ripple effects (Grandfather’s secrets & Grammie Camp)

I cannot believe I sent off my two last at-home children for school bright and early this morning, Lu all confident with her schedule memorized having walked the school a few times in preparation, and Claire driving with friends and a giant smile on her face after claiming this is the saddest she’s ever been to start a new school year.  Phew!  It has been an interesting lead-up to this day…Max and Abby here before they leave again tomorrow, Grace FaceTiming from China to help Claire get hyped up last night (missing her so much!), someone hit Max and Abby’s car Elle is borrowing up in Utah in a parking lot yesterday, logistics of my mother’s heart sending Lucy to Junior High and her trying to emotionally sort it all out.  Oh boy.  The beginning of a school year is tricky any way you look at it, but this is an interesting year for us for sure.

I’m not sure I’m ready to really delve into all that right now.  For now, let’s talk about Grandfather’s Secrets and Grammie Camp at Bear Lake.  Because there’s some part of me that is just so grateful that these girls (ALL my kids for that matter!) get to go off into the big yonder with these “secrets” my Dad has come up with tucked safely into their hearts, knowing all the good blood that runs through their veins from all the ancestor stories they learned for Grammie Camp.

We had the best time at Bear Lake and out of all that motion and chaos and beauty and family togetherness, my very top favorite memories were listening to all the grandkids trying to memorize all the Grandfather’s Secrets together in little huddles and memorize artwork and famous composers for Grammie Camps (prizes were up for grabs so you know they were going for it…and there’s nothing like a little peer pressure 🙂

My Dad had kids find “flat rocks” before the reunion and he took time to write all the “secrets” on those beauties:

…and even assigned “tutor notes” for the big kids to help the younger ones to learn them all.

…and they created bread creations: