Cousin Camp (week 392)

Cousin Camp, July 19-22. 
Last Thursday morning, a big white SUV pulled up in front of our house in Long Beach.  Inside were three kids I barely knew--Jack, Abbey Jane, and Laney May Sweeney--and their mom, Valerie.  Soon Christopher and I were squeezed in between them, on our way to Cousin Camp at Grandpa Mike and Grandma Paula’s little farm in Arroyo Grande.  When Valerie finally got us there, our cousins Eli and Sophie were already waiting for us.  The first thing we did was run down to the Hoo Hoo Forest to see the tree forts Grandpa Mike and Uncle Andy had been building--one for the girls and one for the boys.  They looked just like castles.  I figured out right away that the girls’ fort was a little higher up than the boys’, but Grandpa said that was so we wouldn’t have such an easy job nailing those girls with water balloons. 

Then we unpacked and set up our tents in the olive orchard.  Eli, Jack and I got a four-man tent, Abbey Jane and Laney May got a two-man, and Grandpa, Grandma, Christopher and Sophie got a tent that could fit about twenty more people in it .  That night the boys’ team was in charge of dinner, so Grandpa, Jack, Eli and I grilled burgers, shucked corn, and set the table outdoors on the new patio.  Afterward, we had a campfire and made s’mores.  I found out I’m really good at roasting marshmallows. 

The next morning, Eli and I woke up as soon as the roosters started crowing.  There was only a little light, just enough for Eli and I to find Jack and slap him in the face (not that hard) so he could wake up and enjoy the morning too.The boys’ team was in charge of breakfast, so we made bacon, pancakes, and scrambled eggs on Grandma’s big old black Wolf stove.  I was in charge of the pancake grill, and I did a great job of flipping.  When we were all stuffed with food, we got back in the big white SUV and headed up to Bishop’s Peak, one of the hardest hikes in San Luis Obispo County.  Uncle Josh met us there.  It was a great hike, but there was a lot of poison oak and Josh told us it was over 90 degrees.  Partway up, Grandma asked if we wanted to keep going, and I said “Yes!”  Josh took Chris and Sophie back down to see if he could find the secret cave, but the rest of us kept trudging along till we finally made it to the top. I was really proud. I love doing hard things like that. Afterward, we went inside the secret cave.  It was almost cold inside, and there were about a million frogs and salamanders. Laney May was kind of freaked out. Then we went to Foster’s Freeze and all had giant rootbeer floats.

The next day we painted our tree forts.  Abbey Jane worked really hard on the girls’ fort, but too bad--the boys’ fort looks way cooler than theirs.  Eli painted our sign--it says “Troagans,” which can also be spelled “Trojans.”  We got so covered in blue paint that we had to have a water balloon fight.  Later, I learned how to play Farmopology with Jack and Eli and Grandma in the top of the barn.  I was the banker, so to keep it exciting, I kept adding extra money to the pot. Jack won over $2,000, thanks to me.  That night we made homemade ice cream in Uncle Josh and Aunt Andrea’s old-fashioned wood ice cream maker.  It was the best--but I was pretty disappointed that we didn’t get s’mores too.  For some reason, Jack decided to sleep in a different tent that night, so we stuck Sophie in between us.  I read her a good book and she slept great.

The next morning after we packed up our stuff and helped Grandpa take down the tents and clean up the barn, we sat on our stumps and had our last Cousin Camp meeting.  Chris got the award for the “Most Interesting Person,” and I got the one for “Best Fireside Philosopher.”  I don’t really know what that means, but Grandma said it was because I brought up the subject of angels. I hope we have Cousin Camp again next year.