Fun day in NH

I miss my sister, (hi Pat!) so I grabbed everything this morning, got dog sitters for Ella and Tucker and drove up here after Sam's riding lesson. Well, right after the riding lesson we went to a park and had sandwiches. At least, I did. Josh only stopped long enough to drink some apple juice before heading to the park. He immediately bonds with another three year old and they drag about four other kids of varying ages from two to ten around the park riding rockets to the moon or fixing dinosaurs. Sam made friends with a five year old named Rayne, and they played tag for a bit. I am so proud of my kids that they can be dropped into a completely random playground and have a great time with complete strangers. On the way to our hotel we stopped for dinner at Scoop City in Claremont. THey have 'to die for' fried scallops. Sam said she hates scallops, but she loves these. Succulent, lightly battered and deep fried. Heaven. Josh wouldn't eat.

We are staying at the Common Man Inn in Claremont NH. Gorgeous place. http://www.thecman.com/ Check it out! The kids really like it. Since I am staying overnight on Sunday, the saleswoman gave me the Stone Suite for the regular King bed rate. This is one amazing suite. The upstairs part of the room has a pullout couch bed so fluffy I can't believe it can be used as a couch. This is one soft cloud of a bed. Downstairs there is a gas fireplace facing an even fluffier king size bed. Okay, I admit it, I did not let the children come back downstairs again after the first visit, and I made it very clear they were to sleep in their own bed together tonight. I had a wonderful spa bath and am sitting very cozily in bed in front of the fire talking to all of you. This is really nice. Oh, and when it is light out, there is an amazing view out the window of the river cascading down the river rock. The wall of the downstairs room has the river bed stone for walls in the bedroom and the bathroom. Just stunning. I love the kilim rugs all over the floors too.

We put on our suits and ran out to go to Kennedy Pond in Windsor for a swim. I love freshwater ponds. The water feels so soft, and you don't have to worry about weird stuff in the water, like crabs. Sam took a swim test to be able to dive off the board and she failed. Failed! I couldn't believe it! Turns out she freaked out about there being plants in the water under her and she stopped swimming. Oh well. She is safer not diving anyway. I hadn't thought about the fact that she has only ever swam in a cement bottom pool. Joshua hadn't eaten all day, so when he got out of the water, he started shaking all over from the cold. He decided, for some reason, that the pond had sharks and we had to leave right away. He really freaked being there after everyone left around 6:30. We only stayed until 7 pm. It was plenty light out. He was scared by that for some reason. He met a nice girl there he played with. She left before us, and Joshua said, "Oh well, I just have to go make a new friend, I guess." Add in his little three year old shoulder shrug and you have the picture. Very funny. On our way back to the hotel, I saw a road sign for a barbecue pit and some picnic tables just outside of Windsor, and I had visions of feeding the kids and having them fall asleep as soon as they got home. We had some very tasty barbecued chicken, corn on the cob and baked beans. Josh still hardly ate anything. He made fast friends with the cook's little girl about three months younger than Joshua, who, it turns out, is also named Samantha. She followed him everywhere, and even sat with us for dinner after I asked her to join us. She was a little sweetheart. She shared her corn bread with Joshua, and he shared his chicken. Then they ran off and played in the back of the minivan together and read stories. Sam (my sam) ate quickly and sat in the car reading "Bresinger." Nobody can believe a child Sam's age is reading such a big book. Yep, that is my Sam! The cook sat down with us and we had a fun chat about precocious three year olds. On the way home we stopped at Wade scoop and I got them some ice cream cones. Joshua nearly hopped out of his skin with excitement while we waited for our cones. Sam got mint chip ice cream, six scoops! It is good ice cream. They came back to the room, brushed their teeth and are fast asleep. I feel a bit like I am abandoning them by sleeping all alone downstairs without them, but I think I need this. We can change things tomorrow if I want to. I need some good sleep. I had so much fun tonight with them.

Oh, I got Sam and Josh some silly bands for their wrists. I have instituted a new rule. Any time one of them calls the other stupid or says something particularly mean, I take away a silly band. When i hear a compliment or something nice, I give them a band. They love this idea. I have to get more bands because Sam immediately latched onto the idea of being effusively complimentary to joshua in order to get all the bands. Sam my smarty pants girl.

