I'm finally back in Bloggerland after a couple of weeks of, well, not being in Bloggerland. How's that for a summary of where I've been and what I've been up to?
As I'm pretty sure I mentioned, we went to Maine to spend a week on the beautiful Sebago Lake. We rented a cabin on Frye Island and had the most wonderful time. Getting there wasn't without its difficulties however. Let's back up. The week before we left, Ed & I decided we wanted our realtor to host an open house on that Saturday we were to leave for Sebago. I knew that would mean extra cleaning in addition to the stacks of laundry and packing I needed to do for the trip. No big deal. Until Thursday when I got the creepy crud and just wanted to sleep all day. So, in between waves of nausea I did manage to wash the floors and do some laundry. Later in the day Becky decided to get sick too. That was nice because you know misery loves company! Even Allison was complaining of a belly ache and had no appetite. We survived and by Friday we were feeling lots better - still a bit under the weather but much improved. Friday night Ed took the boat and his Jeep to fuel up. That was a fine plan until Ed got to the gas station and found it closed. In the dark he misjudged his clearance while turning passed those cement pillar thingies by the gas pump and rammed his boat trailer into it. Not good. I was long since asleep by the time he got home and didn't find out about the mishap until morning. Ed was slightly agitated by the whole thing and pretty concerned about the 5 hour trip north with a damaged trailer. He took the trailer for a few spins around the block and it seemed as if it would be fine. We loaded into both vehicles (my van and his jeep) and set off. After about 15 minutes into the trip the tire on the trailer was smoking and making very loud noises. Hmmm...Detour to the boat selling/fixing place. I followed along thinking we may have to ditch the boat. After some long discussions between Ed and the boat people I decided to leave and head out with Becky and Allison. Ed and Katie would follow along as soon as they were squared away. It looked as if we would rent a trailer for our boat for the week. As I'm driving along- about an hour into the trip, my dear husband calls to say he's bought a new boat - yes, you read right. Ed bought a new boat. My first reaction was less than happy, I mean, boats cost money, blah, blah, blah... As Ed pointed out, fixing damaged boat trailers costs money too, blah, blah, blah... Long story short it did make more sense to buy the boat than it would've to keep the old one and get it fixed. He got a great deal on the new boat and the trade in on his bass boat. And, I'll admit it, I LOVE the new boat! Our vacation was even sweeter because we had it. It's an eight seater bow rider. Perfect for our family. I've even learned to drive it and don't feel nearly as intimidated as I did by the bass boat. Once we finally got to Sebago things settled down. Ed and Katie were about 2 1/2 hours behind us but that worked out to be just fine. The weather all week (except Thursday) was fantastic with just the right amount of hot, sun, and clouds. Perfect. The girls got to sleep in, stay up late, go swimming and tubing, build sand castles, and eat ice cream - what more could you ask for on summer vacation? Here's a few pics.
We've started to think Back to School. YIKES! Yesterday we had a pretty successful shopping trip to LLBean in Colonie, NY for a backpack for my kindergartner (sniff, sniff). And we found some uniforms pants and tops for Katie and Aeropostale. Katie LOVES Aero and so finding khaki and navy pants that were uniform approved from there was such a relief, to both of us. Becky and Allison both need fall clothes so we'll tackle that a little at a time. All in all a good day. Even the hour drive to get there was easy.
I've read four books over the last several days, more than I've read in a long time! The first one was The Dowry. It was written by a former priest (I don't remember his name). It's set in Ireland after WWII when money was tight and many Irish were emigrating to England to find work. The parish priest hatches a plan to keep folks in his parish from leaving by setting up a sort of dowry plan. It was boring. Then I read Flirting with Forty by Jane Porter. In short, a divorcee finds love in Hawaii which turns her world upside down. It was entertaining. Next was Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin. One girl steals her best friend's fiance, blah, blah, blah. Entertaining again. Next, The Commoner by? The story chronicles a Japanese commoner's struggle to adapt to the Imperial lifestyle once she is chosen by the Crown Prince to be his wife. A fascinating read and definitely not the usual kind of book I read. Now I'm starting Something Blue by Emily Giffin. So far so good.
Shop Talk: My article about Lucy was published this month in Stories for Children Magazine. Here's the link. The mag. is solely available online but they do offer a download and print feature which I did. Ed suggested I bring the printed pages to Staples and have them bind them for me. I may do that. My baseball article was rejected its first time out but I'm planning to get it in the mail to another magazine. My instructor suggested Cricket. I'm thinking about it.
