The grandkids are coming! The grandkids are coming! I have three grandchildren, but unfortunately they live two states over (and one of those states is Kansas, so you know that’s a long ways away), so I don’t get to see them often enough. The oldest is 14, the middle one is almost 12, and the youngest is 8. Last summer we took the two oldest ones to Cumberland Dance Week, which was a whole lot of fun, but their mom didn’t think the youngest one would want to be so far away from her for that long. Personally, I think he would have had a great time, but we didn’t try to fight it. It was just too complicated trying to figure out how to get them from Colorado to Missouri and then on to Kentucky for the camp and back. The younger one has never flown before, so that wasn’t a good option, and it didn’t seem right to have them ride in a car all those miles on their vacation. So this year we settled on “Grandma Camp” at my house.

Now I just need to come up with a list of fun things to do. The good thing about dance camp was that someone else planned all the activities and prepared all the meals. And even then, after extremely full days of activities that went from 6:00 a.m. when we got up for breakfast to 11:00 p.m. when we returned to our room after the last dance, it took until Wednesday before the middle one admitted that he might be a little tired and didn’t fight going to bed. I don’t know that I can do as well keeping them entertained, but I’m going to give it a good try. The only requests they have made so far are bowling and movies, and the 14-year-old wants me to teach her to sew.

Fortunately, I’ll have help, because my son will also be here during these two weeks. He is driving up from Fort Benning, where he is now stationed, and will meet the kids’ mother in Kansas to bring them to my house. But I’m accepting suggestions of things to do with 8, 12, and 14-year-olds!

Stephan, Jearid, and Bethany at the zoo