Sunday, July 31: We started by going to
Scott & Tammy’s to celebrate Julia’s 9th and Will’s 15th
birthdays. Jill rode with us since Mike was fishing in
We
got home about 6:30. Wes drove his car and Joe drove his since they both have
to return home for work. Their goody bags this year included $10.00 instead of
$5.00 plus a $10.00 iTunes gift card. Julia got a surprise bag from the Dollar
Tree plus an autographed picture on canvas of Justin Bieber! Julia and I went
next door to the Castleman’s to give Mike a free copy of Scott’s book, Hutch.
Scott gave Mike a copy because of all the Reds stuff he has given Scott.
Even
though no one was terribly hungry since we had just eaten snacks and desserts,
I did fix hot dogs. Everybody wanted to go to the Anderson Days Festival at
Beech Acres but the boys did not want to stay for the fireworks so Joe drove
the boys separately. Julia and I shared a funnel cake and she had a Snowie. We
then oohed and aahed at the beautiful fireworks!!!
Monday, August 1: Since everybody was here,
they decided that they wanted the ‘camper’s breakfast’ of blueberry pancakes,
bacon, sausage, and eggs. While we were eating, Zak called to say he was coming
over in an hour with Justin, who was going to give me an estimate for mulching
my landscaping next year. When they got here, we walked around the yard and he
gave me a terrific price. He will do my mulching next Spring! Zak, of course,
wrestled with Will.
Everyone
wanted to go to the movies today. We ended up at three movies! Joe and Wes
(with Daniel & Will) drove their cars and they saw “Horrible Bosses.”
Daniel and Will saw “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 2” in 3D. Julia
and I went later and saw the “Smurfs!” Joe headed home after the movie as he had
to go to work at 4:00. Wes and Daniel were going home around 4:00 as Wes had to
work at 6:00 and Daniel was going with him because they were both going to
Batesville Tuesday to celebrate their cousin Bennett’s birthday. When Julia and
I got home, Wes asked where Daniel and William were. I told him I thought he
was bringing them home and he said they were supposed to come home with me
because our movies got out about the same time. I drove back and retrieved
them! As soon as we got home, Wes and Daniel left.
Will
and Julia played the Wii. They wanted to go to Frisch’s for dinner so that’s
what we did. After Frisch’s, we walked over to Cappel’s. Julia bought some
items but Will couldn’t find anything he wanted to buy.
After
we got home, Julia and I decided to go to Julif’s Park. As always, she made
friends easily, even talking one girl and boy into helping her practice her
softball pitching. She did many cartwheels in the sand, even one-handed ones. One
mother commented that she was very talented. I told her that she could even
lick her own elbow, which she proceeded to do! The woman was amazed.
When
we got home, Julia took a shower and Will was in my chair, watching my TV. When
I asked him what ‘campy’ thing he would like to do, he suggested roasting marshmallows.
I had bought the huge ones and they were delicious! Julia asked me if she could
serve Grandpa breakfast in bed the next morning and make a card for him. She
went ahead, made the card, and gave it to him. She wrote: “Thanks, G-pa!” on the front. Inside she wrote: “Dear G-pa, I love
you. You are the greatest grandpa in the whole world. I will help you with
anything. You are nice and funny. Love, Julia” You know how much he loved
it!
We
watched (don’t laugh) Pawn Shop and went to bed by 11, as tomorrow was going to
be an early day.
Tuesday, August 2: I didn’t wake up until 8:45
so after I showered, I woke Julia up so she could serve grandpa breakfast in
bed. We fixed him yesterday’s leftovers of sausage and pancakes. She even
picked a flower for him. He was thrilled! We woke up Will, had breakfast (Will
had leftovers and Julia and I had Toaster Strudels). Then we got ready and
headed to Coney Island’s
Sunlite Pool, their favorite, and arrived by 10:30. I got lucky, too. I
have a pass for myself and I knew there was one guest pass so I thought I’d
have to pay for one of the kids. However, Tuesdays are ‘bring a friend free
day’ so we all got in at no charge! We even got free ride passes that we gave
to a couple on our way out. We had taken two rafts which Will filled with air
and they hardly got a chance to dry. Will and Julia are both fishes! Will and I
rode the double-seated tube down the Twister and Julia went down the In-Pool
slide three times. Will also went down the Cyclone and off the boards more
times than we could count. We devoured a LaRosa’s pepperoni pizza for lunch and
later enjoyed creamy whips! We left after 3:00 and everybody hit the showers
when we got home. I did a few loads of laundry while Julia napped and Will
chilled!
