What's Red, Juicy, and Full of Flavor?

What's red, juicy, and full of flavor? For me this week it has been home grown, vine ripened tomatoes that three of my grandsons helped to grow. The boys have been introduced to raised bed gardening by their parents and I couldn't be more pleased. The boys helped with the construction of the beds, filled them with soil while their dad was at work, and they helped to plant the garden and install the watering system.

The boys love having me come over to see the growth in "their" garden. They have corn stalks that they planted by seed. The stalks now tower over their heads. The boys can hardly wait to harvest the corn because they love eating it off the cob. They eat it just plain boiled. No butter, no salt!

They also have beautiful squash, cilantro, jalapeno, and tomatoes growing in their backyard garden. The boys help care for the garden and they are happy help to harvest the vegetables too.

I was the recipient of a basket of their beautiful home grown tomatoes and boy have I enjoyed them. It was an absolute treat to make myself one of my favorite sandwiches.

Doesn't that look good? 

There was no skimping on the tomatoes.

I am so glad I had a few slices of leftover bacon in the fridge!

The tomatoes were so juicy and full of flavor. That mixed with the crispy bacon and Miracle Whip spread..... it doesn't get much better!  I took small bites and savored each and every one.

I did not want the party that was going on on my taste buds to end.

My three grandsons helped to make me a very satisfied grandma.

It certainly tasted like they are developing some 

outstanding gardening skills!

4th of July Fun

Every 4th of July I treat my grandchildren to some kind of small gift, goodie, or activity to help celebrate our time together at the fireworks show. This year I put together small gift boxes for each child.

The small patriotic decorated boxes include a few Tootsie "Pops", kid safe TNT "Pop-its", always fun Party "Poppers", a glowing light stick, a small bottle of bubbles that will provide lots of "Popping" action, and a glittering red, white, and blue necklace which also serves as a eye "Popping" burst of color and shine to top of the gift boxes!

To add to the fun I will arrive with their gift boxes in a large basket lined with patriotic linens and some festive red, white, and blue tinsel party picks. I will also have the supplies for face painting. Face paint, glitter, patriotic stickers, and sparkling stars will provide some holiday fun while they are waiting for the fireworks to begin.

Very simple and inexpensive gifts such as this will help to make the time you spend with your grandchildren just a bit more fun, festive and memorable! 

Make sure to watch the 4th of July clearance sales and you too will find inspiration for just pennies on the dollar that can be stored away for the year and used to create your own memories when you make the 4th of July holiday "Pop" for your grandchildren too!

Have a happy and safe 4th of July !

Celebrate Good Times!

Taking a family vacation in the old family car can sometimes be anything but a good time between home and your vacation destination. It is quite evident that boredom leads to irritability, hunger, space issues, and over the top tattling. So, what to do to keep mom from pulling her hair out?

When my children were young we would play games such as finding the abc's on road signs and on other vehicles. We would watch to see how many different states we could find from license plates, or count the cars on a passing train. We would also play "I'm thinking of something you would find in the kitchen (or anywhere else)." The rest of the group would ask yes or no questions until the item was correctly guessed.

I founded a few traveling must-do's for my family that helped to make our time spent in the car part of the vacation fun. Over the years these simple things became loved traditions by my four children.

1. I made up a Ziploc bag (with their name on it) filled with snacks for each child. It was kept as a surprise until we were on our way.  It was up to each child to ration, share, or trade snacks among themselves. Each child was also issued a water bottle with their name on it. The "I'm hungry" or "I'm thirsty" from the back seat came to a complete stop!  This must-do was mostly for me.

2. I gave each child a notebook with paper, pencil, and a few clear vinyl sleeves to hold souvenirs. (They would gather free pamphlets, leaves, flowers, rocks, feathers, wrappers from favorite snacks, ticket stubs, or whatever they wanted as keepsakes.) The kids used the notebooks to journal about the trip and they left space so that  photographs could be added later. 

3. The biggest hit that became a loved tradition was that before a family vacation I would purchase small activities that could be done in the car. (Activity books, coloring  books, small crafts, games, or anything that could keep their hands and minds occupied.) I then gift wrapped each of the activities and put tags on them for each child. The bag of wrapped gifts would be kept at my feet and every 50 miles or every hour or so each child was presented with a gift to celebrate our time together.

These simple things made a world of difference in our travels. Today, my children are grown but we fondly share in our vacation memories and we celebrate the good times that we all had a part in creating for one another.

This post is a part of the All About Parenting Blog Carnival for July on the subject of road trips. If you're a blogger, you can be a part of it. Write a blog post about road trips or family vacations and send the link to Heather Corley, Guide to Baby Products, by June 30.

