Week 4 Day 1
Before I had children, I once heard a man say, "I don't get to spend a lot of time with my kids, but the time I do spend is quality time." Once I had children, I realized what an inaccurate statement that was. One cannot plan quality time with kids and expect it to work out that way. Oh, you might get lucky now and then, because as my daddy used to always say, "even a blind pig finds an acorn now and then," but you cannot ever be sure when kids are going to turn into wackos.
Today at camp was "Civics Day." Reservations were made for our tour of the Tennessee Residence (Governor's mansion), almost two weeks ago. We were all dressed in our Mellie Summer Camp of Excellence tee shirts, proudly claiming what a fine camp it is. We met at the "River" and prayed over our day. Excitement was running high. Cameras were all filled with fresh batteries and off we went, Mellie explaining about the three branches of the government ~ Legislative makes the laws, Judicial interprets the laws, and Executive enforces the laws. Repeat after me...the governor's name is Bill Haslam!
We arrive at the beautiful residence and the tour begins in Preservation Hall. As luck would have it, our tour guide was a friend of Mellie's and so we chatted and caught up as we waited for everyone who was scheduled for the tour to arrive. There were 12 of us. The tour began. Today, I was accompanied by Eeyore and Tigger. Oh.my.word. The bouncing and the pouting and the LOUD "whispers," and the semi-rough housing. The picture taking...Max took pictures of the bathroom door. I don't even know why; I don't. The time came to actually go into the mansion. Both boys ran off to the side of the house, but they did come nicely when I called them. Our guide, who was finding them so precious at the get-go was, just possibly, feeling the tiny bit stressed. We managed to make it through the foyer, but Simmy found the brochures. The boy never met a brochure he didn't like and so, for some unknown reason felt it his responsibility to make sure everybody had one, in spite of my admonitions that he could only get one. Finally, I turned and they were in each other's faces whispering like a deaf person in church, shushing each other. I asked the security guard if it was okay for us to leave, and he assured me without hesitation that yes, that would be fine.
One boy declared this the "worst day of Mellie Camp ever." When I asked why they could not behave with a bit more decorum, they both informed me that they didn't want to come to the Governor's mansion in the first place. I had promised them a treat if everybody acted nicely. As we were driving away, Simmy had the audacity to ask if they had earned their treat. I told him that they had not, but that Mellie Camp was a place of grace, and while they did not earn it, I was going to gift them with their treat. So, off we go to buy $12 worth of Mexican popsicles. After one lick, each boy declared that they would be getting a different flavor next time. That's fine, little dudes, but you will be eating this flavor today. Popsicles were eaten and one kiddo decided that he needed to potty. That started, for me, the nightmare of the day. Let's just say, that the pottying did not go quickly nor efficiently, and was accompanied by the other one turning in circles, talking loudly and sticking his head under the really loud hand dryer. I seriously thought we would never get out of there, but after 1/2 a roll of toilet paper, hands washed multiple times, and the XELERATOR hand dryer, which sounds like an airplane, being set off at least 100 times, we were ready to walk out of there. Every person in the popsicle store was looking at the door and laughing as we left.
Off to Sevier Park to do what little boys like to do....run free and play. A stop at The Parent Teacher Store for $2 worth of brass paper fasteners. $20 later we head home for lunch and our Civics project. I had to fight Simmy to not write "Fat Donald Trump" on his Executive of the Federal Government page, but I did win that one. Then, wonder of all wonders...we made cars. We worked with bottle tops, clay, cardboard, straws, wooden skewers, hot glue, straws, and duct tape. We made two powerful cars and took them to the hallway to have a race. Balloons were blown up through the straws ~ get ready, get set, GO! Nothing. They went nowhere. Not even an inch. I laughed hysterically. The boys were offended that I found humor in the debacle. I was just thinking that each car probably cost $7 considering all the supplies I bought. They did nothing. They went nowhere. A movie, dinner, baths, rounded out our day.
Don't speak to me of quality time with kids, with spouses, with friends. It takes quantity to get quality. Today wasn't our best camp day. It may have been the worst Mellie Camp day of all. But, we redeemed it, and all in all, I would say it was a pretty good day. But if it had been our only "quality time" day, we would have been sorely disappointed.
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Thursday, July 12, 2018
When in Rome/Greece
Week 3, Day 3
Today is Greco Roman day at Mellie camp. Simeon requested that we go to the Parthenon, which resulted in multiple Greco Roman type activities. After we went to "the river" and, yet again, asked God to help us only be concerned that the other person gets what they need rather than being all wrapped up in self-interests, and that Mellie please have patience, and that we all act more like Jesus, the boys each read aloud a passage about a Greek goddess. Simmy read about Athena and Max read about Nike. They did beautifully. That these gods and goddesses were not real but were, instead, myths is a concept with which they have a bit of trouble.