Dinner
consisted of steak, fries, corn-on-the-cob, and salad. YUM! After dishes, Will
got me playing golf on the Wii. I was not good. Then Julia and I sat on the
deck while she ate her Pop Rocks. Then she sang! When we came in, I painted her
fingernails and toenails.
We
amused ourselves watching Wipeout and
Wednesday, August 3: We got a good rainy storm
early in the morning (finally) so Will and Julia slept in. Grandpa had a call
near Daniel’s house so he picked him up and they got here before 11:00. Nobody
wanted breakfast so they played Wii until lunch (mostly Just Dance 2). Wes is
coming back tonight after work so we decided to go to the Newport Aquarium
tomorrow.
They
decided it was time to play some Minute To Win It games. The first one was
called A Bit Dicey: You need to balance five dice on a Popsicle stick held in
your mouth. Daniel was the only one who could do it. The next one was Baby
Blocking: You stack 5 blocks on top of a paper plate balanced on your head.
Again, Daniel prevailed. Then they all tried Back Flip: Place 2 pencils
(unsharpened) on the back of your hand, flip them, and catch them with the same
hand. Then add 2 more pencils and keep going. Originally it was to be
12 but we reduced it to 10 and then to 8 and still nobody could accomplish it.
It
was time for lunch and they all opted for peanut butter and honey. Since the
peanut butter was already out, Daniel smeared it on a piece of bread to play another
game. Sticky Situation: Bounce a ping-pong ball onto a piece of bread covered
in peanut butter. Finally everyone found success with that one! We
played one more game called Tea Party: You flip two tea bags (stapled)
onto the bill of a baseball hat. No one could do this one.
Then
we were off to Eastgate Adventures
to ride the Go-Karts and play Putt-Putt Golf. At last, Julia was tall enough to
ride! She rode with Daniel, not only because she wanted to but because you need
to be 16 to have a passenger. Before they got into their cars, two girls that
were already racing got tangled up with each other. The worker went over but
before he pulled them apart, he took their picture. As he came back, I asked
him if he always took pictures of accidents and he said that the group was a
Bachelorette Party! They also ended up playing Putt-Putt in front of us but let
us go through. The bride was getting married this Saturday. I thought it was
funny! Julia totally enjoyed the go-carts….she was nothing but giggles! After feeding
the ducks, they played golf. I told them I would pay a dollar for every
hole-in-one. Will was the only one who collected a dollar!!! Daniel, however,
was declared the winner with Will next and then Julia (but only by one stroke).
We
headed to Scallywag Tag. We were
going to drop Daniel and Will off and Julia and I were going to Kroger. The
wait, though, was over an hour (they were very crowded) so we all just went
Krogering! I purchased our Newport Aquarium tickets there too. The kids picked
out some of the ‘junk food’ they wanted. When we got home, they were very
helpful putting everything away and the junk food started to get eaten!
We
chilled for a while and then had dinner, which was spaghetti and meatballs,
bread sticks, and salad, followed by watermelon for dessert. After dishes, we
resumed ‘the games’ with a vengeance! First was one they did last year called Penny
Hose: Two pennies are placed in the ends of the legs of a pair of pantyhose.
Using only their hands, the contestants must inch their way down the legs to
retrieve the pennies and pull them out. Each arm must work independently and the
player cannot use one hand to stretch or hold the hose for the other. Daniel
and Will got this. I think Julia’s arms were too short, even though we let her
roll up her sleeves.
Next
was Separation
Anxiety: Contestant must separate a pile of 50 multicolored M&M'S Brand
Chocolate Candies into five separate containers in a set color order.
They all accomplished this tasty one.
Another
oldie was Movin’ on up: Contestant is given a stack of 36 large plastic cups and
races to move their one marked cup through the entire stack. Contestant does so
by holding the stack in their hands and one-by-one continuously moving a cup
from the top to the bottom. All did well!
Then
their favorite, Face The Cookie: Contestants,
using only their faces, must move three Oreo cookies individually from their
forehead to their mouth. Daniel was the only successful one on this
one.
The
boys played the Wii and computer games and Julia crashed for a quick nap. Then
she and I played Fish, Crazy Eights, Concentration, more Fish, and Dominos! She
dominated. We watched some TV and then the three of them went outside to play
flashlight tag. Wes arrived a little after 10:00 and joined them. I updated
Buhale while they were busy!
After
snacking and watching TV, Julia went to bed around 11:00 and the rest of us a bit
later.
