Grandma Day Camp 2017 Day 5

Today, the grandmas have had all the electronics that we could stand, so in an effort to unplug these kids, I unhooked the cable and the internet coming into the home.
While I was downstairs helping with the pillow cases, Kim was upstairs helping with the beading… She took leave of her senses and ended up going to Walmart to buy more beads.  Now we have enuff for the next 3 years. And I guess we had a downpour. We heard nothing downstairs.

The kids from 8 and above sewed by themselves and then serged by them selves.  The little ones sat on laps or if you are 4, you stand to the side and stomp on the foot pedal.  This makes for an exciting time for the sewer.

 Malorie hated her pillowcase and did NOT like sparkly butterflies. Finally I got her to stomp the pedal to sew and sit on my lap to sew and by the afternoon, she LOVED it and didn't know what I was talking about! And she's going to come sew by herself!  Lydia is the one who perfected the stomping on the pedal, and she sewed her pillowcase when we went to Dallas to visit. And of course no pics.

Lunch: Sam’s Club  We went to Sam’s Club for lunch because Sonic had $.99 hot dogs, and I didn’t want to be in the car eating with all these bodies, so Sam’s hot dogs it is! And by hot dogs, they ordered anything they wanted.  Sam's was out of cheese for the pretzels-- and no they won't just go get it off the shelves. 

Beading, Paracord Bracelets:  By the last afternoon, the older girls wanted to nap with Luke, so Kim continued helping with the beading and the other kids made their paracord bracelets. When it goes down, they will be prepared… but the little guys only have a few feet of cord.  

Afternoon Snack:  Funnel Cakes!

Time to pack it all up and go home!  They only left one hat.  I consider it a success! 

Kim, probably Emmy, got these pics on the way home.

We have plans for next year… sewing shorts, going to the planetarium, Mountain Man, and of course the Cable TV Day… we have to come up with a better name for that day… 

Grandma Day Camp 2017 Day 4

Cable TV Day!!

 We have the ever popular flag ceremony and then songs. Malorie's favorite this year is 'Little Sally Walker'.  As you can see, the other kids are just pretending that they are over the singing. Especially Jocie, who is 15.

 Project Runway: The teams split up and had an hour to ‘make it work’ with their thrift store finds. . They needed to make the outfits fit and do makeup for the fashion show.  

Team  Jocie , Abby , Will ... They had a sporting theme. Will had a karate outfit, Jocie was a MU fan and Abby is the 'mask-cot'. Fabulous!

Team   Reed , Addie, Luke ... They actually cut apart clothes and altered them. They got off the plane to Fantasy Island and Tattoo (Luke) greeted them. He had a size 8 suit which they cut down to fit a 2 year old. Addie got off the plane looking for a safari. She had to alter the outfir to fit her, and then Reed came looking for his biker gang. He cut a woman's 'leather' jacket to make a vest and boots from the sleeves. Then he added tattoos and was ready for the island!

Team  Kallie, Emmy , Malorie...  They were the Dirty Hippies and once again the pics are lacking.

We had Paul judge and he liked the Dirty Hippies. A win for Malorie! I had to get a pic of Abby with makeup by Jocie.  She looks so old.

Chopped: They had pork chops, either rice or pasta, pineapple, refrigerator biscuits,    And anything you could get out of the garden—basil, garlic, onions and tomatoes were popular. And you could raid the fridge and cabinets of the kitchen.

As you can see, as soon as Jocie wasn't looking, Will made his move to use the sharp knife to cut the pineapple...

 When we come together to eat, the teams have to present their food. There was pasta salad, pizza , stir fry, another pizza and some pineapple upside down biscuits... Delicious!  Last year we didn't have enuff food, this year we had a lot!

Cupcake Wars: Teams were given white cake mix, cream cheese icing and could choose all kinds of sprinkles, mini choc chips, mini M & Ms, and anything in the cabinets.  Some of the kids had been researching online to decide what kind of cupcakes they wanted to make, some went with whatever they had on hand. 

Malorie hated her team and wanted to be on a different team and wanted to be in charge and it was tv day and we didn’t even watch tv!  She calmed down by the time it was to ice the cupcakes, and all was well!

We ended up with cupcake whoopie pies, cream cheese cherry cupcakes and pistachio pudding cupcakes!  Deeelicious!

HGTV:  Paint Birdhouse…  We have a hodge podge of leftover paints and stiff paintbrushes and let the kids do what they wanted for the birdhouses.

 Lydia took her birdhouse and painted it at her other Grandma's. Kallie and Reed were too cool to paint theirs. Jocie was too cool to make one.

Grandma Day Camp! 2017 Day 3

Zoo: In the heat of the morning, we went to the zoo… This shows you the shenanigans we go thru for a pic.

I have passes to let us ride all rides, so basically we rode our way thru the zoo.  We always have Cheetos when we get to the cheetahs, and made sure to have plenty of water. 

Lunch:  I think we had sandwich stuff, veggies, and chips. It’s a blur.  After lunch we threw in 'Earnest Goes to Camp', a crowd favorite...except Malorie-- She declared it to be a grownup movie. 

