Do you want to have an amazing vacation that you will never forget?
Can I suggest Granparent’s Camp?
My husband and I have four beautiful gifts from God that we call our grandchildren. Three of them live out of state and we only get to visit with them four or five times a year. Even then; more time is spent doing adult things with their parent than fun things with the kids.
We were actively looking for a way to change this balance.
Grandparent’s Camp was the best idea we ever had.
MAKING A HAPPIER YEAR
The world in 2021 was very strange for kids. We wanted our grands to know about the carefree way we grew up and to hear some of our childhood memories. Also; we wanted to encourage them to seek this information from other family members and relatives they knew beyond us.
Perhaps this might shed a little more normalcy into their upside down worlds from the events of the last year and one-half.
So; we set down and devised an agenda of things to do for a whole week; things that we would not normally get to enjoy on their other visits.
Then we gave each day a theme.
TEACHING ABOUT OUR HEAVENLY FATHER
I have a deep concern, with all of the church closings that happened during the pandemic; and the ever-growing reach of the secular ways of the world from outside sources that surround the boundaries our grandchildren must live and exist within now; for God’s truth to get through to them. It was our hope that we might help their parents in even some little ways and any way that we could make possible, with their constant quest to educate the kids in God’s best ways to live.
We desire that their lives be filled with God’s Holy Spirit and The Holy Scriptures and that they can understand and relate to them as much as their age allows. Hopefully this part of life will never be a burden to them; but only a joy forever.
One grandmother already sends them to church camp each year; so we took another route at our house. We told them the stories of God each day ourselves. For each theme of our Gma and Pop Camp we included two Godly Play stories each day.
Many of you have already heard me speak of Godly Play in the books I have published. These stories will always be a special part of my own personal testimony to the awesome wonders of the God we serve and worship.
If you wish to know more information about how you can tell Godly Play stories; just click here: https://www.godlyplayfoundation.org/,
PLANNING OUTDOOR FUN
We tried to think of some fun (yet nearby) places that would fulfill their need to run and play in the great outdoors.
Fun and creative play was our main goal; and fellowship among cousins and grandparents was our highest priority for the week.
I thought it would be a great time to get a little more creative with the food we served; so I added a slightly novel meal here and there that I knew the kids could relate to. There were only two “normal” meat and three meals during the week, and all of the rest were healthy; but more kid-friendly.
Our grands have special food requirements. Their parents are very strict about their sugar intake and they need to eat gluten free. I gladly conformed to all of these needs and it wasn’t a problem at all. We had lots of natural fruits and veggies to snack on each day as well as the main kid-friendly meals that we planned.
Every day but Friday included a picnic.
On Friday we all made our own pizzas together for lunch.
I’m sure you are getting the picture of what we planned by now; and of course it would all depend on what is available to you locally in your area.
Just sit down and plan a week of activities that will work for your grands.
They will never forget the time of fun and fellowship; and they will love you forever for going to the trouble and taking the time to do so. In the end; you will probably enjoy it even more than they will.
OUR PLAN FOR A TERRIFIC WEEK
We left the weekends open. Our traveling daughter brought her three boys on Friday, and we just had a great “as usual” visit with her and the kids for the weekend.
Gma and Pop Camp officially started on Monday and lasted through Friday.
That gave us another weekend at the end in which to just visit and travel to meet our daughter half-way home with the three boys.
Our granddaughter who lives locally brought her Mom and Dad over several times during the week; as well as the family dog. She and the dog are attached like glue; so there was no separating them.
I put aside my highly allergic-to-dogs and cats qualms, and actually let the dog join us for this ONE time during the year. She was so grateful.
Today I’m dealing with the residue pet dander (you can’t wash it out no matter how clean you get them); but I have to say I think it was worth the effort and a few days of sneezing and swollen eyes! The dog was very well behaved and added a lot of fun for the kids.
Our oldest grandson (now a teen) was at our house the weekend before and the weekend after camp; because he was going to an older kid’s camp with his other grandmother.
We still got to visit before and after; so that was wonderful, and we got to give him a few birthday surprises before he left for his own camp. He made us some gluten-free chocolate chip cookies before he left; and we took him and our daughter out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants on Friday night. One Aunt and Uncle came over to join in the fun. A side-event and surprise was bumping into a few old friends there at the restaurant whom we had not seen in years and getting to introduce the grandkids to them.
