Day Two!

Day two of the Road Trip!  We left Cortez and headed up into the mountains, stopping every hour so that Eliza could get out and run off a little excess energy.

Run Eliza and you're not allowed to stop until you're laughing!!

Eva, the nature-girl, loves everything she sees. Eliza said, 'Jim and Joanne live in a beautiful place'!
As we were driving through heavy forest, we were playing I-Spy and it was Eliza's turn. She said, "I spy my little eye something beginning with Wwwwww!  (the 'w' sound rather than letter 'w').  We guessed 'window' 'wipers' etc. and finally gave up.  Eliza said, 'WAIN-fowest!

Day One - Camp Sweetie-pie 2013

I know - I'm a few days behind. There isn't much time left at the end of the day for blogging when one is chasing a four year old!

You can't drive past Four Corners without getting a photo of the kids standing on the four corners of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. Eliza managed to sit on all four states at once.

The first part of the road trip went pretty smoothly, even though Eliza is only four. She had a few brief melt-downs but they didn't last for long. We spent the first night on the road at a motel in southern Colorado. I checked Trip-Advisor and found one with both a pool and free wi-fi. But as with the best laid plans of mice and men, the wi-fi wasn't available.  Oh well, the pool was fabulous; clean and as warm as a bath, and the wi-fi was working by the next morning.

It's not easy to raise and lower the Camp S'pie flag when you're on a road trip, but we ceremoniously raised it before leaving the kid's house in Arizona, then rolled it up and put it in the trunk....then lowered it that night in the Colorado motel room.  

All is well at the end of Day One - Camp Sweetie-pie 2013!

Camp Sweeetie-pie 2013!

ROAD TRIP!  The Sixth Annual Camp Sweetie-pie.

The past year has zipped by and a lot has happened since Camp S'pie 2012. I sold my house, AKA Camp S'Pie Headquarters, in Oak Creek Canyon. I moved back to New Zealand and bought a house there. Camp Staff Joe & Anne, and their granddaughter Gia, couldn't join us this year so the number of campers and staff has returned the original number of 3 campers; Eva, Ethan and Eliza - and a staff of one. Eva is now 13, Ethan is 11 and Eliza is 4 so this is a good opportunity to make some major changes to camp. Joe & Anne offered their Oak Creek Canyon cottage for this year's camp but I decided to do something completely different. I'm picking the kids up tomorrow morning and we're driving to Colorado. Lots of exciting things are planned!

I've got new tires on the car, the car has been checked and the oil changed. I've got snacks for the road and games to play. As in previous years, the campers will have K.P. duty. Eva will be in charge of keeping the car windows clean and she'll also be the official camp photographer. Ethan (the techno-kid) is in charge of the GPS and seat rotation. (He gets car sick. We'll be driving through the mountains so he can look ahead on the map and figure out when he should sit in the front seat, giving Eva time in the front seat on the flat parts). Eliza is in charge of the car interior, changing the trash bags and making sure the other campers keep their area of the car clean.

Camp Director will pick up the campers (in the Camp-Mobile) tomorrow at 8 AM!  We'll double check the supply lists, play reveille with the official Camp Kazoo while we temporarily raise the flag (before we stuff it back in the trunk) and we'll be on the road.  First stop - a motel in southern Colorado with swimming pool, free wi-fi and a microwave so we can continue the camp tradition of movies and popcorn in bed.  Let the fun begin!  Camp Sweetie-pie 2013!

We've run out of room for handprints and signatures on the flag, so I've added some fabric streamers. This should be enough room for another couple of years.

Another Year!

Today was the last day of Camp Sweetie-pie 2012.  The kids are gone and Joe, Anne and I are packing up the tent, rolling up the pool and picking up bits of water balloons.   It's really hard to believe that next year Eliza will be 4 1/2,  Gia will be 10, Ethan will be 11 and Eva will be an official teenager!

The day started with a project called S.O.S.  The kids were told their ship had sunk and their life boat had landed on a island.  They had to work as a team and show us that they could find food and water, make a fire and shelter.   Eva is a girl scout and has learned her survival skills.  She set to work starting a fire with a magnifying glass that is in her whistle that she wears around her neck.  (we stopped her short of actually starting a fire as the fire danger is so high in the canyon).  Gia worked on the shelter and Ethan built snares and traps, all the while complaining that his arms and legs hurt.  (yeah,  yeah - it's just from leaping into the pool and sliding down the hill on his knees on the Slip n' Slide).

