~ Angel/fairy garden cottages decorated with Mother Nature & a little bit of sparkle ~
First things first....dinner! Found the recipe for 'Stone Soup' online. Some alterations for the recipe were made as Anna scrubbed the stone thoroughly with 'anti-bacterial' soup (certainly a must do.). We also made tasty croutons for the soup. Our recipe for 'Stone Soup' turned out pretty tasty & the array of different veggies & pasta the girls brought were appreciated. A lot of washing and chopping went into our creation. Stone soup? In a nut shell the meaning of the story as I explained (in the very limited time on hand) everyone has something to give, to contribute. Read the story if you have a chance...it's very meaningful.
After dinner our grand daughters shared the camp names they chose; which we called one another for fun during our camp time together. The campers then decorated their caps...very creative! Camp names...
Bubbles Little Sis Cookie Big Sis Blue Angel Nintendo
Early evening with our butterfly net & clean jar w/punched holes in hand, everyone headed out into the lovely sun set evening to catch fire flies. Fun especially for the little ones. Some of the little dreamy fire flies were caught by hands. We didn't stay out very long...we didn't want to catch chiggers. No thank you.
The surprise movie was 'Santa Puppies' a new/old flick for our six grand daughters (they have probably seen every Disney movie under the sun more at least twice however not his one). A little Christmas in July 'so to speak' as our large window air conditioner blew at the highest setting in the front living room. A 'made up' bedtime story and soft relaxing music set the pace for a peaceful sleep for all the little ladies tucked in their sleeping bags in the fireplace room.
Saturday Activities packed! The weather was just perfect...mid 80's with lots of sunshine. For breakfast the menu was to have a 'Cowboy breakfast' of scrambled eggs with chopped up bacon, plenty of oven cinnamon toast & milk. Hum! There were plenty of fresh country eggs on hand that we purchased from our neighbor friend Sherry.
After breakfast some of the girls and I jumped into creating the Angel/fairy garden cottages. Their Grandpa Michael build the houses from wood and the girls brought them over painted green and ready to go. As you can see in the photos...we used all sorts of natural items such as sticks...seashells...different dried plants...rocks and other fun items available such as ribbon and gem stones. One really special item was the fairy dress the girls made... so realistic for one pf the imaginary friends.
Creating pray flags came next...to send a message into the wind! Oh they turned out so pretty! One painted with different colored flowers...read....Bloom Where You're Planted. Another with a big beautiful heart!
After a quick lunch...off to meet Sherry and learn about her many animals. The plan was to make it a hike however...with our full schedule I decided it best to drive the van. It was a wonderful visit with Sherry at her farm. So many different animals...they have a beautiful horse, two calves, rabbits, dogs, chickens, a rooster, cats, kittens and birds!
Next a long hike off to the beach near our farmhouse...talking about the beauty of nature on the way. The sand castles turned out very pretty and we especially liked the sand angel created. A rest after returning...Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z
The fried chicken dinner turned out wonderful. Our special guests...Mama, Papa and Grandpa pa. One of my favorite moments was going around the table listening to each one of the girls share what they discovered at Camp Grandma. While I was preparing dinner, I asked the girls to take a piece of paper from their 'A Charmed Life' art folder that I gave to each one of them and make a note of 'what they discovered'. You can imagine that I discovered quite a few new things myself.
After dinner I gifted each of our grand daughters a special 'Camp Grandma' charm for a memory of our time together summer 2013. On the veranda all the girls held a talent show as I invited them to share some of the gifts God has given to each one of them. There was dancing, singing and silliness. We did...rock it with fun at Camp Grandma! My lovely daughter in law even performed a song called.....'Camp Grandma'.
"On the invitation...what to pack?....comfortable clothes, shoes and flip flops (we'll build sand castles at the beach
near our Arkansas River) sleeping bag, can of veggies for our stone
soup...we're going to "rock it" with fun all day long, a camera, you
creative ideas and an open mind & heart."
Our beagle Benedict was in for all the fun!