It is our plan to do some older activities with our teenaged grandson one long weekend later in the year.
We also see all of our grown children and their kids each year in the Fall season for The Feast of Tabernacles for a whole week; so we are looking forward to doing some activities he will enjoy on that trip too.
MONDAY WAS WILD ADVENTURE DAY
We had breakfast with animal-shaped foods. I accomplished this with some great new cookie-cutters that the kids also enjoyed with playdough. You can find the cookie-cutters in the upcoming The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store post for September; as well as some of the other items I am mentioning in this article.
As I prepared for breakfast I was thinking you could do the same thing with some foods for after-school snacks too.
Our first Godly Play story was called NOAH AND THE GREAT FLOOD.
If you decide to use the Godly Play stories in your sessions for your own grandkids; just keep in mind that you do not have to order the rather expensive Godly Play toys which you see displayed on their resources pages. The toys are all wonderful and very effective; but if you are on a budget as I have always been; you may want to make a large portion of these yourself. It isn’t hard to come up with the materials; just takes a little imagination.
I ordered a few story pieces that I considered to be favorites, and then I made the rest of the toys and story boxes myself. Michael’s carries great hinged wooden boxes to use for the parables. All you have to do is to paint them gold.
I used a plastic container which rolls on wheels for our desert box. It had a tight fitting lid cover on top and I used it as a surface to tell other stories when I wasn’t using The Desert Box.
The desert box came to live on top of the kitchen table for the week. I could tell the other stories on top of the plastic covering lid; and just take off the lid and use the “desert box” whenever the story called for it.
This worked well.
BEING FLEXIBLE FOR OUR PURPOSES
I broke a rule of Godly Play for the sake of time and convenience by not sitting on the floor in a circle; but it was okay and worked just fine for our Gma and Pop camp.
Usually you would sit on the floor in a circle to tell the stories; but I placed the desert box with a lid on it on top of my counter height kitchen Island/table and told the stories each morning as they ate their breakfast. The story was the center piece of the table each day.
They came to the table curious about what everything was.
That way no one fussed about having to sit still and listen to a story; which they probably would not do anyway because they love all of the stories and think they are only playing; not learning.
They ARE learning though!
I was afraid that our very active four year old grandson wasn’t paying too much attention to some of the stories until I asked him later about his favorite stories and why.
He literally quoted almost every important part of each session!
This child is only four.
That fact alone made my heart smile. I’m thankful to know that he was “actively” listening even though he never sits still and he rarely is quiet!
EACH CHILD IS DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE
We experienced just the opposite for our granddaughter.
She listened intently.
I could see the wheels in her head turning with each move of the toys that told the stories.
It was great fun to observe this, and very rewarding to hear her reasoning when she answered the “wondering” questions at the end of each story.
When we told the story of Noah and The Great Flood; as we came to the end with the promise of a rainbow from God; then we pulled out our prisms.
I had asked my husband to help me find a prism to show the kids how you can see a rainbow inside of it; and he wound up ordering a wonderful collection of prisms that he showed them all after the story was over. They were fascinated with this demonstration and he gave each of them their own prism to help them to always remember the story and God’s promise.
They took their prisms and hung them in a window at our front door. Later we all watched how the sunlight made rainbows at different times of the day all during the week. It never failed to delight. I always got to say “Just remember that God always keeps his promises!”
I don’t think they will ever forget.
DESOTO CAVERNS PARK
After breakfast and the story of Noah, and after looking at the prisms with delight on that Monday morning; we all got dressed and headed to a park not too far from our home called Desoto Caverns Park.
If you can get to Alabama with your kids or grands; be sure to add this place to your list of fascinating places for kids to visit.
Our grands LOVED this park. Not only did we get to go inside a cavern with lots of amazing lessons about science and rock formations; we also got to play outside in all of the kid-friendly booths that were available.
The caverns were amazing!
We found one booth full of cool air that was blowing beach balls of various sizes all around and you could run and jump and play right in the middle of them.
There was a pirate’s ship with air-blasting cannons on both sides of the booths. No gun-control here! We spent at least an hour shooting tennis balls back and forth at each other in teams on each side’s pirate ships.
