Todd has been overseas for more than a week (see link in sidebar).
I used to put off doing fun things while he was away because 1.) I felt outnumbered and 2.) I didn't want him to miss out on things. Then I realized, *he's* overseas. We are the ones missing out! So, I should go ahead and do fun things. So this year my goal is to keep everyone as busy as possible.
Here's a sampling of what we've been up to:
17th: Airport. On the way home, stop at Borders to get free books. Old Navy, Wal-mart, AC Moore. Exhausted.
18th: Homeschool Co-op Year-end picnic, even though we didn't go to co-op this year. We will go next year. Good chance to make friends.
19th: Father's Day picnic at my sister's, since we already celebrated Father's Day and birthday with the other Grandpa on the 15th.
20th: We went to the beach with some friends in the afternoon.
21st: Stayed home to get some housework and paid work done. Should have waited a day... Soccer in evening.
22nd: Intended to go strawberry picking, rained out.
23rd Rained out. Orthodontist, Library. Went to soccer anyway!
24th Rained out. The Mayor went to a birthday movie with Grandpa.
25th Rained out.
26th: Birthday party for the Princess and the Mayor, NOT rained out despite ominous clouds. Thank you GOD!
This week: Rec basketball, Extra Tae Kwon Do, Library Summer Reading Kick-off party, physicals for 2, Overnight with friends for 2, Soccer, church. Week after: Mayor goes to camp, family picnic at Schroon (at least I think we are still on for this, even though B-I-L has a broken leg). The girls will start volunteering at the library, have volleyball camp, go to the ballet...and at the end of the week, The Girl has her Green Belt I test at Tae Kwon Do. Daddy comes home on a Monday.
Yep, I think I have succeeded in keeping us all busy for these three and a half weeks! It doesn't actually end there: we will have a very busy summer lined up with more weeks of camp, summer enrichment classes, and the math lessons that I have not let them stop doing. I finally stopped saying "we'd better not sign up for stuff because we don't know if we will be here..." Now I say, "If we leave, we leave, it's not that great of a loss to have spent $35 on rec programs." I'm letting myself and our kids invest in life here like we live here and are not just passing through. I hope I'm wrong. But for now, it's okay. Good, even.
Showing posts with label family excursions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family excursions. Show all posts
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Rose Garden- The Yaddo
The Yaddo was the home of Spencer and Katrina Trask, and after Katrina's death it became a retreat for artists. Only the gardens are open to the public, but there is a mansion where writers, choreographers, filmmakers, sculptors and others come to work.
I don't have much to say about the visit, I just wanted to share the pictures. I will tell you that we didn't pick the flowers that you see us holding or wearing; we learned last year that you can find the spot where they dump the clippings and get some nice flowers or petals from it, so that's what we did.
If ever you find yourself in the Saratoga Springs, NY area in mid-June, I hope you will put this spot on your list of places to visit. Unlike a botanical garden, nothing here is labeled- so a visit is not primarily an educational event, although one could make it so. It's an opportunity to enjoy the scenery, it's romantic, and it's quiet. No responsibilities. In fact it's enjoyable when the flowers are out of season, as well as for picnics, the koi pond, and the water feature (although that's awaiting repairs at the moment).
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Winter Carnival
Caution to my South-of-the-42nd parallel friends: You might want to put on a sweater before reading this post.
This past weekend we visited the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival. Saranac Lake is a small village in the Adirondack Park, about two hours drive from our current location. My first acquaintance with this town was in 1988 as a canoe camper canoeing the lakes. This is also the High Peaks Region, where our family climbed the lowest High Peak, Cascade, in 2006. We were very proud of the Mayor that day, who climbed the whole thing without complaint at the age of 3.
We got up at some ridiculous hour and met Todd's parents at their local McDonalds. We switched some kids into their car and proceeded. On the way we passed through Lake Placid, where the Olympics were held in 1932 and 1980, and saw the ski jumps. A light snow fell throughout the drive up there and all through the day. I instigated this excursion when I was scanning in pictures for The Girl's birthday blog. I saw pictures of it from 2001, when our girls were 2 and 3 years old, and thought, "Has it been that long?" I mentioned this to Todd, and off we went, with his parents along for the ride.
Our first stop in the Village was on the shores of Lake Flower (don't ask me where the actual Saranac Lakes are in relation to the village or why it's named that way, I don't know!)
This is a nice, roomy ice castle. It's lighted at night, but we didn't stay past dark. Sorry. In the inner part of the castle you can climb the ice stairs to an ice balcony, and we had pictures taken with the royal court. Behind it, there is "maze," with a tunnel into the inside.
Ice thrones, ice fireplace, ice roast beast on the table (?). Yes, seriously. It was lovely, really. The members of the court were handling out rubber duckies in knights' gear and jousting costumes.
I had a new experience this day- using a port-a-potty while snow drifted in through the ventilation screens. Chilly!
Outside vendors were selling fried bread dough. Behind that, we found another small ice structure which a passerby said was supposed to have a sword in the stone. It didn't, but we got a photo op anyway.
