GrandCamp Concludes

On Friday, Ben and Alex were paired up for the day. We began our fun by going miniature golfing, and both boys enjoyed the activity despite the heat which rose to 99 degrees. Bob and I kept score between ourselves but the boys played without scoring, to keep down the competitiveness.

The course featured a graveyard with a headstone for Fred: Poor Fred, hit in the head, now he lies 6 under.

Later we beat the heat with a trip to the lake. Bliss!

 

On Saturday Alex went home and Quinn joined Ben for a visit to the Jersey Shore Children's Museum in Mays Landing, NJ. Although it was smaller than the one in Cherry Hill, the children spent a lot of time playing in the various sections. Above is the medical area with real x-rays to look at.

In the newscasting area the two little ones enjoyed seeing themselves on closed circuit TV while they reported the news and weather.

We headed north to Brick, NJ afterwards for a Pirate Adventure. This ended up being the highlight of the week for Bob and me, it was that well-done. The children were offered a box of pirate clothes to dress up, and face-painting was done for all interested.

As we waited for the ship to arrive I took the children's pictures. They were so excited!

And here came the pirate ship, sailing into port.

It was a perfect day to be out on the Metedeconk River. Again we had a super-hot day and the sea breeze was very pleasant. I have to say, the crew on board the ship kept the children engaged in pirate activities the entire ride, almost an hour and a half. As the parents and grandparents watched, the children and crew participated in a carefully orchestrated play that involved finding a stolen treasure. At the end, Stinky Pete was blasted with water cannons manned by the pint-sized crew and the treasure was recovered.

Later that evening, I made each child their own treasure map by taking a piece of computer paper and crumpling it into leftover coffee. I ironed the paper between sheets of paper towels until dry, then used a black marker to draw the map. It was a big hit.

On our last day of GrandCamp, Adam returned to be with Quinn and we went swimming at the lake (with a picnic lunch) before taking in a movie, "Ice Age-Collision Course." We returned home and made homemade grape jam and S'mookies with chocolate chip cookies, chocolate bars, and roasted marshmallows.

Quinn discovered that she loves to weave, and had such fun on my Saori Piccolo loom that she didn't want to stop weaving. Love it!!

A perfect end to a perfect GrandCamp. After one more night of sleepovers it was time to close camp for 2016. We will join the families on Wednesday for a trip to Franklin Institute, though.