Wildlife

I forgot to mention that we saw one coyote on Tuesday, and yesterday we saw two deer. Sam missed the deer because she was listening to her nano at the time and didn't hear us yelling, "deer, deer!" She walks around with headphones now and bops and sings to Pink. I think Pink is an amazing performer, but it still gives me pause to see Sam walking around like a teenager. Sigh. I know it is inevitable. Josh missed the deer too because he was watching a movie.

Beach, again wheeee!

We ended up at Moody's again, this time for breakfast. Matt says avoid their French Toast. Biscuits are good. Joshua ate his normal fruit and scrambled eggs. Sam was pretty patient, in fact, she has been a real treat for most of the week. We played around at home for a bit, then went to the Birch Point Beach again. Sam and Joshua just love the tidal pools. I see more beaches in our future, poor me. I am not a sand person, but I will deal. They play so well together. Sam was building a dam with big rocks, sea weed and hard work. She was picking up some big rocks and moving them into place! Josh was helping get rocks for the dam too, and telling me to come get the bigger ones. They built a really great dam. Sam got mad because she was the only one who could not catch the eels. Yes, there were baby eels in the tidal pool, and Sam wanted to catch them with the boys. She is a wonder! Joshua spent his time leaping from rock to rock.

Well, we are at the end of our time here in Maine. I will be sad to leave, but it will be good to be home. Joshua wants to take the cottage home with him in his pocket and is most put out with us when we say no.

Silly days

We had a lazy morning yesterday. We eventually got out and went miniature golfing. Well, eventually. We had a pretty detour through Camden. No one asked us if we had the proper income to drive through. I imagine they reserve that sort of thing for the residents. We did find the golfing place just after the clouds and rain blew away, as though it was planned. We got in a nice game before the rain came in again. Sam got a hole in one! Matt did too, the stinker. I managed to whack mine out into the woods and banged off a tree. It was pretty funny how it skittered over the green, as though it couldn't wait to be free. Sam and Josh laughed very hard as they raced to retrieve it. Matt graciously only counted it as 5 strokes, even though the maximum allowed is 6 and I made about 8 strokes to get it into the hole. We finished up just in time before another squall came in, and had lunch at the Mexican Restaurant next door. Sam was fascinated by the picture of the Queen that turned into a vampire as you walked past it. Very creepy.

We had ice cream at Dolman's. Pretty tasty, although we all agreed that Rancatore's still wins best with us. We are such ice cream snobs! But it was fun to lounge in the back of the minivan. Sam flicked her spoon and accidentally dumped some on Josh's head. Combined with his own slime, josh was ready for a wet nap bath when he finished. I checked the movie times, and "Despicable Me happened to be playing in five minutes, so we all went to watch it. THat was the whole day. Everything just folded into the next seamlessly with no real planning on our part. A wonderful day. The movie was fun. Joshua especially loved the little yellow minions. Sam's favorite part was when Gru blasted the space ship to get the little girl the unicorn. That was pretty cool, I think too. It is a really good movie.

We are off to a slow start again today. We are eating breakfast out. I will miss waking up to the ocean out my window. I slept with Sam last night in the Queen size bed. It is pretty special to hear her crying a bit in her sleep and be able to reach over and quiet her just by rubbing her back, as though she is still my baby in some universe.

storm on the water

We had quite a lightning storm last night. The bad weather started around 1pm when a fog bank rolled in. Very strange, surreal. The sun kept shining, but the fog got so thick you couldn't see further than 20 feet at times. I could see why Stephen King really likes living in Maine. You definitely get a sense of forces way beyond your ken. We went to the beach for a bit. The coast in Maine is rocky and muddy, for the most part, so to swim and enjoy the water, you have to go to a specific beach. They had fun tormenting the crabs and baby eels in the tidal pools with a family from Canada. When we got home, the rain had started in earnest and some flashes of lightning. The lightning got more and more frequent and closer too. Very loud thunder and power blinks too. Luckily Joshua had carried three of his flashlight collection with him, so we had no worries about losing power. It was really amazing to watch the lightning over the water. I served hot chocolate in front of the bay window so we could watch the storm. Kids fell asleep pretty quickly, so I guess the lightning didn't phase them much.

picture of our front yard in Maine, fog rolling in

Spruce Head Island, Maine

We are on an island named Spruce Head in Maine, about three and a half hours from our house. Matt drove us up here. I wasn't surprised that he had to sleep most of the next day. Samantha was pretty tired from a week of riding camp too. She seemed to really settle in there, getting good praise for helping the other kids and giving encouraging, kind comments. I felt like she really blossomed, finally having a place where all of her strength gets to come out and be used. She kept right up with the horses and got them trotting. She rode several different horses in the week, I think Frosty, Madame Allbright and DeeDee.