I’m pretty sure my side lost; but that was just fine – we shared so much laughter every time one of us got knocked out. Nothing hurt; and even the little one who was too little to stay all week at camp without Mom (anyway Mommy had to work in her office after Tuesday) got in on the action and laughed and laughed.
Then we crawled through a tight container of twists and turns and finally came out of that tunnel maze on the other side. What a relief to have made it through! I think they learned a little about perseverance on that adventure.
The next booth had targets and you could shoot a bow with arrows to hit them. The four year old really loved this. The seven year old had a bow at home and she already knew how to do this; so she was quick to instruct in the best ways.
His last shot hit the target! We left there with a victory.
Of course there was a rock climbing wall, complete with ropes and obstacles to overcome. Everyone got into that activity and it was challenging on different levels for each age.
We peered off a steep mountain down into a maze-type wooden fort that looked like a place where you could get lost forever. It had observation towers to climb up into in the middle, just in case you got stuck and needed to look for some doorways that you could not find. Our collective thoughts were to put that activity off till last because we might never get out! It was HUGE and LONG.
They also had panning for gold.
NEVER ENDING ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS
We toured the gift shop and everyone had to find a special rock for 25 cents each.
That took awhile.
Then we enjoyed the splash-pad in front of the gift shop.
When everyone was all cooled off, we hiked to some shady picnic tables and enjoyed our picnic lunch. The surprise treat at the end of our picnic was rock candy suckers; and the kids all squealed with excitement when those appeared.
Everyday after we finished our picnic we told another Godly Play Story.
On this day we told the story of Creation.
The kids were so cute when we got to the wondering questions at the end of the story. They listened intently to how God created the world in just seven days. Olivia’s favorite day was the Sabbath (7th day) and Lennon’s favorite day was the day when God made the green growing things. We decided there were NOT any days we could leave out and still have all the story we needed.
Our next excursion was to ride the train; which just toured around the park for a short distance. This old grandma crawled up inside the little train with all the other kids while Pop and our grown daughter watched. The little one year old LOVED this train ride; and so did the other two.
Our last adventure in this park was to take the guided tour of the cave/caverns.
It was very interesting and COOL! We went deep inside the old cavern and heard many amusing facts from our great guide. He was a local college student The final and best part of the cavern tour was an amazing lazer show where the lazers danced to the tune of the water dripping from the roof of the cavern. It was quite wonderful.
NOT ENOUGH TIME TO DO EVERYTHING
We left with two tired grandparents, a one year old who was sleeping in his Mommy’s lap, and a very grateful three year old and seven year old. They sweetly expressed their thanks and delight. Desoto Caverns Park was a huge success for us.
Honestly; we did not have time to do everything. We may have to go back again later to catch what we missed.
That afternoon we took our naps without one little qualm.
When everyone was rested we grilled some hamburgers for dinner and then watched The Lion King together.
The kids painted a picture frame to put some pics of our activities of the week in. We will give them to their parents for Christmas later on this year. I put them safely away and will find the best of our photos and make photos ready for their surprises when that time comes around.
At bedtime we read a bedtime story called “Good Nigh Ark,” which tied in beautifully with our morning story-telling.
Olivia’s parents came by late to tell her good night and to snuggle with her a bit; then they left (minus their dog who stayed with Olivia for the night.) She misses her Mama and Papa when they aren’t with her now. She had no qualms about that before COVID started. I have seen how that horrible pandemic has affected our country’s children’s personalities and feelings of security up close and personal in a first-hand way. It really disturbs me. Her parents are doing a fantastic job to off-set the scars of our times; and I pray about this a lot for all of the children all over the world. She is recovering nicely and will be just fine; but she just wants to hold her family closer than ever now.
Lennon’s Mommy spent her last night with us before heading home with little brother so that she could work for the rest of the week; and none of us had a bit of trouble going to sleep that night!
TUESDAY – HERITAGE DAY
This day was created to help the children learn that history and family heritage is very important.
We explained that your heritage is all about your family; and that everyone needed to know their family stories.
For breakfast each child had a plate that had stick people which represented their own immediate family members. I left out Olivia’s dog and she insisted that we draw her in. Of course we did!
The heads of our stick-people were round turkey-sausages, and I even found some candy eyes to put on them. They had gelled red smiles. The eggs were green and served for the grass that their family was walking upon; and we made little houses out of toast. The final touch was a slice of orange in the sky for the sunshine.
