Saturday 31 August 2019

Gramma Camp 5.2

Gramma Camp 5.0
Gramma Camp Part 5.1

Thursday 5.2

Isabelle had my leftover pizza for breakfast, as well as leftover birthday cake. (What Happens At Gramma's, Stays At Gramma's!)

Then, we watched American Ninja Warriors. I'd never even heard of it. (They have Netflix at home!) We'd taped it for them because we knew they liked it.
We did Magic Meatballs!
magic meatballs from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I used the phone to register for parking at the beach. You can register there using QR codes on your phone, but I don't have that. Back in the old days they paid summer students to collect fees.
Purchase a pass

After this, we made some turkey chili. 

We packed for the beach, intending to go after lunch, when it would be warmer, but I said, "Let's just go now!" I'm glad we did as it began to cloud over and get cooler.

Interesting people at the beach. We arrived around 11 a.m. and it was deserted. Then a mom and kid turned up. "I have to go pee!"
"Well, just go in the water," she said.
"But I have to go poo!"
I called over and told her the bathroom were just up above. "Fish pee in the lake." Disgusting.


It started to cloud over!

We came home after about an hour, pretty chilly. I said we could go back!
We found out our monarch chrysalis hatched and we couldn't tag it. Dang. I knew it would hatch when we were gone, but I forgot about it. Izzy and I looked everywhere. They usually hang about for a couple of hours!

The poor monarch won't be viable. It's wings didn't unfurl.

Friday 30 August 2019

Gramma Camp Part 5.1



Yes, the girls have been to several day camps: Adventures in Swim, Obstacle Camp, Spy Camp (at the Diefenbunker), and now they are back with us from Monday to Friday. Yippee! We started off Monday with the birthday party, then we hung out.

The highlight will be all of our chrysalids opening up. One began the morning they were to arrive.
Journey North is showing data from the flights south, and the clustering on overnight roosts!

Monday

Just as they arrived Monday a monarch had popped out. I was videotaping it! We tagged it. I can find out, in the spring, if any made it to Mexico for the winter. I've been keeping track of them.



I've sped it up 8x's, as the whole process took about 5 hours! She rested awhile before her wings dried and she was good to go. They tend to pop by as they learn their territory, prior to heading south.


Afterwards, we counted 17 polygonia interregationis on the back deck! There are 7 in the aquarium for safety. (I saw a wasp going after them!)


Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (our afternoon movie!)
Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs!

Tuesday

Tuesday morning brought early morning cartoons, then we played school after breakfast.
It was hilarious. Isabelle was the kindergarten kid, and Jos was the teacher, who had to phone her parents to pick her up for inappropriate behaviour. Then, Jos was the misbehaving kid, who called the superintendent to complain about her horrid teacher. (I was the superintendent!)
Annabelle came to school, as well.



Grampa was off preparing Meals on Wheels, then he had an extensive shopping list!
Isabelle helped me put in the bird feeder post.
Afterwards, UNO!

It was too cool to swim. So sad. The pool just doesn't have time to warm up in the day, especially with the clouds. Overnights have been chilly. The girls keep running down to check the temperature.


Grampa's books have been popular! We have volumes 1, 2 and 3.


Afternoon movies (two, because it was cold: The Grinch and Moanna), dinner: Gramma BBQ'd chicken, plus broccoli and corn on the cob!

Later, I fetched the trailcam SD cards with Josephine. I found out why she was so keen! She is prominently featured.
Hooper from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Wednesday

Isabelle was directed to wake Jos up at 7:30. She did so. But Jos went back to sleep! We're trying to have good sleep hygiene in preparation for school next week. Izzy and I watched Your Morning, where we learned about some good snack foods for lunches. Iz made her own breakfast, as usual!

Grampa went walking at the cold arena. It was pouring rain! The ice is in for hockey! He bundled up.
Jos had breakfast, then I showed them the two monarchs who had hatched or were hatching.

More Uno
Playing School Part 2: Josee is teaching math to Izzy.  I think they are doing fractions. Isabelle is playing ignorant, and Jos says, "I'm going to have to take away your sticker!" (Iz has A+ in math, her favourite subject!)

Now, Jos is going into gr. 7 at her mom and uncle's high school. They have taken gr. 7/8 and put them into the high schools with dwindling populations. It complicates life, as Jos and friends will be biking together. The schools are now gr. 7 - 12, but with a new gym for the younger ones.

Jos was playing Good King Wenceslas, et al, several times on the piano!

Nail Salon

Grampa brought a Magic Meatballs surprise.



Grampa bought us pizza for lunch. Isabelle brought it in for him. Grampa  cannot have pizza, so he had chicken bites.


In the afternoon, I was filling the fountain and found a baby garter snake. I showed the girls! I tried for a photo, but the snake tried to bite the camera lens! It didn't bite me. It was pretty agitated, and I let it go where I found it.


Afternoon movie: The Lego Movie!

Josee heard a bird or something in the basement. We looked everywhere. We blamed Hooper. I found it at bedtime. It was a cricket!

I cannot believe how fast they are growing. Those are Jos and Isabelle's shoes!

Thursday 29 August 2019

I have a confession! Gramma Camp 5.0

I lied to my daughter. Yes, I did. There was a reason. I still feel badly...


As I've written, it was her 40th birthday Friday, Aug. 16th. We knew her husband would be politicking, going door-to-door as he runs for election. I said, "Why don't you come here with the girls? We'll have a party!"
They've been helping Papa with campaign chores!
We popped over on the holiday Monday (Aug. 5th) on the day we took the injured turkey chick into Ottawa. We chatted in Caitlin's driveway. Caitlin mentioned that she'd see us in a week and a half. I asked JL if he had a surprise party planned, actually joking. SIL JL got that deer-in-the-headlights look. Whoops.

I forgot about it.

The girls and I had written and published another railway museum book, we took photos when we visited, and I phoned them to let them know the book had arrived. JL was driving them to day camp. He phoned me when he got to work and explained that he had a surprise party planned on the Saturday night.
I donated one of our books to the Railway Museum volunteers!
JL and I spoke again, and came up with a plan. I would phone Caitlin Friday morning at work, and wish her happy birthday, then tell her I was feeling a bit of flu and that they couldn't come to the house the next day. What we decided was we could have our birthday party with Caitlin on the Monday, Aug. 26th, the girls come back for Gramma Camp 5.0.

We've had some fun birthdays!


One year it was a 'fruit cake!!!!'

Friday, Aug. 16th morning, JL woke the girls up early and put out 40 flamingoes!

On Friday night, they all rode their bikes to the sushi place near their house and then to Shakespeare in the park. They had a nice birthday dinner there.





Gramma Camp 5.0

Finally, Momma was given the book. Caitlin brought the girls for their next visit with us. We had lunch, I made a crazy cake. We'll have a smashing week.