Welcome Home!

This lovely little flower was a surprise and a pretty welcome home when we pulled into the driveway late yesterday afternoon as we returned from a week of family camp with our 4-year-old great-grandson Tristan.

The week was meaningful and memorable. We had not taken Tristan by ourselves before, but because his mommy, Desiree, has not quite finished her first year of working at Fedex, she has no vacation privileges until the end of July. Exactly 20 years ago this summer we took two little 2-year-old granddaughters to camp by ourselves because our daughter was expecting a baby the end of August that year and our son and daughter-in-law had to work. I think taking care of one 4-year-old took more energy, but who knows -- we were so much younger then when we had those 2-year-olds in camp.

This past week Tristan increased our joy, tested our patience, and filled our minds with delightful memories.

Previous to camp I had mentioned our dilemma with his not eating anything healthy -- just wanted chicken nuggets, french fries, and basically junk (anything that comes with a toy). So at camp Wednesday at the evening meal I told him he was no longer going to be allowed to play in the camp playground if he did not eat everything served for dinner. Up to that point he had been eating some fruit and little one-serving tubs of peanut butter. What a change in eating habits happened at our table that meal. Of course it helped that we were served the most delicious roast beef, steamed red potatoes, homemade bread, salad, and veggies. The meal was delicious and Tristan ate like a pro. For the remainder of the week, Tristan ate like a "normal" person. Woohoo!

Well, there's no place like home, but I also know that there is no place like family camp, especially family camp at Campus By the Sea on Catalina Island. We've had a meaningful time this past week. I'll write more about this in my back-blips in the next few days, but it is now quite late on this last Sunday evening in June and I am extremely tired. So I'm going to bed.

Good night from Southern California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol