & Todd's blog: Isabella's "best" camp experience....

This camp was a splurge. It's something I wanted to do last year when we were on the fence about sending Isabella to an "away" camp for a week. I was thinking about creating an "away experience" at a day-camp that was not at home. Familiar with this place for close to 2 decades + visiting periodically, it's been on my radar for awhile!

Camp Serenbe is one for residents of the community OR for those who are staying through the lodging (through the Inn) located on the property. This year - the stars aligned & I was able to coordinate BOTH the lodging availability and the camp availability and make it happen.

I'd say it was worth the juggling! Isabella had a great time. She said over and over again that it was her best camp. Yay! Here are some highlights ("official photos" from the camp have not been posted yet, but I did get some from her camp counselor, as parents weren't allowed to lurk around / take any photos).

- Sunday we arrived to our townhouse (as kids under 16 aren't allowed at the Inn). I took pictures before we messed it up! :) It was sort of like an Air B&B.

It was a nice place (plus there were cookies upon arrival).

- She wanted to check out the pool. It was a bit chilly, but we did. (I asked her to do laps in the pool to practice for swim team and she did that for awhile.)

There are glimpses of the inn & pool house at the back of the pool.

(Mercer's contribution / he took over while I was typing: poop poop poop poop poop poopo on my poo)

We found a moth that was injured. Isabella wanted to keep "Dusty" but... ??

The next day at the pool, we couldn't find Dusty, but - she found other kids to play with. Some of the kids she had met earlier that day at camp.

Photos from drop-off on Monday:

Here are some photos from her camp counselor throughout her days at camp.

There are a lot of "paint horses" at Serenbe (the owner's daughter apparently likes that variety - so they have a number of them there) - they have patches of brown/black/white. This is Spirit.

The 1st day with the horses, they checked out to see what the campers could do / what horse skills they had. Isabella was in a very small group (of 6) and the girls also "painted" the paint horses.

She said they also took a canoe onto the water AND played dodge-ball.

She was dirty, tired and happy. :)

Isabella rode Dakota on Day 1 (no photos from camp, but I found this photo of Dakota on Serenbe's trail-riding site)

She rode Daisy on Day 2

Back to Dakota Day 3

Daisy on Day 4

and Dakota again on Day 5 of camp.

She said that you had to gain Dakota's trust.... and she feels like she did because Dakota would put his head in her hand on his own.

This horse is Murphy.

This is Bennie

- giving the horses a bath....

She said this is something that she's never done: ride "bare-back" AND ride with another person on the horse!

This horse is Dolly.

Here's Isabella and another camper at the "small waterfall" on the trails - I saw groups of kids here when I was hiking - I just never crossed paths with her group.

At the end of the week, they asked parents to come to the closing camp-song event. There were multiple (large) groups of 20 +/- kids doing "regular" camp doing outdoorsy stuff. There were a lot of young kids too like 3 - 5 year olds. There were groups that were her age too - doing regular camp (ages 8 - 12).

(There was the orange group, green group, blue group and red group.) She was in a (small) group of 6 of kids 8 - 12. She was in the "yellow group" - the horse-riding group. (the girls in her group forgot the words during 1 of the songs and got embarrassed!) ha.

Sometimes the yellow group is art camp some weeks or a cooking camp different weeks.

The camp organizer (daughter of the owner) said this was their 16th year of camp Serenbe. It started with a small group one summer of just 5 or 6 kids opening week. This year they had 70 kids the 1st week of camp.

Her camp counselor, Grace, was such a sweet high-schooler. We talked to her a lot after we ran into her at the General Store in town. (I had to buy Isabella a "King of Pops" popsicle b/c they had "healthy" ones (like Spinach & Apple) that she didn't like. I'm glad we ran into her and I could ask for the photos of Isabella during the day - if she didn't mind. yay!

And... my photos during the camp day(s) during "my" camp time:

I ate lunch out here many days - our balcony which has a view of the Hil restaurant.

