A group of four homeschooling families gathered at Coon Creek Campground at Lake Shelbyville, Illinois for our last group camping trip of the season. Included in our crowd were 12 kids ranging in age from 3 to 16.
Several of our sites were lightly wooded, but one was a large, open, grassy site—a perfect place for kids to play. The weather was a wonderful taste of fall. We had cool nights (great sleeping weather!) and sunny days in the mid-70’s.
The Muller family brought along two tandem bikes (one even had an additional gooseneck for a third small rider). Our sites were located on a loop road within the campground which was a great track for the dads to give rides to the kids. The kids lined up at the “bus stop” for their trips around the loop.
The Schmidgall family again brought their foam “boffer swords” for some wild and fun sparring. The three-on-three matches worked well, but the kids seemed to prefer the group free-for-all.
The Johnson family was larger than usual, having brought along two additional teenagers. If you’ve never seen three teenage boys attempt to ride a tandem bike with a gooseneck, you’ve missed a real treat!
Saturday’s supper was a potluck with plenty of good food. Each evening we had our customary campfire. On Sunday evening, the Schmidt family provided root beer floats for all in place of the frequent s’mores.
On Sunday mornings, we generally have a devotional service at our campsite. This time, we attended the church service in the park provided by Lake Shelbyville Ministries. Two men led the service. They began with some familiar choruses and performed some original music along with some thoughts between songs. They even had a fun ventriloquism act that the kids enjoyed.
We all stayed through lunchtime on Monday, and it was hard to leave the beautiful weather, scenery, and fellowship.
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