Joshua got to spend time with Marie and not much else. I am trying to get my feet and back taken care of so there were lots of dr appts for me. Josh does like to go to Physical Therapy with me. My PT guy has a three year old too and enjoys having Josh there as long as Josh doesn't get into anything dangerous.

We have been beach combing int he back of the house. Sam and Josh and I sat on the rock at high tide so our legs were in the water. Samantha sang a very funny shark song she learned at Drumlin Farm camp. I am surprised sharks didn't search us out to make us stop singing such a silly song! We all three laughed pretty hard. Sam is enjoying the rope swing out the front door. She has found some interesting crab shells on the beach, flown a kite, and today searched through tide pools at Birch Point Beach with a family from Manitoba Canada. All four of the kids in their family were happy to pick up the crabs and show them to Sam and Joshua. Joshua got a bit scared of them, so Matt took him for a walk up the sandy part of the beach. They really did have a great time with the baby eels and the crabs.

We had dinner at Rustico in Rockland, ME. I had some great Sicilian Fish Stew, Josh ate grilled cheese and Sam had pasta Bolognese. We went to Rockland Cafe after for Pie and ice cream We are on vacation! Josh had vanilla ice cream and made us all taste it, saying, this is delicious, you have to try some! Sam's really was delicious, the chocolate silk pie. The best pie we have had so far was at Moody's diner. Sam and I polished of a banana cream pie in two minutes flat, with no thoughts of sharing with Matt. I think we hurt his feelings a bit. But it was really good! Josh had ice cream, no surprise there.

We are taking it very easy, watching movies, playing games. Sam put together a puzzle, and is learning cribbage from me, who can barely remember how to play even with the instructions. I hope Sam gets her energy back because when we return to Arlington, she has another week of riding camp and then she starts cheerleading in August. Two hours a night, 6-8pm for four days a week for the month of August. Sounds crazy to me, but the coach said it would be fun. Okaaay.

Hospitals and weeding

Joshua got all 12 of his cavities cleaned out today at Franciscan Childrens Hospital in Brighton. He went in at 8 am and came out around noon. His teeth are pretty soft, and even though we brushed them often and had the dentist treat them with a flouride paste every three months, he just had really bad cavities. Not so bad that they had to remove any. If he had any cavities far enough to hit a nerve on the molars, Dr. Yazdi would have had to remove the tooth and put in a brace to keep the space. Not necessary though. His teeth look completely real, even though they are half fake now. All of the fillings were done with the white material, and they also put a permanent coating on them to seal what is left of his teeth. So, we now have a toothbrush in the car and in the kitchen to brush after all meals. I just have to mention here that I will never be able to get used to seeing my child collapsed from anesthesia. We were there with him until he passed out, and it was terrifying to see him so helpless and limp. Great doctors, nurses, support staff all wonderful, but it didn't matter. I wanted him awake and yelling with that little lip sticking out on the bottom and giving us all hell, just to move. I started crying, and Matt goes through all the reasons that Josh will be fine. When will men understand that sometimes logic isn't what is useful? When they ask for directions. Yep, and pigs fly.

Samantha had quite a day as well. I mentioned before that she is at Drumlin Farm camp last week and this one. Today we had a heat wave, hot and 95, (maybe we hit 100?) degree weather. It is brutal out there. So what was her activity today? Weeding the garden. All morning in the field, weeding. She got sprayed alot by the counselors with water bottles, and frequent water breaks. The counselors also hosed the kids down, although that served a dual purpose by the end. Samantha and her crew won the dirtiest group award. Yay Sam! So I imagine they were hosing off dirt as much as cooling them off. She is pretty tired, and, well, a bit cranky. She took a nice bath and while the water was a light brown by the time she finished, she is now back to her clean self. Hey, a little dirt can teach some great life lessons. Like working in the fields all day is not a great job and you'd have to be desperate to do it for a living. I can think of a few Arizonians I'd like to see weeding in the field on a day like today. Maybe a little hotter.