New Mexico Mountain Retreat

Monday, June 29, 2009

GKC - Day 3

A great start to the day is PawPaw's bacon, eggs, hash browns and toast

as we discussed and planned the job chart for the week.

Then, the Flag Ceremony!

Will was in charge of the Flag today.

He chose his Color Guard - Grant and Jack.

We all took a walk around the new driveway

and moved a few rocks along the way.

The fun project is the digging going on out front,

or more properly referred to as the "mining operation". Notice the safety ropes.

Brock is proud of the worm he excavated.

The trail (aka the new road) is working beautifully!

The boys have worked the trail, too!

They are packing it by riding on it.

Will is in the lead.

Grant is having a great time!

The last one is Mitchell!

Holly has enlisted the help of Brock and Charlotte in the rock shop.

It really is much smaller than in the last years.

Business seems to be down a little

and most of her help has moved to the mining operation

and road packing crew.

We had rain on the four wheeler picnic, but it was light and short.

Charlotte found some pretty flowers.

Lunch was ham sandwiches, chips, and apples with peanut butter.

Will gave me a great pose on the bridge.

After quiet time, we had to wake Brock, Mitchell and Charlotte

to play Walkie Talkie Commandos!

With help, Charlotte found her prize!

Brock found his new rope, too!

They are great little campers

and we are delighted to have them join us this year!

The campfire cookout is always a favorite.

Jack lit a one match fire this afternoon!

Holly was the campfire storyteller this evening!

It was a scary and funny story.

Grant tries the new s'more recipe and a special technique for eating them!

Jack shows the new s'more!

It was a hit.
One toasted marshmallow between two fudge stripe cookies!

mmmm...

The new S'mores are still messy! Time to hit the showers.

We marvel at the amount of dirt everyday.

It is in the shoes, hair, clothes, socks, underwear - everywhere!

Some of the kids clean their shoes before they come inside.

Some of them take their shoes off.

Some of them just don't come in all day.

Jack says that is what Grandkids Camp is all about!

The Bee Movie was fun tonight.

With a big day planned for tomorrow, we are off to bed.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

GKC - Day 2

You know it's gonna be a good day when there is a dollop of ice cream in your honey nut cheerios and a blueberry muffin on the side! It was an early wake up at 6:30 AM!

There were fireworks to pop!

And four wheelers to ride!

All while Grammy and PawPaw packed the two vehicles and two trailers for the trip to the mountains!

The stop at the NM Tourist Information Center brought a little disappointment again. There were no picnic tables for our picnic! So, we tailgated and...

ate in the truck and...

played around a little.

We had PBJs, grapes, almonds and a little cake for lunch.

The trip was long and there were some sleepers earlier and lots of potty stops! We saw train tracks and trains. One in particular was carrying empty coal cars. It was decided that they were going back to the 'colon place' to get more coal. hmmm...

We arrived at the cabin about 5:30 mountain time and the kids got busy - helping us unload, surveying the new driveway and enjoying the 58 degree weather! We were too busy for pictures this evening. A quick and easy dinner of ham, pasta with butter, green beans and beautiful, home grown tomatoes fresh from the Lodmel's garden and was a huge success and one to remember for simplicity!

Brock and Charlotte are excited to be here and we love having them come for the first year!

We should get into a good routine in the next couple of days.

It is very quiet now and we are headed to bed!

Good night!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

GKC 2009 - Day 1

There were many activities in Benjamin, TX (population 264) today - the Sr. Class Hamburger lunch, the opening of the new museum, the jail trustee was working on the lawn and our arrival at the Courthouse to pickup our little campers!

The reunion!

Paw Paw, Jack and Will rode together in Paw Paw's truck and listened to Hank the Cow dog!

Good bye Moms! Have fun this week!

We see no tears here!

Brock is such a big helper! This is the first GKC for him and Charlotte. So, as we travelled, we discussed some things that they could expect this week and there was much talk about the upcoming circus. Holly and Charlotte want to be ballerinas. Grant wants to introduce "the lovely ballerinas" with a microphone. Mitchell wants to be a "rock and roll star"! HUH?

"What is it?"

"It's a bug!"

"Is it alive?"

"Not anymore!"

Holly Grace helped me order seven kids meals at Sonic. She knew just what to get for everyone. Maybe she has listened to the orders before!

Actually, she did a far better job than our car hop and didn't even get a tip.

It was a very exciting trip. Four out of five had a nap between Claude and Amarillo.

Imagine, if you can, charging seven kids with getting to the proper bathrooms with their jammies and toiletries! We will develop a good system at the cabin tomorrow. Tomorrow is always a good day for organizing. I think that everyone was bathed, teeth were all brushed and each child was properly medicated. Charlotte and Brock can log about 5 minutes each of reading time. We will do better with that tomorrow, too!