Greetings from 04843

Greetings everyone from the shores of Camden, Maine. We are own our annual pilgrimage called family vacation. The trip up took longer than usual (traffic and LL Bean stop) but we made it. The weather hasn't been great but it is better than staying at home. CamMad said goodbye to their cousins who were up here before us. It was sad but they survived.

I will do my best to keep all of our readers up to date but we are on dial-up services here (ugh). Until then ...

A New Look for the Same Old Blog

Parent2 was picking on me tonight about the title and how the orange didn't look good so I changed it. I'm not sure I like the new look but I'm willing to give a few days.

A great Sunday in the summer time

Today was one of those days that makes it great to live where I do. This morning the kids woke me up earlier than I wanted to be up but the kids we happy to just to hang out and watch their shows. We finally got going late morning and made our way to a PYO raspberry patch. As a family we picked 4 quarts (3 for us and 1 for Grammy). We had a great time and CamMad had a blast picking. They did a good job picking. Here is a picture of our loot:
One of these quarts will soon be a raspberry pie. I can't wait until I get home from class tomorrow night.

I forgot to mention that we were practically the only ones in the patch so after paying for our loot one of the owners was very generous and gave us a ride on their truck to the car. We were very thankful and appreciative! Thank you Snell Family Farm . That was probably CamMad's favorite part of the picking.

We dropped off our loot with Grammy and hung out for a little while. We made our way back home and had a quick lunch then we made our way down to the lake to cool off. It was nice to cool off down there. We got a chance to swim around and jump the waves. Next thing I know I'm looking around and the next thing I see is Child1 going underwater (yes the Child wanted to ). On the fourth the child went under but left the top of the head dry. Today the Child committed to the idea and went all the way underwater. I caught the act out of the corner of my eye but it was thrilling. People who know Child1 know that she isn't necessarily known as a risktaker and maybe that is what it made the accomplishment so special. When I pointed out what I saw Child1 didn't over and over again to show everyone. Who knows next weekend in Camden Child1 may be jumping off the dock.

With such a busy day we are trying to keep the early evening calm so that sleeping will occur at a decent time tonight. I hopefully haven't jinxed sleeping tonight. All I know is that I have to set the alarm tonight and I'm not happy.

Week in Review

This has been a quiet week in terms of keeping up with CamMad as I've been in a class (which I won't blog about for fear of retribution). Here is the quick recap: play, eat, sleep, drive Parent2 bonkers with the constant need of attention, and trying to stay cool by playing in the new playroom.

Now for the longer version, CamMad had a lot of visitors to play with this week, cousins and neighbors came over to play as well as they going to playgrounds. In order to beat the heat CamMad had a lot of frozen pops and playing in the basement, the new playroom. Due to summer commitments for Parent2 and my class CamMad got to spend an afternoon with Grammy and some time at school.

It was great to come home every afternoon watching CamMad come running to greet me (when it wasn't raining). I tried to balance my work with play time for CamMad. That time was great to reconnect and thankful the weather kept me up later (I wish it worked that well during the school year). I do have to admit by Friday I was glad the weekend was here. I've got to do it all over again next week but the call of Camden will keep me motivated.

Today was a different story. We had a leisure morning (as is traditional on Saturdays) then put together a plan for the day (which changed 3 times). The heat droves us outside and we decided to hold our second annual sprinkler derby. We set up the Sit-N-Spin at an angle and took turns cooling down running through the drops. There were times we pushed each other in or got a bucket dumped on us or rode through the sprinkler on the garden cart. Everyone had a great time. Not wanting to heat up the kitchen we did the All-American thing, pizza from the local take-out.

Tomorrow we are due for another day of heat! We're thinking of going to a local raspberry patch in the AM and other things to keep up cool, like a trip to the lake. I hope everyone else has a plan to stay cool!

Seriously, who is giving my kid a caffeine shot?

As I am writing this Child2 is up to the antics that we've come to learn and love from Child1. The last hour before we put the kids to bed Child2 was complaining and saying that "I ready for bed." In the past that meant that the Child would be asleep within 15 minutes. When we try Child1 settles right down and Child1 is putting on a show for any and all to see.

I want to say when the lights go off someone is giving my kid a caffeine shot. Maybe Criss Angel or David Blaine is performing a trick and we will be in their next TV special or someone is starting up a kid friendly version of Punk'd. If either is the case then okay the joke is on us and now give us back our Child2 who enjoys going to bed, please! For the sanity of the parents I beg of you please!

On a serious note, today we decided to go to the coastline to help cool us down from the heat (notice I didn't say humidity!). That didn't work today. CamMad filled up the car with Ali-Mo and we went to Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth. It was a gorgeous day but it was hot! We played at their playground, took a short walk, almost interrupted a wedding (they really should have blocked it off better), had a picinic lunch in the gazebo, and checked out the lighthouse. All-in-all we had a great time, despite the heat. Don't they say it is always cooler right on the coast?

Then I had to come back to reality. I'm taking two weeks of courses in order to meet state guidelines. I wanted to get all of my have-tos done before I come on campus so I can just focus on the classes (which I'm sure that I will have some good venting posts in the near future). The first two stops went fast parking pass (they've smartened up and incorporated the cost into tuition) and my Husky ID (boy now I feel smahtah). I next needed to go to the bookstore and get a book, which might I add that if I had done my homework I could have gotten the book through Amazon.com for $10 less than the bookstore...can you say price gouging?

I wasn't terribly impressed with the bookstore. Don't you think you would have the bookstore looking great this time of the year when tours are starting up and influential teachers come on campus? That was definitely not the case. Half of the bookstore was being remodeled and if it wasn't being remodeled then it was not filled with inventory. There was no cooler filled with cold soda or water (which I probably would have paid a premium for it). I guess I will chalk it up to the fact that it is a state school and the Governor has not been kind to the University system.

