Grandcamp Summer 2010 Next - The Girls

Grandcamp Next commenced with the transfer from Grammie and Grandpa to Mimi and Pa, signified with the official "Handing Over of the Baby" (apparently in reverse in this photo.)
Danielle seemed to be thinking "Where am I going NOW??!!"
All was good, as her favorite foam blocks (Thank You, Aunt Jessica and Uncle Mark) were there waiting to be played with.
Naomi (aka "MuLan", her latest psuedonym) assisted with the Opening Of the Mail. She opened all the advertisements and donation requests, and then proceeded to answer them using stickers and a notepad.
Danielle was in charge of delivery.
Not all the stickers made it onto the notepad.
Danielle ate.
After some play and a couple of videos (of course), everyone went to bed (except Pa, who needed to get some photos posted before morning in Petra.)

Grandcamp East Summer 2010 - Farewell Day

John headed off to kindergarden with his buddy Henry. He enjoys school.
Christopher started the morning with a little electrical engineering investigation.
He then proceeded to study the effects of gravity and mechanics of stability... and the comforting power of one's personal blanket.



As for Mimi and Pa - they caught a plane in Atlanta, and flew home. Upon their arrival, the next Grandcamp adventure was ready to begin...

Grandcamp East Summer 2010 - Next Day

Is John an active boy? Is there any doubt?
Here's our definition of "Happy".
John and his friend Henry rode their bikes on the deck. Buddies help one another...
Meanwhile, Christopher was texting some friends.
Some of yesterday's driveway art is still in place.

Grandcamp East Summer 2010

(It is still summer, isn't it?)

We headed back east on Tuesday, to visit and assist whilst Tony is doing Dracula.

Christopher is as gregarious as ever. Here he is explaining about the empty food wrapper, and the extra food up his nose.

Julie and John spent some time sorting toys for "keep" and "resale".

Christopher is now mobile. "Who needs to crawl, when you can scoot!!"

Grandcamp Summer 2010 - Farewell

The day before John and Christopher had to go back home, we all went to have lunch with Great Grandpa. Naomi and John were feeling pretty silly!

Next day, Mimi packed up goodies for the trip.

John had a snack - does it make you think of anything from Biology class? (I won't say... :)

While Mommy and Mimi prepared and loaded things into the car, the rest of us took a train ride.
The train added more cars...

Everybody and every thing got loaded, and off they went!

It was the best Grandcamp ever!!

Grandcamp Anniversary Party

Tonight's party was all about M & J's anniversary. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY from all of us!!!

We had bbq chicken, steak, mashed potatoes & gravy, baked beans, salad and one-bowl oatmeal chocolate chip cookies -- all in your honor!

Naomi and John took turns giving each other rides in Great Grandpa's walker.

Congratulations, especially from the littlest ones!

Grandcamp Summer 2010 - Day 5

Christopher drank his water...

in his birthday suit.

John played with his water

and mud.

Grandcamp Summer 2010 - Day 3

The smaller cousins spent some time playing together... or at least in the same room.

Great Grandpa came over to watch for a while.

Later on, Naomi and John went to their swim lesson. While they waited for their class, they shopped at the local vending machines. Sadly, all of them had "out of order" signs.

They made matching wet footprints on the picnic table.

John tackled the waterfall in his class' area. Concentrate....

...dive under....

... and run back through!

The instructors were very good with the kids. John learned to paddle on his back and front.

Naomi learned how to jump in and swim to the steps.

Grandcamp Summer 2010 - Day 1

Julie, John Michael and Christopher arrived around 8 PM. It was good to see them, and to see that they survived the car trip all the way from Clemson.

John went right to work demonstrating his architectural skills, using the great foam blocks provided by Aunt Jessica and Uncle Mark.

Christopher had a traditional "Mimi's Sink Bath". Note those two lower teeth. The upper one is hidden in this view.

A Small Piece of Four

We got to enjoy a  part of Naomi's megabirthday week. There was ice-cream cake, with candles...There was watching of a Veggie Tales episode with Great Grandpa...

And even Danielle  got to watch some, too. Grandpa was a little concerned about her bipedal stability, but no worries for Danielle!

Earlier, there was a hidden treasure hunt. Hopefully, some video will get posted. Also, it is shown on the Amigonet blog.

Christopher the Race Car

Puppet Shows and Sink Baths

Danielle, Naomi and Jenny came over to visit last week. Naomi entertained us with one of her famous puppet shows, this time starring the Lizard Brothers.

Danielle, as always, LOVED Naomi's performance.

Next, Danielle did a little performance of her own, with her favorite Pez dispenser.

Next day, the twosome came back to spend the night, and so Danielle got to enjoy an official Mimi and Pa's sink bath.

Naomi patiently waited her turn... for a while.

After baths, we had play time. Danielle did some block work.

Applemania

We happened to be in Stonebrier Mall on June 24 - the day of the iPhone 4 release.

When we looked in the Apple store, we saw a hoard of people (not yet realizing what was going on.)

The we noticed a queue set up outside the door. When we asked the friendly guards (yes, guards) who were standing by, we learned that these people had been lined up since 7AM, waiting to purchase the iPhones they had reserved in advanced.

Even more amazing was the queue of despondent looking people on the other side of the door, who were waiting in hopes that someone would fail to show up to buy their reserved phone, and they might have a chance to buy one.

Then we strolled down the mall. This is a view from the end of the queue. The Apple store (and head of the line) is all the way at the far end of the view. Apple Store people were strolling up and down the line, making sure the doorways were not being blocked, and keeping morale up.

There were hundreds of people patiently waiting.

Amazing!!