After breakfast we told the Godly Play story called THE GREAT FAMILY. This was all about Abraham and Sarah and their ancestors. The story included the fact that Isaac was born to them and he and Rebecca became the head of a great family of God that went on and on for generation after generation. It ended with these words; “then they had children, and their children had children, and their children had children, for thousands of years until one day your great grand parents were born; then your grandparents, then your parents, then YOU! So you are part of the great family of God too!”
The kids loved the ending.
I saw the lights coming on in their eyes.
YOUR FAMILY HERITAGE IS IMPORTANT
We introduced them to our own stories of our own heritage after that story of THE GREAT FAMILY by telling them tales about the things we did as children their age, the places we lived, and the people we remembered that blessed our lives in different and unique ways.
My husband toured his childhood memories with all of us in the car. In that tour we saw the first two houses where he lived and the little town he grew up in. We saw where his grandparents had a farm that he could walk to from his house. Much of everything had changed over the years, and we discussed the importance of keeping things up and taking care of our special places as long as they belong to us.
The conversation veered to the realization that sometimes others don’t consider our places to be as special as we do and we must respect other people’s property at all times. My husband and I showed them the “before” photos of when everything he showed them was all fresh and new during the times that he lived there as a boy.
For our next adventure, we stopped at a local park in Leeds, Alabama with some pretty fantastic playground equipment (I suspect thanks a lot to Mr. Charles Barkley and some more of the fine citizens of that city.) There were some shady picnic tables where we had a picnic.
After the picnic I pulled out the Godly Play story of THE HOLY FAMILY. I let each child hold each member of the Holy Family, baby Jesus who had his arms wide open wide for a hug, his Mother; Mary. Joseph; His earthly Father. We told how the wise men came to bring them gifts and how the Shepherds heard the Angels singing. They loved the cow who gave his food place to Jesus for a bed and the donkey that Mary rode into Bethlehem that week. I leave THE HOLY FAMILY figures out on our coffee table all year now; adding different little seasonal touches to their decor and the kids love to play with these little wooden figures. They always want to hear more of the story of what happened to THE HOLY FAMILY. Also; they realize that they too are a part of this wonderful family. In the end of this story the baby Jesus with outstretched arms lays over the Resurrected Christ with outstretched arms to give a hug to the whole wide world.
We took all of our favorite old fashioned toys to the park with us. These were the toys that we used to play with when we were kids and we wanted them to play with the same things; a hula-hoop, some jacks, a dodge ball, a jump rope, and we told them how we played Red Rover and London Bridge is falling down and Hide and Seek and Tag You’re It.
They loved the old toys and played with them not just that day; but all week long.
No one was in a hurry. We let them have all the time they wanted to play on the playground before we moved on.
Next stop was all about my heritage. I showed them an old apartment where I had lived after I grew up during the time that I had worked in Leeds.
I told them about my grandparents and showed them pictures and gave stories about the things I did with them. There were stories about my dog and my horses and my sister who now lives in heaven. I told them what it was like to grow up on a farm.
We drove out to the old rock farmhouse that belonged first to my grandfather, (it was already almost 100 years old when he bought it) then my parents owned it, and eventually a portion of that land even belonged to me and my husband and our children when they were growing up.
Again; things had gone down from our memories of the place, especially now that we were not there anymore to take care of everything.
Of course; we showed them the photos of before and after.
We drove out to my old school and my old church. I told them about my old friends from church and school and all of the friends that I have held close over the years; several of them that I still am in touch with even from the days since elementary school.
I actually made up a game for us to play with all of the places I had lived over the years. The board was a box-top that held little paper houses on a road that I drew showing my journey through life. I put the relevant city names on each house on the board that explained the city where it was. When I mentioned that city in my stories I got the kids to move a little toy car forward to that spot and the house that I had placed there. So as I told stories; they moved the car to the appropriate places for each story.
We made it all a game. That worked very well to hold their attention and helped them listen better to some of the long stories that we told.
Do you have any old family stories that need to be told? Grab your grands and make a day of it.
Everyone had a blast from the past.
A VERY SPECIAL TREAT THAT EVENING
After my heritage tour, we stopped in at Great-Grandmother’s house (my Mom) and she told them about all the things she loved as a little girl. There were stories about growing up while living on a dairy farm. She had a lot of old photos which me and my brother will inherit one day.
