camp gramp – Page 2 – My Truant Pen

Camp Gramp Catchup – 2014

Our backpacking trip was marvelous. Sensational. Superb. I have just over a thousand pictures to prove it, which I’ll be spending the next several hours getting through. However, to tide you over until I get that magnum opus up, I have my mother’s Camp Gramp notes for days 3 – 7 for your enjoyment!

To Marie in Downer’s GroveThanks!! I have Grey’s summer camp write-up in the works, and I’ll try to get that done in the next week!

Day 3 — Camp Gramp 2014

I have sad news to report. The much beloved bouncy house is too small to support all the children. In fact, they have to go in one at a time to get any sort of decent bounce. This is a catastrophe! The slit in the slide required re-taping, but even that didn’t provide enough bounce for the whole gang. It is tough getting old! The joys of childhood fade away, one at a time. We have a huge collection of toys in the attic which are no longer appropriate for the grandchildren we have.

Today we went to church, had a picnic, then Gramama headed to Sunrise to deliver the backpackers to their trailhead while Papapa and the campers stayed home. There was much game playing, running, jumping, and enjoying the crew. There were no pictures taken. I promise to do better tomorrow. (Actually, pictures were taken of Adam and Brenda as they started their 4 day hike — but they are on Brenda’s camera somewhere on Mt. Rainier.)

We ended the day with the traditional ice cream and an episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle. The Wasamatta U football story. That cartoon is rich in pun and innuendo.

Tomorrow the Pacific Science Center. May the force be with us!

Day 4 — I lied. The camera remained firmly in its case and you will have to use your imagination.

Today was Pacific Science Center day. The spy exhibit was a real hit! They learned about the Enigma Machine and saw a chunk of the proposed Moscow Embassy with 8 different kinds of listening devices embedded in the wall.

Then we went to the Lego store, where Thane and Grey purchased Legos, Brain Marbles — or some such name, where Sebastian purchased a game called “Snake Oil”, and I fell victim to the pneumatic arm kit — yes really. It is so cool! Finally, we went to Target for Little Ponies stuff — I am sorry, Heidi! Giving kids choices sometimes has consequences.

Grey saw the sign on South Hill Collision which says “Wreck Amended” and he thought it was hilarious!

The sleeping room hasn’t quieted down so quickly tonight. They are still talking, but hey, it is Camp Gramp. Tomorrow, day camping at Big Tree campgrounds. It has a lovely little stream for the playing and they are all ready to enjoy that.

Happy Birthday, Matt! Hope it was a good one. Happy Anniversary tomorrow, Brenda and Adam. May the mosquitoes leave you alone!

Editor’s Note – I don’t see a day 4, so we’ll just have to paint it in with our imaginations.

Day 5
The morning began with Lego assembly, before the adults were out of bed. My muffled voice emerged from the blankets, “Take the table cloth off the table and work there.” So Thane obediently took the table cloth off the table, put it on the floor and emptied the bags of pieces on the table cloth, on the floor. We played Sebastian’s new game Snake Oil, with fun results. It is like selling refrigerators in the arctic, but we enjoyed it. Thane’s reading is excellent for headed into K. There were, however, some little mistakes.

Gmm washed clothes, imagine that.

About 3, we went “camping” Camp Gramp style. That means we go to a favorite camp site, play in the stream, hike around, roast hot dogs and marshmallows, then go home to sleep. The weather is PERFECT. About 75, sunny, lovely! There was a nice breeze blowing through the trees. Just perfect!

Then we broke “camp” and headed up to Paradise in hopes of finding the Cascade fox that hangings out in the parking lot in the evening. That was a wash. We saw only a couple of deer. No bear, no marmot, no Cascade fox. But it was really beautiful. The wildflowers, oh my! They are spectacular! I hope Brenda and Adam are enjoying them and the great backpacking weather.

Tomorrow, OMSI. I think I will go collapse in bed!

Day 6 — It is hard to tell which is the more popular, OMSI — Oregon Museum of Science and Industry — or IKEA for the meatballs. They were both a hit. Thane chose the dinosaur movie, which surprises no one. The older three chose the submarine, where they have decided the sleeping quarters are a little close! Then there were the exhibits. I think Sebastian liked the Laser room best. It had holograms! Thane and Carolyn went to the upstairs room to explore with the animal puppets and play in the water. For the second day in a row, Thane came home soaking wet! We will soon be out of shoes. Tomorrow we will rescue the hikers from Mt. Rainier. Mowich Lake, here we come!

