Last Day of Camp Grandmama 2010

All good things must come to an end and Grandmama Camp 2010 is no exception. The 4 amigos arrived this morningwith a slight "hitch in their get-along" complete with sun-burned shoulders, 1 skinned knee, several bug bites, and starving! Son Matthew said the kiddos were so tired last night that sleep was fitful and restless. A few whines are in order after having played so hard for the last 3 days.

Brreakfast was bacon, scrambled eggs, and buttered toast w/honey plus orange juice. An hour of cartoons let the troops relax, breakfast settle, and energy return. A few sprinkles dictated the morning craft would take place on the front porch. Supplies for painting wood picture frames were set up and directions given. It often amazes me how children will ask, "Can I paint it like this..........?" as though they need permission to be creative. As the adults in their lives, we are always telling them what to do and children have become so afraid to make mistakes that creativity often suffers.

That's why I like giving free reign during art projects. It is important to me for them to "own" their art, for better of for worse. I've seen adults take over children's projects, "fix" them, then hand them back and expect the child to be proud.

I'll try to post the results of the picture frame art project. I took several pictures of the troops so as to choose one to place in the frame as a keepsake. I wonder if those picture frames will mean anything to them in 10, 20, 30, yrs??? I hope I helped make some memories this week.

The last hour or so of the morning was spent sitting together watching two of our dogs, Hamk & Lucy, tear into an old rotten log in an effort to capture whatever critter was lurking. We didn't know if it would be a snake, rat, mole or whatever?? Ryan stood watch, ready to CATCH whatever came out the other end of that log. We couldn't have paid for more exciting entertainment. Purely spontaneous, unplanned, yet another great teachable moment about nature, instincts, habitat, and cycle of life. What was in the log??? Unfortunatley, we never found out because PaPaw drove up in his truck and chased dogs & critters away. Quite anticlimactic but a call for Golf Cart rides warded off any whining.

Camp ended with an hour of golf carting, taking turns driving (even Emma Grace!), and the person in the passenger side got to be the tour narrator. We narrated brush piles, wildflowers, barn contents, playground items, natural habitats, squash report,etc...! Each day we measured the squash and hoped it would be ready for frying before friday but alas, it was not to be!

The day ended early since Mama Jenda came to pick them up around 12:45. Cries of "Why are you so early?", "But we don't WANT to go Home???!!!!"