Thursday, August 4th:
We all
devoured donuts for breakfast around 10:00. We got ready and left for the
Newport Aquarium around 11:00. It was a very enjoyable, awesome venture,
especially for Julia. At one point, there were three divers in the water and
one played Rock-Paper-Scissors with Daniel, Julia, and Will. The boys both won.
Julia finally petted her first shark. Hank bought shark teeth for Julia to
share but she was the only one who wanted them. The Aquarium is truly a gem.
On
the way home, we stopped down by Lunken to buy corn-on-the-cob from Mr. Snyder
of
Got
home around 5:00 and I put a ham in the oven. The kids all took showers and
played on the computer, the Wii, and watched TV and just chilled. We had dinner
around 6:30. It consisted of ham, macaroni and cheese, corn-on-the-cob, and
fruit salad. I think this ended up being their favorite meal. The kids were in
the midst of playing Hide ‘n Seek in the house when Aunt Jill and Uncle Mike
stopped by to see the kids and bring Grandpa some Stuffed Peppers. After they
left around 8:00, Grandpa took us all to United Dairy Farmers for large malts!
I was the only one who got a soda instead.
When
it got dark, they played Flashlight Tag again. I think they had fun!
Julia
was tired and went to bed around 11:00. Wes put on Despicable Me but I kept
dozing off so I headed to bed around midnight.
Friday, August 5: Wes had to leave by 8:30 and went straight to
work. The rest were all sleepyheads so while they were still asleep, I watered
the landscaping plants, flowers, and garden. I changed our sheets on our bed and
did laundry. I finally got their going before noon. We had ‘brunch’ and headed
out around 1:00. First, we went to Best Buy to return a product I had bought
last April to convert Scott’s videos tapes (mostly baseball) to DVD’s. Zak had
tried to get it to work but we were not successful. We then went to the Dollar
Tree where they mostly spent their money on candy. We went to Backstop (the
batting cages) but they were closed until 2:00 and we didn’t want to wait the
extra 15 minutes. So we went to Gabriel Brothers because Daniel wanted to buy
another pair of colorful gym shoes. He got red! We found a top and pair of
jeans for Julia, too. Then we went to Scallywag Tag and Julia even said she
wanted to play. They played two games and Julia absolutely loved it. The boys
always enjoy it. They were hot and wanted to head home instead of going to the
batting cages.
Grandpa
was home when we got here. He had met two work buddies for lunch and said he
was so stuffed that he didn’t want to eat anything for dinner so we thought
we’d go to Skyline since Grandpa wouldn’t go there anyway. Until then, we spent
our time playing a Minute-To-Win-It game that Daniel suggested. It was Water
Bottle Flip: Flip a partially filled water bottle and make it land standing up
five times. Daniel was the only successful one but he let Will and
Julia each have another turn. Will got it and we let Julia use a smaller bottle
and only do it three times, which she did!
It
was time to tie-dye! That only took about 10 minutes as they have that
procedure down-pat! Will dyed two shirts. I chased the boys off of the computer
so I could spend a few minutes updating this journal. If I don’t do it often, I
forget what we did.
The
boys have been busy playing Adventure Quest on the computer and spent some time
doing this while Julia and I played cards until it was time to go to Skyline!
We stuffed ourselves!!! Grandpa did want some coneys so we brought three of
them home for him.
Julia and I went to Julif’s
Park and Daniel and Will went to
The kids played Just Dance 2
on the Wii and played on the computer and then they played Hide ‘n Seek. Julia
and I gorged ourselves with miniature Drumsticks. She then ate Squeezy Cheese
on crackers. I gathered the children J into the kitchen to play
card bingo. I had quarters, dimes, and a one dollar bill. After that prize
money was gone, I brought out another four dollar bills. Finally, we played one
more game for a five dollar bill and Will won that one! Will won $6.30, Daniel
won $4.30, and Julia won eighty cents.
They
decided to watch TV instead of playing Flashlight Tag. Julia wanted to write a
story on the computer which she did for a while. Then I started typing for her.
We typed a few pages and then it was off to bed for her. I told her to take her
notepad upstairs and if she thought about anything for her book, to jot it
down. She came downstairs twice with pages of text!
Saturday, August 6: Grandpa got up and went to
Busken’s Bakery and brought back the yummiest donuts! The kids were up and at
‘em by 10:00, which I think is almost a record.
After
breakfast, Daniel was ready to play more games. The first one was Defying
Gravity: They had to keep two balloons in the air for one minute. Daniel
was the only one to do this one.