I did yoga - not just "regular" yoga but Kundalini (feminine energy with chanting & gongs!).

I went to the gym.

I went on hikes.

I went to a spa for a facial.

View from the spa while I waited for my appointment.

(complimentary mimosa? yes, please!)

Various images of architecture / houses & buildings under construction (which there is A LOT of). Todd & I stayed in a cabin between the Inn and the original "hamlet" (small village area) when we were there "BK" - before kids.

According to many residents I've talked with... this place exploded during covid (maybe people COULD live in a remote area / work from home?). Lots of young families (how do they afford these houses?!)

There are 2 other "hamlets" that are at different stages of construction (one almost built out and another starting). One resident said there are to be a total of 5 hamlets. And - I heard from multiple people that the original residents are annoyed by all of the expansion & wanting to get out. Too busy / not serene enough. (the photo from the spa and the one after it - you can see building on the flat part below and on the hill above.)

I have to agree. It was HARD to go on the hike out in nature and not hear beep-beep-beep (trucks backing up).... nail guns... the rumbling of generators... blaring of music while construction workers built... etc.

It was relaxing in the area (the original hamlet) where we were staying, but I can see how tiring it would be in the other areas with so much activity going on. I'd estimate there were somewhere between 50 - 60 houses under construction in the 2 hamlets. And - these are starting around 800k - 2 million + Seriously insane! I drove to an area that has the infrastructure in place and there are stub-ups for hundreds of houses! (That must be for one of the future hamlets?)

Then there's the Acton School that is being built - it's going to be a "Living Building" which is a very green building -- if they can achieve it. (There's only 1 Living Building in Georgia - at Ga Tech currently). The houses there are geothermal for heating / cooling (from the earth)... there's a LEED-Certified Bakery called the Blue-Eyed Daisy.

(Random, but hey put a showerhead in the bathroom - which is a total waste... I know this was done to earn a particular credit about bike racks / showers... but - again - a waste / it is done to game the LEED system).

My old company did the EarthCraft Certifications in the 1st hamlet - but now - I believe other providers who have been trained by Southface certify all of the new construction (I did see EarthCraft signs on the residential construction billboards throughout the community... so that's good!)

There really is some unique and nice architecture there, too, in addition to the green construction. (This was my favorite porch)

This looks like a Frank Lloyd Wright prarie-style house.

Other photos (of nature this time)... from a couple of different hikes that I was able to take while she was at camp:

Isabella told me about this "hidden playhouse" from her 1st day on the trail-ride. I was happy & surprised to stumble across it while hiking - it was unexpected.

I stumbled across one of the things that she did / she had knowledge of before me. I got a glimpse into her previous day's journey... which was kind of cool!

This was unexpected too -- this in-ground concrete and metal installation. It was very powerful!

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know that I am.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be...

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!

(I looked it up. The 1st sentence comes from Psalms 46:10)

I took off my shoes, stepped in the water and... saw this fella swimming up into the space between rocks.

I got out promptly!

(it's got bands. I did not get a close-enough look to see the shape of its head to see if it was poisonous or not, but it could have gone either way!) This was adjacent to the small waterfall... which I didn't end up getting a photo of because I moved on!

The next day, I went for a much longer hike to go see the big waterfall.

(It's not that big, but it was nice - and I had it all to myself because it was at a more remote part of the property.)

This is from above the waterfall. It was easy enough to climb up the rocks to see it from all angles. Nothing too dangerous.

Before getting to the waterfall, one of the areas on the map is the "earthen sculpture". (It's not that dramatic - it's a semicircle-shaped berm with an opening on one side so you can walk in. There is an interesting blue pyramid above it on a hill.)

It's not really worth a mention, except for later on my hike, I stopped to get some water / sat down on a low wall between these two buildings in a plaza and - the blue pyramid is in line -- it's a distant focal-point!

I'm sure on paper - on a master site plan - the focal point is noted, but - when down in the semicircle berm there's no way to see the 2 buildings or the plaza. The effect is lost.