We also met a Civil War regiment where a soldier was happy to allow The Mayor to hold his rifle for a picture. He even attached the bayonet. They had just shot over the Lake. The castle was also swarmed by costumed characters- Snow White and the Dwarfs (3 or 4 anyway), Mother Goose, Medieval Mickey and Minnie, and that purple thing from McDonalds. That's North Country random, right there.
Next came lunch at the Blue Moon Cafe. I am not being paid to advertise this place. One reason it was chosen was the availability of breakfast all day- a good choice for my gluten-free kiddoes. It was so busy when we got there that they weren't making lunch at all. And it was a bit slow, understandable since the place was stuffed with people. The hot chocolate got very good reviews, partly because it came in cute mugs.
Everyone was very friendly at the restaurant, and there seemed to be a town-wide silly hat contest going on. The 8 of us were crammed into a table for 6 near the window, so we got a great view of parade participants walking by, and others as well, just in costume for the fun of it. Even little babies were wearing princess or dragon snowsuits and hats.
The parade was due to start at 1pm. and due to long lines at the restaurant bathroom, we just barely made it outside in time. We wedged ourselves into a spot where the kids could see, standing in a 2 inch deep mud puddle. What can I say- we knew from experience it would be a good parade. It has to be, to get people to stand around in below-freezing temperatures to watch it! We had hoped to get a spot on the sunny side of the street, but there was no sunny side, as it snowed lightly all day! We were all wearing snowsuits, lined pants or layers, so most of our bodies were warm enough. It is, however, difficult to keep ones toes warm when standing on icy pavement, so that's where we felt it. I wished I had warmer socks on under my LLBean Barn shoes. Thankfully no one's boots leaked, so standing in the puddle wasn't a problem.
The Little Princess became a costumed character hug magnet. When one of the Dwarfs came running for her, I thought she would hide! Sounds like a nightmare to me! Nope, she was reaching for him. Many people gave up on the parade after about 20 minutes because it was so cold. That made more room for us to get a good look! I had told my kids to expect a lawn chair brigade and lumberjacks from Paul Smith's College rolling logs down the street. However, thanks to the parade theme, they saw knights, princesses, dragons, and castles. And twenty-five human sock monkeys, dancing to the Monkees and various other jungles-themed songs. Many, many groups drew inspiration from Monty Python, ("Bring out your dead!") and Todd was elated about the large wooden rabbit on one of the floats.
I have never laughed so hard at a parade, unless it was at one of my children. A band of Vikings passed us, waring fur capes and horned helmets and brandishing long spears. Soon after that, a small band of redcoats (Revolutionary re-enactors) passed as well. Eventually, the troop of Civil War re-enactors (my apologies to those whose sensibilities I offend by not knowing exactly what to call these people) we had seen at the ice castle approached and paused at the bend. Next, we saw the Vikings approach from the other side and mount an attack! A melee broke out! The Civil War guys loaded their guns and shot at the Vikings, who turned and ran down the street, only to be confronted by the Redcoats, who were stoically waiting for them! Before we knew it everyone was shooting everywhere! The Vikings were throwing their spears down the street and the lines of soldiers were firing into the bystanders on the second floor of buildings!
I was just about to say I was ready to go home when the anachronistic melee broke out. We made it through the entire two hours, 20 minutes of parade, but I will admit to wishing it were shorter. We did see the lawn chair ladies eventually, as well as a junior brigade of them. No lumberjacks, though. I guess they went with the Medieval theme instead. This is apparently alumni weekend at the area college, so after the parade quite a few characters were seen in area bars. We slogged back to our cars, threw the kids into the soft snowbanks at the library, and wished we had the energy to go the library book sale.
After another two hour drive we finished off our day by attending the roast beef dinner at Todd's parents' church. We don't eat roast beef and half the kids couldn't eat the cheesy broccoli dish either, but what we did eat was yummy and the last of the food, too. Having had a full day, we were home and in bed in our warm jammies right away. I can't say that I want to go every year, but I would definitely recommend this experience if you live nearby and have never been. Just consider bringing some toe warmers.
This past weekend we visited the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival. Saranac Lake is a small village in the Adirondack Park, about two hours drive from our current location. My first acquaintance with this town was in 1988 as a canoe camper canoeing the lakes. This is also the High Peaks Region, where our family climbed the lowest High Peak, Cascade, in 2006. We were very proud of the Mayor that day, who climbed the whole thing without complaint at the age of 3.
We got up at some ridiculous hour and met Todd's parents at their local McDonalds. We switched some kids into their car and proceeded. On the way we passed through Lake Placid, where the Olympics were held in 1932 and 1980, and saw the ski jumps. A light snow fell throughout the drive up there and all through the day. I instigated this excursion when I was scanning in pictures for The Girl's birthday blog. I saw pictures of it from 2001, when our girls were 2 and 3 years old, and thought, "Has it been that long?" I mentioned this to Todd, and off we went, with his parents along for the ride.
