18 December, 2012

Is it too late to post summer camping?

Of course not! It is cold in the North East and who doesn't want to be reminded of the scorching hot days?
Guess where we went? 

Ya, Fransted. 

We spent some time at Whale's Tale





 we watched a parade


 and spent even more time in the water


can't remember the last time we went to Whale's Tale, Spotty had a blast...as long as he didn't need to climb any stairs. So that pretty much cut all the water slides out. He did love the wave pool, and truth be told I am perfectly content here as well. The lazy river was ok, not fab, but worth a trip around.

The parade is a low key affair, we get candy tossed at us and we get to clap and cheer, I'm good with that. 

Then there is the water. I think a trip to big rock is going to be one of our "must dos" for the next few  years. 

12 December, 2012

Dear Spotty Chop you were 91 months old 9 days ago

You are doing a great job at the dentist! Your dad had to take you and the cleaning went without a hitch. This baby is why you need to brush your teeth. So your dentist appointments are pain and scare free.

We went to Nannie and Papas so BoyToy could help Papa move furniture and stuff, then we went uptown. The town did its first Luminary Night and we walked through a labyrinth and got popcorn. We should have brought warmer jackets. You were having a blast walking around and looking at all the lights. We had dinner over Favorite Uncles and Froggy’s. You were playing on Froggy’s IPAD and you were playing a game they had been playing for months. They were kind of blown away about the stuff you were able to teach them, even after only playing for 20-30 mins.

I went to NYC for the first time in years. I did an overnight, I should have gone for 2 nights as there was a lot to do, but we do what we can. You and your dad had a great Dude’s night. Neither of you will tell me what you did, but I know it involved take out and late night gaming. Your teacher wrote to tell me that you missed me. I missed you too kiddo.

You got your wish to go to a hotel. We went down the cape so I could go scrapbooking. You and your dad swam and bowled and explored. You found a shell that looked like the foot of a turtle statue that had been broken off. We remembered that the food for dinner kind of sucked so we went to the British Beer Co instead…we missed the ice cream so next year an earlier dinner! Also breakfast was beautiful right on the water, but expensive as hell for what we got, not sure what we will do next year…Someone misplaced the PSP so there was drama at the end of the scrapbooking…We will have a drama free trip someday. We were planning on leaving early anyways so you could get to a classmates birthday party. You had a great time more bowling, video games and laser tag! I have no idea what we are going to do for your party…

Thanksgiving was nice. It was the first time you actually ate what was prepared, but you thought the turkey was tasteless as well as the potatoes…You had a great time with your cousins…I think one or two of them kind of treated you like shit…I could have been reading into things, you weren't upset.

We went to cut down our Christmas tree. You had the best time ever. You were nervous because you remember getting a cut from last year. But for some reason you took to the saw like it was made for you and were cutting everything in sight.

A friend of mine was stranded one morning at the train station due to train problems and I explained that after I dropped you off I was going to pick her up. As we were getting ready you were very concerned that she had nothing to eat and drink along with being outside in the cold,  so we called her back to see if we could make her anything. She was very touched. As was I.

You are a such a great kid. We still play angry bull and trot trot. You love to sit on my lap when we watch TV and you have started playing with my hair again when you need comfort. You haven’t been playing on the gaming consoles much, but you can’t get off the computer.

Love ya baby

10 December, 2012

2012 Cookie Battle to the DEATH

1st - I planned on posting this on Friday but a kidney stone broke for freedom and it was a sucktasticly pain filled weekend.

Thursday was Bride's  2012 cookie swap. I'm not sure if I have ever written about this. Every year she hosts a cookie swap. I am not a baker, but I love the Bride and any opportunity I can find to spend time with her I will. There is always a theme to the swap, there are 3 judges, there are awards and prizes. I usually get a consolation prize. I did win one year  for my Irish Lace cookies (theme international). And last year I won most colorful story for my peppermint rod and flail cookies. (theme ancient gods/goddesses)  I was with Jmans mom, Campbell until about 10:30pm and then I had to make 6 dozen cookies, with a recipe I had never seen before, (that is part of the fun for me. I never try the cookies out in advance, when I find the recipe I make sure I know what the ingredients are, but then I don't look at it again until  the day I make the cookie...Its the thrill of imminent disaster.) and I didn't know you had to chill the dough, or how long it takes to chill 6 dozen cookies, jumping up and down on candy canes may have been involved.

This year I won 3 awards!!!! Campbell came with me which was a lot of fun. She liked the Bride, the Bride liked her...it is nice when friends like friends.

Enough of that, you want to know about  Cookiepocalypse 2012

The theme? Favorite Children's story. Mine? The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander. Lloyd was a contemporary of Tolkien. Fantastic series about an assistant Pig Keeper and his battle with the Horned King. My cookie? Hen-Wen's Oracle cookies.  (it wasn't just any old pig he watched) A Candied Bacon Chocolate Chunk cookie. How did I find this cookie? Google - and thank God for This woman

The Awards?

Best Disaster Story – So have you ever eaten candied bacon? HOLY SHIT IS IT GOOOOOD! It is soo frelling good that if you are eating it directly from the oven and the molten lava that is the caramelized sugar falls upon your face it will burn the hell out of you and leave you blistered and scarred...however you will NOT stop eating the bacon.

Weirdest Cookie – this is the award “as seen from a child"

And finally?

Crowd pleaser – mine was voted best by the other cookie bakers


Did I win the judges pick for BEST cookie????  NO! Some Bavarian Byotch who’s favorite story was Hansel and Gretel, who wore a GD COSTUME!!!  And apparently had a cookie cutter shipped from Germany and cut over 144 cookies, and the worst part is, the cookies were delish (or so I heard, had nuts in them so I couldn't try)

Ps one of the judges was a vegetarian…just sayin  

Next year? I'm dressin up!

03 December, 2012

Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,

How lovely are your branches!  We were on a quest this weekend...to  Pell Farms

Boy Toy found this place last year and we couldn't get over how easy it was to get a tree compared to the Mt Everest climb we had to do (with a 10-12 foot tree) at the place we had gone to for a few years. Spotty wasn't at all interested in this. He seemed to recall that last year Boy Toy had him "saw a tree" and he got scratched. I wish I could help calm his anxieties.


 We told him that he didn't need to saw anything, but this was something that we really looked forward to every year and we wanted him to come. Guess who had a great time? 

Yes that is mud you see, our Tree needed a bath when it got home

Too small


 Too cute

 Mad sawing skills

 Nope, this one wont work


 Sawing everything in sight!

 What about this one???

 Not in the least bit proud of himself



 More tools, more fun!



God forbid we ever find a tree closer to the entrance