Day 7 — It is a joy to realize that children have learned from things you have done with them. But why did they have to learn that? Yesterday I took the 3 older ones on the tour of the submarine at OMSI. We got the shower lecture. He called it a sailor shower. 10 seconds of water, lather up and shampoo, then 20 seconds of water to rinse off. So, we needed showers, oh did we need showers. I sent Sebastian first. He came back in about 2 minutes — “I took a sailor shower!” Somehow I think the lather and shampoo section was not all it should have been. All of them took sailor showers, except Thane, who needs a shower, but definitely doesn’t want to take one.

Today we went to Mowich Lake to pick up Brenda and Adam. That is such a beautiful place — flowers, crystal clear water, mountains, trees. It was amazing. The road was reminiscent of Zaire — pothole city for much of the way. But that was fun too.

Now the children are playing together on different computers. That will make sense to me, I am sure. All I know is there are happy voices coming from upstairs!

Camp Gramp: Day 1 2014

Editor’s Note: My parents take all their grandchildren for a week every summer for a hedonistic weekend called Camp Gramp. It includes Lucky Charms, adventures, tents and connection with family. We parental units are released on our own recognizance, and my mother sends out updates to assure us we can continue to ignore our progeny happily. I repost her updates, when I’m not on Mt. Rainier. Here’s the first.

Camp Gramp! Day One
It is a miracle! The children are nestled all snug in their beds — I can’t vouch for what is dancing around in their heads, but they all seem to be asleep without the usual 13 trips to remind them that tomorrow is another day. This could be because the Flynn crew were up early this morning. However it happened, it has been a good start.
Camp Gramp t-shirts are all tie dyed and tucked in their plastic bags for a night of getting more intense.

The tents are all up. The kids are getting to be a much better help in that capacity.

Much laughing and giggling and “Let’s pretending” has already gone on.

On the down side, poor Papapa has pneumonia and is feeling far from well. Hopefully his medicine will kick in soon. It is discouraging to feel worse after the doctor.

Brenda and Adam are going tomorrow morning to try for camping spots for Mt. Rainier.

I am headed for bed. My day hasn’t been quite as long, but it has been busy, and those kids are getting a head start on me.

I promise to get out the camera tomorrow.

Camp Gramp 2013 – #3

Wednesday was a quiet day — or as quiet as Camp Gramp gets. There is a new Camp Gramp enterprise going — the making of Fluffy figures — on paper. They will be wealthy soon because they are making these figures to sell. Chu Chu appears to be a cat with diagonal stripes. Octo is an octopus. They also watched TV and played games. The Legos purchased at Legoland were constructed!

Editor’s Note: AHHH! They made a blog! You can see it here: http://productionsoffluff.blogspot.com/

Then, in the evening, Matthew purchased tickets for All’s Well at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare whatever. It was at this awesome site on the shore of the Hudson across from West Point. Wonderful. It was a great evening. In addition to this gift given for our anniversary, he took care of Camp Gramp for the evening. Wow!

Thursday was New York day. In deference to his legs and occasional tendency to sit down and refuse to move, Papapa stayed home and kept Thane. They went out to lunch and got some Legos and a puzzle. It seemed to be a good day.

The remaining five of the Camp Grampers went with Uncle Matt for a day in New York City. He is an awesome tour guide. We parked the car uptown and took the Subway wayyyyy down town. The advertised air condition cars were not. The weather was perfect outside and hot inside, but we rode to South Beach (I think). We took the Staton Island Ferry across and back for a nice view of the Statue of Liberty. When we saw the line snaking all around the island, we thought our decision not to go to the island was a good one.

Then we walked to the 9-11 site. Line adverse, we got a great view from a neighboring walkway and avoided all the people who wanted to sell us the ultimate guide to the 9-11-01 event.

