Cousin Camp 2009 - Fourth Day

Wow, the week is almost over. There were things that ended up being so special...

Like Music --- The first day of Cousin Camp as we were driving to the Nature Center, the kids were arguing about something so I turned on a tape of Bible Stories and Songs. Within 30 seconds they were singing along and listening to the stories. Everyday after that, as soon as we started the car they asked me to turn on the tape. It was great... the last song they heard, they sang the rest of the day. On the path today at Centenni.al Par.k, they were singing and humming "Who built the ark? Noah, Noah. Who built the ark? Brother Noah built the ark." At one point today, I asked Camp Director if we could just drive around with the tape playing -- it's the only time they all enjoyed something without competition.

Like seeing them learn together -- Pool time was fun. All the kids learned new things this week.... the three big kids can now flip into the pool and they improved their dive. Our littlest camper learned to swim under water and today she jumped off the side for the first time.

Like Pajama mornings -- The mornings were nice. We hung out in our PJ's for a couple of hours playing games together. Not what we planned to do, but the kids loved it. We ended up doing it everyday. The favorite game was Bingo, but Kings Court and Sorry were close seconds.

Like enjoying nature -- Anywhere we went, whatever we did, the kids enjoyed bird watching and leaf and flower identification. The yard was a great place to point out lots of birds while we were swimming or eating on the deck. On the trails, the kids had a pamphlet with pictures of wildflowers and leaves; we'd see them looking through it trying to identify a flower or a tree by the leaf. Nature provides so much.. to see, talk about, do... God's motion picture.

Tomorrow parents will pick up the grandchildren that we were blessed to have for five whole days. We are truly thankful to God for the blessing of our family.

As for me, I'm planning a nice quiet dinner with my hubby, the best Camp Director I know.

Cousin Camp 2009 - Third Day

Oh my.... These kids crack me up.

Do kids bathe at camp??? Decided I would bathe the girls tonight because their hair was starting to look like a can of Aqua Net had been sprayed in it. C. doesn't have alot of hair so he escaped a bath and I escaped the argument it would have taken to get him there.

Ft. McHenry was great today. C. loved showing us around and the girls were real troopers. They "played house" in the buildings, while C. and I or Camp Director looked at things with him. We ate our picnic lunch near the water and watched boats go by. Nice day.

We hung out at the house after Ft. McHenry because we haven't done that and we have lots to do here. We played in the pool, had a candy shower, watched a movie, played games, made cookies, rode scooters, made pretzels, built a fire and roasted marshmellows.

Our little Boss Boy didn't take a break today. It was hysterical. They all rode scooters in formation. They looked like the Blue Angels on scooters. C. (Boss Boy) would yell "diamond formation" they would ride along until he yelled "line formation".... "turn right" "triangle formation" "stop". You get the idea.... he was driving me crazy, but the girls didn't mind. Once in a while our little P. would just drive off and do her own thing. He'd try to get her to "line up" but he met his match with her. She was in her own world... didn't even hear him.

At bedtime everyone wanted to change rooms.... sleep with a cousin, not a sibling. No problem if everyone didn't want to sleep with the same cousin. So... I had to say that everything would stay "as is" until tomorrow night when we would all sleep together in the basement (on the floor)...C. bargained for a tent to be set up.

I'm off to bed. I don't want to change rooms, don't want to sleep with a cousin. Ooopps....forgot to tell C. to wake me when he gets up NOT ALL THE GIRLS.

Cousin Camp 2009 - Second Day

No one woke us through the night....we slept till 7:15.

11:00AM...we headed to Pataps.co Stat.e Par.k for our hike over the swinging bridge and a trail or two. The cousins complained like crazy during the first hike.... a flat trail next to the river. It lead to a tunnel with a small stream running through it. Now that's more exciting... tunnel, water... they came alive. On the way back to the swinging bridge, they complained again.... hot, tired, thirsty, hungry, hurt....whatever they could think of. We found a bench in the shade, ate our picnic lunch and rested awhile.



