The Gulag P-Pa Diaries

First Year: Mema joins the four girls on the sofa with everyone wearing their camp T-shirt with the camp logo. The girls sit in reverse order of their birth, L-R, Carys, Miriam, Mema, Cora, and Hannah.

Second Year (flags): Camp Mema/Gulag P-Pa fell on July Fourth, so all the girls got in the patriotic spirit before heading out to watch fireworks. L-R, Carys, Hannah, Cora, and Miriam.

Second Year (upset): Still too young to participate in the festivities, little Jackson was not happy when he learned he would not be staying with his sisters and cousins at camp.

Third Year (gang): Everyone dressed up in Western attire in preparation to shoot the camp movie, The Good, the Bad, and the Cutely. The cowhands are, L-R, Carys, Hannah, Jackson, Cora, and Miriam.

Third Year (Picasso): Jackson earned the sobriquet of “The Picasso of Refrigerator Magnets” for his talent of stacking the magnets on top of each other, not just on the refrigerator surface like his sisters and cousins.

Fourth Year: At each camp, Mema and P-Pa host a universal birthday party so they can celebrate the annual milestones together. Here the Grands are getting ready to open their gifts. Clockwise from left, Hannah, Miriam, Jackson, Cora, and Carys.

Fifth Year: Originally purchased as a set for the Western movie, the Western town became a camp favorite. L-R, Jackson, Carys, Miriam, Hannah, and Cora.

Sixth Year (flowers): Each year on the last day of camp, the Grands send P-Pa out to buy flowers for Mema as thanks for all the work she does in cooking food and keeping order in the house. L-R, Jackson, Carys, Hannah, Mema, Miriam, and Cora

Sixth Year (outfits): In addition to running the household during camp, Mema sews each camper a summer outfit, which they open at the universal birthday party. Here they are modeling Mema’s latest creations. L-R, Miriam, Carys, Mema, Jackson, Hannah, and Cora.

Seventh Year: The reactions from Cora, Jackson, Miriam, and Carys after Mema announced that this was cookie-pizza day.