Then we caught the subway (with considerable trouble because you can only use a credit care twice in the system and only 4 people can use one card and other things we didn’t know. We went to Time Square, then to the Empire State building, then to the Nintendo store where CG allowances were spent. After that we walked down 5th avenue (I was so under dressed I couldn’t breathe). We ended in Central Park where we found the place the pigeon lady stood and walked through the park for about 45 minutes. The children climbed on rocks. We saw cool fields and experienced the magic of the country in the city.

A walk through Morningside park brought us to the car — a miracle since I would never have found it.

Uncle Matt was the hero of the day. I can’t believe how much of the city we saw.

The children were always heroes. They walked miles without complaining. They did a great job!

Today we will be recovering. The enterprise continues. They have decided that original copies will cost more than photo copies. Thane is going to be the advertising executive. ‘

Pictures. Well, I thought I posted pictures from the first part of CG, but discovered that they didn’t post. So after lunch, I will be posting pictures, I hope!

Camp Gramp 2 – 2013

Now, for your next installment from Camp Gramp! – ed

Take the lack of updates as an indication that we have been really busy, really busy! Camp Gramp is going well. All the children are still alive and so are the adults, although there is a pernicious cold weaving its way through the camp and that is sad!

Saturday night Matthew and I went to the store.

Sunday was picnic day. The church had a tent erected on the back lawn and put up tables, etc. Lots of work. Matthew and I team preached, there was music, the food was great. They had set up a frisby golf course and Baz got a 38 on a par 33 course — excellent. For the others, especially Kay, the hit of the day was the rabbits. The brought a good sized fun and 5 or so pet rabbits. Happiness! Dave and Jan from Shepherd of the Hill were there, so it was a West Coast sort of day. Very nice!

Then Matthew and I went to the store.

Monday was Camp Holmes day. We went to the camp where Matthew worked all summer. We went for a hike to the lemon squeeze, a fractured rock the kids could crawl through. Did you know Paul Bunyan made the rock. Amazing! Then they went swimming and boating. Finally the older three went on the challenge (low ropes) course with Uncle Matt. A good time was had by all.

We got home, did a bath round, and watched Home Alone II — in honor of our intended trip to NY. Then Matthew and Don went to the store.

Tuesday was supposed to be New York, New York, but it was raining hard when we got up and the forecast was for thunder storms. Not a New York sort of day. So instead, we went to Yonkers. In Yonkers (I just need to say that several times since it is such a cool word) we went to Lego Land.

Lego Land is a gold mine. I want stock in Lego Land. I would think it is smaller than Macys, but it was swarming with kids and their attendant adults.

There was a ride in which we got to shoot spiders and other things. Carolyn got over 8,000 points on the first ride. I am not going to get in Thane’s way when he has a ray gun! He is a shooting demon. We successfully rescued the princess.

Then we went through the New York scape. Amazing what you can do with Legos.

The main room had a climbing toy which the younger three tore through like mad. Uncle Matt took them all to the master builders event. They built and raced cars at the track. Kay went on the merry-go-round kind of thing with the long suffering Uncle Matt and the boys opted for more time in the climbing toy.

For me the highlight was the 4-d movie. Even Don was reaching out and trying to grab stuff. There was wind when the helicopter took off and rain when the fire hose was turned on us. (mist would be more accurate). It was only 15 minutes long and left me wanting more!

Of course the exit was through the Lego store where money was spent. Grey owes me $5 because of the insufficiency of the allowance given by the Camp Gramp treasury.

On the way home, we stopped at a diner. The brown and white milkshake was good. I had a happy waitress, which is two pieces of Wonder bread with bacon, tomatoes, and cheese on it — all grilled. One should experience these sorts of things, you know.

Don and I went to the store after Yonkers.

Today, Wednesday, is to be a quiet day. I think we are all tired. Matthew has bought Don and I tickets to a Shakespeare play in the park tonight, in honor of our anniversary, which we spent in Yonkers. I am excited. He will be in charge of Camp Gramp while we are gone, but don’t worry, he is good at it!

Tomorrow, New York!

The deficiency at Camp Gramp is definitely picture taking, but I will upload a few of them for you soon. We are too busy to take pictures.