This is a nice, roomy ice castle. It's lighted at night, but we didn't stay past dark. Sorry. In the inner part of the castle you can climb the ice stairs to an ice balcony, and we had pictures taken with the royal court. Behind it, there is "maze," with a tunnel into the inside. Ice thrones, ice fireplace, ice roast beast on the table (?). Yes, seriously. It was lovely, really. The members of the court were handling out rubber duckies in knights' gear and jousting costumes.
I had a new experience this day- using a port-a-potty while snow drifted in through the ventilation screens. Chilly!
We also met a Civil War regiment where a soldier was happy to allow The Mayor to hold his rifle for a picture. He even attached the bayonet. They had just shot over the Lake. The castle was also swarmed by costumed characters- Snow White and the Dwarfs (3 or 4 anyway), Mother Goose, Medieval Mickey and Minnie, and that purple thing from McDonalds. That's North Country random, right there.
Next came lunch at the Blue Moon Cafe. I am not being paid to advertise this place. One reason it was chosen was the availability of breakfast all day- a good choice for my gluten-free kiddoes. It was so busy when we got there that they weren't making lunch at all. And it was a bit slow, understandable since the place was stuffed with people. The hot chocolate got very good reviews, partly because it came in cute mugs.Everyone was very friendly at the restaurant, and there seemed to be a town-wide silly hat contest going on. The 8 of us were crammed into a table for 6 near the window, so we got a great view of parade participants walking by, and others as well, just in costume for the fun of it. Even little babies were wearing princess or dragon snowsuits and hats.
The parade was due to start at 1pm. and due to long lines at the restaurant bathroom, we just barely made it outside in time. We wedged ourselves into a spot where the kids could see, standing in a 2 inch deep mud puddle. What can I say- we knew from experience it would be a good parade. It has to be, to get people to stand around in below-freezing temperatures to watch it! We had hoped to get a spot on the sunny side of the street, but there was no sunny side, as it snowed lightly all day! We were all wearing snowsuits, lined pants or layers, so most of our bodies were warm enough. It is, however, difficult to keep ones toes warm when standing on icy pavement, so that's where we felt it. I wished I had warmer socks on under my LLBean Barn shoes. Thankfully no one's boots leaked, so standing in the puddle wasn't a problem.
The Little Princess became a costumed character hug magnet. When one of the Dwarfs came running for her, I thought she would hide! Sounds like a nightmare to me! Nope, she was reaching for him. Many people gave up on the parade after about 20 minutes because it was so cold. That made more room for us to get a good look! I had told my kids to expect a lawn chair brigade and lumberjacks from Paul Smith's College rolling logs down the street. However, thanks to the parade theme, they saw knights, princesses, dragons, and castles. And twenty-five human sock monkeys, dancing to the Monkees and various other jungles-themed songs. Many, many groups drew inspiration from Monty Python, ("Bring out your dead!") and Todd was elated about the large wooden rabbit on one of the floats.
I have never laughed so hard at a parade, unless it was at one of my children. A band of Vikings passed us, waring fur capes and horned helmets and brandishing long spears. Soon after that, a small band of redcoats (Revolutionary re-enactors) passed as well. Eventually, the troop of Civil War re-enactors (my apologies to those whose sensibilities I offend by not knowing exactly what to call these people) we had seen at the ice castle approached and paused at the bend. Next, we saw the Vikings approach from the other side and mount an attack! A melee broke out! The Civil War guys loaded their guns and shot at the Vikings, who turned and ran down the street, only to be confronted by the Redcoats, who were stoically waiting for them! Before we knew it everyone was shooting everywhere! The Vikings were throwing their spears down the street and the lines of soldiers were firing into the bystanders on the second floor of buildings!
I was just about to say I was ready to go home when the anachronistic melee broke out. We made it through the entire two hours, 20 minutes of parade, but I will admit to wishing it were shorter. We did see the lawn chair ladies eventually, as well as a junior brigade of them. No lumberjacks, though. I guess they went with the Medieval theme instead. This is apparently alumni weekend at the area college, so after the parade quite a few characters were seen in area bars. We slogged back to our cars, threw the kids into the soft snowbanks at the library, and wished we had the energy to go the library book sale.
After another two hour drive we finished off our day by attending the roast beef dinner at Todd's parents' church. We don't eat roast beef and half the kids couldn't eat the cheesy broccoli dish either, but what we did eat was yummy and the last of the food, too. Having had a full day, we were home and in bed in our warm jammies right away. I can't say that I want to go every year, but I would definitely recommend this experience if you live nearby and have never been. Just consider bringing some toe warmers.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Snow Fun
We've missed the snow! Last year, living in PA there were a couple of big storms, but it wasn't a winter full of them. The schools and events there canceled so easily, that we got very frustrated when it was just some big, wet flskes, or even just a rumor, that got the closings started. This year, we had heard that NY was going to have a long winter. It seems to me that winter gets a later start every year, so I had my doubts about that prediction. Snow season is now here in full force though, and we like it!
The Sleeping Giant, otherwise known as the Girl who Hates to be Blogged, actually insisted that I post these pictures of her snow creations. Being the mean mommy that I am, I wouldn't give them my spray bottle for this project. So they used some bottles out of the recycling bin.
