Monday Memories: Day Four at Grandpa Camp in 2009 - The Decathlon

 Day 4 of Grandpa Camp featured two trips out and many games played in and out... I feel like an Olympic decathlete having to do so many things in one day. Let's see - the games played by five-year-old Lucas and his real old Grandpa (well, I feel old tonight):

• Baseball in the morning, baseball in the afternoon, baseball in the summertime. Then the Padres game - which was a decathlon all to itself.

• Soccer in the morning...he won 11-7 as I recall. We go until I can't breathe then take a chocolate chip cookie break with water...he's not even breathing hard.

• Call box counting - in the car, we started playing I Spy but that quickly evolved into finding all of the 911 call boxes along the freeway.

• Counting airplanes on the USS Midway - we toured the Midway Museum today and he was bored (because he can't read everything yet, I think). So we counted airplanes and US Navy symbols. Then we went shopping and had lunch. Total gifts = 4: two airplanes, a baseball and a T-shirt.

• Back home after lunch, we played his hockey card game. He has like 200 hockey cards and knows all of the teams but not all of the players. So we try to match teams by drawing cards.

• Bottle bowling. We bowled in the family room with water bottles as pins and a baseball as the bowling ball. He's pretty good!

• Uno. He's good at Uno too, although we split four matches.

• Car counting over the back wall. We've done this since he was a baby. He picks silver cars so I pick white or black cars, and lose every time. It's cool in the shade there. We talk too.

• Piggyback riding - around the house. Not a competition.

• Quiet time - while I napped, he watched some videos on his DVD. Good boy!

Our visit to the USS Midway was pretty short - he was bored, and didn't want to listen to the docents talk, or even sit in a severed cockpit, or traipse around the sleeping quarters below decks. He wants action... and I love quiet. The pretzel was good, and the shopping was fun.

We went to the Padres game tonight on the trolley. We ate dinner at El Pollo Loco and then took the trolley to downtown San Diego, and were in our seats by 6:20. Here the feasting marathon began - ice cream cone (shared), popcorn (shared) cookie (shared), and a little candy. We managed to avoid the cotton candy and he didn't want the peanuts. We know two of the head ushers, and they and Pad Squad girls gave Lucas some ballpark swag. He wore the Chris Young glove for the rest of the game and was ready for foul balls. Then we went to the gift store and got ... baseball cards. The Padres won 8-3 and we were home by 10:30 - Lucas was sound asleep in the car.

Tomorrow is Day 5 of Grandpa Camp and we're going back to the zoo I think. Lucas' choice. We can do more with just the two of us. I think Grandma is taking him swimming in the afternoon. Cool - I can work on the CVGS newsletter - or take a nap - while they're gone. Wanna bet which one I choose?

Making Family History with a five-year-old is hard work. I wouldn't miss it for the world. I get three more five-year-olds in the years ahead too, so this is good practice. Of course, as they get older, so do I. When Lucas is 18, I'll be, oh boy, 78. Hmmm, wonder if he'll remember Grandpa Camp 2009? And if so, what will be the highlights? He'll probably have to tell me all about it as I sit there drooling in my rocker at the genealogy rest home.

This was originally posted on Genea-Musings on 6 August 2009 - see https://www.geneamusings.com/2009/08/day-4-of-grandpa-camp-decathlon.html

Stay tuned for more Grandpa Camp stories. I didn’t take photos until Day 2. I’m tired out just reliving this 16 years later. Lucas is now 21 and has been driving since he turned 16 - he still drives fast. He gamifies everything and loves the challenge of games.

I wish I had more photographs of these days.  Unfortunately, I  didn't write up our Grandpa Camp activities for the other years - it was mainly more of the same, but I have no firm memories of those years.  Maybe I have photos.

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