Peace (and you are the ones who have it), =gmm

Hiking the Appalachian Trail (or 13 years of marriage)

Camp Gramp time is usually a week when Adam and I slip away, and remind ourselves joyously of why we chose to marry each other in the first place. It is appropriate, then, that Camp Gramp week almost always falls on our anniversary. On August 5th of this year, Adam and I marked thirteen years of joyful marriage together. Thirteen has always been a lucky number in my family, as my parents married each other on a Friday the 13th. I’m feeling 13 years lucky myself, these days.

Anyway, the rhythm of Camp Gramp was shifted a bit because my brother had obligations into the second week of August, and this year Camp Gramp was to be held at my brother’s manse* in New York. This had the effect of moving Camp Gramp week into Gencon week – two sacred obligations colliding. Since I could schedule time with my husband another time, I am sending him with goodwill to Gencon where – I am reliably informed – he has the best schedule he has yet gotten (possibly due to some algorithmic javascript software he wrote to help him rejigger his schedule on the fly.) So this year, there was no Istanbul, Austria or Ashland for us.

Still, there was the weekend. We left Friday night – after a full day’s work. This was – of course – the Friday night where the beer truck dangled off the side of the freeway. (An incident only amusing because I ended up making it home in good time due to some excellent and thoughtful reaction by MBTA employees, and because no one was hurt.) I fetched our farm share, prepared that which would not keep, schlepped the rest of it in the ‘fridge and consigned the three watermelons and two vast cantaloupe to Camp Gramp consumption. We packed full the back of the car and cossetted our sons with pillows and blankets.

The last pink traces of sunset found the Flynn family singing “Red River Valley” in the car, with certain young voices picking up the refrain. I thought as I sang “Come and sit by my side if you love me” about Michael. I remember him crying when I crooned the old words to an infant grandson of his, remembering his lost brother Jimmy. And now those small voices from the back seat may someday fondly remember the same strains, and their beloved brothers. One of those small voices begged anonymity, as though I would ever find a love of singing something to be ashamed of, so you will never ever know who sang so sweetly back there.

Through construction, leaving the Red Sox broadcast area, crossing the mighty Hudson and late into a starlight night we went. Only I was awake when we finally got to Middletown. My mother was waiting for me on the steps – waiting up for me to pull in to the driveway, like she has done so many times. Small bodies were carried upstairs – perilously close to the last time that will be possible. Cantaloupe were unloaded. Blessed flat, soft surfaces were revealed.

How silly is that Unka Matt in the window?

We left not too late the following morning. It’s funny how little time is required to fall into the cadence of your family. For me this is a blessing – I’m very fond of my family. I ate breakfast, kibbitzed with my brother, brushed my niece’s hair, took a picture of the four of them – Thane clinging to his Kay, Grey with a comradely arm around his Baz – and we were on our way. We only forgot four things, and we hadn’t even left town by the time my mom called to tell me of it.

It was 11 on a Saturday morning, and my husband and I were at LIBERTY. We went shopping. We ate at Denny’s. We pointed the car northward in search of an elusive hike on the Appalachian trail. By the way, in case it ever comes up, I highly recommend searching for a particular unmarked trailhead on the Appalachian Trail as an excellent way of discovering and becoming intimate with the rural ways of Connecticut. We sought for signal to update our directions in the high places of grassy, half-forgotten graveyards. We went round and round main square intersections looking for signs. We accosted random hikers. We went on one-lane, washboard gravel roads thickly papered with no-trespassing signs. We did u-turns. We drove past horses and pastures and woods and rivers. We went past shoulder-high corn, dappled streams, private schools and mansions in Salisbury.

We finally gave up, and hiked a different section before turning around to Kent for our night’s repose in a fancy inn. Any implication that I picked the Starbuck Inn because of my coffee leanings is purely hypothetical, mind. We had a lovely dinner at the Fife and Drum, right next to the pianist. We laid out in the dewing air and watched the Milky Way stretch itself luxuriously across the country sky, hardly blemished at all by any falling Perseids.

The next day we got a good start on the morning, up in time for the breakfast part of bed and breakfast. Our host, calloused feet clad in sandals, regaled us with tales of what we’d missed the prior afternoon. The portraits and maps adorning the walls of the well-kept colonial attested to the fact that Starbucks had been in New England a very long time. I wondered if he was the hippy scion of a long and proud lineage. Anyway, two blocks to town for a cup of coffee! But look! The bookstore is open! I consider it a moral duty to stop at small local bookstores and find things I desperately need (even if you can get them cheaper at Amazon). So we found the new Arthur translation by Tolkien, and books for the boys. But hardly had we gone a block before we discovered the library was having a book sale! Tables and tables of trade paperbacks, clothbound books, best sellers and all manner of odd books were laid out. Well, that set us back long enough that I had to get a refill of my coffee before we left (happily, four times as many books cost a tenth as much as the bookstore). Finally, we were awa’.

Actual Appalachian Train - I have proof! — Actual Appalachian Train – I have proof!

This time, we did find the Appalachian Trail. We walked our way up the gold and green Connecticut hillsides, punctuated by old stone walls and periodic views. Adam was nursing a hamstring injury (a parting gift of aikido) and a nasty cold, and I was still trying out my new knee, so we didn’t go to far. But we talked and laughed and ate pretzels and talked through the latest developments in Season III of Downton Abby. We noted various interesting bugs and talked about how astronomy and atomic theory seemed on the point of convergence, like a fractal. We missed our children in the cheerfully satisfied way parents miss their children when those parents are perfectly satisfied that the children are having a blast and not missing them at all. Finally, we turned back (the path racing below our feet as we returned). We wound our way north over 7 and returned with abrupt reality to bad traffic on I90 – two days and a vast refreshing distance since we had traversed it Westbound.

And here I am now – at over 10,000 feet – on yet another business trip (missing my husband of 13 years, and my still-satisfied-to-be-gone children). It’s remarkable that although the days seems to blur together in an endless March of sameness, when I cast my memory back I find so many joyfully memorable moments popping up.

Business travel is losing what allure it once had by novelty, but yet I am content. Thirteen years I’ve had with my husband, and two bonny bright children. A thousand joyful memories we’ve made together, along with a home and a life strong enough to endure. I hope for thirty and thirteen more. Maybe then we’ll do the whole length of the Appalachian Trail together!

*I discovered later in life that manse actually has two meanings. In a New England context, it’s synonymous with mansion and means a fancy house. In a Presbyterian sense, however, the manse is the house that the pastor lives in. It usually specifically means a home provided for the pastor by the church. It is in this second sense I use it – since it is a classical manse, so close to the church as to almost be touching and built in a similar style. We actually lived in The Manse (a double-wide trailer) for two years when I was a young girl.

Camp Gramp 2013: Day 1

For the new reader, Camp Gramp is an annual tradition where my parents take all four of their grandchildren for a week of riotous hedonism. There are bouncy houses, Chuck E Cheese, DS games and screens, and best of all – time with cousins and grandparents that makes a lifetime of memories. During Camp Gramp week, we parental types usually idyll, and leise and vacate. This year, unfortunately, Gencon and my husband’s annual attendance is getting in the way of a big vacation, but we had some lovely time wandering home. Anyway, during Camp Gramp week, my mom usually emails roughly daily updates about the hijinks ensuing for us parental types. I usually pass those on to you, my avid readers.

Enjoy!

-Brenda, not Grandmama

Camp Gramp officially started with the singing of the Camp Gramp song*. then we made our shirts. This year is a lego theme. Aunt Heidi found us vinyl iron-on lego men with the kids names on them. Very cool. Kay added red hair. Thane made an engine to go on his shirt. After a couple of false starts, they are safely installed on the shirts. No one writes instructions anymore. They send you a web link to a youtube video. Actually, much more effective.

I guess the big news is that my fourth trip to the grocery store was for anti-biotic ointment. It was the Flynn children who needed the bandaids. Grey feel and skinned his elbow and Thane has a bruise on his face and an abrasion on the back of his neck. Ouch! So far it has not been beyond my capabilities.

Tomorrow, church picnic. Matthew and I will be preaching on Death in the Pot! Could this be the first church picnic? Then we will all picnic on the lawn.

Peace, Grandmama

*Camp Gramp theme song was added two years ago, I believe. It references Lucky Charms.

Camp Gramp – 364 days to go!

Guest post by my mommy!

I know, I didn’t post the end of Camp Gramp. It is like a roller coaster — things get to happening so fast! We did have a good end to Camp Gramp. Our last activity was Smallwood Park in Eatonville followed by ice cream cones. The kids now think I know everyone in Eatonville since I met 5 former students, and one from next year.

