Let the Camping begin!

We spent Memorial Day in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It was bitterly cold Friday night and Saturday wasn’t much better. That didn’t mean the weekend was a loss, on the contrary we had a splendid time! I packed the car whilst Boy Toy was at work and Spotty was at school. It went really well, really fast. I should have known that something was wrong. Somehow the heater, stove and we thought Boy Toy’s clothes didn’t make the trip with us. 

The heater would have been nice as it was below freezing, but we survived. The stove would have been even better, but Boy Toy managed to have a fire burning and water boiling so there was tea, coffee and hot coco. Saturday morning Boy Toy decided that he wanted breakfast and he wanted breakfast at the Littleton Diner. We have been coming to Littleton for…27 years or so and we have NEVER eaten here. We always say that we should and we finally did. The food was great, the service was fantastic, we will be back. We did our typical Chutters run. We told Spotty Chop to come up with the 5 things he really wanted because we have a bag (or 3) from Chutters that he did not finish. There is SO MUCH candy that he just can’t seem to say no to anything, and a lot of things that seem like a good idea at the time turns out to be stuff that he only wanted a piece of. We reminded him that we would be back in July (twice!!! Moo and Family are coming with us later in July!!!!!!) So Spotty got a lot less candy, but got the things he really wanted (plus a few…cauz it’s the first trip to Chutters for the year).  Spotty wanted pork chops for dinner and luckily the cooking grate came with us. Boy Toy cooked us up some incredibly tasty chops and baked potatoes. Is there anything that tinfoil can’t do? There was an ice cream social that we of course attended because ICE CREAM IS A GOD GIVEN RIGHT, not a privilege. Even if it is below freezing.

Sunday was gorgeous. Boy Toy and I wanted to take a hike, but Spotty really just wanted to hang out at the campground, so we hung out. Cribbage and board games were played, 

reading was read, knitting was knit and Spotty was having a great time with a bungee cord. I honestly have no idea what he was doing, but he was entertaining himself (something that he says he can NOT DO without VIDEO GAMES – big bone of contention lately and we are like “no dude, you can, you just gotta try” – later Sunday night I said “you were having fun with the bungee cord?” and he is all “I had a blast” so I said “that’s what we are talking about when we say “entertain yourself” – it was a light bulb moment…I hope). 

There was also start of the season cake! We do love us some cake. So we hung out down by the big tent, Spotty painted a dragon, we played ladder ball and some board games. Boy Toy cooked us some steak and more taters. It was a perfectly relaxing day. We had a fire Monday morning (tea and coffee were needed) and packed up so that we could go to Polly’s Pancakes. They remodeled over the winter. The building was starting to collapse. So they tore down the 100+ year building and put a new one up in its place.  It is now heated and air conditioned and fully handicap accessible and the best part? It really looks the same. It is bigger, but they didn’t try and cram more tables in (well, maybe a couple). It has the exact same look and feel. We were so happy! The old building was so perfectly charming that we were afraid that it would be lost. But they did an exceptional job. We were well fed for our 3-4 hour trip home.

We stopped in at Boy Toy’s oldest brother’s as they were having a cookout. Spotty and his cousin Terminator had a water fight, they ended up getting so wet they jumped into the pool (one of those quick to set up jobs you can get at Walmart/Target) it was perfect for splashing around. I think we finally got home around 7 or 8 pm. EVERYONE took a shower and then off to bed.

I didn’t mention video games, not because they didn’t happen, but because I am a bit grumpy about it. Spotty Chop is having an incredibly difficult time unplugging. We are trying really hard to help him unplug, but not make it seem like a punishment. Spotty has a 3DS that he really hasn’t been playing at all since he got his tablet (Simpsons Tapped Out rulz!!!!) so I purchased a Harvest Moon game for me and some monster hunter 4 game for Boy Toy. As we are all WELL aware Boy Toy and I are huge gamers and I thought it might be fun to have our own games to play when Spotty was busy with his tablet. 

How much gaming time do you think I got? And Boy Toy? Did you guess 0? Yea – so lesson learned do NOT buy a new game(s) before a trip unless all you want to see is the top of Spotty’s head hovered over the 3DS. I should have realized that a) internet is rare in the mountains,  b) new games are new games, and I happen to be a great game picker outer and c) unplugging is impossible when the lure of a new game is at hand. 

Happy Halloween!

What? Halloween was a month ago? You don’t say?

We got the party started with Moo, Freak Show, Hippy Chick & Cheese Please on our 1,0000000000000 annual pumpkin carve. Freak Show made us the BEST sausage in the world cuz he uses a cast iron skillet.

Spotty Chop had a lot of fun playing with the puppy.

We carved our hearts out

(even if hippy chick abandoned us to take photos on OUR OWN ).

