(small disclaimer... I keep trying to capture the essence of "Grandma Camp" with pictures and captions. The problem is, every time I went to publish this post, I thought of something else that I wanted to include. I'm terrified (slight over-exaggeration) that I am going to leave something out!!! But if I keep working on it... I'm worried that I wont EVER post it! So here it is... 3 hours of uploading and writing, describing, and captioning later....)
GRANDMA CAMP 2011
{Camp Flag Assembly}
{Another group making their flag}
{A super cool magician came. The kids were mesmerized (plus they learned a few tricks themselves)!}
{The older cousins would always help out with the younger ones, meaning... my girls. It was so sweet to watch. Reagan was terrified of a "water balloon fight", (she's too much of a peacemaker) so Belle played catch with her!}
{Water Balloon Mayhem!!}
{Again... Reagan who opted for a balloon toss instead of war}
{Everyone else who opted for WAR}
{"I Wet Myself"... with balloons!!}
{After the water balloon fight I made everyone hug for the picture... I tried to dissipate any bad feelings that might have developed after chucking hard objects at each other for 10 minutes}
{The kids could not have been more excited to ride in the back of the truck}
{Maxin' relaxing... reading a book}
{A look at all the kiddos}
{Crazy kid! Walking around with no shoes on looking for crayfish}
{The shirt say Park City... please disregard}
{She was pretty patient waiting for a fish to bite...}
{Simon kept running away from Lincoln. At first he wouldn't even get close to HIS fish!! His face says it all... "No way, get that thing away from me!!!}
{Simon got brave! It took a few minutes to convince him to hold it for the picture}
{Holding the fish almost as far away as possible. Love this guy!}
{Everyone wanted a turn to touch it!}
{Happy to be at Grandma Camp}
{Our only refuge from the sun}
{Happiness is fishing!! And having the only catch of the day!!!!}
{Camp director sitting with assistant camp director. Waiting for the fish to bite!}
{At home in the mountains}
{After over 2 hours of fishing with only one success story, these kids were still all happy!}
{SQUEEZE!}
{"MMMMMMM"}
{Dinning/Craft Table}
{"Yummy"}
{"Take my picture while I'm eating"}
{"I lost two teeth the day before grandma camp"}
{Cousins Rule!!! They were dinner makers the final night. They made GREAT hamburgers. All 20 were eaten!!}
{Roasting marshmallows}
{She was done after one bite. And, she happened to make an EXTRA HUGE s'mores}
{Twin brothers- 8 Years apart}
{Hanging out around the fire}
{Looks a little tired... nothing a small dose of sugar wont cure}
{This should be an advertisement for Hershey's, Nabisco Honey Maid, and Kraft Jet Puffed Marshmallows! I love her disheveled "I've been camping for 3 days" look. That's my kinda girl!}
{Singing songs, and roasting marshmallows... or anything they could find!}
{Fiiiiiiire}
{He was singing a VERY funny song! Super fun to see him come out of his shell for a bit :) }
{"10th verse, same as the first... a little bit LOUDER AND A LITTLE BIT WORSE!!!")
{The picture of the handcart doesn't show any of our kids pulling it, but the handcart was so cute! Our kids took their turn pulling it in the beginning of the walk}
{Cute Cousins}
{Crazy Cowboys}
{How many kids can you fit on a jeep? Too many!!}
{Some good ol' tire swing fun}
{Final picture. These are all genuine smiles. Camp ended before any kids lost their sweet personalities}
For Christmas last year, instead of giving her grandkids gifts (they would have probably broken or lost soon after opening), my mother-in-law so wisely gave them all the gift of "Grandma Camp". For months she's been planning this... and it was AWESOME! My kids had been counting down the days. They had all received letters with lists of things to bring, songs to learn, and a camp schedule with their assignments.
So Wednesday morning my sister Rachelle and I drove into Paragonah Utah with 2 vans filled with overly excited kids!
