Camp Blackberry V

A couple of weeks ago, we finished Camp Blackberry V.  It's hard to believe that we've been doing this for 5 years now. 

What's Camp Blackberry?   It's a week at our house with our grandchildren.  24/7. 

We have planned activities, lots of arts and crafts, field trips, hikes, and enough swimming that they should have been pickled by the end of the week.

We laughed together, we cried together (a little bit).  We sang together--boy did we sing.  I might hear "Boom Clap" in my sleep for months.  And Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop The Feeling" may never leave my head.

I suppose that I should explain the name a bit.  Our last name is Black and we raise blackberries.  It's really as simple as that. 

Five years.  Hard to believe.  I know that the first year my wife and I had our first nervous breakdown on day three of the camp.  It was when we got the call from our daughter that they might be stuck at the beach because of the weather and weren't sure when they might get home.

The second year we made it to day 5 and I don't even remember what precipitated the breakdown that year. 

This year?  No problem mon.  We had one with Strep and another with walking pneumonia by the end of the week but hey...we're experienced at this thing (although we did repeat many times that we know why God gives children to young people instead of old people like us).

Was it easy?  No way.  Was it fun?  All around the clock.  Was it a learning experience?  You betcha (and the kids might have learned some things too).

Why do we do this?  We want to be a positive influence on the lives of our grandchildren.  We want them to experience some things that they might not have otherwise.  We want the cousins  to get to know each other and become lifelong friends. 

We want to be a part of their lives.    We want them to benefit from the experiences that we have had in our lives. 

Several people asked me for a Camp Guidebook.  So here it is.

1.  Plan ahead.  Know what you want to do.  Know the best day to go to the zoo.  Those cheesy things in Pigeon Forge that you swore you would never do?  The kids will love them.  This year it was The Comedy Barn.  Go see it.

The Children's Museum in Chattanooga is awesome.  The aquariums in Chattanooga and Gatlinburg are too.

2.  Don't plan elaborate meals or, if you do, make the kids part of the cooking experience.  There's lessons to be learned there too.

Keep meals simple.  Go out to eat.  Or do carry-out.   Too much time in the kitchen means too much time away from doing stuff with the kids.

3.  Roll with the punches.  Be flexible.

4.  If it won't result in a trip to the Emergency Room, if it won't scar them for life, if it won't adversely affect the adults they will eventually become, do it.

Above all else, have fun.