Gramaw Camp 2008!!

Well if there is one thing I can say about my mother-in-law Beverly, it's that she loves her grand kids!! Every year for several years now she has invited all of her grand kids (and the moms )to Huntington WV to enjoy the thrills and spills of Gramaw Camp!! This is my 3rd year as a "Camp Counselor" assigned to the ages 2 & 5 division of the group. My duties consisted mostly of chasing, scolding, laughing and keeping them alive while inside a large cave. And I couldn't have had more fun. Ryan and Adelaide love their cousins and spending a week with them at Gramaw and PaPaws house is even better. We did a lot of stuff, activities everyday, but we also enjoyed the little things like watering flowers with Gramaw or sitting on PaPaws lap. Thanks Pete and Beverly aka Gramaw and PaPaw! We had a wonderful time!

things we did:
-YMCA pool complete with water slides and a diving board
-Carter Caves in Kentucky (the gift shop staff was sure happy for us to leave)
-The Putnam County Fair "A Great Place to Go for Your Next Nicotine Fix"

Ryan loved the dirt track races and the spinning ride, Adelaide loved the 4h animals (we even got an up close encounter with the supreme grand champion goat) and the boat ride
-The Discovery Museum
-Shopped for school clothes from Gramaw
-Saw Space Chimps
-Had a Birthday party

-Went for a ride in PaPaws canoe

-chased a beaver down a small fresh water creek

-ate a ton of treats (direct orders from the Camp Director herself) this was mostly for the kids but we grown ups got in on the treat eating action

Morgantown-My First Home!!

After 18 days of being away I'm back on the blog scene. We've had a wonderful 21/2 weeks away playing with cousins, eating sugar for dinner and staying up way tooo late!!! We visited both sets of families and the only way to do them justice is simply to do two separate posts.
This one is dedicated to my beautiful hometown of Morgantown West Virginia- Voted by several sources as one of Americas top 5 small towns to live in. And hey who can argue with that!!! No one reading this should even try!!! I mean we're talking several sources here... This was a great week at my dads. We're started our 10 hour drive off a little later than planned but that's the way things go down when you've got kids. One of our favorite things to do is stop at the New River Gorge Bridge. This is one of the tallest bridges in the US and one of WV ever impressive tourists sites. Every year they stop traffic on the bridge so people can base jump from it. It's a pretty big deal. MTV even went there once for a show on extreme sports-top that!

It is also somewhere along this 10 hr drive that I lost my cell phone. How someone manages to lose their cell phone while sitting down in the passenger seat of a car with the doors closed and windows rolled up is beyond me. But Ryan and I searched hi and low for it and it simply was not in the car when we arrived in Morgantown. Had it when I left Atlanta-did not have when I got to Morgantown??? So I had to get a new one and start building my phonebook again. I really just need to start memorizing peoples phone #s. I felt so out of touch without it.

It was great to be in Morgantown with the Campbells. This was the first time in several years that me, Molly(big sis) and Michael(little bro who lives in Morgantown) have all been in Morgantown together. Michael's wife Priscilla is due in October with baby #2. Her little belly is pretty cute. And yes Michael, Molly is right, we can't really say that about yours....

One of the best things about this week was how well all of the kids played together. Caleb and Ryan had a blast! Imagine Spider Man and the Incredible Hulk stuck together in one big room battling it out to see who could be the loudest and strongest. All in good fun of course-and thankfully Gramps who got the brunt of all these super hero games took it in pretty good stride.

One night we drove around my old neighborhood. Ahh Dogwood Ave so many happy memories... One thing I was sad to see though wast that our favorite tree Jackie (named after the neighbors dog) had been torn down due to some construction work. The hours we logged in that tree as kids... She had some great branches-perfect for spitting the grape skins that we'd collected from our vine onto the unsuspecting heads of the boys who would pass by. Of course Molly and her best friend Melissa were president and co president of the "club" we had there and always got first dibs on the prime branches for sitting and spitting....

In a nutshell (mostly for me so I don't forget) these are the things we did

Swim at the Rec Center

Joyride on the Personal Rapid Transit (or as we townies call it The PRT)

Bowling at the Mountainlair

Salamandering at the University Forest(found 2 Redbacks)

Went to see Blackie the live Black Rat Snake at Gramps' office

Visited the Dream Trailer (if you read Melissa's Blog you know what this is)Got Milkshakes, Smiley Face Cookies and Grilled Stickies

from Eatn' Park
Saw Kung Fu Panda

Bonded with Siblings over White Chocolate Mousse

Went to the park

Enjoyed authentic pepperoni rolls

Had Fun!!!

Thanks Dad and Dara for your generosity and your hospitality!!!

In closing I would like to share the words of our precious State Song

I wish I could say this was my idea, but I found it so fitting that I had to copy from my sister's blog and put this in...

"Oh the West Virginia Hills how majestic and how grand

With their summits raised in glory like our Prince Immanuel's land

Is it any wonder than that my heart with rapture fills

As I stand once more with loved ones on these West Virginia Hills..."

We Didn't Die and Go to Heaven...

Just the Next Best Place-West Virginia!!!
We've been out of town for the last week and have one more to go. I'm sure you all are anxiously awaiting my vacation posts to come, including one dedicated entirely to a unique form of public transportation in Morgantown!!