Showing posts with label summer camp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer camp. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Weekend That Was.....Camp, Being Child-Free & Donuts

So school ended last Wednesday here and Thursday & Friday were spent getting #2 son packed up to go to camp.  This year his 1st week there will be spent in Leadership Training.  Next summer he will do 2 weeks of Counselor Training and if he finishes at the top of his class he'll be eligible to start working at camp for some part of that summer season.  Of course he won't be old enough to be a Counselor or an Assistant but he could get a job as a Kitchen Grunt.  But we'll/he'll worry about that next summer.

So we headed across the state Sunday to camp.
First stop was dropping off stuff to #1 Son and Daughter.
The only way I got them to pose for a photo with their dad was to shame them.  They totally forgot that Sunday was Father's Day.....oops!



After that I walked across the field to the cliff to get an eyeful of Lake Erie.....



There was a nice breeze coming off the water.  Every time it blew through I caught the scent of wild lilacs on the warm air.  The smell was practically intoxicating!

The "Point" or the camping area where the older teens bunk was blocked off to car traffic this year, so all their gear had to be carried in by hand.  While Hubs helped #2 hike down to the campsite with his stuff I wandered around up on "the lawn" where the younger boys bunk.

They have a couple of massive trees on the lawn.....



Here is a "cabent" where the kids sleep.  It's a cross between a cabin and a tent, thus cabent.  It's a cabin frame and roof but the sides are canvas and roll up and down.  There are wooden bunk beds built into the structure.

These are empty but will soon fill up with eager campers.

And here are the little boys across the way arriving and settling in for a week of fun times!


Hubs and I left and had a late lunch in a nearby town at a restaurant of his choosing, before heading back down the road toward home.
It's such a long trip that we stayed overnight at our usual motel stop a few hours from home.

As we had eaten so late we weren't up for another meal before bed.
Hubs decided he wanted to go across the street to the Dunkin Donuts and get coffee and a few donuts for a snack before turning in for the night.

20 minutes later he storms into the room empty handed.  This DD closes at 9pm(well it says that on the front door).  He got there at 8:37pm and the door was locked.  The employee inside said that she wanted to close a little early tonight and to go to the drive-thru and she would serve him.  So he drives the car around to the drive-thru window but some employee has purposely parked their car across the drive-thru lane so he can't get to the window to order!
At this point Hubs has a meltdown in the room, throws his keys, pocket change and hat down on the floor and has a hissy fit that any 4 year old would admire.
Picture that "Wire Hanger Scene" from the "Mommy Dearest" movie and Hubs as a balding Joan Crawford ranting about donuts.......

I don't 'get' these made up Holidays......Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Fourth of July, etc.?
I could care less about them.
But Hubs, dear Hubs feels that he should be adored and pampered on Father's Day.  He's the same way about HIS Birthday but I digress....

The problem is that since I don't care about these faux Holidays, I don't tend to make a fuss.
Because of camp, usually Father's Day is spent driving to camp, all day.  And Hubs does most if not all of the driving.....well, because he is the Man and that's the man's 'thing'. ;-)  So he doesnt' get to do what he wants to do on 'his' day.
Add in that the kids don't do anything special for him unless I am standing over them the week before nagging them about what Sunday is.  And this year the oldest two were both already at camp during the week leading up to Father's Day, so they forgot completely until I made a comment to them.
That's how I guilted them into letting me take a picture of them with their dad.
Ooops.

I guess my letting him pick out the restaurant to eat at and not complaining about his choice, giving him a back rub and soothing his ego most of the day still didn't keep him from melting down when he was denied his donuts and coffee.
Sometimes I think I still live with a 4 year old in an old man's body.
*Sigh*

He got over it by the next morning when he got a nice hot breakfast with coffee at the motel before we left for home.

So I am behind on posts and emails this week.  My ISP decided to migrate my mailbox or something while I was away so I came home to a computer that had to download a few THOUSAND duplicate emails into my email program.  Thanks alot PennTeleData!

So what's on deck for your week?
I am child-free for the next 2 weeks....woohoo!

Sluggy



Friday, April 29, 2011

The End of Year Season has Begun! & a Bit of Bad News and Good News

Before you think my cheese has totally slipped off it's cracker, I am NOT referring to the End of the Calendar Year Season, but the End of the School Year Season.

If you have kids in school, whether Pre-School, Elementary, Jr. High, High School or College, the Month of May through June is a very busy time of year!
As various school programs and extra-curricular programs come to an end and summer plans begin, total mayhem takes over the parental life.

For example, here is what is coming up in my kids' lives in the next 8 weeks....

*High School Concert and Jazz Band Concert  Completed last night
*Senior Prom
*Final College Exams
*High School Marching Band Banquet
*High School Marching  Band Disney Trip
*Finishing Young Scholars College Classes(Dual Enrollment Seniors)
*French Honor Society Ceremony
*Graduation Practices
*Honor Society Ceremony
*Final Exams
*Senior Awards Night
*Graduation
*Senior Lock-In Party
*Packing 2 off to Summer Camp employment
*College Orientation
*Packing 1 off to Summer Camp

Add in bringing 1 kid home from college, taking him out for staff training for the summer job, having him come home for his sister's graduation, hosting a house full of relatives for said graduation, trying to clean and fix up house before said relatives descend on house for graduation, running around to get stuff kids need to go to summer camp(either to work or as a camper).
Throw in doctor appointments, dentist appointments, orthodontist appointments, eye doctor appointments and refilling medications.

