A Spontaneous Sunday!

After sleeping in on Sunday because of staying up so late on Saturday, we had a church service at home.  We didn't have firm plans for that day, but were thinking of tubing.  The campers had wanted to go to sliding rock again, but we didn't want to drive to the mountains one day and then Carowinds the next.  I had a thought to look up hotel prices and found a reasonably priced one in Charlotte. At the last minute, we decided to head to the mountains for the day and then spend the night in Charlotte.

We packed quickly and left around noon. Our first stop was mine and mom's favorite pottery shop, Mud Dabbers in Brevard, NC.  While the women shopped for pottery mushrooms, totem poles, and bacon cookers, the campers played in the stream behind the shop.  They had a great time following the stream through the tunnel and under the street.  It is just plain fun playing in the mountains!

 We left Mud Dabbers and made one more stop before Sliding Rock...the Ranger Station and gift stop. Last year the campers wanted "I survived Sliding Rock" shirts, but the gift shop closed before we could get there.  We were not making that mistake again!

Sliding Rock was crowded when we arrived, however, the line was not too long and it went fast.  The campers all went down the rock 4-5 times!  Grammie went down once and Amy and Jennifer went down twice.  Let's just say that Amy should have stuck to going down it one time!!!

Josiah and Declan

Amy and Jennifer coming down the slide

Camden and Ashton

Declan and Josiah

Nathan helping Grammie get started!

Grammie in the purple tank and Nathan on the left

Nathan hitting the water

Nathan helping Grammie out of the water

Camden hitting the water

Declan hitting the ice cold water

Josiah coming down

Ashton and Camden

We left Sliding Rock shivering, but having had a good time.  Dinner was our other tradition (GC and the Shirley family) at Hawg Wild BBQ.  They have great corn nuggets and fried pickles!!  And we topped off dinner with ice cream at Dolly's!

Lincoln's ice cream melted quickly!

Everyone loved the ice cream!!

We then hit the road and headed to Charlotte in order to get some rest before our day at Carowinds!! 

  

  

Saturday at Grammie Camp

Our Saturday at GC started with a visit to Soda City in downtown Columbia. ( This a like a Farmer's Market.)  While we got some snacks, we also were able to gather ingredients for a pasta dinner that night; including cheesecake for dessert!  Of course, we also found the soap stand!

Dancing in the streets!

Playing the drums!

Lunch was at everyone's favorite downtown restaurant...Zestos!  

After ice cream for dessert at Zestos, the campers kicked us out and went to the mall with Grammie to get their GC souvenir.

Josiah and Declan got a Build a Bear. This was what everyone used to get, but times change!

Nathan got a Panthers shirt, but didn't take a picture with it.

Ashton got a Wii game.

Camden got a Celtics hat.

We all met at home to prep dinner and go swimming!

Learning to snap beans!

Dancing to Centrikid songs!

Dinner was good, dessert was awesome, and we turned the evening into a very late night by watching Beauty and the Beast.  The next day's plans were up in the air except for knowing we needed some sleep!

  

The beginning of Grammie Camp 2017

Grammie Camp has been a fun tradition in our family since Nathan and Ashton were 7...they are now 16!  And although we have had it every year since it began, it gets harder every year to juggle all of the summer activities; especially with the teens!  And just to throw it out there; Charleston Baptist Church and Crossroads need to get there youth activities coordinated so we have an easier time of making GC work!!  The official rules are that you have to be 7 to be a camper.  But Lincoln gets to hang with us too since Jenn and I are camp assistants now!

This year we started camp on Friday, July 7.  We met for dinner at a favorite restaurant of the campers, Flight Deck in Columbia.  The campers like the food and games and have a great time making silhouette pictures in front of the sign.

The evening ended with playing a card game called 7 up 7 down.

Nathan's Charleston Chews melted together!

  It was a fun way to start camp!