We had a great weekend.  It was one of those catch up and have fun kind of weekends and we had beautiful weather too!

 

Friday, Russ had to work to make up a few hours.  Liam, of course, had school, and we sent Jax off to daycare.  I even left the dogs barricaded in the basement.  Why?  Because I needed to do some MAJOR housecleaning! 

 

Boy, did it feel good!  Well, I mean, it was exhausting, but we’d been so busy for the past 6 weeks, that my bare minimum sprucing was loosing the battle.  Things needed to be picked up, put back, sponged off, dusted, vacuumed, steam-cleaned, scrubbed, bleached and aired out.  And would you believe I even squeezed in a nap?

 

Well, to be honest, I did nap, but I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to.  I spent the majority of the day cleaning upstairs.  The two bathrooms, three bedrooms and laundry kept me busy.  It was nice when Russ came home a tad early, and offered to take us out to dinner.  He found a coupon in the Val-pak for a crab house over on Solomon’s Island.  Sounded great to me!

 

We did have a peaceful dinner at the Calypso Bay Crab House (last knows as Harbor Sounds).  The food was great.  I had a Spider on a Bun (soft shell crab sandwich), Russ had some sort of Jerk Chicken sandwich, and the boys had chicken fingers with fries.  We had a nice time drawing on the brown paper that covered the table, dreaming about the boats that sailed past, and wandering on the dock.  We were glad we had a coupon.  To give a review, the service was a bit on the slow side (and it wasn’t that  busy) and the prices were pretty high.  I’ve paid $10 for a soft shell crab sandwich, but $16 was steep. 

 

On the way home we stopped at Target for a couple things.  Some of the Halloween stuff was out, so we took a gander.  Liam fell in love with a Jango Fett costume.  Normally, I make our costumes, but if you’ve ever seen Jango Fett – well, he’d put any seamstress to the test.  Therefore, even though it was expenisive, I got it for him.  He doesn’t get to wear it until Halloween though.  My boy loves his costumes, so I know the money will be well spent.  Thankfully, Jax wants to be a Jedi or a Jawa, both easy to sew up.  Russ already has some ideas for his Darth Vader costume, and I guess Dawn and I will have to flip to see who gets to be Princess Leia.  I’m thinking C-3PO would be fairly easy to whip up as well – anybody got any tight gold pants I could borrow?

 

Russ stayed up late Friday night, watching an Indy Car race in Japan, but like a good coach, he was up and ready for game time on Saturday morning.  It’s always a bit of a rush to get out the door for these early games, but we have so much fun.  The game today was great.  All the kids got to take a turn running the ball.  Some made touchdowns, and some simply gained a few yards.  We also played a great defense!  Liam grabbed flags a couple of times.  I’m not sure what the unofficial score was, but I am pretty sure we came out ahead.  The kids are really working as a team now, and the little flag football games are starting to use a little strategy now.  It’s so fun to watch!

 

 

Once home, Russ started downloading some pictures from the game and I decided to start right in on the backyard.  I wanted to mow down our pathetic garden, mow the rest of the yard, and pick up ALL the little stones under the grill (so we don’t have another $1000 vet bill!).

 

Liam had done pretty well with his chores throughout the week, so he got some extra video game time.  He has been very helpful and his attitude has been better as well.  I think he’s settling into the school routine now.  Jax, however, is a mule.  Of course, he’s only 3, so I don’t push him to hard, but he’s still got some of his own responsibilities to fulfill.  Right now, Jax just wants to be in the yard playing football with the dogs – yes, the dogs.  He puts on a football helmet, grabs a football, and goes out into a dusty patch of our yard.  He throws the football, and when the dogs go after it, he tackles them – or tries to anyway.  We hear him out there yelling “Let’s play football!” or “Down, Set, Hike!” or “Here we go, Raiders, here we go!”  It’s hilarious, but incredibly dirty.  We’ve taken to calling him Pigpen. 

 

So, I used Saturday afternoon to finish up my cleaning.  I cleaned the remainder of the house, while Russ and Liam went to the store to get some groceries.  We’d gotten ourselves into watching this show on Discovery, called Storm Chasers.  So, while we ate dinner we watched a couple episodes about tornadoes. 

