Fox Camp 2026 Begins

The 2nd Annual Fox Camp was July 29th -August 1st and good times were had by all.  We're in a fun stage of life with our family, and I LOVE IT WHEN WE'RE ALL TOGETHER!!!

DAY ONE

Our camp kicked off on Wednesday, July 29th around 6:00.  We set up our tents in the backyard and Abe grilled up some hamburgers.  

During last summer's Family Camp, Faith and Landen were newly dating and we were just getting to know him.  It was so wonderful to have him officially a part of the family this year!

Charlie is often a serious little soul in pictures.  We don't see it too often, but he has the cutest, hugest smile-- just like his mama.

It was a very enjoyable project for me to design the logo and t-shirts.  At this stage of our family, one of my favorite priorities is event planning.  There are enough of us that when we all gather, it definitely qualifies as an "event".  

In the spring, we visited the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.  In one area they had an absolutely adorable fairy house garden area.  Bethany and I were so charmed that we knew we wanted to make our own fairy houses for our camp craft. 

The finished products:)  I was so tickled with how they turned out.

This was my work of art. It is very strange to me that as I get older, I find myself enjoying little crafty projects much more than I used to.    

Greta worked so hard on hers-- she was my little crafting companion.

Peter's wasn't as detailed, but I really love how he made a balcony.  What a clever lad.

The evening ended with karaoke-- a Fox family favorite!  The best moment of the night was Clark singing "99 Balloons"-- and then he busted out singing in GERMAN!!!!!  Angry, loud German.  We were all dying.  Mind you, he does not speak German, but he'd been preparing for the moment.  

Daniel is blocked from view in this picture, but he is joyously leading all of us in his karaoke version of "Baby Shark".  LOVE!

Ben and Cannon singing "Somebody That I Used to Know"

Elinor and Hunter sang "Ya Ya Ding Dong" from Eurovision.  SO FUNNY-- not exactly appropriate--- but absolutely hysterical.

This performance was... unexpected... in a good way!  They did "Muppet or a Man"-- and it they were really good!

Sing, Play, Love Music

At the end of the school year and start of the summer, Bethany and I embarked on a new creative project-- a summer music camp for kids.  

As we explored the idea, we got so excited thinking of all the fun musical things we could do with the kids--a choir, handbells, ukulele, music theory, and boom whackers.  And although, the two of us are more than qualified to teach such a camp-- we felt very brave.  Very brave, indeed.  It is scary to put yourself out there, in the hopes that others will respond and value what you are offering.  

We decided the camp would run July 6-10 and we would have two age groups.  5-8 years old in the morning from 9-11:30  and 9-12 years old in the afternoon from 1:00 -3:30.   On the last day we would have a Showcase of everything we worked on for parents and families to come watch.

 Spoiler alert:  It was a great success! 

Here is the older group-- they were an absolute JOY to work with.  

And the younger group were ADORABLE and ENERGETIC and so much FUN!

I quite enjoyed thinking about and designing the logo and then making the shirts.  

For their choir number, the older group learned an Armed Forces Salute.  They loved it!

How cute are the little ones with the ukuleles? They slayed "The Eensy Weensy Spider"!

The older kids had a blast with the ukuleles-- They did so well!  Their favorite was "An Austrian Went Yodeling"

 Now you might wonder, from whence came all these ukuleles?  

I scoured Facebook Marketplace for several weeks to acquire such a beautiful collection.  This year was an experiment of sorts.  We invested in lots of supplies-- ukuleles, handbells, boom whackers, etc. I figured if the whole thing was a flop, I could resell the ukuleles.  But since it most definitely was not a flop-- we have them to use next year!  

The little with their handbells.

The little kids singing "This Land Is Your Land" was the best!

A little 9-square before the showcase.

Here are a few of my favorite pics from the week:

The Boom Whacker Army

George designed and 3D printed the ukulele holders