What I Did with my Summer Vacation.

In July of this year, I took on a challenge that I had considered for sometime. I decided I wanted to host GrandmaCamp.  I have six grandchildren. They are 3 boys: Kieran (10), Carter (6), and Landon (4),and three girls: Kai (8), Lily (8), and Paige (4).  I have a friend whose mom annually does a thing they call "Cousin Camp".  I loved the idea and decided that I wanted to take it on.  

It all started when my eldest daughter called to ask if her two might come to spend a week in Montana with me.  They live two states away and I just don't get to see enough of them.  Part of any visit is always an effort to make sure that these kids get to see their as many of their Montana relatives as possible.  And it would be really especially nice for the cousins to spend time together.  From that impulse, GrandmaCamp was born.

I not only wanted to do it, I wanted to do it right.  So I planned everyday to read aloud - something that's important to me, as a former teacher.  So we read Dr. Seuss every day - my favorite children's author.  What camp is complete without singing?  We sang everyday.  I hunted the internet for non-competitive games.  I planned crafts and activities.  I made arrangements for an outing to our local children's museum.  I made arrangements to actually take them camping (an activity that later had to be cut short because we were totally outnumbered by the mosquitoes).  They all had personalized water bottles, T-shirts, and tote bags.


So, on from July 18th - 22nd, GrandmaCamp 2011 officially took place. 


It wasn't easy.  But it was worth it.

 

Lily, who's 6 months younger, has passed Kai up in height!

Paige and Grandma at the Children's Museum.  Glamor was NOT on my agenda that week.

This fun wall would suck filmy scarves through vacuum tubes and shoot them out over your head.

We learned about and built a solar oven to cook our lunch one day,

I ordered these T-shirts (albeit all the same size).  They loved them, wore them everywhere, and eventually all of them autographed the backs of each other's shirts.

Landon was such a good boy - and loved hanging out with his big boy cousins.

Lily had this silly foam brickworks built up over her head several times.  Kieran was happy to comply.

It was almost impossible to get Carter to take this harness off and try another activity.  He had so much fun.

I encouraged them to use the camera and take pics for their own memories.  This is the kind of shot that results from that kind of artistic license.

They all made a fleece pillow for their camping trip.

This bubble blowing activity was a total FAIL.  It morphed into rolling down the hill, which was probably much more fun.