Either the trail map was totally out of scale - or they designed the trails so that it feels more remote... I seriously had no idea I was that close to the 2nd hamlet when I was going to the big waterfall. I suppose that's great urban planning! (or maybe things were overgrown and a visual connection was lost?)

On this particular hike, I was going to go through the identical buildings on the other side... down by the foraging garden, by the bocce court... and through the low-land to get to the next hamlet. I did all of that - except I go so lost by the overgrown foot-paths in the low-land... and was ultimately defeated by a pair of black snakes on the narrow foot-path.

Did I think they were poisonous - no - but, I was NOT going to walk through the overgrown brush where they slithered into - that I could not see through in order to continue on the footpath beyond when I was already lost! So, I turned around feeling a little defeated and went back to the apartment.

Obviously, these are not snakes. These are armadillos that I spotted earlier on the same hike. They didn't even know I was there. They just ferreted about and kept foraging or doing whatever they were doing.

Their "den" was the underside of this tree where the roots were exposed.

(I went to the other hamlet I was trying to go to + the bookstore the last day of camp after checking out. The only thing I didn't see during my week at Serenbe was the ruins that Todd & I saw 16 - 18 years before.... when we also go lost on our hike!)

Despite the mess & noise, I did enjoy my time and was WAY MORE relaxed than at home. I had almost 6 hours to myself each day and when picking up Isabella was more "present" than I normally can be: mommy - watch me. OK. I want to show you the horses. GREAT. Can we go swimming (in the [cold] pool? um... YES) Let's walk the labyrinth. OK. Can we play a game? YES.

I don't know that I have had that much of myself to give to her in a long long time. I feel like the week really brought us closer. And - the sweetest part - she wanted to hold hands everywhere we went! :) I know this won't last.

Here are photos from the book at the Inn with more history of the site - to capture / remember:

Here are random photos from the week (after camp days were over):

Feeding the animals on the farm (you could ask to get a bucket of feed from guest services)

Uni-goat!

Crazy goat eyes... their pupils are sideways!

The pigs were too tired to even get up for the food!

Goat on the roof

The in-ground trampoline.

Our dinner most nights (left over pizza, hummus, salad... we were so tired of it by the end of the week!)

And - making a noise blowing into a bottle. (She could finally do it - but only when NOT laughing!)

Whittling a stick with a piece of slate (in the center of the labyrinth)

She had me walk the labyrinth to contemplate life. Ha!

We stopped to visit the horses after camp one day.

A frequent stop after breakfast at the inn:

the creaky swing.

The cookie that showed up in our room while I was on a hike.

Lots of games of Quirkle.

Many many games of Quirkle!

The stables that Todd & I saw being built 16 - 18 years prior (they were made of heavy timbers). This is a private stable - not the "trail-riding" ones on the other side of the campus that Isabella was going to.

Visiting horses again after camp.

Popping the heads off of dandelions.

Dirty car (One of my errands I wanted to do before this trip: carwash. So glad I didn't.... I forgot about all of the gravel roads!!)

Dirty boots

Tired kid.

(She was too tired to go swimming towards the end of the week!)

And - here are some photos from the Serenbe website:

An aerial view of the Inn

And an aerial of the labyrinth. They say it's based on the labyrinth in Chartres, France.

It was a good week.

It was good for both Isabella & for me!

I'm glad we finally got to do this!

UPDATE - evening of 6/15: the camp posted photos from Camp Serenbe website. In lieu of re-working the blog post above, I am just dropping below.

Here are the ones I found with Isabella:

washing the horses

misc photos with the different horses

mid-day break: lunch

this is not necessarily Isabella (can't tell way off in the distance) but - she said they went kayaking on day 1 (and this was a day 1 photo - inserted for context of her lake experience)

trail ride - same - context, but may be her at the end one of the days she was at camp? (she didn't always wear pink!) :)

And some more "closing" thoughts / photos:

Forgot to say the car-ride down was interesting. (She did not play the violin at all while we were there, however.... even though they had a talent show, she did not want to play.)