GRANDMA CAMP

GRANDMA CAMP
Day 4

This is the last day of Grandma Camp 2007. We all slept in till 9:30 this morning! I can't believe it. We have been so busy, and then with the threat of rain today, everyone was just plain sleepy.
Already we are making some plans for next year. We will have 7 happy campers and I'm planning on a full week + to carry on this tradition. It was just too much fun this year.
Our last day.. take a look:

David the sleepyhead.. He was the last to arise, and did so with a squeal of delight! He's been a great little camper.

When he got up, it was a little chilly, so he helped himself to one of the bigger boy's Tee shirts and went on to play with his train..
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Perhaps Paul and Amy would like to scroll down past David and the Fruit Loops.. they may not appreciate the next picture and it's story
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At GMC, on the last day, anything goes (within reason).. so when I asked the kids what they wanted for breakfast today, they all said in unison "CHOCOLATE CAKE !!"
And so it was that we started a new breakfast fare.. Chocolate Cake and milk.
Daniel wasn't dressed at this point, but I think he was afraid I'd change my mind if he didn't get to the table and get his share of the treat.

Not all campers wanted chocolate cake for breakfast. David chose Fruit Loops.. and ate every bite.

At our last camp 2006, we made journals of everything we did- I took a lot of pictures and then let each one choose which ones they wanted in their journal. Here's Paul working on his right up to suppertime.

With all the rain, they had to be inside a bit more today than other days.. but they like to play Sorry..

Papa took the boys with him on errands today. They got us Pizza for lunch...yummy! While they were gone, David and Joyce decorated their camper tee shirts..
Tonite the children made supper for their parents.. Roast pork done to perfection in the crock pot.
There was fresh fruit salad.. they cut most everything themselves.. and then corn and mashed potatoes.. Joyce helped make the potatoes. They set the table just perfectly, and we had fresh squeezed lemonade for our drink.
The dessert was left over cake from last night.. but still moist and delicious.

I'm sad to see them go, and can't wait to do it again.. Joyce would like to do this again next week.. Alas.. I'll be back to work then.
They did get in the pool this morning.. splashing and having a great time for the first few minutes, and then they came back into the house in a hurry..
"It's raining !!! And we were getting wet !"
Ah.. I LOVE GMC !
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I just wanted to add one more thing.. I asked David if he was having fun tonite.. and he told me "YES!". I asked him if he wanted to come to GMC next year with his cousins and he was very excited.
I have really enjoyed having him here this week. He's pretty little to be away for these past few days..but he's done so very well.. he's a trooper.. a happy camper. I'm glad we included him. Of course if he had ever showed any signs of being homesick or wanting to go home, I would have done just that. I don't want any of the kids to feel stress,.. just have fun. I think we are accomplishing just that.

GRANDMA CAMP TUESDAY

GRANDMA CAMP
Day 3

Oh, what a day it has been! I love this GMC! It's been such a hoot..
This morning I woke everyone up with a song..

Good morning Good morning Good morning
It's time to rise and shine
Good morning Good morning Good morning
I hope you're feeling fine
The sun is just above the hill
Another day for us to fill
With all the things you love to do
Oh, can't you hear
It's calling you... dooodly doo doodley do????

Everyone awoke with smiles and ready to start a new day. "What are we doing today, gramma?"
Well.. first breakfast, and then everyone gets clean clothes on to go to class.. they go to the YWCA for a class and in August P3 tells me they will put on a play. I hope I can attend.. Next year for sure.
So we took off at 9:30am and I picked them up at noon. We stopped at KFC for Lapmeals for all .. and headed home. The kids were anxious to help unload the car.. and did so without me even suggesting it. Very impressive.
After lunch they took a dip in the pool...ahhhhhhh How they love the pool.
Then the fun began.. take a look:

This was actually later in the day, but I think this was one of the best things we have done yet. I had bought a package of water balloons and decided we'd have a contest.. to see who could stand the longest and how many tosses they could make before the balloons burst. That's how I got soaked to the gills. I had the job of filling the balloons.. it ran down into my shoes.. it felt fabulous.. trust me.


I don't know how I missed the pictures of P3 in the contest.. he and Joyce seemed to be up most of the time..while Daniel seemed to be the most soaked. No matter, no one lost in this contest.. everyone got wet.

David preferred not to join in this game, though I had made small balloons for him. He loved watching everyone else get soaked however. He has this peculiar sense of humor and a belly laugh when someone got hit with a balloon.

