Cousins' Camp Part II

The girls slept late this morning so we must have worn them out yesterday. We started the morning with a good breakfast and then off to Mass. Larry had to count poor box and thrift store money for our parish Outreach group so the girls and I went out to the playground. After Larry finished we were off to one of our favorite places -- the Shenandoah River and the "scary bridge." Our grandkids love to skip (or throw) rocks in the river and then walk across the suspension bridge. So that's what we did.

getting ready for wading in the river

If you can't skip a rock, the next best thing is...

...a big splash!

Now that rock ought to really make a geyser!

Next destination is around the corner: The Scary Bridge!

Anya was afraid going across and was happy to get to the stairs on the other side.

A quick walk up and down and then back across the bridge.

Not so scary now. Every few steps she stopped to jump up and down and give a little body shake.

We met some critters on our outing.

A butterfly adopted Larry.

Is this fuzzy fella predicting a cold winter?

Our next outing was the Route 11 potato chip factory. They were doing a massive order for Costco -- sixty pallets of boxes. Wow!

Who wouldn't love a potato that makes such a yummy chip!

The second floor is where they add the flavors. They were making lightly salted today.

Talk about "loving" your potato chips -- barbecued for Lauren!

Marianna preferred sour cream and chives. "They're Mommy's favorite."

Home to swim before heading in to meet Lauren's mom in Centreville.

Finally mastering the doggie paddle and swimming in the deep end!

Two little mermaids cooling off.

And Lauren's working on her back dive.

Last stop: dinner at Glory Days Grill with Lauren's family. Anya kept begging for "just one more night" of cousins' camp, but Lauren has to get ready for swim team divisionals where she's hoping to break the team record in freestyle (two win an Ipod). Good luck, Lauren! Now we need a boys cousins' camp. How about it Brendan, Ryan, and Sean?

Mini Cousins' Camp

The past few days have been lots of fun! I'm never happier than when I'm with my grandkids, I look for opportunities for "cousins' camp" to get the young ones together. I've been trying to arrange them this summer without much luck. I tried to arrange for a boys camp with three brothers each from two families, but between soccer and swim team, vacations, etc. it hasn't worked out. But over fourth of July one little granddaughter begged to come out for "cousins camp" so I decided if I couldn't arrange a larger group, a "mini camp" was a great alternative. So Lauren and Anya are having a two-night sleepover with the daytime addition of Anya's little sister, Bianca, who's too young for over-nighting (except when a new baby arrives).

Actually, camp started on Saturday when Anya's mom met her sister to pick up Lauren. (Larry and I had a dinner for the 25th anniversary of AAA Women for Choice, a crisis pregnancy center where I used to volunteer.) We needed to get her Saturday because we had tickets to see The Little Mermaid at Winchester's Little Theater. So Sunday we went to the play and then came home to dinner, games, and a movie.

Today we had a great adventure that started with Mass. (Thanksgiving is always a good way to begin anything!) Then we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, came home and packed a lunch, and headed out to Marker-Miller Orchards to enjoy their super playground and pick blackberries.

Here's the adventure so far! And we have more fun planned for tomorrow. Check in to see the scary bridge and the potato chip factory.

Getting Ariel's autograph and a hug after The Little Mermaid

Cracker Barrel for artwork and breakfast -- Yum!

And a trip to Marker-Miller Farm. What a playground!

                       

A good little climber !

And another!

The sandbox is fun!

Piloting the pirate ship is fun too!

Lauren is the sweetest apple in the basket!

After lunch we're off to the blackberry patch.

It was a hard search. Most berries weren't quite ripe, but we finally got a basket full.

Paka makes a good engine.

Three hot little berry pickers choose cold drinks to cool off.

A pretty princess posing with the posies.

Bianca wanted her picture taken there too.

Lauren just wants to go home and go swimming!

Junior Cousins Camp

Camp Kreitzer hosted its first "Cousins Camp" of the season with three little munchkins who were out of preschool before big brothers and sisters. It was a spontaneous event when we decided to bring two siblings home from my brother's fundraising event last Sunday. Their cousin asked if he could come too and there you have it -- Cousins Camp. It was just the right length for young ones to be away from Mom -- three nights and two days. That gave us time to swim, jump on the trampoline, play on the swing and teeter-totter, throw rocks in the river, walk across the "scary bridge," ride bikes (and trikes), have a "movie night" with Rikki Tikki Tavi and popcorn, eat popsicles, get a little local cousin to come join in the fun, take tractor rides, and have a campfire with hot dogs and s'mores. We went to Mass one morning followed by a visit to a local nursing home (and a trip to 7-11 for slurpies). We ended each day with a decade of the rosary and night prayers by candlelight and a bedside song with Gramma, a Camp Kreitzer tradition. Unfortunately, I didn't think about pictures at the campfire and some of the other fun events until they were over, so you'll just have to take it from me that everything was a big hit. The staff at Camp Kreitzer is looking forward to the next cousins camp of which we expect there will be plenty this summer!