Day Five - Goodbye Gia - Hello Eliza!

Ethan sets out on a crawdad hunt

Art on the Creek - Gia works on her wall

Eva the nature girl

Today is Gia's last day at Camp and Eliza's first day. Eliza is my youngest granddaughter - only 2 and a half. This is her first year at Camp - and as with the other two, we'll add a day every year. So next year she'll be here for two days.

Goodbye Gia! Eva and Ethan had a great time with you and you really helped make Camp Sweetie-pie much more fun for them. Thank you for coming!



Of course, the day included another creek expedition for the hunter-gatherers otherwise known as the CSP Campers. Here is one of the fish that Gia caught (and returned to the creek after the photo opportunity)


And these are some of the many crawdads that the kids caught. These guys were lucky and didn't get eaten...though they're almost lobster-size. Camp Staff Anne bought aquarium nets at one of the pet stores which made catching the fish and crawdads much easier. The creek, just 100' from the house, makes Camp much easier as the Camp Staff gets to relax while keeping an eye on the Campers.


This year, we did some art on the creek inspired by nature sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. Eva titled her sculpture 'Mysterious Bridge'.



I started the rocks down the log and Gia continued the rock wall (see the photo at the top of the post)

Our youngest camper arrives. Hello Eliza!

...and gets right into the game. "I do it too"!

Eliza had the honor of lowering the flag for the fifth day of Camp Sweetie-pie!!

Day Four

The is the fourth day of Camp Sweetie-pie and the Great Water Balloon War!

I can't believe it is day four already and nary an argument between the three kids. They get along so well. Eva is like a big sister to Gia and as Gia and Ethan are closer in age, they play well together. Lots of 'please', 'thank you's' and 'are you OK'? but perhaps that's because The Camp Chief Sweetie-pie (that's me) is watching with a wrist of Silly Bandz, otherwise known as 'Camp Bonus Bucks' which are awarded for good manners and sportsmanship and can then be used to purchase goodies at The Camp Store.

We started the day with Sumo Wrestling! Looks of horror on their faces when we told them they would have to wear official sumo outfits (only kidding, kids!) Our version of Sumo Wrestling was done with large exercise balls. It didn't take long for Eva to be declared the WINNER!

Mail Call!

Preparations begin for the Fourth Annual Camp Sweetie-pie Water Balloon War! An hour or two later and sore fingers all around, we only managed to fill about 50 water balloons for each kid.

Elaborate bunkers were made by the campers (armed with fishing nets with hopes of catching a water balloon). And yes, you really can catch a water balloon with a fishing net!

The War Begins!!

Considering the Camp Staff are all OOF (official-old-farts) we're doing pretty well though every now and then I catch one of the staff slacking off.

Take that Poppa!

This is Camper Gia's last day of Camp Sweetie-pie, so according to tradition, she signs the flag after it is lowered for the day. The kids trace their hands, add a few words such as 'Camp Sweetie-pie is AWESOME!' and sign their names. We've now got four years of hands and signatures on the flag - it's becoming a family heirloom!

Gia leaves today and two and a half year old Eliza will take her place for the last 24 hours of Camp. Eva and Ethan will move up to the position of Camp Counselors in order to show their little sister a great time for her first year at Camp Sweetie-pie! The kids have promised that they will keep coming to camp even when they're in high school so that Eliza can have fun at camp too.

My house is for sale, so this is probably the last camp at the house. But Joe & Anne own the house next door, which is this year's location for the Camp Compound so even after my house has sold, we can still have the camp here in the canyon. Though there are other possible locations for camp. The beach in San Diego? Hawaii? And perhaps New Zealand once I'm settled there.

Day Three!

Camp Staff Joe demonstrates his 'Man vs Wild' and culinary skills by cooking the crawdads that the Camp Sweetie-pie tribe collected down at the creek. Eva & Gia ate them and said they taste 'just like egg'. Ethan wanted no part of it!

The first activity of the day was called 'Brides & Zombies' on the camp schedule. They had to make a costume out of a stack of white tissue paper, a couple of rolls of toilet paper and fabric scraps.



Brides & Zombies was followed by 'Don't Get Mad - Get Even'. The kids have fun guessing what the cryptic activity titles on the camp schedule could possibly mean. We keep them guessing until the last minute. Last year, this was called, 'The Great White Monsters'....which they loved and is back by popular demand. Give each camper a can of whipped cream and sprinkles - and tell them 'anything goes'!



Whoever would have guessed that Gia, smallest of the campers, could put away so much watermelon in such a short time! Hands behind your backs and dig in! This is the watermelon eating contest....

....won by Camper Gia!

Every day, Camp Staff Anne has been working with Eva and Gia on carding and spinning wool. They've learned with the drop spindle and now a treadle spinning wheel. Tomorrow they'll weave the wool they've spun.

Ethan sketching

When it gets hot or the kids start to get bored, we head down the creek where the hunter-gatherers spend hours with their buckets and nets collecting fish (which are returned to the creek), snails and a few unlucky crawdads.

Day Two - Afternoon

It was really windy this afternoon so the creek expedition was delayed for a few hours, so the kids played badminton....



They checked for mail on the camp bulletin board....(Is that a Staff member vandalizing the Camp Bulletin Board?)

Ate lunch....

Worked on craft projects...

relaxed....

worked on carding and spinning wool (thanks to Staff Anne who is an expert at these things)

And got ready to go down to the creek!

Day Two - The Most Funnest Day EVER!!!*

*According to Gia, this was the most funnest day ever!

I'm going to have to split day two into a couple of posts. So much fun and so many photos!
Darn this blog anyway - as for some reason it won't let me split the photos and text. No matter how I post, the blog insists on posting all the photos first. If anyone can tell me how to change this, I'd appreciate it!!

The day started with the raising of the Camp Sweetie-Pie flag....a solemn occasion while Staff Anne played Reveille on the kazoo. Then they're out of the starting gate for Camp Calisthenics lead by Staff Joe. And as this year's Camp Sweetie-pie theme is It's All About Art, he gave the kids a watercolor class.

Today's surprise on the camp schedule just said, 'The Hokey Pokey'. What is the Hokey Pokey?? We told the kids to put on old clothes that could be thrown away afterward then attached a sheet to the lawn using landscaping U's of wire. Then each kiddo was given a container of paint - a different color for each kid with instructions to paint the sheet, but using only themselves. No brushes! Poor Ethan never did like to get dirty - and he hasn't changed. He tentatively put his hands in the paint and added a few handprints to the sheet but that was it for him. He watched while Eva and Gia really got into it - an allout PAINT WAR! Fortunately, the Camp Compound has an outdoor shower!

Next post will be the afternoon activities.