Rachelle and I helped set up camp. Then she took off back to Vegas, and I went inside. I stayed out of the way (and out of sight) for most of the week. It was weird to only have to take care of Jefferson. We hung out inside most of the time or went shopping in Cedar. I didn't want to ruin the experience for my kiddos by being there, but I also couldn't justify driving home to just turn around and come back 4 days later. Plus... it WAS quite a bit cooler there... which felt SO GOOD! I wore a sweatshirt one night!!! Jefferson didn't sleep great, but he never does... so I was happy to be on a mini vacation myself.
Ginger (my mother-in-law) truly wanted a camping experience. They set up camp rules... one of which was that kids could only go inside to use the restroom. There was a wash basin outside to wash faces, hands and brush teeth. There were NO electronics allowed at camp (cell phones/ipods). No fighting. Etc... Everyone was assigned one or two meals that they were in charge of making and serving. From what I could tell... NO ONE COMPLAINED. They each took their responsibility seriously and happily!
Ginger had every minute of the 4 days of camp planned out. Swimming at the city pool, crafts, fishing at the reservoir, games, campfire songs, skits, crafts, a water balloon fight, a pinata, a magician came one night, and did I mention games?
My kids came home with bags filled with fun things from camp. There was a pirate day, safari day, and western day.
Every night the older kids would go across the street to the park and play "night games'. This was the first time Lincoln had even heard of such things! It was so cute to hear them screaming and laughing while playing "Ghost In The Graveyard". Night games got really exciting the night that Emma (Zach's sister) and Yuya (Emma's boyfriend) and Riley (Zach's other sister) and her boyfriend Eric came and played too!
I was selfishly happy that on Friday afternoon Zach and I tagged along on the fishing trip. It was so cute to interact with the fishermen & women.
On Saturday (the final day) all the kids got to tag along on a handcart pull, and some races. We had BBQ chicken for lunch, then we broke up camp and came home. I was so glad Zach was able to come up on Thursday night. We were able to have fun and share in the memories with the cute kids, and then between his truck and my van we were able to get all 9 kids home safely. Jefferson thought it would be fun to CRY the ENTIRE 3 HOUR TRIP HOME. No sugar coating here... IT WAS TORTURE! Not just for me... but the cute kids riding with me! After 2 hours I asked Zach to switch his car seat to his truck. I thought that if Jefferson couldn't hear my voice he would eventually fall asleep. But.... he didn't. It just made our arrival back in Las Vegas that much more anticipated. I think it actually helped eased the sadness of being away from Grandma camp. So he really did us a favor.... I tell myself ;)
Honorable Mentions:
*I've been fishing for 11 years at the Red Creek Reservoir and only caught ONE FISH... EVER. Simon caught one within 20 minutes.
*When one kid catches a fish... It gives everyone an adrenaline rush for at least another hour and a half, and they want to keep fishing.
*Fire turns ALL kids into different kids. It's kinda intoxicating for them. They get goofy, do things they shouldn't, say things they usually wouldn't, and lose the ability to use good judgement. Good thing the number of adults went from 1 to 4 the night they had a fire.
*Letting kids stay up late for night games, then waking them up at 8 am for breakfast is AWESOME. Good preparation for real life. No loafing about!! Teaches them about good decision making for the future!
*Simon did try to eat his fish for dinner that night. He didn't love it. But at least he tried it!
*Water balloons are best used for games like water balloon volleyball or plain old toss.
*Having Grandma sleep in the tent helps everyone settle down real fast!
*Every Cafe Rio should have a drive thru. When Jefferson fell asleep on one of my many trips to Cedar, I was able to get a yummy dinner and eat in total silence. It's hard to consider Cafe Rio "fast food". It is SO good. Next thing you know, they'll open a location that's open 24 hours. Then I'd really be in trouble!
*As far as I can tell... nothing was left behind!
*NO MAJOR INJURIES WERE HAD!!!
*Kids will eat just about anything when they are hungry and hot!!!
