Kitchen Patrol and Water Rodents

Aunt Mimi guessed it - K.P. stands for Kitchen Patrol! This year, I'm going to let the cousins clean up the dinner mess and tidy up in the evening. If it's on the list, it's final. Don't even think about arguing! (I know you won't.)

K.P. Responsibilities (Dinner only - all the other meals, we do it like before)

1. Put away leftovers and other food
2. Throw out trash (we'll split it up into categories: burnable and non-burnable)
3. Wash, dry and put away dishes
4. Run the vacuum if needed
5. Rub Aunt Shannon's back for 15 minutes

Doesn't K.P. sound like a fantastic idea?

Regarding water rodents, I would like anyone who is planning to go on the Island Expedition (check the calendar to see if you're old enough) to prepare a bit before we go. Uncle Ken and I have some suspicions about the island, but since we've never been there this will be the first opportunity to see if our suspicions are valid. We think that beavers live on the island and that they've been harvesting trees. Your assignment is to research beavers and find out some facts.

Whoa! Slow down! Just take some brief notes - I'm not suggesting a REPORT, it's SUMMER for crying out loud! Bring the notes with you so we can determine if beavers live on the island. Some questions I have are: What is a beaver's habitat? What do they eat? What is their home called? Do they always build dams or do they sometimes not build them? Why do they chew on trees? Can they breath under water? How many live together in one place? Do they live a long time? Do they have a lot of kid-beavers at one time? What are kid-beavers called, anyway? I have more questions, but that would make it a report and we already decided that it's summer and reports are NOT COOL. Hopefully one or more of you can help me out with the information. If you do, the Island Expedition will be a blast!

I don't know about you, but whenever I think of beavers I think of the Beaver family in the book, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." That is one of my favorite books ever. I saw a special license plate once that said "Aslan's" on it. I though it was pretty clever. What do you think the driver was trying to say about herself?

Meet you all in the livestock pavilion

Megan, you really need to watch the movie or you have NO CHANCE of winning the trivia contest. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. You will not get the prize-how sad is that? You will have lost before you started. Trust us, you will love the movie.

What are we doing and when?

It is now very easy to find out: The Cousin Camp Calendar.
I realize this version is very tiny. You can click on it to make it bigger. However, since this is a blog and not a website, I can't safely post it for download. Sooooo...you'll have to request me to email you a very large and legible version. You know where to go-it's lovecousincamp at gmail.com.

Gone for the weekend

Hello Cousins and friends!
Let's respond to some comments:

• Yes, we are having a talent show! And this year it will feature some magical fun!
• No, don't even think about having a farting contest. Someone I know has an unfair advantage in that department.
• Whoo-hoo! TTYD trivia. With PRIZES! I want to win.
• No one tried to guess what K.P. is? Perhaps everyone already knows?
• Aunt Hunter, I can spot your comments a mile away. Does Kaleigh know you've hijacked her username?
• What, nothing from Brooke and Ryan? Where are Sammie and Michael McKenna? They must not know we're here. Someone tell them they need to check out their photos on the blog. That will get their attention.

Love you all!
Aunt Shannon

It was sad (so sad!)

You'll need to know this song for the final campfire on Thursday. If you don't already sing it, ask your mom or dad to teach it to you.

THE TITANIC
Vs. 1
Oh, they built the ship Titanic
To sail the ocean blue
And they thought they had a ship
That the water would never go through
But the good Lord raised His hand
Said the ship would never land
It was sad when the great ship went down, down,down

Chorus:
It was sad (so sad!) It was sad
Hallelujah!
It was sad when the great ship went down
To the bottom of the sea
(husbands and wives, little children lost their lives)
It was sad when the great ship went down, down, down

Vs. 2
They were nearing Greenland's shore
When the water began to pour
And the rich would not associate with the poor
So they put them down below where they'd be the first to go
It was sad when the great ship went down, down, down

Chorus

Vs. 3
Lady Esther turned around just to see her husband drown
As the ship Titanic made a grumbling sound
She wrapped herself in mink
As the ship began to sink
It was sad when the great ship went down, down, down

Chorus

Vs. 4
Now the moral of the story is very plain to see
You should wear a life preserver when you go out to sea
The Titanic never made it, and never more shall be
It was sad when the great ship went down, down, down

Welcome, Cousins and Friends

Ta-Da! The blog is LIVE and I am excited! The website...not so much. Turns out that what THEY considered easy when I signed up is not easy for me.

No problem. While I work on the website issues (Help! somebody, please, Help!) I'll post information here to get everyone started. Check back everyday-if I haven't posted anything new, there will still be very interesting comments from the cousins to check out. That means you'll have to be interesting, I'm relying on you all. Grown-ups can post too-but you have to be extra interesting.

By the way, I can't find photos from Cousin Camp 2008. Email me your favorites from last year and I'll post them on the blog. My special, cousin-camp-only email is lovecousincamp at gmail.com .

Soon, you'll be seeing a schedule of events, a menu of dee-lish-us food and information about K.P. K.P is new to Cousin Camp this year and Aunt Shannon thinks it's going to be the best thing ever! Some of you may have heard of K.P. If you have, don't spill the beans. Let's see if anyone can guess what the K and the P stand for, and what K.P. is. If you already know, keep it to yourself for a few days while the others try to figure it out. Put your guesses in the comments.

Bookmark this page! Visit often! Make interesting comments! Work your cyber-mojo and help turn this blog into the greatest thing on the web!

Love to everyone,
Aunt Shannon