A check of the trap lines and the kids discover they've caught a bunny for dinner.  Eva has found a tin can washed up on the beach and uses the sharp lid to take off the poor bunny's head - then proceeds to gut it.  Meanwhile, Ethan's groaning has gotten the best of Sweetie-pie who has ordered him inside to lie down.

 Off with his head!

 Roast bunny for dinner

Gia reinforces the shelter with plastic found on the beach

Eva and Gia show that they've learned their survival skills this past week - though Eva taught us more than we taught her.  Now it's time to fill water balloons for the FIFTH ANNUAL WATER BALLOON WAR!  Ethan drags himself outside to participate, meanwhile Sweetie-pie is thinking, 'maybe he really IS sick?'.

The kids have built elaborate water-balloon resistant bunkers.....

Bombs away!

Ethan rallies!

At the end of CSP, the kids love to empty the pool by collapsing the inflated ring and riding the tidal wave over the edge.  

 

You'd better run fast Poppa Joe, because there are three kids after you, each carrying a bucket of water!  

And so, another Camp Sweetie-pie comes to an end with the lowering of the flag and each kid tracing their hands on the flag and writing words such as "Camp Sweetie-pie is AWESOME"! which makes all the work worthwhile.    If not for three great grandkids, Eva, Ethan and Eliza - and good friends Joe and Anne and their fabulous granddaughter, Gia, there would be no Camp Sweetie-pie.  Here's to next year - the SIXTH ANNUAL CAMP SWEETIE-PIE!!!!   p.s.  I discovered Ethan really was sick.....he has a fever.

Day Five!

It started out as a quiet day at the Camp Compound.  I think the kids are tired.  Gia learned how to crochet - Eva crocheted some sandals - and Ethan played darts.  Part of the reason for Camp S'pie, is that by spending six days with your grandkids, you find out who they are.  I think Joe and Anne have had similar insights into Gia.   I've learned that if Ethan isn't interested in something, it's hard to talk him into it.  But if it's a project that does interest him, he becomes totally focused and won't give up on it; a trait that will serve him well when he's grown up. Eva is good-natured and generous.  Today Ethan only had four beads (bonus bucks) and Eva had six. When the camp store opened, Eva bought something for Ethan with one of her beads. 

Every morning after I post the day's schedule, the kids try to figure out what the cryptic titles of some of the activities mean.  Today, KIDSICLES was on the schedule. A couple of days before camp started, I thoroughly soaked (perhaps too thoroughly!) three of my old CSP t-shirts, rolled them into a ball, and put them in the freezer.  I handed each kid a plastic bag with a frozen t-shirt.  The first kid to wear the t-shirt is the winner. 

They immediately thought of water - the swimming pool - garden hose, solar shower. 

The t-shirts were still frozen solid.  They tried beating the shirts on concrete and tree trunks,  with rocks and hammers, then holding the shirts against hot surfaces....the barbecue lid, a boat. 

Finally, after at least 30 minutes.....

Eva is the winner!

The contest gave the kids a shot of adrenalin - so the crafts and darts were abandoned in favor of badminton and dancing to Gia's ipod.

I'm posting this late - on the morning of the last day.  Today, we pack up camp in the afternoon and the kids head home.  It might be a little too quiet at the Camp Sweetie-pie Compound. 

Day Four - CSP 2012!

Eliza went home this morning and Eva spent the day away from camp due to a prior commitment with the Girl Scouts. With only Campers Gia and Ethan, we'd planned a hiking trip to West Fork not far from the Camp Sweetie-pie Compound so they could learn about using a compass, but we heard that poison oak is abundant at West Fork this year.  Plans were changed and we headed off to Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. 

Later, back at camp, Gia and Camp Staff Beeka play a little pictionary while Camp Staff Joe teaches Ethan the finer points of darts.

 

 

Today it is Camper Gia's turn for KP duty

Finally Camper Eva returns in time for the camp store to open and then it is an all out ping pong war on the front lawn with new camp store purchases while the Camp Staff supervises (and relaxes with CSP-certified refreshments).  

 

Finally it is time for lowering of the flag and the nightly questions;  what are we doing tomorrow and what's for breakfast??