Chautauqua Institute: Map of the Holy Land

On our recent trip to Chautauqua, NY, we stopped over at the Chautauqua Institute. It was across the lake from us on beautiful Lake Chautauqua.

They have a very large map of the Holy Land, created to scale (1.75 feet= 1 mile) that was made in the late 1800's. They have maintained it ever since. The Chautauqua shoreline is used as the Mediterranean Sea. The above picture shows the Sea of Galilee closest, with the Jordan River headed away and in the distance is the Dead Sea. It was nice to be able to get a perspective on relative sizes. The white 'stones' in the grass were city markers.

Here, Thomas is checking out Jacob's Well. I was surprised to find it over a foot deep.

My DH took out his Bible maps to see where everything was supposed to be.
It helped to figure out where you were relative to everything else.

The towns were marked with these white stones that gave you an idea of their relative size.

They have carved hills and valleys that are accurate as well. This is just above the Dead Sea.

This plaque gives you some of the history of the site as well as information about the map.

You can see the Dead Sea right above the top of the plaque.

This was a free side trip. We probably spent about 45 minutes looking around. The children enjoyed it. It is worth stopping in, if you are in the area.

The Chautauqua Institute was started by the Methodists in the 1870's, I believe. It was part of the revival that took place in America after the Civil War. The gospel was preached and lives were changed. Since then it has become very ecumenical and has lost the message.

~Mom

Family Vacation at Lake Chautauqua

This blog contains some of the highlights from our long weekend away. We had a marvellous time! So nice to get a chance to relax together. The children even cooperated for a couple family pictures.

The house we stayed at had a corn hole game and we gave it a lot of action. T-Bob played the most games. He was doing real well with it by the time we left.

The children really enjoyed fishing off the dock.

The one fish that didn't get away. It is a relatively small perch.

I know it looks good-sized, but it really only measured about 8".

Elizabeth had a grand time.

The house we stayed at was lovely! Lots of room. A nice yard and was right on the lake.
This was such a blessing to get away for a little rest and family time.

The boys spent a lot of time the first two days working on the hovercraft.

(see previous blog post)

We did get to play some games inside also.

When I was in college I was involved with Campus Bible Fellowship. The couple that headed it up has since retired and now live in NY. We were able to spend some nice time with them. Wilma is still the hostess. She invited the family over for dinner on Friday night. That is a big undertaking and not too many people are brave enough to do it. She did it well!

Carl is still Carl. We had a great time talking about old times and encouraging one another. It was a blessing.

The children enjoyed gathering tiny snail shells and freshwater clams on the beach.

We had a canoe available to us and the children really enjoyed it.

The boys liked to go out just a little ways when the lake was choppy and ride the waves.

T-Bob spent some time raking seaweed off the beach.

We went across the lake to the Chautauqua Institute and looking at their map of the Holy Land.

We enjoyed a picnic on the beach.

"Shhh, your voice carries!" Was the phrase of the vacation. It was repeated frequently. Usually followed by gales of laughter, that also carried. Fortunately, there weren't too many neighbors close by to disturb.

The boys fished late, until dark.

Elizabeth enjoyed staring into the bonfire.

It was a HOT fire. You almost burned your skin getting close enough to cook on it.

The boys fished early in the morning, too.

The last two mornings there was frost on the grass when we awoke.

It was pretty strange to have frost on the grass in the morning and then have the temperature be 85 degrees when we got home at noon. Wow!

This was the memorable part of the trip. Instead of marshmallows and hot dogs we cooked fillet Mignon over our campfire. I found it while freezer diving. It needed to be used up. It was so yummy! I marinated it in Caesar Dressing and then cut it into cubes. We did roast it on sticks.

I did tell the children that this wasn't likely to become a family tradition!

Our friends, Carl and Wilma, came to the lake to visit us and have lunch.
T-Bob is in that 'bunny ears' stage of life. I will be glad when it passes. Sigh.

We sat and watched beautiful sunsets every evening.

The Creator is the greatest artist of all.

~Mom

Greenwood Hills Bible Conference 2010

We had a wonderful vacation at Greenwood Hills (GWH) last week. It was restful, refreshing, and spiritually uplifting. The weather was pleasant and the fellowship was encouraging. What more could you want?

Sunday was a little rainy, but that brought cooler weather- down closer to 80 instead of in the 90s. It was lovely. The children enjoyed playing a lot of shuffleboard. We are truly pikers at it, but it was fun to watch people who knew what they were doing.

