Gramma Camp Day 5

We made it to Friday, August 2nd!

Grampa did some shopping for dinner (hamburg and hotdogs), and brought me a close eyes, which the girls presented to me! Two lovely bouquets of freesia.

We took it easy in the morning, and after lunch went to the Lombardy Fair. It was a bit of a bust, in some ways. We bought the $30 bracelets for the girls, so they could go on unlimited rides. Thing is, too many of the rides were for the young kids.

I forgot to ask them to 'go' before we left the house! First things first!



Yes, she wanted to go on this ride.


Isabel was the only one who wanted on this ride. Josee knows her limitations. Gramma went on this ride with Isabelle (8). I was spinning for a while afterwards. We were alone on the ride, no one else was on as it was early.


She went on again, alone but this time there were other people there.


They wouldn't let Isabelle on this ride alone. Josee went with her. They did two stints. Mistake. They did a 2nd run, which was a further mistake. Jos spent the time with her head down.



Isabelle couldn't find another ride to go on. The one she favoured required another rider, Grampa had my adult tickets. He took Jos to the bathroom, as she was feeling woozy.


We went and sat under the trees, in the shade. They each had an apple, as a snack, as well as their water bottles. There was only one more ride suitable for Izzy. Grampa offered to take us home, and come back with Izzy, while I stayed with Jos. Then, we spotted the ice cream stand. Iz agreed that in exchange for an ice cream cone, we'd call it an afternoon. Whew.

Home again, jiggety jig.


Home, to the pool, and some more fun. Jos was feeling better. Momma phoned and said she was leaving work early. Jos proceeded to tell her all about her throwing up at the fair!

Caitlin and I had a visit, chatted, and relaxed on the back deck while the girls swam.
As we sat there, an osprey flew overhead. They nest just down the road. No fish here, though.

Jos was feeling fine, now she was grounded.

I cooked up our mess of hamburgers and hotdogs, with veggies and dip. Everyone fell into bed.


We've been watching the caterpillars.

I cannot remember what this plant is. I'm not an organized gardner!
Isabelle assured me that her momma had an app for identifying flora and fauna. It didn't work well.


Saturday morning, all packed and tidied, they went home.



See how tall Josephine is getting, as well as Isabelle? Jos (11) goes into gr. 7 in September, at her mother and uncle's former high school. Isabelle (8) goes into gr. 4.



Off they went, silently, in their electric car!


That was the end of Gramma Camp, version 1.0, for this session. The girls go to three more weeks of day camp before they come back to us for the last week in August:
1. Adventures in Swim, 2. Diefenbunker, 3. Obstacle Course.
Papa continues to campaign for the Green Party. We might have them back for Caitlin's 40th birthday party sleepover! Yippee!

Gramma Camp Day 1 & 2!
Gramma Camp Day 3
Gramma Camp Day 4

Gramma Camp Day 4

Thursday, August 1st

Happily, the store phoned and my recalled computer battery was replaced. Grampa offered to go and pick it up in Kingston for me.
We were looking for another activity.
Grampa wrote a poem, and the girls found out where two IDENTICAL puzzles were hidden!!!

Isabelle's clue
Not a door but by a door
Not very high but off the floor
Near your room if zoom
A desk you'll see; there it be.

Josee's clue
Not the laundry
But near that boundary
No animal there
but caged it's there

I ordered a new microwave oven from a local store. I sussed it out online, phoned and ordered it. It was $300 for the replacement part, $400 for a new microwave. I've had a microwave oven since my first marriage in 1976. My in-laws gave us one as a wedding present.

 Our guy was picking it up for us and installing it on Thursday morning. Otherwise, we all would have gone to Kingston. The girls had breakfast.


Grampa arrived home nearly three hours later, having had a nice walk in Kingston (he went to Queen's University there back in the day). We had  pit stops, then we took off to pick up my auction items in North Augusta.

From there, we went to Brockville for lunch. The parking lots were nearly full. The restaurant was PACKED. We sat at an inside booth.  I'd asked for a bun or something, as the service was understandably slow.  The girls were really hungry, and another server brought them crackers.

It's iteration #3, as far as we know, for the restaurant. Perhaps the kitchen is too small for the number of seats. They run the outside of the second floor deck, as well as inside, where we were (where the outside walls are yellow).


I've been fun trying to take photos, as I'm not sure if they are actually focused with my cataracts. (No appointment for surgery, yet.) The girls like taking photos, too.

They did really well, considering the wait. Thank goodness for crayons and menus on which to draw.


We watched the two TVs, baseball and darts!


It was a long wait, 40+ minutes. We sent them up to the kindly bartender to refill their glasses!

The aquatarium

We've been before, they feature all Ontario species.


We like the aquatarium, it has a wide variety of mechanical, technological, and physical features.



There is part of a ship reproduction, which lends itself to the day camp kids, and family entertainment!


Josee's finger in his eye!




Time to go outdoors. I realized we had a train theme going. Yesterday, for Gramma Camp Day 3, we went to the railway museum. Grampa loves trains!

The Brockville Tunnel 1860

Construction of Canada's first railway tunney, which runs from this point for 1730' in a northerly direction, began in Sept., 1854. Designed to give the Brockville and Ottawa Railway access to the riverfront, it was opened on Dec. 31, 1860. This railway, incorporated in 1853, ran from Brockville to Sand Point, near Arnprior, with  a branch line from SMiths Falls to Perth. Its first train left Brockville's Grand Trunk station on Jan., 25, 1859, almost two years before finances permitted completion of the tunnel. The Brockville and Ottawa amalgamated in 1878 with the Canada Central Railway, which was absorbed by the CPR in 1881. 

Of course, a lot of those train tracks have since been lifted, and the cleared land is used for recreation.


Josee counted her steps: 764!


Off we went home to cool off. It's been wickedly hot. You can hear the house wrens singing!



It was a very full day. I popped the girls into bed, asked Jos to set her alarm for 20 minutes of quiet reading time, and then they would turn the lights out. We were baffed!

Gramma Camp Day 1 & 2!
Gramma Camp Day 3