So many wonderful things happened. I can’t thank my children enough for sharing.

Jello — none of the kids had ever had Jello. They think it is wonderful! (They also like Kraft Mac and Cheese and S’mores — so what can I say?) How can you understand Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs if you haven’t eaten Jello. I am only sorry I didn’t have the time to do a proper Jello mold. I am not even sure I still have one.

Merry Go Round — Almost everyone has taken those out of their parks, but there was one in Seattle. There is so much to learn about physics from a Merry Go Round. The kids really enjoyed this. Baz and Grey also celebrated tree climbing at our picnic!

Dreams and nightmares were a topic of discussion. We all have them. Why? We talked about our brain doing housekeeping! Inquiring minds want to know!

Conversations with Baz about destiny and leprosy only vaguely related. He really listened to Sunday’s sermon. He even told his mother the opening joke, and told it well. He is growing to be quite a gentleman. I appreciated his leadership and tolerance with being oldest — therefore asked to participate in activities beneath his dignity! He was a big help!

Kay’s imaginative play and care of Thane was awesome. She always had an eye on him, making sure he was safe. Poor Kay, the only girl, but not intimidated by the rough and tumble boys. She adds to the ideas about what to play. I love her stuffy stories. She is developing quite a fashion sense!

It is such fun to watch Grey enjoying the land of the literate. He likes his books! (Although I don’t know about books called “Stinky” — this is literature?) Grey is a real competitor, and wants to do everything Baz does. How frustrating to be younger, therefore smaller. He practiced after the Olympic Games and got really good at jumping out of the swings.

Thane is at such a cute age. He has sooooo much to tell you. “You know what Gramama….” I can’t imagine, Thane! Tell me. He is passionate about Lego men — and don’t try to foist off on him the big legos because they are insulting to his ability! I mean really, they are.

They are grandchildren to be proud of, and I am proud of them, and of the children who are raising them. Good luck kids. Dad and I are dead after just a week. May the force be with you!

Camp Gramp Olympics

There is no crying at the Olympics!

Today is Olympics day. We are going to watch the opening ceremonies tonight so decided to have some competitions this afternoon for the kids. Mistake. It is very difficult to handicap a competition between three so divergent ages. Therefore, only Sebastian escaped tears.

We had a torch parade — 3 of the 4 glow sticks failed to work. Perhaps this is because they are about 5 years old. Thane won that one! His glowed. it is currently residing in his suitcase where he is convinced it will still be glowing when he gets home.

Thane lacks the competitive spirit — or more accurately, doesn’t understand hide and seek. He dropped out when he and I were the seekers and he noticed the Scooby Doo DVD paused on the downstairs TV. That was probably a good thing.

Grey was upset because he got found in hide and seek. They looked in his place. He didn’t want to participate in the outside competition, but was eventually lured out and did very well in jump out of the swing contest!

Kay hated soccer, which was the competition she asked for. When she kicked the ball, it went crooked. Also, she hated the legos competition to build the tallest tower. The blocks kept falling apart. Baz won that one too with an improbable creation.

The final competition was a team sport. Go to Dick’s store together and get as many nutritious snacks as possible with $1.25 each. What?! Candy provides nutrition! They started this competition happy. We will see how they come home.

The best laid plans of Gramama and Papapa ….

Camp Gramp Thursday

Today we went my kind of camping. We spent the afternoon and early evening at Eastcreek Campgrounds. Delightful! The stream is just right for the kids. Shade for me. A fire pit for Don. What more can you ask for? That, and coming home to sleep in a bed — with innersprings and all.

I wish I were in that bed with innersprings right now. I am tired. Today Thane asked me if I was going to make a baby. Well, no! I no longer have the energy required. But having sung my entire collection of songs — Go down medicine, The fly swallowing one, etc. — they are still awake. It is shameful to go to sleep before the children, shameful!

This morning the legos came out. They played peacefully for about 2 hours with legos. It was fun to listen to.

Grey made his ham and egg creation and Thane chose lunch, Mac and cheese. It has been fun to have the children involved in meals.

On the health front, Kay lost the most skin today. I have no idea how she did it, but she has a cut on her heel. It will be painful for a while. Honestly, it is amazing that Thane still has any skin left. That boy is the bump king. But he is so cheerful about it. Medicine and a bandaid and he is good to go again. I am concerned about his big toe.