I'll get time around June 20th to sit down and breath again I am figuring.....lolol

Most of this craziness stems from #2 Son being in the band and Daughter being a senior in high school.
I suspect it won't be nearly as hectic next year when I have just the lone Sophomore in high school.
One kid left at home fulltime....
Wow!
I can't wait!!!

Mostly that's due to the fact that my Daughter is alot of work.
You mom's out there with both sons and daughter....do you find that the girls are just so much more exhausting?
Or is it just me.....and my girl?
Please tell me it's NOT just me!lol

Besides the High School Concert last night, we also got 2 pieces of news from the University Daughter is going to be attending.
First the bad news.....
Due to the proposed state budget for PA, the state colleges here are having their funding slashed, BIGTIME.
Daughter got a letter with the estimated updated costs to attend(since the state budget doesn't even get voted on until June sometime, we won't know the final costs until then).  Instead of the usual 8% rise in attendance costs, it's looking more like 18%!
More than DOUBLE the usual rate.
Suddenly the one school that Daughter wouldn't have to go into debt to attend is going to leave her with a small pile of debt when she is finished there.
At least she got that small Board of Governors Merit Scholarship for all 4 years of her undergraduate schooling, so if she can save some summer job money, she might squeak out with a teeny tiny pile of debt to pay back.

Now the good news.....
Daughter heard back from that pre-med program at the school and she was granted one of the five guaranteed seats at the Medical School after she obtains her 4 year degree at the college!
This means if she keeps her grades up through college and after she gets her B.S., she is automatically accepted into the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. 
I just think that is awesome! 8-))

So are you running the End of School Year gauntlet too?

Sluggy




Sunday, June 20, 2010

We got a call on Saturday from Daughter who is finishing up her training week at summer camp.  She was suppose to come home with DH on Sunday, when he went to drop off #2 son for his 2 weeks of camp.  Then she was suppose to go back to camp when we went to pick up #2 son and start her weeks of work there.
I guess she impressed the 'high mucky mucks' running the joint and/or some teens didn't show up for their designated weeks to work, as she was asked to work 2 extra week long sessions--the first week in the kitchen and the second with the 'special needs' campers.  So Daughter got 2 extra weeks of employment and is quite happy at the moment not to have to come home to the 'Boring House'.  Yes, not only is my blog boring but it seems everything I touch is boring....

As Daughter didn't pack but enough 'stuff' for 1 week of training I had to spend Saturday packing all the things she says she "desperately needs!" for the next 7 weeks of her life.  I about got writer's cramp taking notes over the phone, making the gargantuan list of items to take to her!  Then I got to spend a few hours hunting down and gathering all of those things in her rat's nest of a room!
Ugh.
So much for my Saturday....
Here are a couple of photos from the website from last week.
#1 son is standing on the far left.  And again, a fine looking group of teens & 20-somethings....
Yes, these are some of the future leaders of our nation...
 
And though my Daughter is very good at avoiding peoples with cameras I did find this lone shot w/her in it...on the left in turquoise with a sign on her chest.  Looks like some king of team building/role playing activity.  Oh, I KNOW she was enjoying that *voiced with a heavy dose of sarcasm*.....LOLOL

DH delivered #2 son & his 'stuff', along with daughters 'stuff' to the camp on Sunday and I got to sit home and babysit the dogs...ah!, the story of my life.....

That massive thundering noise you heard this afternoon was me turning cartwheels at the though of being CHILD-FREE for 2. Whole. Weeks!  8-))
Now if I could just afford to send the dogs to camp too....

I spent most of the day Sunday inside as it was beastly hot here.
Did I fall into a coma and it's really August now and not June because baby, it sure FEELS like August!?
I went online and checked out the weekly grocery/drug store sales flyers and took notes on what looked like a good deal this week.

I saw that Price Chopper(NE) has a teeny tiny Unilever product Catalina Deal this week.  There are ten, count 'em ten items that qualify and you have to buy $25(that's reg. shelf price, not sale price)to get a $7 OYNO Catalina.
The problem is that all the Qs that are out for the products(most had valid Qs available)expire on SUNDAY-June 20th-so you had to do the Catalina deal that day!!lol

I had 3 Unilever product inserts from May so I sat down and figured out I could do 3 transactions, spend $30.46 Out of Pocket and end up with $74.89 of groceries + a $7 OYNO Catalina to roll in the next couple of weeks.
It would have given me....
9 Ragu Sauce
6 Wishbone Dressing
11 Knorr Rice/Pasta pouches
4 Lipton Teabag boxes
3 Ice Cream containers

But in the end, I didn't even go to the store and do the deal.  I am lousy with sauce, dressing, rice/pasta and even teabags at this point and I really don't need anymore.
Yes, I really just said I don't need anymore.
The savings even with rolling the deal didn't give me enough savings to make it worth my while.
Am I loosing my killer coupon edge?

Maybe....
But I did hike up to Rite-Aid(where else would I go?!lol)and got some fun stuff.
More on that tomorrow....

Sluggy