Month: June 2010

Yesterday, Vince started cub scout camp. Every parent has to volunteer at least once during the week, I volunteered yesterday – I figured I would just extend my vacation one more day. It reached almost 100 degrees yesterday. We were sweltering, listening to nature talks and doing crafts. The kids were restless.

Vince ate three sandwiches. A record.

As we ate lunch, it started raining. Hard. But we were cub scouts, we pressed on with the camp. We were eagerly looking forward to the next station, BB guns. Everyone was willing to get wet to get a chance to fire a gun, although another mom said a sentiment held by all the adults – “My son owes me…”

Then we heard the thunder and we all trundled into the indoor shelter where songs were sun and after a bit, camp was canceled.

Finally, Mom & I settled down here at Washougal, WA for the summer. It is very cool here, unlike the weather in Washington DC. But there, we had fun also with all our family members.

After 10 months away from this place, everything is surprisingly in good order. I got my two car tags right today by running around inspection state, motor vehicle dept, etc. Or, otherwise, it is very difficult to drive around with expired tags.

We decide to use-up our Windstar as much as possible in order to make room for another new van. I think it will take a while, hopefully.

My first day back at work is tomorrow. I already feel overwhelmed, I remember what I left on my desk a week and a half ago and I’m dreading it all a little. I know, I have nothing to complain about – everything is going great :).

Vince and Edda got to spend time with their grandparents last week. Thank you guys all for coming and hanging out in our messy house and disorganized lives and the unbearable heat.

And just FYI, “Big” (the bigger tadpole) developed back legs while we were gone. Exciting times!

Sand crab hole?

Trudy’s morning beach walk. She’s 98 in dog years, so has a little trouble with the stairs.

Lunch at a diner in Chincoteague:

Took a boat ride and saw the wild horses of Chnicoteague (sorry no zoom lens).

Dog in water at daybreak:

Enjoying the boardwalk:

Wii dance competition:

Kiki trying out the iPad:

Pizza dinner on the screened in porch (We are helmeting Edda now. She walks well but has had a few too many really bad falls in the past few months. She’s using an ill-fitting bike helmet now which keeps falling off her head. We just ordered a rugby helmet which has more exact sizing. Why a rugby helmet? The company sells the rugby helmet on special needs websites for 80 dollars, on Amazon as a rugby helmet for 50 dollars and straight from the manufacturer for 37 dollars. Grrrr on the pricing.):

Jeremy and I are not huge fans of the beach, but this year we decided to give the shore vacation a try. Families rave about going to the beach year after year and Edda seemed to love the water, especially at the shore. For weeks, I’ve been telling friends that this finally was Edda’s vacation, something she would love and really, really enjoy. Was it a success? Sort of. Vince and pal loved the beach, we got to spend time away from work and with family. However, it was brutally hot and Edda did not love it as much as I thought she would which was a disappointment to me (and to her too probably). We also would have loved it more if they could invent sunscreen that was not so disgusting to put on.

When I complained about how much we were hauling to the beach, my brother, Donald chided that perhaps I did not need to pack the hugh tub of cheese balls.

Edda – a little unsure.

Jellyfish everywhere – but no one got stung!

We’ve been at the beach for the past week – this was our first beach vacation and was very nice in many ways – however, I’m going to start our beach blog with these pictures of Vince in the ER at Rehoboth.

Vince swallowed a quarter after lunch on Friday. As far as emergencies go, this was a low-priority emergency, I’m not sure it wasn’t even qualified as an “emergency” – but where else is there to go after swallowing a quarter? I was really mad at him for doing something so toddler-like. What is an eight-year-old doing with a quarter in his mouth? There was an X-ray taken which confirmed that the quarter passed the esophageal sphincter and the quarter was happily settled into the stomach. The doctor told us that once the quarter was in the stomach, it would be smooth sailing from there on out (so to speak).

The community hospital was fabulous, we were in and out in about 1.5 hours and we are just waiting for the quarter to be pooped out. (No, we are not going to look for it.)