Camp Nana and Pops and Mom-Mom too!

The heart is like the mind, has a memory, and in it are kept the most precious keepsakes." -                       Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This is the summer!  The season has come to slow down the schedule and the mission in mind is sure, namely to spend some quantity time with the grandchildren.  It somehow escapes us how quickly they grow and the importance of savoring, in our memories, these precious days of their childhood.  The most important gift we can give to our grands does not come in the form of yet another toy or high-tech gadget (although I know they could teach us a thing or two) but simply involves our time.  Think of it as an investment into their future as we live out our legacies.  We want to be remembered as grandparents who liked to play.  We want to be remembered as grandparents who liked to read Dr. Seuss books and who listened attentively while the grands read to us, as we cuddled under a warm blanket.    We want to be remembered as grandparents who wore silly hats, licked ice cream cones -   even when it wasn't summer, and who made up ridiculous words just to invoke some delightful squeals out of the grands.    We want to be remembered as  grandparents who took them on fun outings and planned wonderful backyard activities.  We, in turn, have confidence in knowing that we have left  indelible marks upon their hearts and their little lives that will carry them someday into their own grandparenting experiences.   We take joy as we revel in all that is simplistic and whimsical as we re-live our own carefree days of childhood.  Additionally and most importantly, we want our grands to capture a greater sense of the God who loves them and created them.  Thus, Camp Nana and Pops and Mom-Mom too! was born and we invite you to share in our adventure this summer.

 To kick-off summer camp, we decided to make some fun decorations to hang outside in the Japanese Maple tree.
         

                                     

            

                                    Of course, simple t-shirts are a necessity to happy campers!!
   

                               

We had a fun science experiment as we made a volcano and watched with excitement as it erupted. We used 1 tablespoon of baking soda, 1 cup of vinegar, red food coloring,  an old soda bottle and lots of moist dirt to mound around the bottle.      Make sure to put the vinegar in last.  Be prepared to repeat at least three times. 

Who knew there were so many games to play with balloons?  Beware of sharp grass and stock plenty of balloons. 

Mom-mom blows up balloons faster than the pump!! 

Time for snack - sipping cool water with Twizzler straws and enjoying popcorn!

Today, Pops led the grands in skit- style as he told the Bible story about Zacchaeus. They just love that he wears his silly hats when interacting with them.  We can always count on lots of drama from this crew!!!

 We read the book Fourth of July Mice by Bethany Roberts and created fireworks pictures using neon-colored tempera paints, straws, and glitter.  The grands dropped two plops of paint side x side onto black construction paper and blew through the straws to move the paint.  Next, they added glitter to the wet paint and gave each fireworks painting a descriptive label.  These were so festive! 

Our festivities would not have been complete without some sparkler fun...

...and a toad for our flowerpot toad house! 

Creating a book nook, complete with stuffies and puppets, allows the grands to have a place to rest and use their imaginations in an unplugged way! 

Til next week - it's grand to be a Grand!!!