Last stop, activate my computer privileges, oh joy! You have to have an active account in orde to access any of the IT stuff on campus (wireless being the biggest reason). I fill out the necessary paperwork and sign what I need to sign then I get the joke that is 90's. "Hey, weren't you on Seinfeld?" This time it was prefaced with the fact that there was already my namesake activated within the system I needed to be known as CamMad D. Dad. The staff (who I could have had as students age-wise) help me activate the account (treating me like I'm a computer idiot) and tell me about the email address. For the next two weeks I'm going to dump the 8 other email addresses (not joking) I have to strickly use my college address, I DON'T THINK SO! They might have heard my sarcasim and mention to me that I may want to create a mail rule to have my college mail forwarded to my main address as "All official school business is done through this email address!" Which I probably will do soon enough.

Now I'm ready to be a college student again, yeah me! I hope Child2 has gone to sleep...

My new favorite radio station, W-BACH

This is a bit of tounge and cheek but we've been trying to get CamMad sleeping in the same room at the same time. We've been getting there. Some nights have been better than others. One of the tricks we've been using is to have the radio on set to the classical radio station, WBCH. CamMad seems to focus on the music and it had definitely calmed the savage beast.

One would have assumed that the younger of the two would be the first one to sleep (in order to meet their sleep quota), then you would be sadly mistaken! Child1 has been the first one drifting off to "Sleepytown" (those of you who know Child1 are probably picking up your jaws). Child2 is the one I'm telling to settle down. Who would have thought that one?

I've got to back to school for the next two weeks so I will do my best to keep on blogging. Ironically part of my course requirements will be keeping a blog. I will probably use this blog to vent (just as a warning). I hope everyone has a great weeekend, we are going to spend this great Friday at one of the great gems of Southern Maine (Fort Williams Park). I hopefully will have a recap for you later in the day.

Silence is Bliss

The title to the post is a little deceiving. I'm not enjoying bliss because there is very little silence to report on. Child2 was a late talker but I think is now making up for it. Child1 has always been the social butterfly when the Child is accustomed to the environment. I so enjoy the car rides that are more than 30 minutes (which is usually the case) when CamMad is talking up a storm and Parent2 has dozed off for a quick nap (motion does that). Turning up the radio doesn't help, CamMad will just turn up their volume.

Okay, now that I've vented I will put forth a real entry later on tonight.

4th of July Roundup

Happy Belated Birthday USA!

CamMad had a great long weekend with the extended family. It all got started last Thursday with the celebration of the Grammy (she is 28 for the 29th time). She was happy to have all of the granchildren together, she appreciated the rest of us being together but it was really all about the grandchildren.

Friday we spent a good portion of the day cooking getting ready for the trek to one of Scandianavian countries in Maine. Surprisingly, I was able to leave the 7-layer bars alone (with the exception of the crust. Granted the kitchen was pretty well a war zone while the cooking of cookies and brownies was going on. Seeing all of the faces, hands, and arms covered in all of the different mixes was quite funny and cute. To minimize the trash CamMad loved the fact that they could have pizza for dinner. Going to bed was the toughest part of the day because they just wanted to be there already. I think it was easier to get them to sleep on Christmas Eve because I can always say "Santa doesn't show up to houses where kids are still awake!"

Saturday morning came and we were able to push back the start time (if CamMad had their way we would have been on the road at 5:30 in the morning). We went to the grocery store to fulfill our food requirements and made the trek to that Scandianavian country in Maine. When we got there most of the other relatives were still on their way. Auntie Blah was surprised were there that early. When we explained how early we could have been she appreciated us waiting. We got to play and enjoy the rest of the people arriving. We made our way to the pond and enjoyed the water. Child1 just wanted to frolick in the water and Child2 just wanted to play at the water's edge. Child1 was even up on a jet ski. I'm not sure if the driver has full hearing back from the mighty yell Child1 gave in excitement.

The one common theme that was very clear over the weekend was the fact that time was a relatively unimportant thing. Eating dinner at 9:30 pm, waking up at 8:30 am, or putting the kids down at 10 pm were all examples of how time was not that important.

Sunday was almost a carbon-copy of the day before. A lot of the day was spent waterside. Child1 built up the courage to put all but the top of the crown underwater. This was a great accomplishment which bodes well for our vacation later in the month. We had a great boat ride to end the day. The end of the day included 'smores and fireworks. Of course the fireworks were enjoyed from the comforts of bed as CamMad were completely wiped out from the excitement.

Monday was coming home day but that didn't stop the excitement. The sun rose as did the temperature and again a lot of the day was spent down at the pond. Throughout the day we had to start packing but the focus was on enjoying the water, family, and great food. We did have to say some good-byes but they were more like see you laters than anything else.

Uncle gave us a great boat ride to end the day. We got to go under the 302 underpass (barely, if I had my head anywhere above the windshield I would have been decapitated. We ended up at a jumping rock. The big kids jumped off the rock to the delight of the adults. Child1 jumped off a smaller rock and was so proud of the achievement. But like all good things the weekend with the family had to end. We had a great time in the section of Scandanavia found in Maine.

Yesterday was very boring in comparision. We stayed home and played with the neighbors for a little while. We needed a down day so we could refocus and get back into a routine that we can live with when time is an important factor. As I've been recounting the weekend's events Parent2 has taken CamMad to the library to help build that routine.

Shout out to Sheepish. I hope that the TB Mom has stays dormant through the medication and that Dad gets the whole insurance thing taken care of. For you Sheepish, I hope that you are not stressing out too much upon finding out this news. Dr. Judy will forgive you, ignorance is bliss.