Baylor Beach Campground, Navarre, Ohio
Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ~ Mark 10:14
In case you’re wondering, the reason I’m so far behind is due to slim to none internet service. Blaine tells me I should expect more if that this summer. . . .
If you haven’t already, there are two posts below this one – our month at home in Ohio, and Blaine’s birthday. If you’re interested, just scroll down until you come to them. 😊
This was a fun-filled week, spent with our three oldest grandsons! But it was not without peril, as Blaine chose this time to twist his knee – doing practically nothing but turning in the coach. Ouch!! Fortunately, the Jeep was holding onto a knee brace from back in the day when he’d sometimes have to wear it to hike. It helped, but his movements were limited, and you know what that means . . . . Gma had to step up with a bit more activity than she’d planned to expend with three active boys – and now adding a disabled Gpa. Whew!
Let’s see what I can remember about this whirlwind week.
DAY ONE
We picked up the boys and all their gear around noon on Saturday. I must say, Jessica’s organizational skills in packing for three boys for a week was exceptional and made things much easier on us! Thanks, J!
So off we went, heading south to Navarre and Amish Country.
It was roughly a 45 minute drive which was perfect for setting a 15-minute timer for time in the front seat. With three type-A boys, you have to be ever cognizant to dole out fairness, you know.
Blaine reserved the best site in the entire Park! We had a hugely gigantic, relatively level yard! Perfect for boys to run and play ball in! Is he the best, or what?!?
Of course the first order of business after setting up, was a trip to the lake. Notice, I said lake. I mention that specifically because it was not warm. A lake requires solar heat to bring it up to comfortable swimming temperatures and as anyone in northeast Ohio knows, there has been precious little sun so far this summer. Brrrrr……. Naturally, the kiddos barely noticed. At least once you dried off, the weather was great!
Dinner was hot dogs on the fire, and as we ate, a surprise!
People flocked from all over to buy their wares they had set up. We checked it out once dinner was done and took home a jar of Blackberry jam. Yummy!! And look! There were just enough of Blaine’s birthday cupcakes leftover for each of us to have one! Double yummy!!
Chris has three!
This was bedtime reading for Alex every night!
DAY TWO
Quiet time in this park doesn’t end until 9am! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to keep excited, active kids quiet until 9am? Breakfast and church in the coach helped. In fact, we did daily devotions the entire week, and near the end of the week, the youngest actually stopped rolling his eyes when we said it was time after breakfast each morning. 😊
And then there’s also the fact that swimming didn’t open until 11am. So what are grandparents to do?
Today, we took them on the only trail around here. It wasn’t much, but we still managed to find a few interesting things to look at.
Boys loved it!
Those are the safety glasses Blaine received from Gregg,
and he’s also wearing the clover necklace I made during our walk.
The funny of the week was today when we were discussing cereal options for breakfast. We had Honey Nut Cherrios, Lucky Charms (Max’s special request), Crispix, Mini Wheats . . . . well, you get the picture. Anyway, when we got to Crispix, Alex said, “Wait. We’re gonna eat my dad?!?” Crispix – – Chris Pecks – – – get it? 😊 It was hysterical and we’ll never think of that cereal the same again!
If I’m not mistaken, I believe this is the day Blaine twirked his knee in the afternoon. Before that, he was able to help divide and conquer the boys in the water, taking on the middle one who wasn’t all that into freezing in the water and wanted to go home earlier than the other two.
We all thought these were funny! 
Actually, more than just safety, it allows the lifeguards to take a break. : )
The lifeguard yelled at me for getting on it.
In trouble again! No one ever lets me have any fun . . . .
Alex got fairly good at this by the end
Max never quite mastered the concept. : )
Most of the pictures are of him. : )
Once we were all warmed up and dry, there were various activities until an early bedtime. Max (the youngest) started asking early in the day to hit the hay by 8pm, but we managed to hold him off until 8:30. We were all ready by then. And in case you’re wondering, in this small an area, when one goes to bed, we all do! 😊
It’s a good math game. Simple, fun for any number of players.
If you’re able to turn all the tiles down, you get to shut the box.
It was popular in the mid to late 1700’s when the men got together.
DAY THREE
Today brought rain and thus a trip into Canton to check out the McKinley Museum, where we learned a bit about our assassinated 25th president, sat in their planetarium, and visited their hands-on science discovery venue. They were especially fascinated with the pendulum. We stood around and watched it knock down pegs – especially while we were waiting for Gpa to run to the Jeep in the rain to retrieve our lunch, and again when we were waiting for the rain to let up enough for Gpa to run out and bring the Jeep to us so we could leave. 😊 Now that I think about it, maybe that wasn’t so good for his knee . . . .