Great-Grandmother even had a photo of my great-great-great grandparents. (There were not many camera’s around back then, so I was amazed.) She showed the kids a milk bottle from my grandfather’s dairy that she still has sitting on a shelf in her house.
There were lots of tales about my father and his brothers and sisters many of them who now reside with him in heaven. She told them about my Uncle Rayburn who now lives in Atlanta, and showed them pictures of when he was in the Calvary first; and then the Army in WWII. All of my father’s brother’s (except one) were Veterans. My Dad was in the Navy during the Korean War and she showed them photos of him during those days.
She told them stories about her sister who lives in California and her brother and his daughters who lived in Trusville.
I went out for a short while when we were at my Mom’s and brought back some “Chick-O-Lay” (this is what my grands call Chick-Fil-A) to everyone for dinner. We enjoyed a meal with my Mom at her house. Both of us loved not having to cook dinner, and the kids enjoyed the fast-food for the ONLY time during this week.
When we got home we watched The Jungle Book and read “Can’t You Sleep Little Bear?” for a bedtime story.
By 9 p.m. all people under our roof were sleeping away.
WEDNESDAY – NATURE’S WONDERS DAY
I made breakfast very easy on Wednesday; giving myself a break, and the kids were still very happy. We had Cheerios and Almond Milk with gluten free blueberry mini-muffins (I pre-made those muffins ahead of time and froze them.)
After breakfast was an exciting time because we FINALLY got to see what that desert box was all about. I took off the lid and told our story inside The Desert Box. Of course the container was filled with sand. The Godly Play story for Wednesday was THE EXILE AND RETURN. We told the story of how The People of God had wound up in slavery and had been held captive by other countries. It was pointed out several times that no matter what happened to them; God was always there. He went with them and comforted them in times of trouble.
The kids learned that God could go with you even if you are held captive and in exile; and that He would always help you to rebuild the things that you thought you might have lost forever. They came to understand how the Assyrians and the Babylonians destroyed the Temple and the walls in Jerusalem; but how Ezra and Nehemiah were careful to lead and rebuild the things of God again. Now we know that our hearts are the REAL Temples of today.
They had by now seen the dessert box and we had also used in the telling of some of the stories of Abraham and Sarah and Ezra and Nehemiah. Every time I would ask the wondering question of “where are YOU in this story” they now were answering; “We are God’s people too!” They knew the stories of God were a part of their own heritage.
They GOT the concept of freedom from this story and realized how important it is to all of us; especially if you want to worship The One True Living God.
CHEAHA STATE PARK
After breakfast and story time; Olivia’s Mom joined us. We were so happy to have her with us; especially since Lennon’s Mom and little brother were about to hit the road toward home. They had a long drive ahead of them; but all of the rest of us were only about 45 minutes away from yet another great adventure in Alabama. Olivia’s Mom drove her car too and carried all of our floats and her dog; and we journeyed towards Cheaha State Park together.
Cheaha is so beautiful in the summer!
I’ve mostly hiked there in the fall seasons when the leaves are changing colors; but they have a large spring-fed lake with a sandy beach to swim in that is totally surrounded by mountain views which will take your breath away with their natural beauty.
Before we swam and picnicked; we took a little hike that walked out over a wooden handicapped walkway beside the Lodge. The walkway was covered and shady and surrounded by lovely woods on both sides with resting seats along the way if you got tired.
At the end of our hike, we found ourselves standing at a mouth-dropping-high, beautiful scenic overlook.
It was amazing and the kids loved seeing how high in the sky we were.
When we all had completed our exercise, we found that we were hungry and ready to cool off for a while. So; we headed to the lake and the pretty picnic and beach area.
The kids were so excited about swimming that I didn’t make them wait for the story after our picnic. Later at home that afternoon we told the Godly Play story of THE TEN BEST WAYS TO LIVE. (This story puts the Ten Commandments into easy to understand and remember language which children can grasp.) They also begin to get introduced to Moses and Jesus in the telling!
Lennon wanted to play with Moses and Jesus every day after this. He kept asking me which was which; and I found that amusing simply because I knew that Moses was the foreshadowing of Jesus in the stories of The People of God, and I hope he remembers discovering this when he grows older and looks back and thinks about how he questioned who was who. It is a very grown-up concept that when told in this way, can also help a child to understand.
