Family Night Canceled AGAIN

Our horrible weather here in New England this summer continues on and on. Just when we thought we were finally out of the "thunder/lightening/torrential downpour" weather pattern, it comes back. The beginning of the week was gorgeous. It was even a pretty nice day today. But the weather reports were calling for some bad storms tonight. The administrative staff at the camp spent most of the day checking the computer to see what they were saying about impending storms. They were reporting the usual thunderstorms with high winds and hail. However, it was hot and sunny out - I guess we found it hard to believe bad weather could be coming. Finally, around 2:30 pm, the decision was made to cancel. There's nothing like the thought of 75 wet, cold and frightened children to make you think twice about having a campout in bad weather. The decision to cancel was not made lightly. It entailed a lot of work in calling parents to let them know it was canceled so they could A) not show up at the camp at 5pm, and B) get to the bus stop and meet their kids who would now be taking the bus. It also entails freezing all the hamburgers, hotdogs and rolls that were bought for the BBQ. Of course, things never go the way you think they will. So far tonight we've had two 2-minute rain showers. That's it. No thunder. No lightening. Nothing. Figures. But I'm not blaming the camp for making the decision they did. Better to be safe than sorry. I'm glad I wasn't the one making the decision though. The one time I did - I did NOT err on the side of caution and I paid for it...literally. The kids' elementary school was having a "Santa Breakfast" on a Saturday morning. Since I was the PTA president, I was running it. I ordered AND pre-paid 12 dozen donuts and 12 dozen muffins from DD. Even though weather reports were calling for a snowstorm, I made the decision to go ahead with the breakfast. We woke up to about a foot of snow on Saturday morning. The breakfast had to be canceled. But the donuts and muffins were already bought. So we went and picked them up and put them all in ziplock baggies and froze them to be used the following Saturday at the make-up Santa Breakfast. We found out - way too late - that frozen and thawed donuts and muffins are pretty disgusting. We won't be making up the Family Night. We have a parent/camper lunch next Friday and we usually order pizza, but we'll have hamburgers and hotdogs and rolls from the freezer instead. I hope they taste better than frozen donuts.

Odds and Ends

Just a bunch of little stuff to chat about......

My old Aunt Izy moved from the town next door into Salem in May. She called about two weeks ago and invited Hubby and I to see her new place. We've literally been so busy we haven't been able to go see her. I hope she doesn't think we're avoiding her.

Hubby and I got to babysit Emily this afternoon. I had called to see if I could go visit her before they leave on vacation, and DIL said she had a dentist appt. and asked if I was coming to visit anyway, could I babysit? Of course!! Hubby came home from work and joined me. She's as cute as ever. Hubby was counting to five with her and she actually said the word, "Five!" wow! She enjoyed playing the ukulele with Pepere:

The weather the past couple of days has been gorgeous. These are the days its a pleasure to work at a summer camp. Unfortunately, it's supposed to turn rainy with thunderstorms tonight. Tomorrow night is the make-up Family Night we had to cancel from last Thursday when we were having monsoons. I'm not sure if they'd postpone it again or just cancel it.

Hubby's car wouldn't start coming out of work on Monday. He had it towed to a garage and I went down to get him. The garage didn't even look at it yesterday, and today they called and said it was the starter. Hubby has put in TWO used starters since he got the car two years ago. Each time cost about $50 for the used starter and Hubby did the work. This time the garage put in a brand new starter and, with labor, it was $269!!!!! It damn well better not EVER give us a problem again!

Besides family night on Thursday, we have Hubby's work cookout on Friday afternoon and then we're going to see friends sing at a coffeeshop on Friday night. Saturday we have Hubby's family reunion, and Sunday (weather permitting) we'll be going to visit my parents at their campground. Once again, I will have to go back to work on Monday to rest!!

Wendy's Baby Shower

We had Wendy's baby shower yesterday. For those who don't know, Wendy is Hubby's daughter. Our second grandchild is due September 15. They already know it's a boy and are naming him Noah Frank. (Frank is Tag's real name).

Hubby's sister Peggy and I collaborated for the shower. It was at Hubby's mother's house, where Peggy also lives. She set it all up on the patio in the yard. We were extremely lucky, because we got the shower in and everything cleaned up literally minutes before it downpoured and began thundering and lightening.

It was a "modern" shower in that all the male members of the family stayed. Hubby wanted to be there, as did Wendy's brother Kenny. Her uncles stayed and so did her cousin, Ryan. It was more of a family party than a shower. Wendy did get dozens of beautiful gifts. She seems to be all set with the big stuff.....carriage, car seat, swing, etc. Hubby and I are getting her a crib, which I just ordered last night. I did notice that she didn't get any bedding for the crib.... hmmm.... Memere needs to do a bit more shopping!

Sitting next to Wendy is her boyfriend, Allan. On the other side is her half-sister Tracy.

Emily's First Birthday

It's so hard to believe my sweet grand-baby is already a year old! Her Mom and Dad gave her a big birthday party today. Here's the story in pictures:

Emily wore the dress I made her for Christmas.

She checked out all her gifts before the party started. She especially liked the tissue paper.

Emily and her cousin Lillian enjoyed playing in the pool.

Emily thought it was fun to dip her hands in the water, then clap them hard enough so she could drink the splashes.

