Cousin Camp
When I was in upper elementary school I started a summer tradition in our little neighborhood. It was called Playgroup, so named from my bff’s The Babysitters Club. (Honestly, I knew those girls better than the girls I had gone to school with for multiple years). I asked my mother if I could try to do something similar in my little neighborhood and she told me that if I planned it, I could do it. I still have the notebook where I jotted down what activities we would do, games we would play, crafts we would do, and snacks we would eat. God bless my mother who also footed the bill for all the materials.
I know that these experiences were memorable for at least some of the kids who came, so I knew that I had to recreate it in some way for my nephews.
The opportunity presented itself when we planned, as a family, to go away for a long weekend to the resort that we visited every year in my father’s hometown, Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Sugar Lake Lodge was Sugar Hills when we stayed there, but there was always a day program that kids could attend. Instead, I made a program for the boys myself.