Goodnight to all. Camp Gramp is wonderful. I have awesome grandkids!

Wednesday at Camp Gramp

The economics of Chuck E Cheese is fascinating, or perhaps it is the marketing. It is a study in inflation psychology. We got 120 tokens with our badly overpriced and mediocre pizza. That is 30 per child. All around us, machines screamed, “Play me.” There were lights and graphics and sounds. It is incredible noisy! You can shoot, drive, ride, or hit innocent small creatures on the head. You can have your picture taken. You can shoot basketballs and throw baseballs. Or you can try to drop your token into the slot for the jackpot. Grey ran around like mad and had finished the tokens before the pizza arrived. Thane likes putting the tokens in the slots but cares little for the tickets or the games. He likes the graphics, but he doesn’t need to interact with them. Kay likes cute things, but she did did spend quite a bit of time at a shooter. Baz is the most thoughtful of the players. He walks around looking, analyses each of the games to see what he likes best and what he is likely to get the most tickets from. He always finishes his tokens last.

After plowing through the 30 tokens Camp Gramp supported, Grey impulsively and Baz thoughtfully decided to invest their Camp Gramp spending money in another 50 tokens. It was unbelievably hard to let them do that! What a waste! But we didn’t say anything when Kay invested her Camp Gramp spending money in a blue bear clinging to a piece of candy and Thane spent his on a dinosaur egg — which when put in water actually hatched (actually, this was neat — but worth $3 not $10.) So all the spending money is gone now.

Back to Chuck E Cheese. The games you play spew out an incredible number of tickets. I picked up 26 of Thane’s. He wasn’t interested. Kay had 76 — she was interested. Grey got 140 — he was very interested. Baz earned an impressive 441 tickets. At the ticket “store”, each ticket is worth about a penny. Where do they find all that trash? You would think the children were starving because the candy was popular. Baz got a magic trick and a rocket, plus a bag of cotton candy. Kay got vampire teeth. She can hardly wait until her mouth gets big so they don’t hurt. Grey got CANDY! Thane got one of those packets of Koolaid type stuff with a little stick you use to dip in it. Don’t worry, he didn’t eat most of the pure sugar. He deposited it in the car seat. The vacuum cleaner took care of the mess.

What amazed me is that all the children were happy! They had a great time and they thought their prizes were wonderful. It was such trash! But they were happy. Is it the games or the tickets? What motivates the children to so deeply desire this particular Camp Gramp activity? And why don’t Don and I refuse? Amazing. We noticed the demographic is changing. There were more tweens and young adults there. The children’s section has shrunk and the adult games, car chases, etc., have increased.

The whole day was not consumed by CEC. We went to Hamma Hamma, an oyster farm on Hood Canal. It was very interesting! I know a job that will inspire you to go to college — oyster shucking! That looks brutal. If I can get them downloaded, there is a picture of the children on top of a pile of oyster shells. (The shadow at the top of the picture is not impending weather, but a finger!) They looked wonderful against the blue sky!

Speaking of college, our tour guide was wonderful. At the end of the tour, someone asked her if she went to college. “Yes” she said, “a little college in Vermont.” Class of 2004 — Middlebury. She is putting her degree in English literature to good use!

Then we went to the Olympic National Park — or a subsection of it — Seal Rock Camp Grounds — remember it, Matthew. The children played in the water for about an hour. It was a nice time. They don’t like the sun screen we have — I think there may be a little too much red on Thane’s face. Such bliss — water, rocks. It doesn’t get much better.

I would like to apologize to my children for making them take trips without DS or videos. It may not be the best interaction we can get, but it sure cuts down on the fighting and whining. I didn’t hear “are we there yet” more than twice.

Sleep is settling over our little camp and I am about to join them. It will never do to let them get ahead.

The health report: Baz feels fine. Thane spent the whole day coughing and informing us he was going to throw up — then not doing so. Since he revived in remarkable ways when something fun offered, we were not too worried. On the other hand, let’s not talk about the cuts. The rocks were a little sharp. Again, Thane won hands down! I love the therapeutic value of a little antiseptic wash! Medicine!