I don't know why, but they did these facing the house across the street. It's a good thing those neighbors' house is set back from the road! They might not like these faces peering in the window.Do you think I can count this as art class?
They even monogrammed some of them.
Unfortunately, they are getting covered over today by another 3-6 inches, which will be followed by even more tomorrow. I am not the one who has to go out and clean it up most of the time, so I am excited about the storms. Todd is out now stocking up on some essentials- along with the rest of the town, I imagine.
We took the risk though, and planned to go sledding at a park we'd never been to (for sledding) before. Honestly I don't know why I do these things. I heard some moms talking about this hill near our old house, and I had hoped to get there before the party to check it out, but didn't. Boy, were we pleasantly surprised! The rest of the year, this spot is a soccer field (bowl). Now, the town has groomed it into a great sledding hill! They don't just "let" you sled there, they put up signs and encourage it! Fun!
We all had a great time, but the highlight for me was when The Princess hopped onto a sled and took off, no coaching or cajoling required!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
October Birthdays
I was just looking through some pictures to print for our Unit Celebration display tomorrow, when I saw this and realized that I had neglected to put it up here.
Cute, isn't it? My girls get up early to make breakfasts on special occasions. They even made the coffee, and it was pretty good, too!
For the evening, I said that I didn't care what cake I got, as long as they used a certain chocolate frosting recipe. I pointed it out and set them loose. In our state, a seventh grader has to learn "practical arts," which has become a handy excuse to make a mess of my kitchen counters. We are from -scratch bakers around here anyway. So, last month DD12 learned that a white cake won't be white unless you separate the eggs. I told her this but she didn't believe me, used a recipe that said "White Cake," and was surprised when it was slightly yellow. Go figure.
I only intervened on the frosting when I came for a taste test and it was too runny, so I asked if they might have lost count on the confectioner's sugar. They were sure they had not lost count, but took my advice anyway and added some more so that the frosting was more of a spreadable consistency than a glaze. Results:
Cute again!
After we got our new vehicle going, we had to have a family field trip because we haven't all been able to go anywhere together in one car in nearly a month! This is kind of a big deal for a home schooled nomad family that has rather gotten used to going places as a herd, and taking the house with us to boot!
So we went apple picking.
When you have six people picking, it doesn'ttake very long to fill a bag with apples.
So, you have to find something else to do. Which means you go to the barn and buy some cider donuts, because DH doesn't go apple picking and not buy fresh cider donuts! But at least going to the barn means that you get to take a fun picture of your family! We haven't gone apple picking in a while because when we lived at the sending base, we got free apples donated, so paying to pick them was out of the question. It's really great to go again. 
I made this DC stand here because this flower is bigger than she is and I think that's cute! I don't have to have any other reason than that, do I?
I must say that the kids were disappointed not to go to a corn maze this year. There was one out behind her, but it wasn't open that day. Every place we looked at on-line was seriously expensive, so that it would cost our family about $50. They are so much fun, but definitely not in the budget this year.
Here's my gang up in a tree. It's a bit of a trick getting four kids into a tree where they can all balance and you can see all their smiling faces. But there they are. I think I could just title this entire post "Cuteness!"
I have heard that while there are orchards in our country of interest, they don't have apple-picking as a public event in this way. I wonder what it would take to make this behavior take off? Anyone interested in Business as Missions want to give it a try? My family will be your first customers. Please try to make the corn maze affordable.
This was my birthday breakfast- homemade waffles, fruit (I requested fruit) and real whipped cream.
For the evening, I said that I didn't care what cake I got, as long as they used a certain chocolate frosting recipe. I pointed it out and set them loose. In our state, a seventh grader has to learn "practical arts," which has become a handy excuse to make a mess of my kitchen counters. We are from -scratch bakers around here anyway. So, last month DD12 learned that a white cake won't be white unless you separate the eggs. I told her this but she didn't believe me, used a recipe that said "White Cake," and was surprised when it was slightly yellow. Go figure.
I only intervened on the frosting when I came for a taste test and it was too runny, so I asked if they might have lost count on the confectioner's sugar. They were sure they had not lost count, but took my advice anyway and added some more so that the frosting was more of a spreadable consistency than a glaze. Results:
After we got our new vehicle going, we had to have a family field trip because we haven't all been able to go anywhere together in one car in nearly a month! This is kind of a big deal for a home schooled nomad family that has rather gotten used to going places as a herd, and taking the house with us to boot!
So we went apple picking.
When you have six people picking, it doesn'ttake very long to fill a bag with apples.
So, you have to find something else to do. Which means you go to the barn and buy some cider donuts, because DH doesn't go apple picking and not buy fresh cider donuts! But at least going to the barn means that you get to take a fun picture of your family! We haven't gone apple picking in a while because when we lived at the sending base, we got free apples donated, so paying to pick them was out of the question. It's really great to go again.
I made this DC stand here because this flower is bigger than she is and I think that's cute! I don't have to have any other reason than that, do I?I must say that the kids were disappointed not to go to a corn maze this year. There was one out behind her, but it wasn't open that day. Every place we looked at on-line was seriously expensive, so that it would cost our family about $50. They are so much fun, but definitely not in the budget this year.