The
next one was Sticky Balls: A strip of double-sided tape is placed at the end of an
eight-foot table. From the opposite end of the table, the contestant must roll
five marbles so that they stop on the tape without rolling off the table.
They tried once and no one made it so they tried again, this time with Daniel
needing four, Will three, and Julia two. Daniel and Julia were both successful!
The
final one of the morning was Wheel of a Deal: Contestant must place 20
playing cards (four kings, four queens, four jacks, four 10's and four aces) on
five tables set in a circular pattern on the stage. The contestant will grab
one card at a time from a central table. Once they determine what the card is,
they will run and place that card on one of five tables. Each of the five
tables must have four-of-a-kind to complete the game. All three were
successful!
They
decided to stop playing these games and play indoor Hide ‘n Seek which was one
of their favorite activities.
For
lunch, I made grilled cheese (on top of the stove not under the broiler). I
made Grandpa’s and Will’s with ham. Grandpa was upstairs doing his paperwork so
I had Julia take up his sandwich to surprise him. He was just starting to come
downstairs to eat as Julia was heading upstairs. He was so surprised!
After
lunch, we finally got to Backstop Sports, the batting cages. They each batted
twice. Julia hit softballs. The all did well. I then dragged them to Eastgate
Mall so I could go to Kohl’s to buy a frame for Julia’s Justin Bieber picture
but couldn’t find one we liked. We then walked down to Lunar Golf but they didn’t
want to play putt-putt so we left. They did want to stop at a Red Box to check
out the movies so we went to Kroger. While the fellows checked out the movies,
Julia and I went in to purchase a picture frame. The boys didn’t see any movies
they liked. We then stopped at Snowie’s and they all got different flavors.
We
just kind of chilled in the late afternoon. For dinner, the kids had chicken
tenders, fries, onion rings, corn, and applesauce. Grandpa had the stuffed
peppers that Aunt Jill and Uncle Mike had brought. I had a fried chicken salad.
After dinner, it was time for the final Minute To Win It games. The first one
was Rapid
Fire: Contestant must shoot rubber bands and knock a pyramid of six soda cans
completely off a platform eight feet away. They all were successful
although Julia got a little help from the boys! Next was
Nose Dive:
Contestant must transfer five cotton balls, one at a time, from one serving
bowl to another 12' away using only the nose. Vaseline on the tip of the
contestant's nose is used as a transfer agent. They all got this one!
The
next one was This Blows: Contestant must use a balloon to knock cups off of a table.
He must keep blowing up a balloon and then blow the air out to propel the cups
off of the table. All 15 cups must be completely off the table to complete the
game. Daniel and Will accomplished this.
The
final game was Ping Tac Toe: In this game, the contestant must get ping-pong balls to
land in water-filled glasses. There are nine glasses and the contestant will bounce
ping-pong balls until they complete one three-ball line. Daniel was the
only one who completed this.
After
cleaning up all our mess, we went outside in the front to play badminton. We
first tried Daniel and Julia against Will and I but Daniel was afraid of
hitting Julia so we played one against one. Julia started against Will but then
decided it was a boring game, quit, and went next door to play on the swing.
Will and I played, Daniel and I played, Daniel and Will played and I think
Daniel dominated! We spent some more time outside just fooling around with the
hula hoops and tumbling..
For
the past two days, I had been helping Julia type up her book called The
Three Sisters. We finally got the time to finish it, especially the
cover. We printed it out and put it into plastic sleeves and she had her book!
It
was finally time for the award ceremony. The kids reminded me that last year I
paid them one dollar for every Minute To Win It game they completed. Julia came
in third and won $7.00; Will came in second and won $8.00; Daniel came in first
and won $14.00! Congratulations to all of them!
As
I was typing up this journal, I realized that I hadn’t marked down one of the
contests so I paid them each another dollar! They were kind of waiting for Zak
to come over as he said he might. He was staying at Katie and Chris’s to take
care of their puppy, Chance, because they flew to
Sunday, August 7: The troops rallied by 10:30
and we had sausage and French toast for breakfast. Kindra called and said that
she and her Mom, Nan, were on their way home from
Memories
from this year’s camp, for me, were Will eating Skyline Chili four times at
home as an evening snack and once at the restaurant; Julia’s firsts that
involved her first trip to the Aquarium and first time in the Go-Kart. Daniel
being so willing to do what the others wanted to do. Even though Joe and Wes
were not here very much, it was still a great week. The number is getting
smaller every year as the kids mature and have better things to do. But
Thanks again you for being such wonderful
grandchildren and making me proud to be your grandma!