summer stuff...

Well, I will not be getting one of these anytime soon.
http://2006.weblogawards.org/

I seem to be letting down my public. Well, I guess it's okay that there are only 5 of you.

Anyway, here's how our summer has gone so far. The first week off, Connor had Farm camp again. This is a day camp at Shelburne Farms. He went last year as well and loved it. The child might grow up to be a farmer! The weather that week was a challenge. Monday was fine, and Aisling and I had a grand time hanging around the farm, especially watching the vavy goats. Ask her about it, it's a riot to hear her describe them! Tuesday was HOT! I was miserable, but she did not want to leave! It got up to something like 94 that day. Wednesday I jumped ship and we went shopping. Thursday we did errands too, but I forget what. On Friday we stayed at camp again for the day. All in all it was a good week, if not hot and sweaty! Pictures:


Connor milking a goat! Connor with a baby Aisling with said baby
goat on his lap!

Aisling holding a baby chick Cool camper dude!



Driving the tractor!

The following week we had nothing planned. So, I improvised with some teacher skills. (*laugh*) We had craft day, baking day, and field trip day. We had a great week! We made banana bread, and went to the Ben and Jerry's factory. That was a blast!

Baking bread:


Ben and Jerry's:

Yummy! So messy!


Aisling's boyfriend Vaughan


Hunter, Connor, Aisling and Vaughan

That week was also July 4th. That was fun. We had the annual family olympics at Julie's house. You should have been there to see Al and Wyatt compete in the three-legged race! That was amusing! On the Wednesday of July 4th it rained terribly in the evening, so we didn't go to our loval fireworks. But, we went to the Burlington ones on the 3rd. All in all a fun time.

The following week we were away again! We went camping with Simone and her kids, and Julie. We were suppoesd to go to the New Jersey shore, like last year, but through nothing short of a family world war, that plan was crashed. SO, we opted to spend one day at the New Hampshire shore, and then a few days in Northern new Hampshire. Well, nothing like great plans, huh?

We were supposed to try to leave at around 10:00 on Monday. We left closer to 1:00, and left in the pouring rain. When we got to camp near the shore, we had barely enough time to set up camp and feed the kids. The kids were so crazy from being in the car all day, they were having a hard time listening. We were so busy trying to get camp set up before midnight that we were having a hard time watching. Long story short, Connor literally fell INTO the fire. Yes, I thought my son was on fire. I have never moved so fast, or felt anything so terrible. He landed butt first in the lighted fire. I got him onto the ground. Somehow, he was not on fire. However, the fire pit was made out of an old tire rim, so it was metal. HOT metal. As he went to stand up, his upper inner arm rested on the hot metal. Oh it was a terrible burn. It was such a scary time. Somehow, that burn managed to stay extremely clean, and it's healing very nicely. One sad part of that is that all the other children (ages 9, 5, and 3) saw him in the fire. I think we all had some PTSD from that.

Well, that tragedy over, we decided to try to hit the beach the next day. We got up and had a nive relaxing morinng. We were camped directly across from the camp playground, so the kids played reallyt well all morning, and we women bonded over eggs and coffee! Well, weggs and bonding lead to late departures for the beach! We arrived at around 3:00 I think. but, still ventured into the water! That was a blast. We then had dinner at the Whale's tale, after doing lots of unneccesary shopping. I grew up going to Hampton beach every summer, so it was really fun and strange to go there with my own kids.

The next day we were headed to Northern New Hampshire. Of course, with this group, we gott off to a late start. We wanted to do some outlet shopping along the way. We got there at around 1:00, shopped until about 4:00 and got to camp for about 7:30. As we drove the weather got worse and worse. eventually, the skies opened and it downpoured. We worked like crazy to get camp set up. We hung tarps, set up the tent, and worked, all in the pouring dripping rain. We were soaked. The kids were waiting in the car. At one point, Connor opened the door, said Aisling had to go to the bathroom. He took her, crying the whole time, to the bathroom himself. He held her hand, and hugged her when they got back. Boy those kids can shine when the pressure is on. Anyway, after we finally got everything set up, we took off for the nearest hotel. We bought some pizza, fed it to the kids at 10:00 PM, and slept warm, clean, and dry!

The next day, we headed back to camp to assess the damages. Somehow, things stayed relativly dry. We really didn't ne4ed to change anything. We finished unpacking, set up matteresses, and left for Santa's village. What a wonderful place that is! I can't say enough great things about it. We will definitly be going there again. We all had a blast!

We were able to make it back to camp that night in time for the kids to make smore's. (The first time on this whole trip!) The next day we decided to relax and enjoy our time together. We had a great time just hanging out at the campground. It's a great campground, and we will also be heading back there again. Friday night we had some friends joining us. Al camp down with Wyatt, and our friend's Chris and Denise joined us. Now, they are notoriously late,. So, we decided to have a pool as to when they would arrive. Connor won! He got $5.00 to spend in the camp store. Poetic justice; he was able to get the stuffed dog he had been bugging me about the whole time!

Saturday we again just hung out and enjoyed camping. Simone's family and Julie had to leave early. We wanted tio get a canoe trip in with our new canoe. I went out with Julie, Aisling, and Connor the first time. We did okay, but it was hard to control. Next I went out with Al, Hunter, and Vaughan. Now, as soon as Al got in, he tipped the canoe over! Poor kids went right under! They were such good sports though, they got right back in! Once we made it out in the water, we realized we were not having much luck with steering. Lots of spinning in circles. So, when we got back, Al and Chris took it out, and determined a weight issue. The larger person should go in the back. (Maybe you all already knew that....) Once we did that, success! We went out with Wyatt. He seemed to enjoy it, after getting his sea-legs!

Oh, I forgot, we chrisetened the canoce" the "SS PPC". As I was asking the kids what they wanted to names, Aisling let lose and peed all over the inside of the canoe. So, there you have it, it's the pee-pee canoe, or PPC!

We left on Sunday, and, guess what, packed up in the pouring rain. Oh well, all in all we had a blast.

I forgot my camera's memory card for the beginning of the trip, but when I get pictures from friends, I will share more.