Earlier in the afternoon, I had a class for the children on cake decorating. Joyce had brought her kit with her but mostly we used my stuff. Each child was given a piece of foil and was instructed how to hold the bag of frosting, and then they could make any design or flower they wanted. This one was David's.. pretty good for a guy who just turned 3 yr old a couple weeks ago. He was VERY INTO the frosting..literally. He wanted to taste everything.

Joyce worked hard on flowers with the 'nail', but finally gave it up and just used a piece of foil..she did very well for a first time. She made roses and then little blue flowers with yellow centers and green leaves. Nice job, Joyce !!!

Each of the kids made whatever they wanted..we had lots of frosting.. P3 liked to use the piping tip and write letters rather than making flowers.. but he did it all.

"OK, KIDS.. GET YOUR HANDS WASHED".. and they all run knowing they are going to be helping with something special...
Of course if you are going to have frosting and are going to decorate.. ya gotta have a cake.. so we all made the cake.. chocolate..... what other kind is there anyway?
David really got into this project.. he wanted to stir the "chocolate mud". He is so little, he climbed right up on the table to be able to reach and stir. I was surprised how interested he was in making the cake..
I measured all the ingredients; Joyce poured the cake mix in the bowl, and David added the eggs, water, and the oil ! Good job, David! He never lost a drop.

Everyone stirred the batter..

"Take a picture of my tongue"..
"well..........okay."

It was time to frost the cake.. Joyce had the honors since it was her birthday gift.. the decorating supplies.
I'd promised her a cake to decorate and that I'd show her how.. so here she is..Notice that David was again on the table watching intently. He tried to stand on the chair but kept bumping Joyce's arm..

It was Joyce's idea to put Grandma Camp on the cake.. she is clever, eh?
Notice her beautiful flowers.. mighty good for a first try.

It was right after I took the last picture that David got down off the table and then tripped on the chair and fell down. He cried for just a few moments.. and then Joyce got out the craft kit...a puppet on a stick.. and showed her siblings how they were put together.. cute. David still had the frown on his face at this point.. I think he was just scared when he tripped.. No bruises.. no cuts.. he's okay. It didn't take him long to start laughing again.

I decided it was time for a movie.. I got this one at the dollar store today.. I put it in for David while the others were back in the pool.. but it wasn't what I'd expected. Too serious for David.
Daniel's comment. "oh, boy! The crocodile hunter! Is this the one where he dies?"
Uh..no.. this is one of his first films..

We had our snack.. chocolate cake! and milk.. Time for devotions... each one prayed.. and then I let them choose one more movie for the night. Lights out.. Over the Hedge was the movie they selected.
Well, it is quiet out there in the living room.. they had a really busy day..
Oh.. Daniel wanted to know if he could stay 'just a little longer' after his parents took everyone else home tomorrow night.. Though I'd love to, I have to be at the office on Thursday.. so GMC will come to a close for this year. Tomorrow night the children are planning a really nice meal for their parents. They have made the menu themselves.. and I think they have learned a lot.
Watch for tomorrow's ending ..

GRANDMA CAMP

GRANDMA CAMP
DAY 2

I think if you asked any one of the kids if they had a fun day, they'd shout out "YES!!!" We did have another busy one. Yesterday we spent some time at the table talking about table manners, noting when it was okay to put your elbows on the table.. when it was okay to tell someone you don't like something that is to be served and how to handle the situation when you are given something you don't like without insulting the hostess. We also discussed trying new foods and how it is important to do that once in a while......... like at Grandma Camp. So this morning we had pieces of fresh fruits and some simple fried mush in 'fingers' and toast with chocolate milk. The kids were dubious of the mush, but remembered what they were instructed and decided to take the plunge... To help things along, I put maple syrup, ketchup, and ranch dressing on a plate as a dip. I was so amazed. It think only P3 didn't finish his, but he tried it. The rest ate every morsel and had toast and fruit too.
Each child asked to be excused from the table when the meal was done.. even David. I'm so proud of them.
We had ice cream cones for a mid morning snack- it was so hot out.. and for lunch, grilled cheese sandwich wedges, cubed ham and cheese with apple and a few grapes. Chocolate milk finished the meal, and then they asked again to be excused. The afternoon snack was fresh carrots, celery, cucumber and slices of red pepper.
When they asked for a snack- I directed them in the direction of the bowl of veggies.
David was wiped out by mid afternoon and fell asleep till around 7pm when he got up and had his supper. We had spaghetti, garlic toast and broccoli aka "little green trees". The children ate their fill and even had 2nds.
I put a movie on a while ago and prepared fresh apple slices.. all 4 apples are done now.
Here are some highlights of our day:

We made chocolate peanut butter chip cookie pops.. the recipe made 12..
Here are P3, Joyce, and Daniel working on that project.