I have heard that while there are orchards in our country of interest, they don't have apple-picking as a public event in this way. I wonder what it would take to make this behavior take off? Anyone interested in Business as Missions want to give it a try? My family will be your first customers. Please try to make the corn maze affordable.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Market Day
A bored child asked me for the "Activity Book" the other day. This is the one suggested by Tapestry of Grace for this year's work. It's called Old Testament Days. We were done with school; she was just looking for something to do.
She managed to get her sisters, a friend and her brother to go along with this, and here are the results:
A Middle Eastern Market Day in the back yard. The costume was my only contribution. There was actually another booth, a bit more involved, but my camera battery died and DD12 doesn't particularly like to be blogged so I didn't bother her.
In case you are wondering, they are selling spices, cloth, (rotten) tomatoes, apples, stuffed animals and, I believe, matchbox cars.
I just say what a great feeling it is when your kids want to "play" history when their studies have ended. I cannot wait to see what they come up with for the Seder meal at the end of our Unit.
In other news, I surprised my husband this Thursday night by taking him on a twilight kayaking trip on Moreau Lake. The idea came to me in a newsletter for homeschoolers, and I thought,Oh, he would love that. When is it?" Well, it was on his birthday. So I quickly made arrangements for childcare (Thanks, family!) and kayak rental. The above picture is the only one I took because I was afraid of dropping the camera in the water if I took it along. It started to rain on the way there, but we decided to go anyway. So glad we did, because the rain cleared right up after that. By the time we were done, the clouds had cleared up enough to see a few constellations, too.
We began the trip by kayaking around the rim of the lake, stopping to talk to some passing campers about moose, which have been seen in the area of late. We're in the Adirondacks, so moose sightings are not unheard of, but still newsworthy. We didn't see any though, which is surprising when you consider that I was a moose magnet during the 15 months we lived in New Hampshire back in 1997-1998.
What we did see was geese! Hundreds of them! We kayaked into a pond adjacent to the lake, "Mud Pond." There is a beaver dam across the opening which they just pulled open, and a beaver house in the middle. Another at the back. We didn't see a beaver but a muskrat that jumped into the water near us.
As it grew dark, geese came in by pairs, tens, and fifties, honking like mad! It was LOUD! They were all coming in to spend the night in the corner of the pond. Then, when it had gotten quiet, our guide shone a spotlight into their corner and 20 or more took off, honking all over again but really mad this time!
Todd said that guy must have been a handful when he was a kid. Indeed, the phrase, "I just wanted to see what would happen," has accompanied many adventures in our household.
Finally, for those who read about our accident, we are still car shopping. Tomorrow we should hear about a minivan we bid on that had been repossessed by the bank. I would love to have this, a gold 2005 Saturn Relay. If we didn't win, *sigh* more work to do. We just make decisions so s-l-o-w-l-y around here. Sooo thankful for the loan of a car so that the whole family can go places, even if we have to split up to do it.
Tomorrow, a representative of another insurance company will be stopping by to do an estimate on Todd's car, which is probably totalled from an accident he had a week later in the parking lot of the local grocery store. Not his fault, but a guy "didn't see him," went through a stop sign and right into the rear quarter of his car, so there's a big dent in the metal and a hole in the bumper. Since we only paid $1,000 for the little thing two weeks ago, it should be considered a total loss. Our guy estimated $1500 to fix it. If they call it a loss that'll be complicated because we don't even have the title yet!! If it weren't dark out, I'd give you a picture of that! But this is New York State in October, so dark out it is, at 6:50p.m.
I'm still waiting for my found camera to come in the mail, but then I will have Botany pics and probably some others that I have forgotten about. Hopefully, not of crashed up anythings.
She managed to get her sisters, a friend and her brother to go along with this, and here are the results:
A Middle Eastern Market Day in the back yard. The costume was my only contribution. There was actually another booth, a bit more involved, but my camera battery died and DD12 doesn't particularly like to be blogged so I didn't bother her. In case you are wondering, they are selling spices, cloth, (rotten) tomatoes, apples, stuffed animals and, I believe, matchbox cars.
I just say what a great feeling it is when your kids want to "play" history when their studies have ended. I cannot wait to see what they come up with for the Seder meal at the end of our Unit.
We began the trip by kayaking around the rim of the lake, stopping to talk to some passing campers about moose, which have been seen in the area of late. We're in the Adirondacks, so moose sightings are not unheard of, but still newsworthy. We didn't see any though, which is surprising when you consider that I was a moose magnet during the 15 months we lived in New Hampshire back in 1997-1998.
What we did see was geese! Hundreds of them! We kayaked into a pond adjacent to the lake, "Mud Pond." There is a beaver dam across the opening which they just pulled open, and a beaver house in the middle. Another at the back. We didn't see a beaver but a muskrat that jumped into the water near us.