As in the inscription on the top that says “Vnited States of America”.
And another example – “Let vs .. .”
A groundhog!
Where’s Bill Murray? (lol!)
So far, it’s not raining, but it’s coming!
William McKinley 
Ida Saxton-McKinley
See the elevated vacuum in the background? This is a demonstration by Hoover to show how powerful their sweeper is! I even gave it a shot and it had no trouble lifting me as well!
Try to make it spin, then push the button down in the middle and try again. What a difference!
But Max thought she was creepy. : )
I should’ve recorded her longer so you could have time to get a good laugh in too!
complete with animatronics of the couple talking about various issues.
My great grandfather had a butcher shop in Hartville, so this was possibly his father’s (my great-great gpa)! Mom doesn’t know his name because her Gpa never talked about his family.
since the photographer’s nether regions butted up against the door. : )
We took the boys to a saloon!
Funny thing – – people kept going in and out of the paneled wall behind Alex!
Pretty funny to watch. : )
This was before the show.
Blaine managed to get two at a time going!
The boys were all having a splendid time today. Right up until they set off the Tesla energy creating machine they were using at an orientation meeting – upstairs from where we were. It was loud and crackled vast amounts of electrical energy even through the floor/ceiling and scared the begeebers out of poor Cody. ☹
We left shortly thereafter.
We returned home about dinner time to discover that the crock pot we’d left had overflowed sauerkraut juice all over the counter, and when we went to clean up after dinner, found the inside so burnt up with juice, we had to toss the thing in the trash. But dinner was excellent!
The evening was spent indoors because of the wet outside. I think we watched the movie “Shrek” besides doing puzzles and playing games.
DAY FOUR
We all pitched in to make Gpa’s famous waffles (with butter, syrup, berries and whipped cream!!) and sausage for breakfast, and let me tell you, in our small space, it wasn’t the easiest thing to accomplish, especially since we set up our long table in the middle of the room. But what a great start to the day!
Alex hulled the strawberries and set the table.
Gpa’s knee is feeling a bit worse today, so Gma and the boys collected some sticks after breakfast for an evening fire and found that when you walked past the pond, the fish would come right up to the shore and beg! I went back to the coach and found some bread crusts to feed the poor starving creatures. (she said sarcastically) And another great adventure and time-filler was enjoyed while we waited for time to swim.
And there was another day of swimming.
Alex looks like he needs rescued!
Back home, Gpa allowed Alex (the oldest) to play with fire by giving him paper and a magnifying glass. Even though he was patient and spent a lot of time on it, he was never able to actually start a fire, just burned holes in the paper and had some smoke. ☹
But look at what he made for us!
And each night, one of the boys had to help me with dishes. They did a great job and never once complained!
DAY FIVE
It’s significant to note the car parked beside us. Not only is it a 1959 “Ghostbusters” car (as the boys loved to call it – hahaha), but you’ll find it in a surprising place this morning.
About 7:45 we opened the shade and even with the sun right on his face,
Cody still didn’t stir for another 10 minutes or so!
Too busy!
Cute vintage trailer though!
Remember to remember it. : )
Today promised to be a nice day, so it was time to go on another field trip. This time, to learn a bit about the Amish community. I grew up in Uniontown and went to school in Uniontown and then Hartville back when most everyone was Amish or Mennonite except me and a handful of other kids, so I was already aware of their lifestyle, but the boys had never even seen an Amish buggy – or so they said. We’d talked about it some when the Amish came to the campground, but today, we visited a farm complete with animals (lots and lots of babies!!), a tour of a house with an Amish guide and a buggy ride, driven by an Amish man.
During the house tour, we were told of how they live without electricity, what different sects allow and don’t allow, and their clothes. When she got to the part about the ladies wearing their “hats” all the time, I asked her to explain why they do that – for the benefit of the boys. She told them it’s because the Bible says that women should have their heads covered. Soft-hearted, eager to learn (especially about spiritual things), Cody asked Blaine to show him where that was in the Bible. So when we got home, the two of them looked it up. 1 Corinthians 11:3-16 covers this. And while I’m tempted to get into a lesson on this, I’m going to refrain and simply say that back in Paul’s day, a woman who walked around with her head uncovered was usually sexually promiscuous (i.e. a prostitute). But this is not how the Amish choose to interpret Paul’s words. And fortunately for Blaine, Cody didn’t ask any more questions about it. 😊
By the way, none of the offerings in the store were Amish made.