After reading, we headed to the Parthenon, listening to Greek music on Pandora by Sokratis Sinopoulos, or possibly Azizie Syrtos because I don't which one is the name of the song and which is the name of the performer. Upon arriving at Centennial Park, I shared what little knowledge I have about the original Parthenon, the replica in Nashville, the Centennial Exposition, and my limited information about Greek gods and goddesses and Rome overthrowing Greece. Max was totally bummed when I told him that the big statue of Athena was not solid gold and said, "I just wish you hadn't told me that." They both were astounded to learn that the statue of Nike in Athena's hand is actually as tall as Fizzy. One of the most fun activities was looking at the remnants of the Elgin marbles and the model of the statues in the pediment and figuring out which ones the remnants were. There was much guffawing over the nakedness of the statues and they came close to having apoplexy when I informed them that competitors in the first Olympics participated totally naked....and, no, we will not be re-enacting that, no matter how many times they ask! Boys!!
I bribed them with a stop at the gift shop if they had excellent museum behavior, and they did. The exhibit in the art gallery was really neat, photos and paintings of local parks, and they saw pictures of Radnor that they recognized. As we perused the gift shop (longer than we spent in the museum), a lovely young woman came up to tell them what excellent museum manners they had. I was quite proud. They bought ridiculously expensive plastic toys of Greek gods and goddesses and have played on my bed with them using pillows as Mount Olympus. Of course, a fight ensued over the clean up...2 hours later, fighting again. It is really hard to play a game where the rules are made up as the game goes along and those participating tend to have different notions of what the rules should be.
Our craft was brown paper Grecian urns to decorate. Simmy wanted to turn his into a mask...whatever. Max wanted to just not decorate his because "I can't do it!" Not doing it is never an option. Everyone has to at least try. It just goes against the grain to "give up" and not try. He put his mind to it and came up with a fairly lovely urn by painting a camel on it. I was glad he told me it was a camel before I guessed the wrong thing. Frankly, looking at the pictures (on FB because...well, because blogger and I don't jive well with pictures), I must say that, truly, only one of us grasped the concept of the "assignment." But, that's okay as long as everybody tries.
The Disney movie, Hercules, rounded out our Greco Roman day. I desperately tried to talk them into a toga party, and even got out the sheets to make togas for them, but they were having none of it. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I was terribly disappointed. We had a theme-appropriate (sort of) snack of hummus, pita chips, olive tapenade, grapes, and Greek yogurt (not really, but we called it that, probably it is French yogurt).
Three more days. That's all that is left. Max said this morning he wished we could go back to day one and start all over again. Me, too, little guy, me too.
Today is Greco Roman day at Mellie camp. Simeon requested that we go to the Parthenon, which resulted in multiple Greco Roman type activities. After we went to "the river" and, yet again, asked God to help us only be concerned that the other person gets what they need rather than being all wrapped up in self-interests, and that Mellie please have patience, and that we all act more like Jesus, the boys each read aloud a passage about a Greek goddess. Simmy read about Athena and Max read about Nike. They did beautifully. That these gods and goddesses were not real but were, instead, myths is a concept with which they have a bit of trouble.
After reading, we headed to the Parthenon, listening to Greek music on Pandora by Sokratis Sinopoulos, or possibly Azizie Syrtos because I don't which one is the name of the song and which is the name of the performer. Upon arriving at Centennial Park, I shared what little knowledge I have about the original Parthenon, the replica in Nashville, the Centennial Exposition, and my limited information about Greek gods and goddesses and Rome overthrowing Greece. Max was totally bummed when I told him that the big statue of Athena was not solid gold and said, "I just wish you hadn't told me that." They both were astounded to learn that the statue of Nike in Athena's hand is actually as tall as Fizzy. One of the most fun activities was looking at the remnants of the Elgin marbles and the model of the statues in the pediment and figuring out which ones the remnants were. There was much guffawing over the nakedness of the statues and they came close to having apoplexy when I informed them that competitors in the first Olympics participated totally naked....and, no, we will not be re-enacting that, no matter how many times they ask! Boys!!