 

Sunday morning we got to sleep in just a little bit.  I figure if I can stay in bed until 7:30 that’s pretty good.  By then, Rita needs to go out and the kids have infiltrated the bedroom.  I really need to teach Liam how to work the TV remote, so he and Jax can just go downstairs and watch a little TV in the mornings.  Sometimes I actually wish I could find one of those old “dial” TVs.  Push ONE button for on, and crank the dial to your choice of 13 stations. 

 

So, we got up and I got us some breakfast cooking.  Russ didn’t lay in bed too long either.  The sun was out, and it was just such a beautiful morning, that it just seemed to much of a waste not to get up and enjoy it. 

 

Russ needed to do a little work on a document for work.  So, I figured it’d be good to take the kids and dogs to the dog park.  As expected on a cool, sunny, Sunday morning, there were many dogs at the park and kids at the playground.  Both Cleo and Doug had a fun time fetching the ball and getting to know the other visiting dogs.  Then we walked up the new path to the playground.  I sat with the dogs in the shade while Liam and Jax played with the other kids who were there.  I’m always so proud of how gregarious Liam is.  He loves older kids, and they seem to like him because he’s so imaginative.  It was fun to watch them turn the playround into a battle zone with ships and attacking aliens. 

 

 

I promised I’d have everyone back by lunchtime, so after a little prodding, I got all of us loaded in the van and headed back home.  The day was so nice and since I’d done all the cleaning I wanted to, we decided to treat ourselves and go out and do something fun as a family.  I’d always wanted to go to “Artsfest” at Ann Marie Gardens, so I convinced the men of the family to give it a try. 

We had a really nice afternoon.  We loved looking at all the vendor art and wandering the beautiful trails at Ann Marie Gardens.  Jaxson was entranced by the musicians and Liam could have spent all day at the easel.  We got some wonderful “fair food” and just enjoyed being outside amidst all the culture.  We saw some beautiful pottery, and nearly got overwhelmed with all the jewelry the artisans brought to share and sell.  I took a few business cards as I saw some things that would make nice Christmas gifts for family.

 

 

 

Once we’d made our way through the gardens, we decided we’d better get home.  We all wanted to watch the Redskins game, and I’d promised Liam some one on one game time with the Wii Star Wars Lego game.  Jax was drifting off even before he got in the van.  We took a quick detour to the Halloween Spirit store that popped up in Solomon’s.  These stores are always lots of fun, athough, Liam and Jax were not happy to pass by some of the more “animated” decorations.  We even ran into some fellow Flag Football players!

 

Russ had marianted some yummy steaks all day, so once we got home, I began cooking some potatoes and steaming some carrots.  We all enjoyed a nice meal together while we watched some of the ‘Skins game.  At 7:30 I knew I needed to get the boys washed up and in bed.  We had a long week ahead of us and getting enough sleep seems to be the key to keeping us all reasonably healthy. 

 

It’d been a really nice weekend.  We all worked to get a lot accomplished, while still managing to go play in the sun.  Can’t beat that!

On Friday Erin treated us to Cheeseburger in Paradise. We had not been there in a couple of months so it was definitely a treat and the kids were pretty good. Afterwards we stopped at Michaels for some supplies for the kids chore chart system. We are hoping the kids will be motivated and incentivized by this new approach to promoting good behavior. I also bought Liam a Star Wars snap tite model to go up on the ceiling of his room. Jaxson got a snap tite fire engine. These will be built by me with each child as part of rewards for behavior. On Friday night Erin and I watched a quirky dark comedy called Fido. It was about a zombie who became sort of a butler to a family. It was surprisingly entertaining.

On Saturday morning we were down to Lancaster field as the Pax River Raiders Flag B hosted the Prince Frederick Eagles Flag A. The Eagles jumped out to 2 quick scores. Our defense improved as Nick grabbed a couple of flags. Our offense got on a roll with two scores by Hannah, one by the Rocket Lorenzo, a big run by Dravin and another by Anthony. Anthony just missed a second TD and we had I believe 2 more scores. We don't keep track but you can't help but watch them having so much fun. We stayed on for a bit and watched the Pee Wee game.