While the movie went on, we had teams going to the thrift store to prepare for tomorrows 'Project Runway'. No pics were taken. We split up the kids into 3 teams, and the challenge was to take $20 and get an outfit for each. We didn’t have a theme, but next year we will. And we will go shopping on the sale day.  

And finally the day ended so we could all go to the Royals game. Not a part of GDC, so barely worth a blip on the blog!

Grandma Day Camp 2017 Day 2

Day 2

Lydia found out that Malorie got to glue her shapes down to a piece of wood for a lovely object d'art!  A lot of glue was used in this endeavor...

Flag  And no pics!  We need a photographer!

A lot of fun at daycamp is jumping in the mules and the kids getting to drive.

This year the Mountain Man Day included archery, knife throwing, ax throwing, and sling shots.

We go over safety again. Especially with archery and sling shots being new.  And it must have worked because no one got injured.

 Finally it's time to do!  Each team tried all the events.  They have 15 min I think for each to try the thing out.  There are 4 on each team, and I was in charge of the knives, so you throw 5 knives, then go find them, and the next kid goes…  We were hampered by dogs running onto the course and at least twice taking a knife.

 We split the teams to be even for the older kids, and then we have a team of a 2 year old, two 4 year olds and a 8 year old. Each team tried all the events.  They have 15 min I think for each to try the thing out.  There are 4 on each team, and I was in charge of the knives, so you throw 5 knives, then go find them, and the next kid goes…  We were hampered by dogs running onto the course and at least twice taking a knife.      Addie got the only bulls-eye during the practice.

  And a camp counselor... "Hi, My name is Kate and I'll teach you how to shoot ...b.b.s and slingshot."  The thing about the bad pics, is it's fun to see where the action is-- the knives in the air.

Lunch & Fire

We had hot dogs, chips, veggies, and I left the s’mores stuff at home…  As the kids get older they need more to eat—the number of hot dogs inhaled was amazing. 

Team Runs:  The teams, all but the little kids team, figure out who does what event for the team run. It is a timed event, one team out at a time, and each person does one event. So if you were good at archery, you did it for the team.   Then, of course the adults had to run against the kids…Their time beat the kids. They were saved by Krista getting a bulls-eye... Well, she did take an archery class in college.

Individual Runs:  Anyone who wanted, ran the individual race, timed only one on the course at a time.  The other kids went swimming.  We start the races from youngest to oldest.  Kallie won. 

Grandma Day Camp!!! 2017 Day 1

We split up our day camp this year… 2 days in early July and 3 days later… I’m just here to say that Kim and I are getting old and it takes longer to recover from GDC…

Theme: Pirate—just for shirts..which you will see in tomorrows pics. We got compliments on them. 

First day:

Flag:  We try to always have a flag ceremony and say the Pledge of Allegiance. All kids help and have to learn how to present the Colors. After flag ceremony, comes camp songs. Lydia's favorite is "A-Root-i-Choot" or however you spell it.  You get to sing bad words--butt-- and sing with your tongue hanging out. That's the fun of GDC-- singing inappropriate words. There's many a song with them.

Knife safety, Whittling, Walking Sticks:  The kids always look forward to using knives and making their walking sticks. They are getting better at stripping the bark off and making designs.  It really isn’t whittling, but it starts them learning how to use knives and sharpen them. Kallie can burn names and designs into the sticks. 

Nature Hike:  There are woods and a creek that runs thru Kim’s property, so we ride in the mules down to the woods, get boots on—that in itself is a huge project!  And off we go with walking sticks and all.  Where else do you walk in the creek, thru quicksand, down and up steep hills?  And thru the meadows to Malorie’s back yard.  Picking every wildflower… Kim knows almost all the names and has a book to look up what she doesn’t know.

Lunch: This year we didn’t make the committees; partly due to laziness and partly to the kids getting older and coming and going. They have other activities and jobs that make it impossible to count on them being there. The oldest is 16 and has a full time job; the next oldest is 15 and too cool to come, but can’t stay away, then you have the others that have ballet, sports, and band.  We just went with whoever wasn’t busy cooked.  First day we had Roll-up stuff and chips and veggies. I only have pics of the livestock getting fed.

Bird Houses: The wood (a cheap fence board, cut to the sizes that Kim knows), After Reed drilled the bird hole, the kids nailed them together.  It works easier if you start the nails for the 4 year old crowd.  They love using their hammer and making something.  There were plenty of nails used, lots coming crookedly out of the walls. But that’s the birds’ problem. If you look at the very top pic, Lydia kept stealing nails from the can that Malorie kept hiding from her.  It was really funny. 

Plant Hangers: Kim needs some plant hangers for her sun room, so she decided that the kids needed to learn basic macramé.  They made plant hangers and actually turned out well!  That is how we decide many of our crafts.

Snack: Poop on Ice:  The ever popular poop on ice!  Warm no bakes over ice cream.  Everyone loves it except the 4 year olds. They are too literal to eat poop. They want just ice cream.  Especially when the poop jokes start.

Craft: Kim bought a whole bucket of these shapes at a garage sale for really cheap. The kids loved playing with them!

Kate showed up in time to get the pics with the chicken on the head!  Always a good time!

Closing: Songs, Flag: We end the day with songs and taking down the flag.