Her Mommy made her get out because it was time for cake!

Her Nana (aka Kara's mom) made her a Duckie Cake.

After much discussion, it was decided that Emily should have the Duckie's head!

She didn't hesitate to see what the frosting felt like.

Emily thorougly enjoyed her cake!

She even licked the plate!

At the end of the day, when Emily was exhausted, she was happy to snuggle with Great-Grandma.

No Family Night!!

Hurray! Family night was postponed, thank God! My first reaction was, "Yea! That gives me another week to learn how to fold the $@# Origami Cranes!! Seriously, the camp day itself should have been cancelled. A summer snow day. On the way into work the downpour was so heavy I should have pulled over to the side of the road. The day varied between incredible downpours and thunder and lightening that seemed to be happening directly over our head....or.....sunshine. There was about 1% sunshine and 99% rain, but it was still a weird day. Needless to say, it was a very difficult day. We only have so many indoor places for kids to go on a day that's as bad as today. It was a long day and very tiring. Thankfully, one of our staff suggested an "adult staff meeting for staff over the age of 21" after camp ended at the Chili's down the street. A couple of margerita's and some cheese fries later....I was feeling just fine! Our Color War break was also postponed. Color War is when they take the entire camp and divide it into two teams. For the next three or four days the two teams particpate in competitions that range from field games to water races to spelling bees, etc. It's a lot of fun but very hectic. The "break" is the exciting moment when the kids find out Color War is starting and find out who the "Generals" are as well as what team they're on. I thought the break was Wednesday afternoon, only to find out it was planned for Thursday afternoon. Since I usually don't do any art classes during Color War, I had no plans made for today. Big Time Scramble!! But I pulled it off. Then we didnt' have the break this afternoon either. Thankfully, it will be first thing tomorrow morning. Good thing since by this time in the summer I am running out of crafty ideas. The big thing at camp this summer for some reason is Beadie Animals. www.beadiecritters.com I have run out of pony beads and I'll need to get some more this weekend. On the other hand I have lots of gimp, which is usually the huge fan favorite at camp. Go figure.

Family night #2

Tonight is our second family night of the camp season. It will again involve the Camp Hadar BBQ pit. This time Hubby is not coming to the family night. I don't blame him after the last time he came and spent the whole night selling raffle tickets and giving out prizes. This time he'll stay home and have a nice supper ready for me. Last time I was offered inedible, black, hockey puck hamburgers and couldn't eat them so he had to take me to the 99 for supper that night. Not a bad deal, actually! I really thought Family Night would be cancelled. The weather this week in New England has been horrendous. We've had rain and some very severe thunder showers. They even had a tornado siting last night! I watched out the window last night as there was just continuous lightening for a half hour or so. The weather today is supposed to be bad. Even though about ten minutes ago the sun was shining, right now it's raining. And we're supposed to have some pretty severe downpours and thunder and lightening all day. I'm glad I'm not the one who decided whether or not to have the Family Night. Our theme for tonight is "Scavenger Hunt". Each Specialist (Arts and Crafts, Athletics, Music, Judaic Culture, Waterfront and Boating) has to have some kind of small activity for the families to do. Each family has to visit each Specialist and complete the activity, which will count toward their team for Color War. (Color War will be the topic for another blog!) It's a bit difficult, as the activity for Arts and Crafts has to be a "make-it, take-it". Last year I made the mistake of offering fuse beads, which the kids love. I didn't take into consideration that I'd be ironing fuse beads for two and a half hours in the 90 degree heat! This year I've decided to teach them how to make an Origami Crane. First I have to figure out how to do it myself and practice it enough so it looks like I know what I'm doing! All right....now it's absolutely pouring out! It's going to be a great day!

King Cutlet

There are several places around town that are institutions. King Cutlet is one of them. They used to be right in the middle of town, in an area we call "The Depot". They moved out of there a couple years ago and the little string of shops where they were located was torn down. They put up some huge monstrosity - an uppity-yuppity restaurant/club that we can't afford to go to. Luckily, King Cutlet moved to another location in town. For whatever reason, I haven't been there since they moved. Hubby has been bugging me to go, egged on by my father who keeps telling him what a delicious place it is - my dad becoming feral when Hubby indicated he might take my dad's King Cutlet coupon. Last night we were at loose ends for dinner, and Hubby suggested King Cutlet. We didn't have a coupon (thanks Dad) but we went anyway. We got it take-out.....you can eat-in at the little tables but it's not pleasant....plus if we take it home we don't have to pay for drinks or a tip. I got my usual chicken cutlet with cheese, sause and mushrooms. I got the "regular" size. Hubby got the same, minus the mushrooms, but he got the x-large. We also got a side of fries. Hubby's sandwich was a monstrosity, much to his delight. He ate the whole thing. I did what I usually did....took the cutlet off the bun and ate it on a plate without eating the bread. I don't like soggy bread, and the cutlet itself plus the fries is more than enough for me for a meal. Now that we've conquered King Cutlet, it's one less place I haven't taken Hubby. We still need to get to Thwaite's Market in Methuen for their homemade tomato sausage and meat pies, and also get to Harrison's in North Andover for their unbelievable roast beef sandwiches. The life of food connoisseurs never ends.