The Perfect Outing for Little Boys

My daughter had just dropped off two of her boys at my house so that she could go take care of some business. Within minutes my phone rang and it was my daughter telling me that an old farm house was being demolished nearby. The boys had noticed the equipment parked at the site the day before. My grandsons love tractors so without question we loaded up for the perfect little boy outing.

We parked a safe distance away and despite living in the deserts of Arizona in June we rolled down the windows because the boys didn't want to miss a single sound of the action.

Is that a face of complete contentment or what?

There was lot's of "Grandma look!", "Look Grandma!", "Did you see that Grandma?" as big chunks of the house were torn down. You can only imagine the excitement as the big rig crushed large pieces of concrete as it rolled over them.

We had movie tickets and a movie to get to before the job was complete. We had watched the demolition for at least 45 minutes but it was still very hard for the boys to take their eyes off of the site as we drove away.  Be assured that the work site was not forgotten. We returned following the movie to check on the progress.

Senior Discounts

 Many of our local restaurants and retail shops offer senior discounts starting at the age of 55. I love saving money and getting good deals so I have actually looked forward to turning 55. 

A few weeks ago my husband and I went to a local  buffet restaurant and the probably 16 year old girl running the register (without asking) rang us up as two seniors which was for 65 and over. Oh well, if she is going to call us old then we're going to accept the discount!

I was  in Michael's craft store last week and needed quite a few items when I noticed that they are now offering a senior discount for 55 and over on Tuesdays. I actually saved my purchase until I became a qualified senior. Well, yesterday was the day,  it's official, and I have an ID to prove it!  

I really can't wait to go make my first qualifying purchase! I'm 55!!!!!!

What is the best senior discount you have gotten?

Red Carpet Awards Ceremony

It was actually a bit sad to have the Grandkid's Camp Out end this year. We had so much fun and the kids were so into the theme of "Grandkid's Rock!" Our camp ended with each child having a chance to walk the red carpet as a rock star. The red carpet was actually a red table cloth that I already had. Each child was presented with an award.

The children applauded for one another, we had the flash of the camera going off, and Papa was whistling as their biggest fan.

I loved seeing them supporting one another. As a parting gift each child received a bottle of bubbles in the shape of an electric guitar. (I found them in the Wal Mart party favors.)  They all went home very happy campers!

My Rock Star Campers

Grandkid's Rock!

2010

Grandkids Rock Music Video

Rock Star Dress Up

As our "Grandkids Rock" Camp Out was winding down we had two more big events planned. The first was to create a Rock Star Music Video! That's right, my son is a professional videographer and he was coming over to help us film a Rock-n-Roll music video to the song I Love Rock-n- Roll.

To get ready the tattoo parlor was re-opened and a big box of dress up was set out for the kids to dig through to create their own rock star look.

We provided a mirror so that they could see their new rock star look.

They came up with some really fun combinations.

Others made several costume changes before getting the right look!

The rock star pictured below was far more interested in the do-it-yourself tattoo's than the wardrobe selections! She came to church the next day with a peace sign still tattooed smack dab in the middle of her pretty little forehead. She was bright red from trying to scrub it off but for some reason it wouldn't budge! She was more than happy to show off her tattoo at church. 

I'm so glad I got the parents permission before doing the
 "temporary" tattoos!

Rock Star Crafts

For one of our craft projects at Grandma Camp we created a rock-n-roll notebook. I had picked up the notebooks during the back to school clearance at Target for just five cents each. Out of one sheet of 12"x12" rock-n-roll scrapbook paper we created two crafts. A covered notebook and an autograph book.

The kids cut the scrapbook paper to fit the front cover of the notebook. They then glued in down using a glue stick. This turned a boring clearance notebook into a Groovy Grandkids Rock Camp Out souvenir!

With the extra width of scrapbook paper from the notebook we created an autograph book to take to the Red Carpet Awards Ceremony later in the day so that they could get their fellow rock star's autographs!

To create the autograph book we folded the cover piece in half. The kids cut out eight pages (using just 2 sheets of paper) of white paper just a bit smaller that the cover. Lay the cut to fit white paper between the front and back cover and staple it three times across the top. Cut another piece of paper the width of the book and 1" wide. (we used a contrasting paper) Fold it in half to create a binding to cover the staples at the top. Glue the top binding in place using a glue stick. There you have it....A Rock-n-Roll autograph book! I also gave the kids a new shiny pencil to go along with their new books.

Wow.... now that was.....two craft projects for less than fifty cents per camper!

This and That From Grandma Camp

I'm just about done posting about this years grandkids camp out. Although some of the things we do for activities are very simple.  I thought I would share them too since simple is the best way to go with a house full of little ones.

I schedule in an arrival snack so that everyone is on the same eating schedule for dinner. I also offer a bedtime snack, a mid morning snack, and a mid afternoon snack during our camp out days.