I bribed them with a stop at the gift shop if they had excellent museum behavior, and they did. The exhibit in the art gallery was really neat, photos and paintings of local parks, and they saw pictures of Radnor that they recognized. As we perused the gift shop (longer than we spent in the museum), a lovely young woman came up to tell them what excellent museum manners they had. I was quite proud. They bought ridiculously expensive plastic toys of Greek gods and goddesses and have played on my bed with them using pillows as Mount Olympus. Of course, a fight ensued over the clean up...2 hours later, fighting again. It is really hard to play a game where the rules are made up as the game goes along and those participating tend to have different notions of what the rules should be.
Our craft was brown paper Grecian urns to decorate. Simmy wanted to turn his into a mask...whatever. Max wanted to just not decorate his because "I can't do it!" Not doing it is never an option. Everyone has to at least try. It just goes against the grain to "give up" and not try. He put his mind to it and came up with a fairly lovely urn by painting a camel on it. I was glad he told me it was a camel before I guessed the wrong thing. Frankly, looking at the pictures (on FB because...well, because blogger and I don't jive well with pictures), I must say that, truly, only one of us grasped the concept of the "assignment." But, that's okay as long as everybody tries.
The Disney movie, Hercules, rounded out our Greco Roman day. I desperately tried to talk them into a toga party, and even got out the sheets to make togas for them, but they were having none of it. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I was terribly disappointed. We had a theme-appropriate (sort of) snack of hummus, pita chips, olive tapenade, grapes, and Greek yogurt (not really, but we called it that, probably it is French yogurt).
Three more days. That's all that is left. Max said this morning he wished we could go back to day one and start all over again. Me, too, little guy, me too.
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Slow and Easy
Week 3, Day 2
Today has been a relatively slow and easy day. I let each boy at the beginning of summer tell me one thing in particular they wanted to be sure that we do during Mellie Camp. Max chose going to a playground. The boy has loved playgrounds since he was a wee little boy. A playground could not have come at a better time, for I was feeling all 66 of my years last night when I went to bed.
We went to Crockett Park, a large, shady playground. On the way, we stopped to get big bottles of cold water and one not sweet snack per boy. I had also packed kiwi, oranges, apples, Persian cucumbers and grape tomatoes. As soon as we arrived, Max asked me to open his pretzels. Somewhere in there, I mistakenly heard Simmy ask me to open his chips. He did not want them then. Sadly, when he came a few minutes later and sort of jerked them out of the cooler bag, they were upside down, and, seriously, how in the world every last one of them fell on the ground is a puzzle to me. He was not happy and for the next half hour or so he lamented the loss and ranted about how it was my fault. I just smiled, told him I was sorry it happened, and he got to choose if spilled chips would ruin his whole day or if spilled chips would just ruin his pleasure in eating chips. He chose the former option for quite some time, but eventually moved on to bigger and better and more fun activities.
About ten minutes after we arrived at the quiet, sparsely populated park, a seemingly never-ending line of bigger, louder kids arrived. I was not happy. They did not stay even an hour and the quiet that resulted upon their departure was heavenly. We stayed and played for a couple more hours.
Arriving at home, we had a much anticipated water balloon fight that lasted about 2 minutes. Who knew that 2 boys could throw that many water balloons at each other and their Mellie so quickly. It was fun and getting wet felt marvelous. This was followed by pizza for lunch (thank you, Aunt P), writing in journals, tie dying another shirt (did not turn out that well), and playing cards on Mellie's bed.
Because I was so wiped out last night, I requested that if boys could be picked up early today, I would not be disappointed. Marsh called around 2:00 and said, "do you want to get rid of him badly enough to meet me somewhere in Brentwood?" Now, I probably would not have worded it quite that way, but I responded with "tell me where. I'm on my way." So, boys are home.
Tomorrow is another big day and could result in another day of obnoxious posting on FB. I am most appreciative of my FB friends who have such kind comments, and most understanding of those who must roll their eyes and wonder why I feel the need to so over share. It is to remember and to let Sheri, in particular, who is at work, see what Max is doing throughout the day. I hope it brings her some joy to know that he's having fun and is well taken care of.
For now, I have a good book (good, in that it's entertaining, not good in that I would ever recommend it), a fairly cool house, and a sofa calling my name.
Today has been a relatively slow and easy day. I let each boy at the beginning of summer tell me one thing in particular they wanted to be sure that we do during Mellie Camp. Max chose going to a playground. The boy has loved playgrounds since he was a wee little boy. A playground could not have come at a better time, for I was feeling all 66 of my years last night when I went to bed.
