Travelog for: Jujube

We ate "haystacks" at the Sabbath potluck this time! Haystacks have fritos corn chips on the bottom, then slow cooked pinto beans, cheese, lettuce, sour cream, tomatoes, olives, onions, and salsa. They are super delicious!

Host mom says that the best part of spring and summer in Kansas is the wildflowers! These pretty flowers grow by her garage.

We had to pick up kids at the airport, so of course we took advantage of being in the area to feast at the Ghengis Khan restaurant! The host family LOVE this place because you can create your own meal and watch them cook it on the giant grill stone!

Host mom took us out to the community garden at about 10 pm to look at the supermoon, since there were too many trees around the family's house. It didn't seem that enormous from where we stood, but it sure was a pretty orange!

Today's adventure involved playing with baby hedgehogs! They are so prickly, but adorable

Host mom's project today was to make 2 pairs of blue slippers, to go with the cosplay costumes she is making. They turned out to be adorable!

Today host mom took us to Chanute to run some errands. She stopped to show us the lovely, historic down town area. The yellow brick building called the Tioga Hotel has a wooden elevator much like the one featured in the old movie The Shining, but we didn't have time to go in and look at that part.

I was so excited to be on vacation with my host family, at Broken Arrow Ranch in north central Kansas. We are here for a week of family camp, with about a dozen other families. The first thing we did when we arrived was unpack and make ourselves at home in the cabin.  Next, we spent some time playing in the recreation area. In the evening, we enjoyed a campfire service on a bluff overlooking the Tuttle Creek Reservoir. Sunset was stunningly gorgeous!

On the second day of vacation, we started the day with a worship service in the Green Cathedral. Then, went to the beach. Later, we enjoyed an outdoor cooking lesson where we made foil-wrapped packets with olive oil, white potatoes, sweet potatoes,  yellow and red bell pepper, onion,  fri-chik (vegetarian meat substitute), sage, salt, and pepper, that we roasted on a fire.

We celebrated the Fourth of July (American Independence Day) with an All-American (though, all vegetarian) luncheon. In the afternoon we had another cooking with Travis lesson, and learned to make baked cinnamon apples on a camp fire. In the evening, we had a campfire worship service that was followed by fireworks over the beach!

The host family started the day with ziplining, but we didn't get to go because host mom was afraid she'd lose us. After that was a yummy lunch with veggie burgers. Then host mom took a picture of the view from the cabin on the way back to take a nap after lunch. After our nap we went to play in the recreation room

On our last day of camp, they brought us breakfast in bed... a basket full of cereal, milk, orange juice, and fresh, hot scones! It was a great way to end a wonderful week. After that we packed up, and we stopped to take a look at the tall grass prairie and the Flint Hills at a vista just outside of Broken Arrow Ranch.

The day after we got back from family camp, host mom took one of her sons to summer camp at Hidden Haven. Just outside the camp, she stopped along the road to show us the black-eyed susan flowers that were growing along the road. They are one of the many forms of sunflower that grow in Kansas.

We joined in the festivities at the Mad Bomber Run (a community event celebrating a piece of local history) by helping the middle and high school band booster club run carnival booths.

We had fun helping to get ready for the Sabbath potluck at church. There were so many fun people and so much delicious food that I had a fabulous time. We got to look at the To Save A Life movie kit that host mom shared with the church elders and got approval to show it at church and do a discussion group with teens this fall.