Last week I had my four oldest grandsons for Grammy Camp. It’s a time for the teacher in me to come out and to spend intentional time with my grandsons. Sunday night we made our passports, and decorated their suitcases so we could travel to a new country every day.
After breakfast we boarded our airplane (golf cart) and “flew” to our country.
“Prepare for landing, make sure your seats are in the upright position and your seat belt are fastened. Remain in your seat until the airplane comes to a complete stop. Thank you for flying Smith Airlines.” Can you guess where we are going today???
MONDAY: This country worshiped cats. In ancient times both men and women wore eye make-up. They are famous for mummies and pyramids. Their rulers were called Pharoahs….EGYPT! This day we made Pharoah headdresses and drums.
We tried to mummify action figures. The boys were hesitant to do this. I think if we had used Barbies they would have been more willing!
We enjoyed mummy hotdogs and cheese and cracker pyramids for lunch. For dinner this day we tried Kofta, stewed fava beans, salatit zabadi, flatbread and tiger nut sweets.
We talked about the story of Moses from the Bible and how he freed the Egyptians from Pharoah after all the plaques.
TUESDAY: This country is famous for bullfighting; introducing the world to chocolate,chilies and corn (maize); and has many volcanoes…MEXICO! We read about the Day of the Dead, which was a time they remembered their loved ones that have died. We talked about Grandad and DiDi (Neal’s dad) that have died.
Part of the fun today was going down to the beach to make volcanoes erupt! 
This day was Caleb’s 4th birthday is we went to a Mexican resturant in the back of a Merxican grocery store! No, I didn’t serve them beer!
The day ended with a pinata to celebrate Caleb’s birthday!
WEDNESDAY: This country uses chopsticks, is the home of pandas, block printing, a HUGE wall and lots of rice…CHINA! We couldn’t go to the beach today because of an ecoli scare so good thing I had lots of activities planned.
I am the year of the dog. One grandson was the year of the Ox, one the Tiger, one the Rabbit and one the Dragon. We talked about how God created us each unique and special. We read a great book about Emporer Qin (Chin) who was 13 when he came into power. He was afraid of death so he slept in a different room each night. He built an army of about 9,000 soldiers, archeologists suspect, and buried them 10 feet under next to the tomb built for him. He believed that once he died the soldiers would come to life and protect him and his valuables that he would be buried with. Of course we know that didn’t happen. The boys and I talked about that once we die we are in the presence of God and we can’t take out “stuff” with us.
We also did block printing with meat trays where the boys drew a design on the trays. After we painted the trays we put a piece of paper on top and rubbed the design onto the paper.
THURSDAY: This country is home to a 2200 mile bike race, invented soap, produced many famous artists, is home to a famous monument built by the same man who did the Statue of Liberty…FRANCE! This day started with crepes and later we enjoyed beef bourguignon, ratatouille, cherry clafoutis, and macaroons. We talked about Leonardo DaVinci’s Last Supper painting and the significance of The Lord’s Supper remembering what Christ has done for us, is doing for us and will do for us. We made soap, which I forgot to take pictures of!
This day we enjoyed lunch at Bridgman’s public beach house.
FRIDAY: This country is famous for nesting dolls, colorful eggs, a place where Grammy and Granddad have visited, has many fairy tales illustrated on black lacquer boxes…RUSSIA!
Today we talked about the onion domes on St. Basil’s Cathedral. The domes remind us that our prayers are always heard by God. P Yanitas was a card game similar to the card game War we enjoyed playing before parents came.
Over all, our week was fun! I’m already thinking about next year’s theme!
On the journey,
Trish