As it grew dark, geese came in by pairs, tens, and fifties, honking like mad! It was LOUD! They were all coming in to spend the night in the corner of the pond. Then, when it had gotten quiet, our guide shone a spotlight into their corner and 20 or more took off, honking all over again but really mad this time!
Todd said that guy must have been a handful when he was a kid. Indeed, the phrase, "I just wanted to see what would happen," has accompanied many adventures in our household.
Finally, for those who read about our accident, we are still car shopping. Tomorrow we should hear about a minivan we bid on that had been repossessed by the bank. I would love to have this, a gold 2005 Saturn Relay. If we didn't win, *sigh* more work to do. We just make decisions so s-l-o-w-l-y around here. Sooo thankful for the loan of a car so that the whole family can go places, even if we have to split up to do it.
Tomorrow, a representative of another insurance company will be stopping by to do an estimate on Todd's car, which is probably totalled from an accident he had a week later in the parking lot of the local grocery store. Not his fault, but a guy "didn't see him," went through a stop sign and right into the rear quarter of his car, so there's a big dent in the metal and a hole in the bumper. Since we only paid $1,000 for the little thing two weeks ago, it should be considered a total loss. Our guy estimated $1500 to fix it. If they call it a loss that'll be complicated because we don't even have the title yet!! If it weren't dark out, I'd give you a picture of that! But this is New York State in October, so dark out it is, at 6:50p.m.
I'm still waiting for my found camera to come in the mail, but then I will have Botany pics and probably some others that I have forgotten about. Hopefully, not of crashed up anythings.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
World's Largest Garage Sale
The World's Largest Garage Sale
No seriously. I think it's in Guiness Book and everything.
Now, truth be told this isn't just a garage sale. There are vendors, food sales, and church efforts in addition to true garage sales. The only thing missing are the carnival rides!
We took some time away from home today to go help out Todd's parents at their yard sale, enabling them to help out at their church, too. We went up on Thursday night, because apparently you shouldn't even expect to drive on the streets and get anywhere on Friday or the weekend. However, there was a driving rain on Thursday night and into Friday morning, so I had no trouble getting out and back for an appointment on Friday.
Oh, the other purpose for our participation was to sell Whoopie Pies. I used a recipe from allrecipes.com and they turned out pretty well, but I usually use devil's food cake so I was not as happy with them. Now as it turns out many people did not know what a whoopie pie was, so, for those of you reading who are not from New England, be enlightened! They are chocolate sandwich cakes with frosting-like filling. I never had one myself until I went to college outside of Boston, and they were a major factor in my freshman 15! We sold by donation only and made about $17 the first day. Having run out of Whoopie Pie, I picked up ingredients for my famous finally-got-the-recipe-right chocolate chip cookies, which I will happily share here because I got it off the back of Blue Bonnet Margarine so it isn't really a secret.
3/4 c. Margarine, melted then cooled. This is important!
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour.
1 c. chocolate chips
Now, if you melted and cooled the margarine (cooled as in forgot what I was doing and left it on the counter for half an hour), you should get dough that acts like play dough. I use parchment paper for easy cleanup, and voila! Bake at 350 for 9 minutes, if you didn't eat all the dough.
These we sold at the garage sale on Saturday. Who can resist these salespersons:
Especially with a bait-and-switch line like "Would you like some cookies? They're free...but you can make a donation."
These little shysters made $35 on chocolate chip cookies.
Our contribution to the sale, other than cuteness, was some collector's Hotwheels cars. We also brought the painted windows you can see behind the kids. I painted these, which were taken out of the house we owned when we remodeled it. I sold two! This was very exciting since I had sold several in the past but I have not been able to move any lately.
Got a few left if anyone's interested!
Our daughters got up at 6:30am to wait on tables at the church breakfast and lunch. Although they seemed quite exhausted by the end, but it was good for them and they got some tips, too. In the afternoon we closed up the garage sale at the in-laws and went for a look around ourselves.
We didn't get very far. I just found the whole thing overstimulating. Too crowded, and we didn't have stroller for the princess, so having her bouncing along next to us in that press was just a little too nerve-wracking. Plus, we are still pretty exhausted from stress, transition, and working hard to put our lives back together this week. So, one long walk around the block was enough for us. We followed that up with some offensively expensive fried dough, a bloomin' onion and let's not forget, fried Reese's peanut butter cup. The GF kids had sno-cones. The sno-cone place had a myriad of flavors, so I got a sasparilla. Mostly because DD12 was using "Sasparilla!" as an interjection this summer, and I want a person to know what they are saying. (For the record, she found it quite disgusting. I ate it, but it didn't enjoy it either.)
And a little bit of joy to share: Our camera is found! The few pics I have posted in the last two weeks were taken with my video camera, which doesn't take super pics and annoys me by resizing after I push the button. I have been managing ok, but it has no flash. I got no pics of my parents' 40th anniversary party! Worse, I didn't like thinking that the pictures of my kids on the chip in the camera were floating around lost, either. We eventually decided that we'd lost it at the conference we went to two weeks ago, but in my state of permanent distraction I never did anything about it. When I finally emailed the pastor there, he said nothing had been found after the conference. But yesterday, he emailed and said that he did indeed find my camera! Hooray! I was a little worried that it had gotten toasted in the crash and we didn't know it because we weren't looking for it to be there. So, hooray. He's going to mail it to me. Then, dear friends, you will have illuminating pics of the contruction on our Botany light hut, which I promised you lo these many weeks ago.