We then stopped by the post office. After getting changed and cleaned up at the house we went to LJS for lunch and to the library. The Library was having a kids fair so the boys got to pick a free book from the library. They also got to make papersack puppetts and had their faces painted. Liam had Darth Maul and Jax picked Spiderman. When home we had spaghetti and the kids watched teh Jungle Book with Mom while I played an old Sega game on teh PC called Liberty or Death about the Rev War that Noah downloaded for me. It was really fun but I can not figire out how to save the game yet. Saturday we just channel surfed.

Sunday morning after breakfast I mowed the yard while Erin finished up putting the chore charts together. The boys then briefly came out to help me clean my truck with my new infomercial product. It washes and waxes your vehicle without water. The product I really wanted was the bonus lens lamp cleaner. That cleaner worked okay but my headlights were really fogged with haze. You can at least see the lights now. So I give it a B. Now the wash and wax in one deal I give an A+. Darrel Waltrip was the sponsor and by gosh it worked. I was done in like 30 minutes and the Jeep looked great.

I had suggested a picnic to Erin and we did. We took the boys to Solomon's Island and got pizza and subs at Jerry's. We sat under a shade tree near the playground on the boardwalk and people watched. Afterwards the kids played on the playground and we took a walk.

When we got home I watched the Giants beat on the Dead Skins. Actually the Giants are really good so it is hard to gauge the Skins this season. The family joined me at half time as we finished watching. Sunday night I read which I do not do nearly as often as Erin. Liam had picked a book called the Iguana and it was all about Brothers depending on each other. It was a great story and I enjoyed doing lots of different voices. Afterwards I watched a show with Erin and then football after she retired.

The bummer of the weekend was Rita. She started throwing up and the worst was there were ROCKS in it. On Monday I rushed her to the vet and the X-Ray confirmed over twenty rocks in her stomach. Erin guessed they had come from under the grill. It seems she has gone from licking them to eating them. She had to have emergency surgery and I will not state the cost because it was pricy. We just lost Ash so we decided to give her a chance, She is deaf, almost blind, and a bit batty but we just were not ready as the Doctor's are very confident she will be okay. That said I cleaned up the grill area yesterday too. No more rocks but big patio stones. She can't swallow them as they are bigger than her. Our fingers are crossed and she is in God's hands.

We have a very busy week. Football Monday and Wednesday. School Open house on Tuesday. A Pampered chef party where the husbands are watching the kids Thursday. Plus I have to work on Friday now to make up for Monday. My company is tightening its financial belt so you can only take time you have earned. The old policy was very gracious meaning you needed to not be negative hours at the end of the year. It takes a lot of flexibility away from us but like with every thing that stinks that happens you adjust and get used to it. I would never have thought I could do the early schedule I do now but I do.

Noah arrived early Sunday afternoon.  It was so great just seeing him drive up and walk in the door.  It’d been a long trip for the rookie driver, and we were relieved to have him arrive safely.  He brushed the drive off with confidence even though we joked about the mysterious toll ticket that he’d somehow managed to not turn in and pay.  Damn good GPS navigator he’s got there! 

 

 

The younger brothers were elated to see Noah and instantly engaged him in playing Star Wars Wii games, legos, costumes, and excited conversation.  Noah was incredibly patient with all their attention, and was soon building Star Wars Lego ships right along with them.  In fact, I had to go get more legos!

 

It was a nice and easy afternoon.  We’d planned a nice dinner together, so Russ helped me prep for that.  I felt a unique sense of completeness having the whole family together around the dining room table.  We had some delicious steaks, corn on the cob, crab and nice conversation. 

 

After dinner, I let the boys enjoy the company of their big brother for as long as I could.  Technically, it was a school night, so baths had to be had, clothes had to be picked out, lunches had to be packed, and stories had to be read.  Fortunatley, Noah happily helped with the stories.

 

 

 

Then, Noah, Russ and I played a few games on the Wii.  I had had a busy day, so I went to bed around 10:00.  We had a busy week lined up, and I knew I need my sleep or I’d get sick.  Russ and Noah, as expected, stayed up late playing games and watching movies.  I think Russ did manage to turn in before midnight.