We did keep trying and mostly played each other as we would have been no competition to anyone else.

Monday we tried to go canoing, however, it started to thunder briefly as we got there. Frustration! It always seems to rain when we want to go canoing. We decided to reschedule for a time later in the week.


We got back rather quickly as we didn't get to go canoing. We found my DH and Elizabeth in the Chatterbox enjoying a treat. Of course we made them share. We didn't want them to eat all that sugar by themselves. We spread the 'poison' around. Each doing their part to take a little bit.

We went swimming every day. The water was lovely. Not too hot and not too cool, just right. Goldilocks would have been happy.

Three different evenings we played volleyball. It was a lot of fun. The first 45 minutes or so was ' family friendly' volleyball where anyone of any ability could play. I don't think they even kept score.

Later in the evening they did competitive volleyball. For the most part of it was for 16 and up. They allowed spiking and kept score. It was a good time.

The cabins were rustic, but we learned a few things from last year. This year we brought a little dorm refrigerator. It worked a lot better and kept the food colder than when we used ice. We also didn't come in and find the food floating, or worse yet, sunk in dirty water. Yuk!

We also rigged up a curtain in the bathroom to provide an area of privacy to change in. That made getting ready a lot quicker. My DH spent much of his time reading and resting. I think he got a much needed break. I just wish it was two weeks instead of one. He could have used it.

Michelle was happy as there were several babies for her to carry around and take care of. She enjoyed giving little Caleb his bottle. She just loves babies! Michelle also found the treasure in the camp treasure hunt. Joan was the first to recite Romans 5:1-10 on the scripture memory contest. It really wasn't fair, she already knew it.

Even my DH got into the baby act. He found one with hair that matched his. It was nice to see little Jaidyn growing so well. We met her paternal grandparents this week too.

We did finally make it canoing later in the week. It was a beautiful sunny day. T-Bob was in my canoe.

We canoed on a reservoir. It is where the camp gets their drinking water. We were pleased to see that the water was crystal clear. The scenery was beautiful also. The rolling hills of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Boots and Michelle argued their way along the reservoir. They changed positions several times. Each one sure that they would do a better job than the other. We stayed away from them. It was quieter.

Joan and Thomas worked together well. The only problem was that Joan did not know how to steer or do the J-stroke. The went farther than anyone else as they zig-zagged their way along. Needless to say, theirs was the last canoe back to shore. Mr. Stout tried hard to be patient with them (well, maybe not that hard).

As the week progressed my DH became more and more rested. It was good to see him start to recover from his long work weeks. I am just hoping that he will be able to adjust his schedule when he returns home so that he can stay a little rested.

The children all seemed to have a good time. It is nice when you find something the whole family enjoys doing and is a way to spend time together.

Friday afternoon was the USA v. Canada soccer match. It is very competitive. Mr. Boots, T-Bob, and Michelle all joined in the game. (Mr. Boots is wearing the light blue shorts in the above pic.)

Michelle played barefoot as she decided none of her footwear fit or would work. You can't run in crocs very well. I was the bad guy who made her quit playing. Too many players were serious and had cleats on. I didn't like the thought of a cleat landing on her tender toes.

One family brought along a snow cone machine to provide refreshment for the fans watching. It was a nice treat. No we didn't take the toppings. The children just enjoyed the chipped ice.

Joan was not much of a fan. She spent most of her time reading. T-Bob was anxious to get in the game! The game ended in a tie 1-1. Everybody ran off the field and went down to the pool to cool off.

I was having fun with the camera. The children were happy to perform for me. Here is Mr. Boots, barefoot, showing good form on his dive.

T-Bob tried to do a flip off the side of the pool. He still needs to work on his technique. That entry looked a little painful.

The speakers for the week were Alan Gamble from Scotland and Johnny Gorman from NC. They spoke on giving Christ pre-eminence. Maybe I will do a blog or two on the messages in the next couple weeks. It was excellent meaty teaching.

Friday was also very special as our friend the Taters came to visit. T-Bob and Joe had a great day playing together. It's nice to have a buddy almost the same age as yourself. They get along well.

It was really great to see Lily up walking and getting around after all she has been through the last year. Thanks Carol for coming to visit.

We had a wonderful time and would love to have a few more friends come along with us next year. If you are interested let us know. Children 12 and under are free! Not having to cook or work in the kitchen for a whole week is a real treat! Christian fellowship and Bible teaching just can't be beat. Getting rested and refreshed is really sweet.

We love GWH!

~Mom