Saturday, May 23, 2015

Grandma Camp

HOLY COW. I AM SOOO EXCITED. This year, I'm going to do "Grandma Camp" for Lillian.

Hey -- I have the time! And what would be a better use of it? (my time, that is.)

I don't want it to feel like a babysitting job....or, some lame kind of home schooling...

So -- what should Grandma Camp look like?

For one thing, we might have a jar with pieces of paper listing possible activities we could do that day. Lilly will pick a piece of paper, until the jar is empty, then we'll put all the pieces back in and start over.   There are so many possibilities: Hot Pad Weaving, Sewing, Painting, Scrapbooking, Card-making, hand-embroidery, bike-riding, puzzling, learn a new card game, work in the garden?? Any suggestions?

Of course, I could build some Lilly activities around my own days, which are already set:

Monday is Cleaning/Laundry Day
Tuesday: TMBC Day, Goodwill shopping...
Wednesday: Bettendorf Library/Concert in the park
Then, maybe every other week, we could plan a Day Trip.  It would be fun to look at the map, and do some online research.  My criteria would be the location has to be less than one hour away.  Looking at the map, that would include some very interesting towns and/or museums:
  • Fulton, Illinois has a Dutch windmill.  
  • Davenport, Iowa has the German-American Museum.  
  • Iowa City has the University and many museums and children's programs. 
  • Cedar Rapids has Grant Wood stuff, and a Czechoslovakia Museum. 
  • Clinton, Iowa has the Sawmill Museum; 
  • Rock Island, Illinois has Arsenal Island and a National Cemetery.
  • West Bend, Iowa has the Hoover Presidential Library
  • Walcott, Iowa has a weird castle on Main Street...
  • LeClaire, Iowa has the Buffalo Bill Museum 
  • Wait...how many weeks are there in a summer??

    Lilly loves getting mail, maybe she could start writing to a pen pal. She could write to Sarah, who is a few years older? And the bonus would be a meet-up in Cedar Rapids. (whadaya think, Anne?)

    Of course, I'm already slated to take her to swimming lessons. And we have been keeping a Movie Review Book for about a year. There is Bicycle Riding, keeping a Kindness Journal…

    So -- what was the best thing you did with your six-year old granddaughter??

    Warren is only two.  And when he's here, I don't worry about activities. It's a full time job just trying to keep him from swallowing nickels...
    And, when he's six, I'm hoping Uncle Ross will agree to take him to the Monster Truck Jam...

3 comments:

  1. Definitely making monster cookies! That was Chelsie's favorite thing to make with Nan.. Call me if you need the recipe..Have fun Rita. Time passes so quickly. Chelsie is now twenty five..

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  2. I don't have an grands yet when my girls were young one of the things they loved to do was - dance. We'd put on a video tutorial and they'd have a great time. Now you can find all kinds of instruction on YouTube. Some possible line dances are Cupid Shuffle, Cha Cha Slide, Electric Slide, The Wobble, just to name a few. It's a good way to "get the wiggles out" on a bad weather day also. Have fun!

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  3. We spent many a summer weekend at Grandma's. She only lived 2 1/2 hours away across the Cascades to Yakima in central Washington. Some things I loved to do with Grandma from age 7 to 37 - crocheting, making beaded ornaments, digging up carrots in her garden and washing them off with a garden hose and eating them right there, swinging on the patio swing, going to Dairy Queen for milk shakes or peanut buster parfaits, going to Arby's for Arby-Qs. visiting with Old Lady Watson next door (that's what everyone called her), coloring on the huge rolls of butcher paper she always had in the basement for us on those hot summer afternoons, roller skating on the sidewalk, going to Costco for free samples. I do miss summers at Grandma's and miss her.

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