 

So, Monday, Noah stayed at the house while Russ and I went to work.  Liam had school, of course, and Jax went to daycare as usual.  This let Noah sleep in and enjoy his vacation a little.  Now that he has his own transportation, he could go exploring a little.  Since I was looking for a hula hoop to take to football practice (so the players could practice throwing the football a little) and didn’t find one, Noah took it upon himself to go scount around while we were all away.  Unfortunately, he didn’t find any either.  It was nice of him to try though. 

 

Throughout the week, we just enjoyed going through our normal routines, but with Noah too.  We went to football practice, had some nice dinners, and just shared a glimpse our hectic life with Noah.  We calculated that he’d not been to our house in about three years, so every minute was such a blessing. Wednesday was a little special because after football practice we all treated ourselves to Bruster's Ice Cream!

 

 

 

Friday, Russ and I didn’t have to work.  I’d spent most of Thursday night packing for our camping trip, but made a point to spare some time Friday morning to do something special with Noah and Russ.  While the younger boys were at daycare/school, Russ, Noah and I decided to try out the new Frisbee Golf course at Lancaster Park.  I think the course surprised all of us at its challenge.  I’m not sure Noah was all that thrilled with the adventure, but he was a good sport anyway.  I don’t think any of us made par on any of the holes, but we were impressed with the way the course was laid out.  It is a fun sport, and I know Russ and I will probably give it another try again soon. 

 

  

 

As soon as our 18 “holes” were completed, we headed to Liam’s school to have lunch with him.  This is a great opportunity and one that we hope to do on a semi-regular basis.  So it was a little weird when all three of us signed in at the office and got our visitor badges, but when Liam’s face LIT up as he neared us in the lobby, it was just so cool.  There were a few other parents visiting too, so we all stood in line to get our lunch and giggled at the cuteness of everything from the adorable kids, to the tiny sized cartons of apple juice.  We sat near Liam and his classmates, and hushed when the lights went out (a signal to quiet down) and helped all the neighbor kids open their chips and fruit snacks.  After lunch, we walked outside with Liam for recess.  As he scampered off to the swings with his friends, we asked one of his teachers if we could show Noah Liam’s classroom.  She was happy to obilge and we had a nice chat. 

 

After we left the school, we headed back to the house to get ready for camping.  I started loading up the van, while Russ and Noah went to get some groceries.  I was just finishing up the van when they returned, so we all helped get things sorted and packed before taking both vehicles to the camp site on the base. We figured, we begin getting things set up, and then Russ would go get the younger boys from daycare after school. 

 

I arrived at the camp first.  Eric was already there with “Little Eric” and baby Ashton as well as Archie the dog.  Lisa had gone to get William from preschool.  Russ and Noah were a few minutes behind, but got further delayed when they couldn’t get Noah on the base for some reason.  Something about not having his name on the list for the campsite.  Weird.  Eventually, he got on with Russ as his escort, and soon all of us were pitching tents.  Then Russ left to get our boys. 

 

   

 

By dinner time, we were all pretty much settled in.  We made an easy dinner of hot dogs and hamburgers.  Russ had picked up some crabs for everyone too, so he and Noah steamed them over the fire.  As we cleaned up from dinner, we attempted to get the kids in bed as it was getting late.  We started out letting them all sleep together, but after 20 minutes of “Quiet down in there!!” I relocated Liam and Jax.  This allowed them to fall asleep (and us to actually socialize a little), and then I moved Jax back to the boys’ tent.  Since Liam had a slight fever, I let him sleep with us.  However, I regretted this decision as the bed became smaller and smaller as the night wore on, and I soon decided the floor would be a better bed than the bed.   

 

As expected (and slightly dreaded) the boys – all 5 of them PLUS Archie the dog – were up before anyone else… except maybe the sun by about 15 mintues.  They  hit the ground running, and I was a little glad their energy rubbed off a little.  I needed to get the fire going to cook the dutch oven breakfast I’d planned.  Russ and Noah were going to leave us for the day to go to Smith Island. 