My favorite part of THE TEN BEST WAYS TO LIVE is how the story words the commandments in children’s language. The story box is heart-shaped and the commandments are grouped under “love God,” “love people,” and “God loves us.” For an example; the commandment for “Thou shalt not commit adultery” is “Do not break your marriage.” All ten commandments are worded in simple words that kids can grasp and relate to. None of the stories are preachy.
IT ISN’T SUMMER IF YOU DON’T GO SWIMMING
FINALLY; we got into the cold, clear spring-fed water!
It was so refreshing.
We made lots of new friends that day at the lake, and I particularly remember four who were named; Sarah, Sophie, Levi and Journey. The kids played and played. We shared our floats and they shared their water gun with us.
As my husband and I watched the kids and swam in the lake with them; Olivia’s Mom walked their dog on the nearby shore and talked and made friends with Levi and Journey’s Mom. Their dog had come to the lake too!
After we got home we squeezed in one more Godly Play story; That story was called THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED. Then the kids painted little flower pots and we filled them with dirt and planted tiny little mustard seeds inside their pots.
We watered the seeds and saved them for each child to carry home to watch them grow. It has only been a week now and my own little pot is FULL of mustard seed plants already!
In the telling of this story we noticed that many things take a long time to happen, and we have to show lots of patience sometimes to begin to see growth. God always helps us with growing! That tiny little seed made a BIG tree eventually.
It delighted me when we reached the end of the story and I asked the wondering question: “What do you think this WHOLE place could REALLY be?”; and Olivia quickly piped up with “I think it is The Kingdom of Heaven!”
She was definitely right.
Lennon is still pondering that one. I could see the wheels turning in his brain.
For dinner we made some hot dogs (all beef franks) and French Fries with a little bit of fruit on the side.
Olivia’s Dad popped in for a quick visit. We watched Mary Poppins before our bedtime story of The Scribble Stones. Olivia’s parents tucked her in for the night and it took me about five minutes to get Lennon to sleep.
We had enjoyed another amazing day full of memories.
THURSDAY – APPRECIATE A FARMER DAY
My husband and I wanted to emphasize how important the farmer is to sustaining life on earth for us all; so we invented “Appreciate a Farmer Day.”
For breakfast we had eggs, fruit, toast and turkey bacon; nothing unusual really; but I quizzed them about what animal on the farm each one came from. The hen laid the eggs; the tree grew the fruit, the toast came from flour made from wheat and the turkey bacon came from a turkey. The farmer tended to each of these and looked after them. We could not enjoy any of these things if the farmer did not work so hard.
They loved thinking about it all. I told them we would go to a place later in the day that would teach us what a farmer had to do to the wheat and corn to make meal for us to cook with.
Our Godly Play story after breakfast tied right in with the theme for the day. It was THE PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN. The woman in the story is making bread. We observed how the bread rose when the leaven was added to the three measures of flour. Our wondering questions tie in with the similarities of leaven to real life.
After a leisurely breakfast; we got dressed and headed for Kymulga Gristmill.
What a lovely and fun place it was! Our tour guide was delightful and he told us the history of the mill.
It was built in the 1800’s and there were no nails used. Pegs held the whole thing together.
The huge old millstone they used was ordered from France back in the 1800’s. The millstone came on a ship across the ocean. A man with lots of helpers retrieved it in Mobile, Alabama and hauled it in a wagon. He brought it all the way to Childersburg to start the mill. This was the first mill made from this type of mill stone in America.
The windows of the old building showed us the rushing waters that turned the mill in the river behind the building. We walked back there later to look closer.
Our guide pointed out the fact that honey bees were making hives in the walls of the old mill. No one actually minded them living there. I bought some honey and some corn meal. The cornmeal was gluten-free with a recipe attached which was guaranteed to be delicious! Having cooked and tasted it later; I can verify the truth of it.
Beside the old gristmill was an old covered bridge. At one time the old bridge was used for a road; but now there is a park on the other side of it with hiking trails to follow.
The tin roof on the old covered bridge had some nails missing in several places. The light from the sunshine shown through those empty nail places, making dots all along the path of the inside of the covered bridge. We remembered the prisms we had seen before and smiled.