We went to Crockett Park, a large, shady playground. On the way, we stopped to get big bottles of cold water and one not sweet snack per boy. I had also packed kiwi, oranges, apples, Persian cucumbers and grape tomatoes. As soon as we arrived, Max asked me to open his pretzels. Somewhere in there, I mistakenly heard Simmy ask me to open his chips. He did not want them then. Sadly, when he came a few minutes later and sort of jerked them out of the cooler bag, they were upside down, and, seriously, how in the world every last one of them fell on the ground is a puzzle to me. He was not happy and for the next half hour or so he lamented the loss and ranted about how it was my fault. I just smiled, told him I was sorry it happened, and he got to choose if spilled chips would ruin his whole day or if spilled chips would just ruin his pleasure in eating chips. He chose the former option for quite some time, but eventually moved on to bigger and better and more fun activities.
About ten minutes after we arrived at the quiet, sparsely populated park, a seemingly never-ending line of bigger, louder kids arrived. I was not happy. They did not stay even an hour and the quiet that resulted upon their departure was heavenly. We stayed and played for a couple more hours.
Arriving at home, we had a much anticipated water balloon fight that lasted about 2 minutes. Who knew that 2 boys could throw that many water balloons at each other and their Mellie so quickly. It was fun and getting wet felt marvelous. This was followed by pizza for lunch (thank you, Aunt P), writing in journals, tie dying another shirt (did not turn out that well), and playing cards on Mellie's bed.
Because I was so wiped out last night, I requested that if boys could be picked up early today, I would not be disappointed. Marsh called around 2:00 and said, "do you want to get rid of him badly enough to meet me somewhere in Brentwood?" Now, I probably would not have worded it quite that way, but I responded with "tell me where. I'm on my way." So, boys are home.
Tomorrow is another big day and could result in another day of obnoxious posting on FB. I am most appreciative of my FB friends who have such kind comments, and most understanding of those who must roll their eyes and wonder why I feel the need to so over share. It is to remember and to let Sheri, in particular, who is at work, see what Max is doing throughout the day. I hope it brings her some joy to know that he's having fun and is well taken care of.
For now, I have a good book (good, in that it's entertaining, not good in that I would ever recommend it), a fairly cool house, and a sofa calling my name.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Keeping Expectations Low
Week 3, Day 1
I had high expectations for the day. It was going to be a perfectly run, we're-all-on-the-same-team kind of day. That is not exactly how the morning went, even after we "went to the river" and prayed for strength and Jesuslike behavior for the day. One of my buddies had a really hard morning. I do not know what set it off, and when I asked if he could tell me what the problem was, he said he didn't really know. The other one was rowdy beyond description. When he wacked the other one in the head with a rather large jingle bell, he ran after him apologizing yelling, "I don't know what got into me!!" Flip Wilson comes to mind.
My plan today was to educate the boys on what is involved in having a dinner party. We have discussed this night for a couple weeks. They decided on their menu quite a while ago. The main dish is a frittata with bacon and cheese only, no veggies. It's their party, so I agreed. As a side, there is a salad in a parmesan cheese bowl. Well, only the adults will have the bowls because we ran out of cheese and the boys have parmesan wafers, which, frankly, are much more appetizing than the bowls, and I use the term "bowl" loosely. A shallow, cheese, shape of some sort is more accurate. Toasted French bread rounds out our main offering. The piece de resistance is chocolate bowls with ice cream and toppings. We each chose two toppings for the ice cream sundae bar we are setting up. I chose caramel sauce which had mold growing on it when I opened it and whipped cream, which I won't whip because it was supposed to go on the caramel sauce. The boys picked almond M&Ms, Swedish Fish, Sour Patch gummy worms, and gummy figures of varying design. Yum?
They set the table. I let them pick out the dishes to use. Shock of all shocks, they did choose matching dishes. We had to use clear glasses because our ice is fish-shaped made with 2 ice trays Max gave me for my birthday. For several days now, I have been making fish ice cubes, storing them in a baggie in the freezer. I let them organize the flowers and they have placed them in front of each person's place, which is lovely. Two sets of salt and pepper shakers each. This is what prompted the most avaricious dictating of which sets they wanted me to leave them in my will. They did not seem to understand that I have to be DEAD (maybe they did understand) before they are getting my stuff. So, on the table, on July 10, we have a 2-in-one shaker that Simmy has always loved. It's very delicate and beautiful. He also chose a set that looks like the hot and cold water handles on an old fashioned sink. Max chose a duck riding a beach ball, and two Christmas rabbits nestled in a Christmas shoe. Probably not what I would have chosen, but they are pleased, so I am pleased.