This was Spotty Chop's first all by himself with no help (well, maybe Boy Toy helped cut the top off, that's always the hardest.) - Frankenstein!

This was my favorite - Cheese Please did it

So hippy chick abandoned us, but luckily CIS was there to save the day!

For more adventures of the Cheese-It Sister

But the most fun was watching Moo & Spotty. Moo was feeling super shitty, and yet she allowed “this” to happen.

Hmmm that reminds me of something…but what? 

Outlaws at the Providence Bruins

Spotty Chop and his team played during the first intermission at the Providence Bruins last weekend. We had such a blast and Spotty seemed to have fun too. They didn't win, but that wasn't the point. Spotty told us "When I got onto the ice I just stood there and thought WOW." 

Us too kiddo

 he's next to pinky mcpinkerson

 a snickety snack before going down to play

he is on the left...#5

he just passed to #57

Summer Camping at Sweetwater Forest campground

We went camping down the Cape this past weekend with Moo, Freak Show, Cheese Please and Cheez-It Hippy Chick (CIHC).  On the ride down there was…traffic, and I realized that the only time we have been to Sweetwater was during Columbus Day, when most people have stopped camping. I was hoping I didn’t make a grave error in judgment as I had no idea what the campground would be like with lots of people in it. Luckily the camping gods were with us  and we had a great time. It wasn’t Fransted great, but being closer means we may get to go camping with certain people more often. Moo & family recently got a new dog and it was Puppy’s  first time camping. We think she may have had a bit of fun.

Spotty Chop is still very skittish as he is afraid that when she jumps her claws and teeth are going to  hurt, but the more he is around her the more comfortable he is getting. Boy toy and I love her claw and teeth marks  and see them as a badge of honor. Puppy has been going to training classes and we got to watch some of the training up close. Puppy is a wicked SMAHT dog, and it was a lot of fun seeing what goes into training one.

We rented canoes and splashed our way around the pond

(Moo loves having her picture taken )

Spotty decided to sleep in the car BY HIMSELF this weekend. I can’t Frelling believe that I did not snap A SINGLE PHOTO OF HIM IN HIS COZY NEST. He is thinking that he should have his own tent for Labor Day camping…. The first night he woke up after 1am, wandered around the campsites realized we were all asleep and got back into the car and went back to sleep.

ME: “You could have come into the tent with us”

Spotty: laughing “I didn’t want to”

Who the hell is this child and what has he done with Spotty?!

Cheese Please was on a mission to enjoy camping with her Cheez-It sister. I didn’t get a lot of shots with the two of them, but she made sure that CIS was very active during the camping trip. 

Hippy Chick  tried to bring Potato Chip Cheese Please (PCCP) to the beach with her, but the level of effort on her part was disappointing.

We also had a terror alert. Spotty asked if he could run up to the camp store and buy something, we said sure and off he went.

Boy toy comments “it’s not like him to be this long – do you want me to check?”

Does a bear shit?

Boy toy went off and a little later he comes back saying “he wasn’t at the store, he wasn’t at the video arcade”. I start to panic. Is he lost and crying (the campground is huge, there are some sections we have never been in, it always takes me till the day we leave before I know where I am going.)  Moo tells me to breathe. Boy Toy and I head out again to see if we can find him. Long story short he was fine. He didn’t get lost. On his way to the store he had to go to the bathroom and then he went to the store. Freak Show found him. As I was wandering around trying to find/hear him and slowly going crazy with the thoughts that some serial rapist/killer had dragged him into one of the unknown sections of the campground I saw Freak Show walking quickly in the distance. Seeing him reminded me that we weren’t alone, Moo/Freak Show/Cheese Please/Puppy were with us, and would help us until we got Spotty Chop back.   I am usually a great person to be around in a crisis. I am able to hold it together until the crisis passes (and then I meltdown), but I have a feeling I will not be so good when it involves Spotty. I have never been so scared. And as a parent you are going to have several of these “never been so scared” moments, but Christ on a Cracker. I NEVER want to be in that position again.

Spotty Chop was pretty sad that we had to go home so soon. Cheese Please  distracted him by letting him assist her in making a pancake breakfast for all of us. Tasty cakecakes (again with no photos, I am not sure what was up with my brain this weekend)!

Dear Spotty Chop you are 112 months old

Start of Summer addition

You seem to be enjoying summer explorer camp this year. So far you have gone to:

• Nantasket Beach
• Hopkinton State Park
• Scussett Beach
• Dinosaur Exhibit
• Goddard State Park

Papa has taken you to:

• Lego Land – you had fun
• Heritage Museum & Gardens – you LOVED this – they had 2 exhibits you couldn’t stop talking about. The first was “Wicked Plants”, detailing all sorts of plants that can kill you Papa said you read EVERY description – hahaha – welcome to our world. There was also a “Big Bug” exhibit, you had to search the grounds for all of the man made, wooden bugs.