Camp Director asked if anyone would like to go on another hike to a waterfall. All the girls went and C. decided to stay behind (I stayed with him). Of course, right as they were almost out of sight he decided that he wanted to go. So I told him to catch up and I would follow. THEY ALL LOVED IT. It was everything a boy dreams of... rocks to climb up the mountain, rocks to climb in the water, rocks to climb just to climb. The girls were pretty excited too...


I was a wreck and told my Camp Director husband that he was going to be dead tonight. I even asked the cousin's where I should bury him, they said the pool.





But now that all is well.... I'll forgive him for making me enjoy the fun and memories.

At home we cooled off....by....guess what???.....SWIMMING. One of the things the cousins have enjoyed is a huge float in the pool that they named Happy Boat. Everyone is happy on Happy Boat as long as they follow the rules of our Little Boss Boy. Jump on, jump off. No climbing on or off. You're not allowed to waste water. The boat will pick you up at one of two places only. We finally had to give Boss Boy 15 mins to be the boss and then the rest of us got to have fun on Happy Boat.

Then off to the Awards Ceremony of one of our little campers. K. received her trophy for swim team and an award for being the most spirited participate. We are proud of you K.

Everyone enjoyed swimming at the community pool - V. K. and C. all enjoyed jumping from the diving board, something we don't have at our pool. And our little P. finally learned to go under water. All she talked about on the way home was that she wanted to get in our pool and swim more ...under water.

We ended the night with popcorn and a movie (not swimming).
Only watched 1/2 hour....everyone was tired. Everyone was asleep quickly.

Cousin Camp 2009 - First Day

Day started earlier than I had hoped. Never-the-less, it was full and fun.

We headed to a Nature Center that ended up being closed - no electric.



So we changed gears quickly and took them to putt-putt, which was a huge success. We played for 1 1/2 hours and then had snacks in the shade. We all heard Chick-fil-A calling us for lunch. It "happened" to have a playground, AIR CONDITIONED, so we stayed and stayed and stayed. When we returned home we played in the pool, made snow cones and played board games. We had a great time. Camp Director and I were so proud of ourselves --- we were wearing THEM out and WE were still hanging in there.





Next, we headed out to have pizza and then Krispy Kreme for Kids Nite. It was fabulous. We watched the donuts being made from start to finish and then got to icing one, put sprinkles on it and eat it. WOW...free. The kids got balloons and hats. Did I mention - FREE.

We thought they would be exhausted when we got home, THOUGHT... we read books, rode scooters, played on the neighbors swing set, read more books, played Bingo and then I finally sent them to bed. They had brushed teeth and put on PJ's way back when we first read books.

I can no longer say we out lasted them.... WE ARE EXHAUSTED. But can't wait to see those smiling faces tomorrow AM, I just hope it's about 8:00AM.... am I already dreaming?

Cousin Camp 2009 - Orientation Night

The kids are in bed. Two are asleep. Two are not.

I only had three children and I was under 30 when my last child was born. My camp director husband and I have four grandchildren here for the week. We're halfway between fifty and sixty. I hope we make it.

The children showed up all excited at four o'clock and Cousin Camp 2009 officially started. Aunt Mary helped us start our bright yellow t-shirts, which now have everyone's hand shape and initials on them.


Thank you Aunt Mary. Then the kids made signs for the doors of the rooms they would sleep in. Pool was next, making them hungry and hopefully tired.

Dinner - was quite fun. We let them experiment putting all kinds of food on top of each other to eat it. Then Nonno took them for a walk to find the Black Rat/Racer snake that he has seen in our yard twice in the past two weeks....they looked like snakes themselves wandering through the yard.



Then we made snowballs, each had four flavors, in one cup of course. I guess it would be called Rainbow. We read some books, had another treat (they are at Grandma's) and then off to bed.

The kids are still in bed. Two are still asleep, and two are still not.