Camp Grandma 2012

Camp Grandma in California 2002

Now that the Garden Walk is over, it is time to start planning activities for Camp Grandma 2012!!  Every year since 2002, my family has tried to get together for some fun and adventure and cousin bonding time.  The beginning years were held in Orangevale, CA at the pool in the back yard.  When I moved from CA to Indiana, the adventures have expanded with travels here to Indiana, a week on the beach in Kauai and, last year, exploring Yellowstone National Park.

Swimming at the
 Ferguson's 2008

This year, 2012, my daughter Jennifer is coming from Idaho with her four sons, Greg, Chris, Michael and John and with Greg's darling wife, Brooke.  I am soooo excited to see them all again.

Adventures for this year are still in the planning stages but I just secured a reservation for a 34' double decker pontoon boat with slide for a day on Lake Monroe!  Other ideas include a day up in Indianapolis at the Children's Museum and River Walk, a trip to Center Point to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center, maybe get up to Indian Field to a baseball game or even down to Holiday World.  Not so sure about Holiday World.  There is also the Creation Museum over in Cincinnati and the aquarium there.

The Dayley family on
Poipu Beach in 2009

12-passenger van for getting
 us all to our adventures.

Maybe we will just hang out here in Bloomington and the kids will finish making their board game.  Last year I could not find my Monopoly game so these kids proceeded to make their own game with some poster board, colored paper and legos.  They named the houses and such after streets in my neighborhood and called their game "Gramopoly."  Gotta love it!


So July 25 Camp Grandma 2012 begins!!  Can't wait!

Garden Walk 2012

So last year sometime, I got a call from the Bloomington Garden Club.  They have a Summer Garden Walk each year and wanted to know if I would consider putting my yard on their Garden tour in 2012.  Wow!!  There are six gardens featured each year so this is really special.  Anyway, I have been working, working, working in the yard trying to make it look worthy of being selected for the Walk.  Tomorrow is the preview day so I needed to be done with it today.  So here are some pictures of what the visitors will experience in my little place in the forest.

 This is the view of the back deck looking from the stairs coming down from the upper deck.  Lots of pots of flowers (because I am really not a "gardener")  They called my landscape a "container" garden.

 And here is the view from the hot tub looking back at the forest.  After 2 hours of tennis this morning and 5 hours of yard work and mowing, the hot tub really sounds good right now!

And this is the view from the driveway looking toward the front porch with the rock fountain in the foreground.

And this is the west side of the house, the one that gets the most sun.  The roses and dahlias are really pretty this year.  The little bench is for those Kodak moments like when Sara goes to her first prom.  We have had very little rain so the new sprinkler system is making my yard look like an oasis in the dry desert.

I am really excited to have the yard in the Walk but am feeling a bit nervous that it will not be as special to the visitors who come as it is to me.  This is my favorite spot for that latte in the morning or to work on the binding on a quilt.

Wish me luck!!