No seriously. I think it's in Guiness Book and everything.
Now, truth be told this isn't just a garage sale. There are vendors, food sales, and church efforts in addition to true garage sales. The only thing missing are the carnival rides!
We took some time away from home today to go help out Todd's parents at their yard sale, enabling them to help out at their church, too. We went up on Thursday night, because apparently you shouldn't even expect to drive on the streets and get anywhere on Friday or the weekend. However, there was a driving rain on Thursday night and into Friday morning, so I had no trouble getting out and back for an appointment on Friday.
Oh, the other purpose for our participation was to sell Whoopie Pies. I used a recipe from allrecipes.com and they turned out pretty well, but I usually use devil's food cake so I was not as happy with them. Now as it turns out many people did not know what a whoopie pie was, so, for those of you reading who are not from New England, be enlightened! They are chocolate sandwich cakes with frosting-like filling. I never had one myself until I went to college outside of Boston, and they were a major factor in my freshman 15! We sold by donation only and made about $17 the first day. Having run out of Whoopie Pie, I picked up ingredients for my famous finally-got-the-recipe-right chocolate chip cookies, which I will happily share here because I got it off the back of Blue Bonnet Margarine so it isn't really a secret.
3/4 c. Margarine, melted then cooled. This is important!
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour.
1 c. chocolate chips
Now, if you melted and cooled the margarine (cooled as in forgot what I was doing and left it on the counter for half an hour), you should get dough that acts like play dough. I use parchment paper for easy cleanup, and voila! Bake at 350 for 9 minutes, if you didn't eat all the dough.
Especially with a bait-and-switch line like "Would you like some cookies? They're free...but you can make a donation."
These little shysters made $35 on chocolate chip cookies.
Our contribution to the sale, other than cuteness, was some collector's Hotwheels cars. We also brought the painted windows you can see behind the kids. I painted these, which were taken out of the house we owned when we remodeled it. I sold two! This was very exciting since I had sold several in the past but I have not been able to move any lately.
Got a few left if anyone's interested!
We didn't get very far. I just found the whole thing overstimulating. Too crowded, and we didn't have stroller for the princess, so having her bouncing along next to us in that press was just a little too nerve-wracking. Plus, we are still pretty exhausted from stress, transition, and working hard to put our lives back together this week. So, one long walk around the block was enough for us. We followed that up with some offensively expensive fried dough, a bloomin' onion and let's not forget, fried Reese's peanut butter cup. The GF kids had sno-cones. The sno-cone place had a myriad of flavors, so I got a sasparilla. Mostly because DD12 was using "Sasparilla!" as an interjection this summer, and I want a person to know what they are saying. (For the record, she found it quite disgusting. I ate it, but it didn't enjoy it either.)
And a little bit of joy to share: Our camera is found! The few pics I have posted in the last two weeks were taken with my video camera, which doesn't take super pics and annoys me by resizing after I push the button. I have been managing ok, but it has no flash. I got no pics of my parents' 40th anniversary party! Worse, I didn't like thinking that the pictures of my kids on the chip in the camera were floating around lost, either. We eventually decided that we'd lost it at the conference we went to two weeks ago, but in my state of permanent distraction I never did anything about it. When I finally emailed the pastor there, he said nothing had been found after the conference. But yesterday, he emailed and said that he did indeed find my camera! Hooray! I was a little worried that it had gotten toasted in the crash and we didn't know it because we weren't looking for it to be there. So, hooray. He's going to mail it to me. Then, dear friends, you will have illuminating pics of the contruction on our Botany light hut, which I promised you lo these many weeks ago.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Crash Photos
I struggle a little with posting this, because I don't want to seem macabre. Since no one got hurt though, please look at them as a testimony to God's grace, holding us in His hand even as everything seemed out of control. We are so aware of the many, many ways that this could have been infinitely worse- including the fact that no other vehicles were involved.
So, here goes.
I don't have any pictures from the scene, no camera handy. Some were taken though, by a passerby using his phone. They are probably on Facebook somewhere with the heading - "Can you believe a family of 6 walked away from this unhurt?!" Picture, if you will, our truck lying on the driver's side with the hood against the guardrail. The camper trailer was lying on its side as well, across the highway, which was two lanes wide. There were several close calls as cars came up and almost drove straight into it, until we turned our headlights back on. (Someone helping us had turned off the engine which was still running and thought the lights would blind motorists, so turned them off. Bad idea.) We got some flares going after that but it was the scariest part for the kids as we were sitting on the grass watching that! One stopped on a dime in front of it and another went past it in the grass at the last second! I prayed sooo loud for those few moments!
After everything was righted and towed they swept up all of our belongings from the road, along with the glass and the rearview mirror and extenders from the driver's side, which had been sheared off. They put it all into the cover from the propane tanks. (The tanks were tossed into the median in case they were leaking). This is what you could see on the highway 18 hours later:
Nothing.
