Today was our last full day at the campground. Steve was ready to go home... Amaya LOVES camping and thinks this is her new home... and I was ready for another week and then home.
Friday was going to be a very full day of travelling and packing up, so Steve started taking down the screened-in tent and packed everything with the exception of a change of clothes and toiletries. Amaya played in the tent with her cars and stuffed animals while Steve and I started getting things organized.
For lunch, Steve built a beautiful fire and we had grilled cheese sandwiches, chips, and pears. At one of my friend's suggestions, we bought a Coleman sandwich maker to put over the fire. We were a little skeptical at how well it would work, but we had great success! The sandwiches were delicious!
While Steve continued to pack, Amaya and I went to the playground. She's gaining more confidence in introducing herself to kids and it's very sweet to watch her interact with them. A new family moved into the campsite behind us and they had two girls - Joslyn (4 years old) and Kyree (1 1/2 years old). Amaya spotted Joslyn right away and wanted to go play with her and of course, she wanted me to come with (so I could do all the talking for her!) Not this time... I reviewed with Amaya what she could say - tell the girl your name, ask her what her name is, ask her how old she is, does she want to play, is it okay with her parents. After 5 minutes or so, Amaya finally gained up the courage to go talk to her and found out that Joslyn is much more shy than Amaya is! Both of them had stuffed animals and from the little I could tell, they were simply "dancing" their stuffed animals on the picnic table and hadn't said very much to each other. Guess you don't really need a lot of words to make a new friend...
Unfortunately, it was getting close to dinner and with my camp stove tightly packed away in the mini-van, we decided to go back to the Dixie Saloon in Mackinaw City. Amaya cried and cried and cried when she was told she had to leave her new friend, but decided that she was going to draw her some pictures in the car and give them to her when we returned. (I think she colored 15 different pictures for little Joslyn).
When we returned, Amaya ran over to Joslyn's campsite only to find that her grandparents had also set up camp across the road and Joslyn was over there. Amaya raced over there, gave the pictures to Joslyn and then happily ran back to our campsite. Very sweet!
We were just in time for Candy Bar Bingo and Steve won two candy bars!! Then, we decided to play a little shuffleboard. Amaya had quite a bit of fun but lost interest quickly. She thought it was more fun to play hopscotch on the shuffleboard floor!
After shuffleboard, I got Amaya showered and dressed in pajamas and then headed down to Cindy's Cinema for one last movie. Steve picked up popcorn for me and Superman ice cream for the two of them. Such fun memories!