It was all commercial stuff. : (
There were friendly cats everywhere.
which one of the 10 Commandments strictly forbid.
You power your lamps with batteries connected to a gas powered generator.
Personally, I think that’s stretching the rule a bit . . .
It’s a hat holder for a man’s dress hat!
My Gpa took thick-sliced Trail bologna to work every day. . . .
between two slices of buttered Roman Meal bread,
which he put together and then patted twice. : )
We were quite surprised at how modern it looks.
Oh! And at the end of the tour, we were able to purchase various items from their very own bakery (we actually saw a woman making things on our tour). We each bought a cookie (everyone ended up choosing a different kind from the wide variety) and a loaf of fresh bread. Once we got around to eating them, everything was wonderful! And by the way, we think she was using propane to bake with, but we didn’t think to ask.
But I was the stronger one. No puppies allowed!
And kittens, and horses, and . . . .
Fortunately, there was a strategically placed playground. : )
I snapped this one quickly.
There’s a schoolhouse on the grounds as well.
School was not in session today,
but they leave it open for the tourists.
The Amish only go to school through 8th grade.
After the farm, we sought out the World’s Largest Cuckoo Clock and walked around Sugarcreek just a bit while waiting for it to chime (on the half hour).
Somehow, everyone except Blaine missed the “Cuckoo”. He said it struck the hour before the music started.
I liked this one because it depicts who Belden Village Mall was named after.
Cody didn’t quite capture the idea. : )
After that, it was time for a snack at Heini’s Cheese factory! If you’ve never been, they set out tiny samples of each of the types of cheese and fudge, etc. and send you around with toothpicks to sample them all! In the hopes you’ll make purchases, of course. But yum-mmee!! And we limited the boys’ samples because we wanted them hungry for dinner.
Amish buffet!! Every item we tried – and we tried most all of them! – was scrumptious at Der Dutchman! But dinner wasn’t without its own set of “issues”. Not bad things, just unexpected things. Cody took a look at a menu placemat and decided that instead of a buffet, he wanted a cheeseburger and cottage cheese. And Max, although excited by the prospect of the buffet and all you can eat, walked up to the serving area and was immediately struck with the overwhelming amount of food and opted out, only taking a couple of pieces of fish and some salad items. However, I believe Blaine, Alex and I more than compensated for the two youngest. 😊 And once we were finished, our server came by with tokens for each of the boys for free cookies from their bakery. And they weren’t just token bite-sized cookies like you get everywhere else. These were full size, 3” chocolate chip!
Well, maybe not Max . . .
But they all had cookies!
DAY SIX
An all day rain calls for Game Day! So once Gma’s kitchen closed (bacon and eggs of every sort, a bit like a restaurant – over easy, scrambled, omelets and Mennonite farmer’s eggs – recipe at the end – which I learned how to make as a young teen from my Mennonite friend’s mother.), we had our devotional and then it was game on!
It was a great day filled with all sorts of games, chosen at random from a bowl (to keep the arguments non-existent).
He concentrates very hard. : )
Blaine and Max still won though. : (
And then we made homemade pizza for dinner! It was supposed to be in individual pie-makers over the fire, but the rain sort of wilted that idea. And I’m going on record – again – saying that I do not like convection ovens. I do not like them Sam I Am! The pizza in the toaster oven was perfect. The larger one in the convection oven? Not. It didn’t bake right and the crust never browned. . . . Every time I use it (which is rarely), I swear I’ll never use it again. And then necessity dictates I must. But I don’t like it.
FARMER’S EGGS
1 egg
1 slice bread
Bacon grease OR vegetable oil
Syrup
Cut out the center of the bread with a regular kitchen drinking glass. Set the hole aside to toast.
Preheat a skillet over medium heat. Add the grease or oil to the pan (just enough to cover the bottom). Place the cut bread in the hot pan. Break the egg into the hole. Continue cooking as you would easy-over (dip-in) eggs.
When you flip the egg, toast the bread.
Serve with hot syrup poured over the egg.
Serves 1
HINT: I learned how to make these when I was in middle school and stayed at my Mennonite friend’s house. Her family ate them all the time. I brought it home to my family and passed it on to my kids, who’ve now passed it on to theirs.
DAY SEVEN
Time to head home. It was a day to pack up and head out by 11am, so between breakfast and devotions, there was really no time for anything else.
And a good time was had by all!! Including Chris and Jessica. 😊