Thank You for Grammie Camp
This summer, my kids spent two weeks with their Grammie and Papa in Maine. From all appearances, “Grammie Camp” was a huge success.
It was wonderful to see the kids spend so much uninterrupted and quality time with their Grammie and Papa.
For two weeks, they became immersed in a different life and routine, filled with new experiences and different ways of seeing the world.
These suburban kids got a pretty full dose of Maine life this summer. From big adventures to small, everyday experiences, they packed a lot into those two weeks:
- Swam at the lake
- Swam in the ocean
- Built an epic sandcastle
- Picked wild raspberries
- Picked raspberries at a farm
- Made raspberry jam
- Went for rides in the golf cart
- Learned to drive the golf cart
- Caught tadpoles
- Caught so many frogs
- Caught crayfish
- Caught fish
- Built a frog habitat
- Learned about pine trees
- Sat in—and “drove”—an excavator
- Explored Papa’s woodshop
- Created a fairy garden
- Decorated a fairy house
- Painted rocks
- Went for a boat ride
- Squirted people with swimming noodles
- Hung clothes on the line
- Started a campfire
- Made and ate s’mores
- Learned to play cribbage
By the end of the visit, the kids seemed to know every corner of the property. They had favorite frog-catching spots, growing confidence behind the wheel of the golf cart, and stories about things they had built with Grammie and Papa.
This is how lasting memories are made.
Spending weeks not days in a place with the people you care about and who care about you.
Not traveling from one stop to the next to quickly take in the next attraction, but by doing little things that are sometimes simple, but that are also new and interesting.
Along the way, Grammie and Papa reinforced many of the values we’re trying to instill in the kids—not through lectures, but through their time, attention, patience, and example. .
More than anything, they gave them their time. For two weeks, they welcomed them completely into their days, their routines, and their world.
I feel so lucky that the kids were able to spend so much time with them and have these shared experiences.
Years from now, they may not remember every lake trip, frog habitat, or golf-cart ride. But I believe they will remember how it felt to spend those long Maine summer days with their Grammie and Papa—free to explore, surrounded by love, and fully welcomed into their world.
Thanks Grammie and Papa, for giving them that.