 

While Lisa, Big Eric, and the youngin’s kept the home fire burning at the campsite, Russ and Noah had a great time at Smith Island…

 

 

Noah and I got up at camp at Goose Creek and headed up to the house to shower and feed the dogs. When I got there I remembered I left my ID and money in the Jeep as I took the van to leave car seats for the boys. Erin met me outside the gate to give me that. We got down to the docks at Point Lookout at 9:30. There was a good crowd on this gorgeous sunny Saturday. We browsed in the camp store and grabbed a little bite to eat to tie us over.

 

Noah and I set up front of the boat on the outside to enjoy the sunny weather. It was nice to spend the day with Noah. With both our busy schedules we do not find as many chances to do this. That said we both enjoy each others company. The Chesapeake was busy with lots of boats and the waters were pretty calm. We watched as a line of 5 Sun Ray boats barreled past us on an angle. Actually 4 did and 1 had to scoot over a bit so as not to pass our stern and go through our wake. When we approached the Target Ship in the Chesapeake a lady came up and raised her hands to the heavens. Noah and I were not quite sure what she was doing as she was allowed to go to the little bow extensions. She then reached in a bag and spread ashes into the waters. Noah and I respectfully watched.

 

The Target Ship is used by aircraft at Pax River for strafing, bombing, and torpedo runs and sits on a sand bar in the bay. The Captain we had on the Chelsea Lane Tyler is the Son and he takes you right up to the ship. We must have had the Father years back as he goes a distance from it. It was incredible to see how many holes were on the boat. Another gentleman about my age said he could remember when the boat was grey. Now it is a holed up rusty hull. It was neat to see all the different types of weapons had been thrown at this ship.

 

Our ride continued on and we soon saw Smith Island on the horizon. I asked one of the mates how many Islands actually make up Smith Island. He said 35 currently but Bay storms change that total from time to time. I enjoyed taking lots of pictures of our approach to the Island as well as when we came into the small dock at Ewell. There are only three small villages on Smith Island. On the main inhabited island is Ewell and Rhodes Point. Across from Rhodes Point on another Island is Tylerton. 12 kids actually take the Chelsea Lane Tyler Ferry Boat we were on to Crisfield to go to Middle and High School each day.

 

Noah and I departed along with everyone else into the Bayside Inn for lunch. This is also owned by the Tyler family and they make a brisk business as the dock leads right to the restaurant. The food is good and the service is quick and very polite. Noah and I enjoyed talking about numerous subjects while we ate lunch and took a quick cruise around the gift shop as I scouted for a memento for all the boys at camp.

 

We then were excited to go rent a golf cart and explore down towards Rhodes Point this time. Unfortunately due to tides and such they would not rent golf carts so we rented bikes. They were interesting bikes to say the least. The tires were almost flat and they were one speed and a little rusted by the salty air. We took a quick jaunt around Ewell and then headed out the main road towards Rhodes Point. Every once in a while a car would pass. They all had bad exhaust systems and there were no license plates as no cars are actually registered. On the way out the road expanded for a helo pad in the middle of the island which was interesting.

 

We went at a pretty quick clip praying the rusty chains would not break. Rhodes point was a tiny cluster of house and no real businesses to speak of. We went all the way to the dock and took shots of the boats dry docked and pictures over across to Tylerton across an inlet.

 

On the way back we went slower and saw watermen heading out to crab, crab pots on docks, water fowl in the marsh, and thousands of snail attached to marsh blade grass. We took a few pictures in Ewell and then bought some gifts in the gift store. I got a buoy for my bookshelf, a sweater for Erin, and little snakes for my boys and the Smith boys to take back to camp.

 

The trip back was quiet and peaceful as Noah and I set back up front and collected more sun than we really needed. It was a great day to hang out with my boy that I will remember for quite a while.

 

Lisa and I had a nice time with the kids.  Big Eric went to get us more ice and a few more supplies.  While he was gone, we let the kids play in the water, have light sabre sword fights, sing the Peanut Butter Jelly song about a hundred times, and just have fun.  I tried to relax in the hammock a couple of times, but was soon joined by a dirty kid or two.  That’s how camping goes. 

 

 

In the late afternoon, we were all together again.  Russ and Noah cooked some steaks on the charcoal BBQ, while I roasted some potatoes on the fire.  Lisa and Eric showed us how to soak and roast some ears of corn.  This took a while, but OH, they turned out SO yummy!  Then, of course, we made some S’mores for dessert.  All the kids got to roast their own, and were delighted. 

 

 

 

This time, we started the kids out in separate beds.  This let them fall asleep more quickly, and gave us adults more time to socialize around the campfire.  Unfortunately, I just couldn’t keep my eyes open.  I hated to depart our circle prematurely, but I didn’t want to nod out of my camp chair and ignite myself over the open flame.

 

Sunday morning had another early start by the kids.  Lisa had made some really good chocolate chip coffee cake for breakfast.  Russ and Noah fried up some bacon and eggs over the fire.  We lounged around the camp site for most of the morning which was nice.  The boys played a myriad of inventive games, and the rest of us zombies chatted.  We even squeezed in a little football!

 

 

After a lunch of campfire pizzas, I went to the nearby simulator to fire it up for a little demo.  I needed to call a co-worker for a little help, but got it up and running by the time Russ and the rest of the camping crew arrived.  This was fun.  Obviously, the kids had a great time, but so did Noah, Lisa and Eric.  We all took turns flying the helo and it was a nice break from the camping routine.

 

 

Sadly, after our fun in the simulator, Noah felt he needed to get back on the road to PA.  I couldn’t blame him, and actually felt good that he’d have less holiday traffic to fight.  He seemed to have a good visit with all of us, and he got some really nice moments with his dad.  Russ and Noah departed, while the rest of us returned to camp.  Russ stayed back at the house that night because he had gotten into either some chiggars, poison ivy or a little of both, and tossed and turned all night because of the itching.  We both felt it wise to get beds all to ourselves Sunday night. 

 

It was too bad Russ stayed home because Eric and Lisa made some fantastic chicken for dinner.  Oh it was so good!  Some sort of rub, but with sauce over it too.  Slow cooked and incredibly tender.  I have to say that campfire cooking, though challenging, and slow, is just SO good.  Makes all the other camping hurdles worth it!  After dinner we got the kids to bed easily again (I think all the playing finally caught up with them).  Lisa, Eric and I stayed up a little while, but it was Eric’s turn to nod off in the chair.  Lisa and I sent him to bed, and then stayed up talking “girl talk” until about midnight.  It was fun. 

 

Monday morning, the kids were up early yet again.  This time I REALLY wanted to sleep in, but I really didn’t dare.  So I got up, and notice that Lisa already started taking one of the screen tents down.  I joked with her saying she was like “the horse heading for the barn!”  I called Russ, and he came back to the campsite to help tear down.  We originally planned to cook pancakes for breakfast, but we were out of wood.  More importantly, I think we were just out of energy.  Swing by McDonald’s sounded like a much better idea.  With that decision made, we all pitched in to do the “unpitching.”  It still felt like we had a lot of stuff.  By this time, I didn’t even care.  I was so tired, I just wanted to throw it all in the van and get home.

 

McDonald’s stopped serving breakfast by the time we were all packed, so the Smiths and the Coles parted camping ways.  I grabbed some breakfast sandwhiches at Sheetz, and we ate them once we got back home.  After eating, I got the boys in the shower.  I think it was the longest shower they ever had – and needed!  While they were showering, I put clean sheets on their beds.  I knew it was naptime for all of us.  Believe it or not, there were no objections.

 

We all napped for a couple hours.  Then I clung to the couch until mid afternoon watching shows on PBS about National Park Lodges.  Nothing like soothing music and people lounging around amidst beautiful scenery to get you relaxed too.  I needed the energy break.  Finally, I knew I needed to get up and get some of the camping stuff put away.  I managed to put up all the leftover food items and much of the laundry done.  We ordered a pizza for dinner.

 

My evening was a short one.  Russ wasn’t far behind me.  The week had been fun, but far from relaxing.  I think it’ll take me the rest of the week to get things back to “normal.”  We’ve got football practice on Wednesday and a home game on Saturday.