We found a broken plate, which was in the back of the truck with some cupcakes on it, a tomatillo, and a wad of silly bands (of course!)
Because of God's grace none of the items in the back of the truck walloped DS in the head, not even a cupcake. We had the plate, some apples and other stuff from a farmer's market, a case of water and a stroller in there.
When we came to a stop he said, "Mom, the window's broken."
Yup. Lots of things are broken.
But no one is hurt.
None of that glass hurt him and he had no road rash.
This is what that bottom side looked like:
If you look about halfway down the edge of the camper, you can see the imprint of where the tire of the truck hit the camper. The top edge of the camper has to be what dented the truck door (which will not open). Yet none of us remembers hearing or feeling this impact. It had to have happened when we jackknifed. And the camper had to have been turned almost all the way over on that side at the time, yet it landed on its other side at the end. So, that's about a 175 degree flop over. I do not know when there was time for this to have happened!!
All in all, the truck looks good, and the roof didn't crush. It makes a good argument for getting another truck instead of a minivan, since it held up so well in this. It kept us all safe.
But the camper did flop to the other side, which now looks like this:
I few closing thoughts. First, a reminder of what all this looked like last month:
And this, just to brighten your thoughts:
So, here goes.
I don't have any pictures from the scene, no camera handy. Some were taken though, by a passerby using his phone. They are probably on Facebook somewhere with the heading - "Can you believe a family of 6 walked away from this unhurt?!" Picture, if you will, our truck lying on the driver's side with the hood against the guardrail. The camper trailer was lying on its side as well, across the highway, which was two lanes wide. There were several close calls as cars came up and almost drove straight into it, until we turned our headlights back on. (Someone helping us had turned off the engine which was still running and thought the lights would blind motorists, so turned them off. Bad idea.) We got some flares going after that but it was the scariest part for the kids as we were sitting on the grass watching that! One stopped on a dime in front of it and another went past it in the grass at the last second! I prayed sooo loud for those few moments!
After everything was righted and towed they swept up all of our belongings from the road, along with the glass and the rearview mirror and extenders from the driver's side, which had been sheared off. They put it all into the cover from the propane tanks. (The tanks were tossed into the median in case they were leaking). This is what you could see on the highway 18 hours later:
We found a broken plate, which was in the back of the truck with some cupcakes on it, a tomatillo, and a wad of silly bands (of course!)
Because of God's grace none of the items in the back of the truck walloped DS in the head, not even a cupcake. We had the plate, some apples and other stuff from a farmer's market, a case of water and a stroller in there.
When we came to a stop he said, "Mom, the window's broken."
Yup. Lots of things are broken.
But no one is hurt.
None of that glass hurt him and he had no road rash.
This is what that bottom side looked like:
You can see from the scratch patterns that the truck slid in two directions, although I guess the vertical ones might be from when they righted it and it scraped along the guardrail. The guardrail blocked part of the sunroof but we still managed to squeeze out. DH went straight to check the fuel lines and I had to get each older kid out one by one before I could get to the little one. They had changed into their pajamas, but the little ones still had shoes on so no one was hurt walking over the glass. What a bizarre feeling, letting my 3 year old out of a seat that had her dangling from the "top" of the car, then walking her over to the sunroof and handing her to a stranger. You can see her car seat in the window. I can not even imagine now how I was walking around inside the truck in that condition.
The only thing I took out of the car with me was my purse, because I could smell gas and thought it would be inconvenient if it all went up in smoke. Later one of the men who stopped went back for my phone which had slipped out of the pocket.
What gets me is the other side of the truck.
Look at this:
All in all, the truck looks good, and the roof didn't crush. It makes a good argument for getting another truck instead of a minivan, since it held up so well in this. It kept us all safe.
But the camper did flop to the other side, which now looks like this:
The slide out had popped out partway. Every cabinet on the inside popped open and dumped its contents onto this side, so that food, books and clothes were in the street. Not a scrap was left in the cupboards. Silverware was behind the couch and a can of cocoa powder over the window. What a mess! There's also a storage compartment on that side so Todd's toolbox was shattered and contents all over the road too. But we had taken every item of value to the house in NY the week before, so none of this was too important.
This last picture was taken after we sorted it all out. See how the fridge is sort of popping out from the wall? it didn't come open, which probably saved a huge mess! I can not imagine the noise of all of this, but I did hear the sound of the camper crashing after our truck had stopped. I had a second to wonder whether it was going to stay upright before *Bang*! it landed. What a feeling. My printer was under the dining area seat in a compartment with, off all things, a pumpkin. The pumpkin was wrapped in a sleeping bag (don't ask). Neither the pumpkin nor the printer appears any worse for the wear, but I can't test the printer because were out of black ink and it won't speak to me. So the jury is out on that one.
I few closing thoughts. First, a reminder of what all this looked like last month:
Maybe soon I will get back to blogging about school. Funny, a few weeks ago I wanted something more out of the ordinary than school stuff to blog about...
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