Nantucket!

On Friday the 13th of July, we loaded up the van with luggage and kids at 4:00 a.m. and hit the road.  Destination: Nantucket, an island off the coast of Massachusetts and home to JD's sister and her family.

On the way, we got to see a mama moose and her baby up close.  We found out about three hours into the drive that we had a hitchhiker along for the ride, a good sized toad who had to be kicked out when he starting hopping around JD's feet as he was driving on a four-lane highway in Massachusetts.

"Mom!  There is a frog on my pillow pet!!!"

We bribed the kids with spending money and they were perfect angels the whole way there, with the exception of the little guy who was extremely tired by the time we boarded the ferry to the island and turned into a little monster for a bit.

Our time on Nantucket was perfect.  We had beautiful weather for beaches, quahogging, walking the historic streets of the town, getting ice-cream from the Juice Bar, and just hanging out.

Zeke loved hanging out with cousin Max

Everyone tried their hand at raking up quahogs.

A beautiful beach day

One last ice cream

On our return trip, we made a side trip to Ikea and got stuck in Boston traffic for too long for JD's liking, but eventually made it home.  Thanks to Jen & Peter and Max & Boone for opening their home (and vehicles) to us!

Crazy Days

I'm really failing in the blogging department these days, so here's a quick update on what the crew has been up to, and since I have a million things to do yet tonight, you'll have to envision things for yourselves because pictures aren't happening.   Hopefully I can catch up with those later.

We hosted a Fresh Air Child again this summer.  Last year went pretty well so we invited H back.  It went okay this time, but things didn't end on quite as happy a note as last year.  She just didn't seem as happy to be here and we had to put a lot of effort and energy in trying to make her time with us enjoyable.  I haven't decided about next year yet and if we'll invite her back.  Zeke is begging us to invite a boy next summer.

Our days have been crazy.  Yesterday was a good example.  I woke everyone up and brought Ryley to Pony Camp at 8.  The boys and I spent the morning at home and I accomplished the daunting task of cleaning our bedroom.  We had to pick Ry up at 12:30.  We were home for about 2 hours and then off to swimming lessons.  I then dropped the kids off at JD's mom's so that I could finish my mom's shift at our school resale shop.  I closed up there and raced back to get the kids and then we were off to Vacation Bible School.  The big kids stayed there and I took Quin and went for a walk in the scorching heat with Julia and JJ.  After VBS, JD met me to drop my van off to get the air conditioner fixed.  Then we had to go to pick up a work truck for him so that I could use his truck today.  It was after 9 by the time we got home.  The gardens still needed to be watered, kids put to bed, etc.  JD and I had tortilla chips and salsa grande for supper at about 10:30.  Bed time was close to 111:30 and JD had to be up early to get to work by 5.  Crazy days.

I love it though.  Ryley is loving Pony Camp, the kids are doing well with their first swimming lessons ever, VBS has been a hit, and although we miss JD in the evenings, I appreciate his work ethic.  

"I have all I've waited for and I could not ask for more."

We've got a fun weekend planned, and I promise I'll blog when it's over!

Beachin' It

Wednesday, the first official day of summer, and temperatures in the 90's, led to us hitting the beach.  We went to a VT state park, Branbury Beach, on the shore of Lake Dunmore.

Zeke and Dick are out on the kayak.

This little dude loved the beach.

Scuba Zeke

Dick trying to get Zeke soaked.

Thursday, temps in the 90s again, another beach?  Why not.  This time we headed to Lake George to a free town beach.  The kids didn't enjoy it as much as Dunmore, so we probably won't make the effort to get back to this one too often.  The sand was extremely hot and we had to remove several dead fish from the water :(  

"Hey Buddy."

We hit another VT state park on Friday, this one a little closer to home on the shores of Lake Champlain.  The temps weren't as high and the kids weren't as inclined to get in the water.  This park also lacked a beach so Quin wasn't a huge fan.  The grown ups liked it though.

I'm planning on visiting a state park that I've never been to later this week if the weather is decent; kind of excited about this one!

Camping Trip Numero Uno

On Monday night (last week) I hauled a van load of important camping stuff crap to our favorite campground.  We met JD's dad and step-mom there as they let us borrow their fabulous camper for the week.  And then we went home for a nice peaceful night of sleep.  On Tuesday, I loaded up van load number two and headed back to the campground in the afternoon.  It was raining.  Not a great start, but after setting up the awning, we were able to get ourselves situated and enjoy deal with the rain.  Julia and her family had scored big time by borrowing a ginormous fifth wheel from friends of theirs.  It was set up on the same site as ours and we used our second site for a play area for the kids and for cooking/fires as our campers were too close to the pit on our site.  Only 4 sites were even in use in our area of the campground for the first couple of nights, but by Friday night the place was packed.

