Tent Try Out Day

In order to make sure we know what the heck we're doing, we decided to spend the day putting of the tents. My goal was to #1 make sure we could put the tents up and #2 Make sure we had all the parts.

Tent #1 Went well. I am so pleased with this tent.

Tent #2 did not go so well. (At all) One side is missing the brackets that attach the legs to the tent frame. Well, technically it has brackets...just not the right ones. So tomorrow I'm going to call the manufacturer and hope they still make brackets for the tent.

Tent #3 is made the same as Tent #2, but it has all the right parts. Yay!! We didn't put it together, we just took inventory and made sure everything was there.

All three tents are roomy and nice, I love them.

Yes, We're Going Camping !!

Campsites is reserved and of course it is going to rain. lol We're going anyway. I'm am so excited I can barely contain myself. I want to go to stores like Gander Mountain and act like I know what the heck I'm doing.

We have a few odds and ends left to buy plus all the food. I really want to set up one of the tents today, because I've never done it before and because the excitement is killing me. I finally told the kids about the camping trip and they are so excited.

Camping Trip Shopping

My dear sister (who drove pass gas that was $2.34 a gallon) and I hit up the yard sales in search of equipment for our camping trip. I think we did an amazing job and I'm sooooo happy with what we ended up with.

We got...
3- 8 person Northwest territory tents (sold at Sears retail price $200)
10 gallon water jug (sold at Home Depot for $29)
1 queen air bed (sold at Cabala's for $129)
3 sleeping bags
4 flashlights
12 hot dog skewers
1 two burner camp stove ($49 retail at Dick's Sporting Goods)
1 one burner camp stove

Total Price we Paid.... $ 200

Dear Judy went out the day before and found
1 small tent
4 Nice sleeping bags
2 fishing poles
3 hot dog skewers
all that for $50

Those Were The Days

I miss the days of little girl problems. Which doll to play with, which friend can come over, which little boy is teasing. Life seemed so simple back then.

Next year I'll have FOUR teenagers in the house. Just the thought of it makes me want to run away screaming and hide in the garage until they're all eighteen.

'Cole and I have had our moments, but they were few and far between....until she got a boyfriend.
Now every week we have some sort of battle over this boy and my expectations for her behavior.

Every. stinking.week.

I told her today (after a long 2 hour long "discussion") that I was beginning not to like her anymore.

She's sooo unpleasant to be around, I find it really hard to even want to be in the same room as her. The only thing we ever have a disagreement about is this boy. I have got to find this girl a job or something to occupy her time.

I'm tired. tired. tired. tired.

Cinnamon Rolls

Funny how things just pop into your head when the house is quiet.
A few years ago I found a wonderful recipe for cinnamon rolls online. My mother loved to bake and when she saw the recipe she immediately made them for us. They were so fluffy and tender. Full of cinnamon, brown sugar and butter. We ate ourselves silly. We had them for breakfast. We had them for snacks. We ate cinnamon rolls when there wasn't even a reason to eat cinnamon rolls. LOL
Her and kids would be in the kitchen whipping up a batch of cinnamon rolls and they'd have flour everywhere including all over them. The loved being in the kitchen with their grandmother She was always patient with them and they would have lively conversations about any and everything.

I was just sitting here thinking about my mother and those rolls. She taught me how to cook. She taught me that food can create memories and that good food is always cooked with love.

The recipe is here.

For the filling my mother used an equal part sugar and brown sugar.

Spring Break 2010- New York City (Part 2)

After finally making our way to Niketown (which is pretty close to Central Park), we hiked back to Times Square Crowds waiting for the Ipad at the Apple Store.

We ate lunch at a pizza shop on Times Square and then I decided we should take the double decker bus tour. I thought it would be the easiest way to see the city.

The Bus Tour was ummmm.... 3 hours long and we all fell asleep. LOL It had to be the most boring city tour I've ever had. We did get to see a lot of the city (between nodding off) Tribeca, Chinatown, Battery Park, the World Trade Center site, the Statue of Liberty and I know there was a bunch of other places we slept through.

I was so glad when it was over. We called it a day and headed back to the hotel. We had dinner at Chipotle and went to see a movie. We were too tired to walk around, but not tired enough to sit in the hotel and look at each other.

The next day was Sunday...our last day. We had considered going back to NYC but nobody felt like dealing with the throngs of people in the city. Plus, we had to be at the bus station in Newark, NJ in the afternoon.

New York City was an experience like no other. Times Square was awe-inspiring. I understand why they call it the city that never sleeps. It was an incredible experience.

Spring Break 2010 - New York City (Part 1)

I thought I had posted out trip report about NYC... but I guess I'm getting old and forgetful. lol

We spent the first weekend in April in NYC, I have to say I have never seen soooo many people in my life. We left our city a little after midnight and got to our hotel in Secaucus, NJ about 5- 5:30 Saturday afternoon. After settling in we ate dinner at Cheeseburger In Paradise and then headed on over to the Big Apple.

By the time we rolled into NYC it was about 10:00pm. Times Square is amazing at night. The lights are so bright it looks like daytime. It was very crowded.
We hung out for about and hour and a half before the kids started complaining about being tired and wanting to go back to the hotel.

As we were headed back to the Port Authority Bus Station we found a cool souvenir store and picked up some I (heart) New York t-shirts.

The next morning started with breakfast (free) down in the hotel lobby and then we were off again. Pickles wanted to go to the Niketown store first. Niketown was about a 2 mile walk from the bus terminal. So we walked and walked and walked and took in the sights.

Daisy and 'Cole

Ice Skating at the Rockefeller Center

St. Patrick's Cathedral

To be continued......

Sigh...

Is it possible to run away from something when you don't even know what you're running from ?

Life

My son just rubbed air freshener on himself. Now he smells like mountain spring or spring meadow. LOL

The mother of my daughter's boyfriend suggested/requested that she spend the night last night. My dearest teen aged daughter thought I would be ok with it.
Riii-iii-ght....

What would make a parent think it's ok for a teen girl to spend the night at her boyfriend's house??

So dear teen daughter has an attitude with.... drum roll please....ME.

I am not going to entertain such nonsense. It's ridiculous. I can't believe my daughter would think I'd be ok with it.


Sigh......