 Some of our favorite snacks are apple slices, grapes, cantaloupe chunks, bananas, watermelon, strawberries, assorted crackers, peanut butter, and string cheese. They also like to eat raw baby carrots with ranch dressing. Our afternoon snack did include some not so healthy Cheeto's and a few cookies.

I had purchased two boxes of really groovy Valentines cards for 90% off after Valentine's Day because they included tattoos for my rock star grandchildren at the camp out. The cards were not Valentine....sy at all. They were peace signs and the words groovy, far out, and peace. I used the Valentine cards to create a themed game of memory for my far out and groovy rock stars!

This find of Valentine's cards in early March provided the fun of ample tattoos, camp out decorations, and a game for the kids. All for just forty cents! I need to come up with next years theme because rock-n-roll things are still catching my eye! Grandma camps don't have to be expensive just a bit  creative.

Rock Star Olympics

The Camp Out Schedule said "Rock Star Olympics". I had some pretty creative and elaborate games planned to go along with our camp out theme that would require a lot of effort on my part. I decided to scratch the planned olympic games and opt for something much easier so that I could have a bit of a break. I grabbed some sidewalk chalk, my bean bags, and I turned my courtyard patio into an olympic playing field for bean bag olympians. I created three different bean bag toss challenges using the chalk.

We set our spectator benches up at the end of the playing field and we had all of our olympians and their "tired grandma" sit on the benches. The rule was that everyone had to stay on the bench and be a spectator unless it was their turn to toss the bean bag. I never had a turn and I was very, very thankful to just stay in my seat!

The first bean bag game was played independently with each rock star olympian tossing their bean bag and trying to land it on the highest score possible.

Everyone got multiple turns to play each game and they all cheered one another on.

The next game was a team game of tic tac toe. They tossed the beanbags trying to get three in a row on a very big tic tac toe game board. Sorry, no pictures of this game ..... Grandma was on a break!

The third game was a bulls eye game. Each child tossed their bean bag trying to hit the bulls eye or the outer circles of different amounts of points.

Still no pictures ......... Grandma was still on her break!

Keeping the details of planned camp activities a big secret beforehand ..... always a good idea!

Pre-Red Carpet Tailgating Party

Lunch on the second day of our "Grandkids Rock"camp out was a tailgate party. The kids had never been to a tailgate party before and they were pretty ramped up to get the party going. We packed up all of the needed supplies in a big Rubbermaid tub. We took the buddy burners (canned heat) that each child had made the day before. Papa loaded up a grate from our BBQ and we took a few bricks to create an outdoor stove top.

Every camper was responsible for filling their own water bottle (during the camp out we keep a filled  water cooler on hand for easy water bottle refills) and each child was given an assignment to help load the truck. I and our eight little rock star campers piled into the back of Papa's truck. Not to worry, we did not leave our rural neighborhood. We drove just two streets away to an undeveloped and traffic free area of our neighborhood. Papa drove very slow to make the ride seem longer.

The kids very proudly waved to the neighbors as we went by. I was yelling out; "Who Rocks?" They all yelled back "Grandkids do!" "Who?" "Grandkids do!".  Each time we yelled it out it got a bit louder with the kids trying to out yell one another. I could already tell that this very simple outing was going to be a highlight of the this year's camp out.

Once we arrived everyone jumped out and we worked together to set up for our tailgate party.

Each of the kids got out the buddy burner that they had made and placed it under the grate.

Getting to light and use the canned heat that the kids had made themselves was a very thrilling event!

Papa kept a close eye on our camp stove to keep everyone safe.

We had a kid friendly menu of chicken noodle soup and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches planned.

The kids helped open the six cans of soup and they added the water.

With nine buddy burners we had plenty of heat to cook our big pots of soup.

Each camper took a turn stirring the pots.

While the soup was cooking my oldest granddaughter volunteered to make the sandwiches.

Soups on!

Picnic blankets were spread out smack dab in the middle of the street.

During lunch I kept hearing that it was the best lunch ever!

Just like real camping the food couldn't have tasted any better to the little campers.

The kids had seconds and thirds of the soup and sandwiches. They ate until the bread was gone and the pot of soup was empty.

I had snuck in a pretty cool camping skill with the canned heat. The kids had learned how to make buddy burners, how to use them safely, and they saw for themselves just how well they work.

After lunch we played "a really cool" game of "freeze tag" and Papa took the kids on a long hike to explore the outer edges of our neighborhood in the desert.

When everyone returned to the tailgate site we packed up our things. We made sure that we didn't leave any of our litter behind.

We loaded back up in the bed of the truck for the drive home. On the way home the kids had a fun surprise planned. Half of the kids shouted out "Who Rocks?" and the other half answered "Grandma does!"

Grandma Camps 

are so much fun!