Julia #2 (and 2 kids) joined Julia #1 (and 5 kids) and I for our last two nights.

We had four fabulous days of camping despite crying kids, scraped knees, bug bites, sunburn, etc.

Breakfast=Cold cereal

Hopefully at least one of these kids will no longer be in diapers next summer.

This playground was right next to our site and kept the little ones busy. 

Our setup.

A little boccee.

Youngest camper.

There you have it.

Start of Summer

I know that summer doesn't technically start until later this month, but for teachers and students and parents of students, summer begins the day that school lets out.  That was last Monday for this crew.  I wasn't quite done as a teacher; I had report cards to do, a classroom to clean, and school events for three evenings.  I'm done now, and it feels great!

Summer is off to a great start.  I took the kids hiking up Mount Philo on Thursday.  I carried Quin in the Ergo, and the big kids and their friend Ian walked.  The little man was quite content until we headed down the mountain.  He started fussing, Ryley fell and scraped her elbow, he started screaming, she was crying, I had used up all of the wipes when changing a diaper at the top, she was bleeding, I let him walk a bit, he fell, he started crying...  He cried the whole way down the mountain and then the whole ride home.  Usually he's great in the car, but he was so exhausted he just cried.  When we got home I put him in his crib and he closed his eyes before I was out of his room.  I'm not the kind of mom that plans my entire day around nap time, but in some cases, maybe I should.

Our next adventure is a camping trip.  Stay tuned!

FPU- Still going strong

I haven't updated how we're doing with FPU lately.  In this case, no news is good news.  With the busy-ness of life the past month or so, we haven't watched any more DVD lessons and we never did write out a budget for May.  That makes it sound like we're not doing too well, but on the other hand, we were ahead of the game for the month of May and able to put a decent sum towards property taxes.  I had a garage sale with a friend and we each made $300- not bad for getting rid of stuff we didn't need!  We plan to do another one later this summer.

I'm looking forward to the summer months:
-Not working = not paying for daycare
-I get paid through the summer
-JD gets 3 paychecks in the month of July (I'm paid 2x a month, he's paid biweekly)
-I'm going to be kid-sitting a friend's boys at least one day a week

All of this should help us completely fund our property tax fund and allow us attack our loans in order to pay them off earlier than originally planned.

The envelope system is going really well.  We simply don't spend more than what we have available in cash.  We do let ourselves "cheat" a little.  For example, if we have "babysitting" money left over, but no "clothes" money, we borrow, but if there is no money in any envelope, we're done.  Or, we would be done as this hasn't actually happened.

We're looking for low/no cost summer fun ideas if anyone has them!

Sunday Seven

1.  We planted our garden (four 4x8 raised beds) last weekend.  We've had just the right amount of sunshine and rain and everything has come up!

2.  JD's sister and her boys, our Nantucket nephews, were up for a week.  We saw them a couple of times, and Zeke especially had fun playing with his cousin Max.

3.  The Memorial Day parade in Vergennes was a family affair.  JD drove the tractor that pulled our school float.  I walked and the kids rode.

Waiting for the parade to start

Tired of waiting...

Quin spent most of the parade on Ryley's lap

4.  Baseball/softball is still going on.  I'll be happy to have a less busy evening schedule in another week or so.

5.  We are working on building a chicken coop.  We turned half of our shed into a coop last weekend.  We built the nesting boxes this weekend.  Next up are roosts and a penned in area outside.  I'm excited about the fresh eggs, and I'm enjoying the building, but I have vowed that I WILL NOT DEAL WITH THE CHICKENS.  That means no egg collecting, feeding, etc.  Not only do I think birds are gross, I'm afraid of getting pecked.

6.  Our laundry room got a makeover this week.  Dick painted it for us, JD and I put new baseboards down, stained the window, painted the shelf, made a bulletin board out of a Goodwill cork board and some burlap, and built a second shelf.  I love it!

Before.  Imagine the washer and dryer in the picture below and the shelf above them au natural.

After.  Paint!  The shelf/rack to the right is for the kids' school uniforms

7.  I have a half day of school tomorrow.  At 11:30 a.m. on Monday, June 4, Summer will have officially arrived for this teacher and her kiddos!