Back to newspaper tubes and Daniel marking the longer tubes. It was an important job.

Try not to look at the disaster in the kitchen..
This is P3 counting the tubes to make sure we had the exact number we needed.

Joyce found a couple tubes that had missing tape or loose tape.. so she re-rolled them

Tired of newspaper tubes, we went out to check the pool to see if the water was any warmer.
John thinks that the water filter needed changed last evening and that's why the rusty water. He replaced the filter and the water came out clear again.
But we waited till later today to add any more.

The 3 older kids spent a lot of time in the pool today. I slathered everyone with a #70 sunscreen as the pool is in direct sunlight. It's waterproof too, something for which I'm thankful.
David decided he didn't like 'swimming' much.. he kept getting splashed. Of course he didn't mind tossing water from his cup at everyone else..

After supper we went out to finish the project.. a geodesic dome. Well, it was supposed to stand up on it's own, but I think we didn't do something quite right.. Mandy had suggested that we make pinatas.. maybe we should have. Next time.

The bottom stood up by itself well.... it was the rest that just didn't cooperate.. hmmmmm

Time to get out the horseshoes! Woohoo!! Joyce was good. John beat her by one point.

Charlie's girls are so bold. In the middle of games and fun, this little brown hen walked through.. likely looking for some treat someone had dropped on the ground.

Everyone in the pool.. John added a little more water.. now it's about half of the height it should be.
John took a running leap ripping off his shirt and dove into the middle of the pool.. the kids went nuts!

Joyce had enough pool for one day.. wrapped in a towel she shivered while it was 91 degrees.

We have another day planned for tomorrow.. and then we'll start our journals. I'm taking lots of pictures and then printing them for my own album.. but each one will get to choose what pictures they want to put in their journal. We did this last year too.. it was fun .. they can write about their favorite thing.. let me guess.. I think my blue ink is in jeopardy for sure! They sure love the pool.
Till tomorrow......... stay tuned for more reports from Grandma Camp...

WELCOME TO GRANDMA CAMP

WELCOME TO GRANDMA CAMP 2007
DAY 1

This evening we started our 2nd annual Grandma Camp. It will go on until Wednesday evening or until I fall down totally exhausted from playing and having fun for hours on end. Tonite we started by having a cookout with burgers and dogs.. and each of the children got their own Tee shirt that announced they were a part of a very special event. David is joining us for the first time this year. He's having a ball.

At GMC, we will be doing some pretty structured projects aimed at everyone no matter what age. David decided to check out the dirt in the driveway and was making his footprints here. He was bummed when someone who shall remain nameless came over and walked on his prints. No problem, he just made more on top of the others !

David, Amy and Annabelle

Before we sat down to eat, I asked Paul 2 to help us get the campfire ring ready for a fire. We got it going without any difficulty- everything is very dry around here. It was safe, however, and well contained in the ring.
John and Paul 3 went into the woods and cut us some dandy marshmallow sticks and we were well on our way...

Oh.... YUMMY !!!!

After several tries, Daniel finally got 2 marshmallows roasted and was proud of himself.

Joyce tried her hand at it too... she got to talking and the first marshmallow fell off the stick.. She was actually talking with her hands.. you know she is into sign language.. but she was chatting away with her hands moving as she talked.. and .. oops !!

Another true chocolate lover in the making..

Speaking of chocolate lovers.. David preferred his s'more without the marshmallow OR the graham cracker

We have a pool for the kids....nothing big.. but it's 8' in diameter and 26" high. Problem is that when we decided to put water in it today, the pool just got about 4" in it when the water started turning rusty. Oh, boy.. the water table must really be low.

Our big project for the next 3 days is making a building out of newspaper. ALL the kids helped roll the papers and taped them so they wouldn't unravel. We have 65 tubes ready to trim and start construction tomorrow.
You'll have to wait and see...............

The next event was John's fireworks display.. Oh.. some of these were just beautiful. Some of them were so screeching noisy.. we had to hold our ears... but most were enjoyable..
Nice job John !

It was a little late when we had our family devotions.. but we did so before doing much more. Teeth are brushed and kids are in bed and watching "Night at the Museum".. I was going to join them, but decided I'd blog today's fun first.
We have packed a lot into one evening.. keep watching.. I'll keep you all posted on Day 2..