We had a picnic lunch near the water and saw a Mother Duck ushering her baby ducklings through the grass beside the water. This made the kids so happy. They loved watching the baby ducks.
We wanted to tell our next story of THE GOOD SHEPHERD after our picnic; but it got cut a bit short because an army of gnats deciding to swarm us. The bug spray I brought turned out to be suntan lotion instead. This made the kids hoot with laughter. We cut the picnic short and went home to hear our story.
The Godly Play Story of The Good Shepherd is always a hit with the little ones. My heart skipped a beat at the end when Olivia said “Is the Good Shepherd another name for Jesus?” Thank you Holy Spirit for telling hearts stories much better than I will ever do!
That afternoon we gave them some magical little butterflies that you can set on a flower to feed. After they ate they could hold the butterfly in the palm of their hands and it would flutter its wings. These simple little toys obtained for only $6 at the local WalMart where a huge hit. The Grandfather at our house has a knack for finding little novel toys that provide hours of fun for everyone.
That night we were REALLY tired and we all wanted to go to bed early. I read “Sleeping in the Barn” for a bedtime story and we all were fast asleep in no time at all.
FRIDAY – FREE PLAY DAY
All week long; whenever we didn’t have time to do exactly what the kids wanted to do because of the loose schedule we had already planned; I would tell them we have a “Free Play Day” on Friday; and I let them know that they could do ALL of the things they didn’t have time to do earlier in the week.
For breakfast we ate French toast topped with the honey we had bought at the mill which was made from the bees that we had seen working yesterday. We had fruit and whipped-cream to top it all off.
All of my ten stories were told at this point; so I just asked the kids questions about which story was their favorite and why. I realized in doing this that they had paid attention the whole time; even when I thought they had not.
They remembered why God had promised us a rainbow. The meaning of the word “heritage” was still with them. They had a great appreciation of Abraham and Moses and Jesus. Each child seemed to know they too were part of The Great Family of God now; and they understood why the Holy Family was so important to all of us.
They remembered that The Good Shepherd led the sheep through all of the places in the sheepfold; even the dark and dangerous ones. If one got lost He would even risk His life to go to find it. The sheep knew his voice and they followed it. The concept of The Kingdom of God was forming inside their amazing little minds. This was my favorite part of the whole week; as you might have already imagined!
The rest of the day was free to do ANYTHING they wanted to do.
We climbed trees. The bubble soap got all used up with the cute little gloves we had given to them for making lots of bubbles (a unicorn and an elephant with lots of holes for many bubbles at once.)
Both kids rode the bicycle and the scooter. My husband and Olivia had fun helping Lennon learn not to use training wheels when he rode.
They took the sidewalk chalk and drew things on the sidewalk from our Godly Play stories as well as the adventures we shared. I saw a chalk picture forming on the sidewalk of The Kymulga Mill; and then Olivia drew Noah’s Ark. Olivia did most of the drawing but Lennon loaned his talent when we needed to draw the rainbow.
Again, for the fifth day; we watched rainbows growing on the walls and ceiling in the foyer and hallways of the house.
About mid-day Big Brother (Vinny) came home from his camp and spent the night with us.
We were all so glad to see him and delighted to hear his stories.
We cooked a large dinner with meat and veggies and apple salad and invited Aunt E to join in with us. She and Lennon got really silly with their talking at the table.
Olivia’s parents came to pick her up and to take her on another adventure they had cooked up for the weekend. We hated to tell her goodbye; but we were taking the boys home early the next morning!
We had some popsicles for dessert and when everyone had bathed and was ready for bed, I read the last bedtime story – “Where Ever You Go” by Pat Zietlow Miller and Eliza Wheeler (my favorite; but Lennon LOVED it so much I sent that book home with him.)
The next morning we hit the road early. By special request we stopped at IHOP along the way for breakfast. This is Vinny’s favorite restaurant and guess what? They have gluten free pancakes! Yea!
We couldn’t have asked for a better week.
Lennon’s last question was “Can we PLEASE do this again next year?”
There was no way to refuse that request and we are already looking forward to it!
SUMMARY
I hope I have sparked a few new ideas for you and your grands.
We all would LOVE to hear your favorite ideas too.
Next year is already in the planning stages here.
Gma and Pop Camp was a great success!
Can’t wait till next year!