Sky Ranch Family Camp 2024

Two years ago, we took the girls to Sky Ranch Family Camp for spring break in Horn Cliff, Colorado. They had so much fun, they asked to go back again:

Last time we flew in during a snowstorm, everything was covered in snow & we got in late. This time it was the exact opposite! There was some snow on the mountain, but for the most part, our drive was brown & flew in early during the day:

The first few days of our trip were beautiful - high in the 40's, lots of sunshine & we spent lots of time outside, however, the trip ended on a different note. I took a lot of pictures, surprise surprise, so I thought I would post them in order of our normal schedule every day. We stayed in the main lodge, upstairs in the same rooms we were in last time. The morning bell rang at 7:45 every morning & breakfast was at 8:00. We went to breakfast in our pajamas then Bryan & I would go get ready & the girls would go do crafts every morning at 9:00. Lots of bracelets, tattoos, hair braiding & games:

The girls made so many friends this week! Truly, they both had a good group of 4 girls that spent most of their time together. From 10:00 - 12:00 every morning, they had the rec center open for family games early in the week. We played trash can ball & hockey:

Later in the week when we were snowed in, we played family trivia!

At noon, the lunch bell would ring & then we would have free time. From 2:00 - 5:00, it was open rec time. They would fully open the recreation center so we spent a lot of time there. They had a bowling alley, rock climbing wall, volleyball, basketball, racquetball court, shop & snack bar. The girls LOVED coming to the rec center every day!

Sophie spent most of her time on the rock climbing wall but Bryan got up there too!

Sadie's new obsession was walleyball! They played volleyball in the racquetball court & the rules were changed where the walls were included into the game:

The men really got into also & had a huge game our last day there:

They also had an outdoor activity planned each day. Our first day was tubing, the next day was ziplining (but we missed it because we went skiing) the third day was supposed to be the alpine swing but they had to cancel it due to the weather, so we went tubing again. That's ok because our family loves the tubing hill:

On these afternoons, when we would trek out in the snow, the girls would spend some extra time out there sledding & playing:

At 6:00, the dinner bell would ring & at 7:00, we would all get together for family worship. Afterwards, they would open up the rec again from 8:00 - 10:00 for free time. Sometimes Bryan would go down there with the girls while I stayed behind & read a book, or a few times they would have a family activity planned. One night we played bunco & guess who the winner was?!

Another night we had a family talent show. Sophie did a skit with her friends & I caught them practicing in the girls room one afternoon:

But our favorite night was Wednesday night - they surprised us with a silent disco! 

This was literally my favorite night of the week! None of us had ever done an official silent disco before, but this one was legit! We danced our hearts out for a solid hour. And it was so funny when you took your headphones off because you could hear everyone singing different songs. While we were dancing, it started snowing early Wednesday night & never stopped until we left Friday afternoon. Yep, we were in the middle of a snow storm! This is what it looked like Thursday morning when we woke up:

Sadie said it best when she said that she felt like we were in the middle of a snow globe! We stayed inside that morning & that night, but they did open up the rec center that afternoon. We all layered up & made the hike down there just to get out of the lodge for a few hours. On the way, we grabbed the sleds & spent some extra time outside:

To be honest, some of the kids played outside all day! Our girls had no desire to go out there. Ha! They just spent a few hours that afternoon & that was it. To be clear, they did not build this snowman or this igloo - we just took pictures with them:

and while we were outside, I made us take 1 family picture in the snow:

Isn't it beautiful?! Between Wednesday night & Friday morning, they easily got 3-4 feet of snow! When we woke up Friday morning, there was concern about us leaving camp. In fact, they even offered us an extra night if we felt more comfortable staying put. I don't know if you can tell much of a difference, but this is what it looked like Friday morning:

Ours cars were buried in, but the Sky Ranch employees were amazing - they dug us out, plowed the main road to get out & dug out the walkways so we could at least walk out:

Thank goodness Bryan rented a good SUV that we felt comfortable driving in this weather:

Usually, they ask you to leave right after breakfast, but we took our time & left later that morning. It never stopped snowing but we had a flight that afternoon, so we took our turn driving down the mountain & back to Colorado Springs:

Yep, this is what it looked like driving down:

Thankfully we made it safely & we flew home Friday evening. It was an amazing week & I still can't believe we had the best of both worlds - we started the week with cool weather, but lots of sunshine where we spent a lot of time outside and then ended it in a snowstorm where we could really see nature in a different way. What a way to experience God!

My last thought of our week is to thank our counselor, Genesis! Every family was assigned a counselor & ours was amazing! She sat with us at mealtimes & we got to have very intentional conversations with her. She also spent a lot of time with the girls hanging out, teaching them how to make their bracelets, etc. We loved spending the week with Genesis & I know the girls will be on the look out for her at day camp this summer: