A Day at Kingdom Bound

Yesterday, our family spent the day at Darien Lake theme park at a Christian music festival called Kingdom Bound. The very first Kingdom Bound festival was in 1987. 18 month old little Anneli was there. We then went back for the next 12ish straight years (we can't remember exactly!), camping for four days and attending the full festival. The festival consists of great speakers, bands, seminars, and different ministries represented. Not to mention, full access to the amusement park and water park! Around the year 2000, they changed the dates of Kingdom Bound from late August (which worked great for my Dad who runs a country club swimming pool during the summer) to early August which didn't work out so well with our schedule. On top of that, my Grandpa sold his trailer which is what we would camp in for all of those years. I have such wonderful memories from all those years of camping and spending time with our neighbors who would go with us. 

Ever since we stopped attending the full festival, we have gone back for a day over the years. I even went in 2012 when I was home from China for a few weeks! There is just something about being with 40,000 other believers, worshiping the same God together. Thad recently returned from his summer of playing baseball a few hours away, and since we all wanted to go, my Mom wanted to treat us all to a day at Kingdom Bound. We had so much fun! The weather was gorgeous, we heard some wonderful speakers and saw some great concerts. Here are a few pictures from our day:

All ready to take on the day! Obviously a few of us weren't quite ready for the picture. : )

My Mom and I began our day in the Worship Tent with the Brothers McClurg. We headed back to the worship tent later in the day to hear Jill and Erin Kelly speak. 

We then hit a few rides! On the merry-go-round. I know, I pick really scary rides.

Soaking in some sunshine by the wave pool!

Of course we hit the water slides which are my favorite!

We saw several great artists perform. Love & the Outcome and Capital Kings just to name a few! Mandisa was great! I saw her in Jamestown right before I moved to China and once again, she was great in concert. What an incredible woman of God. 

Then of course, Toby Mac. Does it date me that I remember seeing him in concert at Kingdom Bound when he was with DC Talk a few years back? As usual, he was awesome in concert.

We arrived home at about 1 a.m. A fun but tiring day! Since I have no idea where I will be living next year at this time and if I'll be able to make it to Kingdom Bound or not, so I soaked it all in this year!