We took a little break from party work to make a craft. It is a stained glass sun catcher made with glitter glue and food coloring. I think they are going to turn out well once they dry, but Simmy looked like a accident victim, he had so much red food coloring on his hands....and the bottoms of his feet. I don't even know.
Then, a movie on the den floor where they made a cozy nest with the cushions off the sofa. I was a little sad when I heard the end of the movie. I must admit I was a little shocked when one of them came running back to Frisby Hall in his superman underwear only. What is that about?
Well, after lots of starts and stops and arguments and tears and messiness and trips to "the river," dinner was a huge success. The veggies in the salad were in rather large chunks, but they cut them themselves. The recipe called for 16 eggs for the frittatas and we only needed 17. Only one went "overboard." I think that's pretty great. Part of dinner may or may not have been sneezed upon, but I figure we're all family. When it came time to eat, they served everyone, ladies first, with great aplomb. They filled the glasses with ice and cleared the table and ate like champs. Some frittata was eaten without a fork. We still have a little table manners work to do, but all in all, I'd say it was a successful day. This tired Mellie is hitting the sack. Week 3, Day 2 tomorrow. Who knows what wonders await.
I had high expectations for the day. It was going to be a perfectly run, we're-all-on-the-same-team kind of day. That is not exactly how the morning went, even after we "went to the river" and prayed for strength and Jesuslike behavior for the day. One of my buddies had a really hard morning. I do not know what set it off, and when I asked if he could tell me what the problem was, he said he didn't really know. The other one was rowdy beyond description. When he wacked the other one in the head with a rather large jingle bell, he ran after him apologizing yelling, "I don't know what got into me!!" Flip Wilson comes to mind.
My plan today was to educate the boys on what is involved in having a dinner party. We have discussed this night for a couple weeks. They decided on their menu quite a while ago. The main dish is a frittata with bacon and cheese only, no veggies. It's their party, so I agreed. As a side, there is a salad in a parmesan cheese bowl. Well, only the adults will have the bowls because we ran out of cheese and the boys have parmesan wafers, which, frankly, are much more appetizing than the bowls, and I use the term "bowl" loosely. A shallow, cheese, shape of some sort is more accurate. Toasted French bread rounds out our main offering. The piece de resistance is chocolate bowls with ice cream and toppings. We each chose two toppings for the ice cream sundae bar we are setting up. I chose caramel sauce which had mold growing on it when I opened it and whipped cream, which I won't whip because it was supposed to go on the caramel sauce. The boys picked almond M&Ms, Swedish Fish, Sour Patch gummy worms, and gummy figures of varying design. Yum?
They set the table. I let them pick out the dishes to use. Shock of all shocks, they did choose matching dishes. We had to use clear glasses because our ice is fish-shaped made with 2 ice trays Max gave me for my birthday. For several days now, I have been making fish ice cubes, storing them in a baggie in the freezer. I let them organize the flowers and they have placed them in front of each person's place, which is lovely. Two sets of salt and pepper shakers each. This is what prompted the most avaricious dictating of which sets they wanted me to leave them in my will. They did not seem to understand that I have to be DEAD (maybe they did understand) before they are getting my stuff. So, on the table, on July 10, we have a 2-in-one shaker that Simmy has always loved. It's very delicate and beautiful. He also chose a set that looks like the hot and cold water handles on an old fashioned sink. Max chose a duck riding a beach ball, and two Christmas rabbits nestled in a Christmas shoe. Probably not what I would have chosen, but they are pleased, so I am pleased.
We took a little break from party work to make a craft. It is a stained glass sun catcher made with glitter glue and food coloring. I think they are going to turn out well once they dry, but Simmy looked like a accident victim, he had so much red food coloring on his hands....and the bottoms of his feet. I don't even know.
Then, a movie on the den floor where they made a cozy nest with the cushions off the sofa. I was a little sad when I heard the end of the movie. I must admit I was a little shocked when one of them came running back to Frisby Hall in his superman underwear only. What is that about?
Well, after lots of starts and stops and arguments and tears and messiness and trips to "the river," dinner was a huge success. The veggies in the salad were in rather large chunks, but they cut them themselves. The recipe called for 16 eggs for the frittatas and we only needed 17. Only one went "overboard." I think that's pretty great. Part of dinner may or may not have been sneezed upon, but I figure we're all family. When it came time to eat, they served everyone, ladies first, with great aplomb. They filled the glasses with ice and cleared the table and ate like champs. Some frittata was eaten without a fork. We still have a little table manners work to do, but all in all, I'd say it was a successful day. This tired Mellie is hitting the sack. Week 3, Day 2 tomorrow. Who knows what wonders await.
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