Grandma Day Camp on the Road 2017

We took GDC on the road to Richmond VA when we went to visit Mikey’s Family. We started the day with the flag ceremony, and then the ever popular songs. 

                                                   Alice the Camel and Baby Shark.

Then we sewed pillowcases.  Preston did the ever popular stomp on the pedal and let me sew!  The other kids sewed … I have backed off and made them actually sew by themselves. They feel so proud when they complete the pillowcases. 

We made paracord bracelets. Patrick actually got it! And can make them by himself. 

We recycled magazine art from a year ago. These kids didn't get to do it that year.

Grandma Day Camp 2017 Schedule

Here is a copy of the schedule that we used this year:

THURSDAY  July 6   WILLIAMS’

9:00-9:30         Opening /

                                   

9:30-10:30       Knife safety/ Whittling Walking Sticks

10:30-11:30     Nature Hike

11:30-12:30     Lunch / Beading / Etc / Rest / Calf Feeding

12:30-1:30       Bird Houses

1:30-2:30         Plant Hangers / Pots / SNACK

3:00-3:30         Closing

                                   

FRIDAY  July 7  WILLIAMS’

9:00-9:30         Opening

                                   

9:30-11:30       SAFETY/BB Guns/Hatchets/Knifes/Archery/Fire    

11:30-12:30     Lunch / Beading / Etc / Rest / Calf Feeding

12:30-2:00       Colter Run

2:00-3:00         Swimming

3:00- 3:30        Closing

                                   

MONDAY  July 17  JURY’S

8:30-8:45         Opening

                                   

9:00-12:00       Zoo

12:00-1:30       Lunch / / Etc / Rest /

1:30-2:30         Thrift Store Shopping ($20 /team)

2:30-3:00         Closing

TUESDAY July 18  WILLIAMS’

9:00-9:30         Opening

9:30-10:30       Project Runway  Thrift Store Finds

10:30-12:00     Food Network Star / Lunch / Calf Feeding

12:00-2:00       CupCake Wars

2:00-3:00         HGTV Decorate Bird Houses

3:00-3:30         Closing

(ROYALS GAME)

           

WEDNESDAY  July 19  JURY'S

9:00-9:30         Opening

9:30-11:30       Cross-stitch / Beading / Bracelets

11:30-12:30     Lunch /  Rest

12:30-3:00       Sewing Pillowcases / Obstacle Course

3:00- 3:30        Closing

            LUNCHES/SNACKS

Thursday-

            Roll-ups, carrots, celery, applesauce                           No-bakes, ice-cream

Friday-

            Campfire: Hotdogs, chips. smores

Monday- Sliders, veggies, chips                                             Brownies, ice-cream

           

Tuesday –

            Protein, secret ingredients                                           Cup Cakes

Wednesday –

            Sam's Club                                                                    Funnel Cakes

We also make a song book of camp songs. If you want a copy-- just message me.

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 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.

Grandma Day Camp 2016 Friday

So, I haven't posted any pics from the flag ceremonies and song time.  I came across these gems...

And of course, Xena the snake came up for day camp. She always comes on vacation with Tom in the summer. She was one of the mapping stops from the other day. And, we have extras for the Friday fun-- we need their parents to help run things..

Then, with their map knowledge, Tom had a treasure hunt for the kids. Everyone had to be there for the reading of the clues.

Next was the thing all the kids were waiting to do... Making knives!  Tom brought some knife blanks, then the kids had to draw the shape that they wanted for their knife, transfer that to the blade, choose the handle, and go out in the shop to cut it out.  Only those older than 13 got to cut their own, unless they had help.

At the end, you have to glue the blade into the handle and hold it forever-- really a few minutes.

 Those who looked at all the sparks and said 'uhhh, no'  finished up their doors from yesterday. They also helped with lunch. Well, Malorie did.

When the knives got finished it was time to go down to the campsite. There they had the knife throwing, hatchet throwing and we couldn't find the BB guns.  I really don't know if they found the throwing knives or hatchets...

They set up their tents and got the fire going for the foil dinners.

This is the most fun, taking kids to the bathroom and back. 

MMmmmm, s'mores...  And I got to go home and not campout!  Another year over and successful with no fatalities.

Grandma Day Camp 2016 Thursday

Today is TV day!!!  We will be doing challenges from some favorite shows...
First the flag ceremony and songs...

Project Runway:  Alternative Materials Challenge!! Each team had a plastic tablecloth, tissue paper, streamers, tape, glue, and whatever else they could find.

 Luke got forced to wear a streamer outfit.  He LOVED it!

And the 3 year old didn't like not being in charge!
Here's a video of the fashion show...

Look at me, learning how to do that!!  Tom gave each of them a dollar for winning!

Next, it was time to open our Chopped basket...

Chicken breast, not quite thawed, potatoes, carrots, apples, cornbread mix and marshmallows . Now cook lunch!

I didn't get a pic of each plate, but the kids had to figure out what to cook using those ingredients and they could add from the pantry. We had soup, stir fry, corn muffins with apples and marshmallows, cornbread smothered in honey, and I can't remember what else!  Very delicious!!

Then, Cup Cake Wars! Each team got a cake mix, a can of icing, and sprinkles, mini choc chips and mini M & M's. And what they could find in the pantry...

 The tie dye ones were made in Mandy's kitchen, and has a surprise inside.  The middle ones were mint Oreo cupcakes and were very gourmet ...they even had a mint leaf put on top for garnish. And the other end ones, were made to look like a watermelon-- pink cupcakes with mini chocolate chips in them and green icing.

When we got out of our sugar coma, it was time for HGTV!  Each team had a door to paint. 

As you can see, Malorie couldn't paint the way she wanted to, but her team just added it to their design.  The other two teams didn't finish their doors.  I couldn't blame them, it was waaay hot out there. 
We will definitely do this next year, maybe have a different chopped basket for another lunch.  And the HGTV project needs to be smaller.