You and J-Man have swam and made sugar cookies at our place (there is a water balloon fight, tie dying and rice crispy treats in your futures too!)

You have been camping twice with another trip this weekend AND we had the extra crunchie bonus of having my favorite godson, his sister and their parents (my uncle & aunt) here for the week. We got to see them once, you were SOO disappointed that you didn’t get to spend a week with GO, but you guys made the most of the time you had.

Movies you have watched:

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – it was insane watching you watch this – you at times were dancing you were so excited, well sometimes with glee, but often you did the dance of annoyance-  any time we had to pause the movie)
• The Spy Next Door (you were extremely nervous that you wouldn’t like this, but we explained that Jackie Chan has done a lot of funny movies) – you loved it
• Free Birds  - you were happy
• And something else that for the life of me I can’t remember

You have added several things to your mealtime adventures:

• Hamburger (both burgers and just hamburger in stuff – TACOS!!!! YOU LOVE TOACOSSSSSSSSSssssssssssssssss)
• Sausage (you have been eating breakfast sausage for awhile, but now you do sweet Italian – in fact the other night Boy Toy was grilling sausage for our supper and I had him grill two packages 1 for dinner and 1 that I would throw into a spaghetti sauce the next day. You ate 7 sausages, you would have eaten more, but I refused. I had 2…
• Piquant pork chops  - this is a recipe that your great-grandmother (Nannie’s mom) used to make. To be honest with you I was expecting you to dislike it and I had BIG plans on having the leftovers for lunch today, but guess who loved it….well, you didn’t care for the red peppers and I didn’t understand when you kept saying “it has too much ketchup”  what you really meant was peppers – once I explained and we moved the peppers away you went to town. Yet another recipe that will soon need to be doubled (hold the peppers)  

Summer Reading:

I took you and J-man to the library’s summer reading kick off – they had a magician Peter Boie that was really cool, “Peter started learning magic at age 11 from a magic book he checked out of his local library.  That interest turned into a career as a professional magician which takes him around the country performing for people in all walks of life.”

The neat thing about the program this summer is that not only do you fill out periodic table for every 30 mins they read (we can’t help loving the elements  - http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/theymightbegiants/meettheelements.html), but they are also given an optional science experiment  to do (for more changes of prizes). This will be great for kids like J-man who find reading challenging/boring.  You are super excited about it (last year’s theme was pirates and doubloons).   I get kind of bummed when we go to events at the library when there are very few kids your age or older. Why aren’t more people at the Library? BOOOOOKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Our town is often an odd town.

We are also doing the Barns & Noble  summer reading program where you read 8 books and then you get a free book. Who doesn’t love FREE!!!??

Books read: (or in the midst of reading, which I really don’t get as I don’t have multiple books going at the same time, I find your reading style an abomination, not that I would say such a thing, get a book, read book, move to the next. THAT is the order of things):

• BIG NATE AND FRIENDS
• OPHELIA AND THE MARVELOUS BOY
• GAME OVER, PETE WATSON
• Dragon Keepers #3: The Dragon in the Library

At least these are the ones I know about…I may be missing a few as you sometimes just read and I don’t notice and then I say “Spotty, why don’t you read “xxx” and you go “I read that awhile ago”.  Or the stuff you read in school. Your teacher let you all take home a book and a couple of magazines if you wanted the last day of school. You brought home “Fudgeamania” by Judy Blume. I said “oh are you going to read that?” And you replied “I already read this. In fact this was maybe my most favorite book I have read.” Really? It’s one of your most favorite and I had no idea. YOU are growing up far too fast my boy.  We are also listening to the Hobbit on CD and I am reading you The Familiars #3: Circle of Heroes.

Well two weeks into Summer and you are really into the swing of things. I couldn’t be happier. You are an amazing individual. Love ya kiddo 

WPI's Touch Tomorrow Festival

A couple of weekends ago we went to WPI’s Touchtomorrow event that is cosponsored by NASA. This event is free to the public and allows everyone to get up close and personal with Robots, astronauts, professors and students who have built/are building/thinking about building cool stuff.  There was  a ton of stuff for kids to do. Spotty’s eyes were aglow. He was enraptured listening to one of the mechanical engineering professors. He was talking about how they initially go to home depot when they are building proto types of items that would help the disabled. I never would have expected Spotty to be interested, but he didn’t want to leave. Spotty was also able to drive around a couple of robots and play video games that the students created.  We spent at least 5 hours there, and could have spent more. Spotty got a very cool NASA patch for completing his “passport” (going around to various shows/talks and getting a stamp to say he participated).  We will definitely be back next year.