Southern Comfort Tour 2009!

We're on vacation - if you're interested in following it, please check out my other blog Unschoolers on the Road.

Happy trails!

Ah-ah-ah-choo!

Well, we're sick. The NBTSC (Not Back to School Camp) kids all came back with sniffles, so I kind of expected this. Kimi has been sick since last week, with a persistant cough, & I've got a head cold. Lots of fluids, lots of reading, lots of TV. Shaun, so far, is healthy, & Phil is away on business, so with luck he'll escape this, too.

It isn't fun being sick, but I know it could be worse - this isn't the flu.

And frankly, I would rather get it over with now than be sick next week, since we've got our big trip coming right around the corner.

So, here's to future health...ah-choo!

Yikes - it's been a while! And I blame Facebook!

Yup - Facebook has derailed my resolve to blog more frequently. After all, it's so much easier to read & post little status updates all in one place than it is to write here, hoping my friends & family will pop by & see, & to then visit each friend's blog one by one.

But, as much as I love Facebook, I miss writing at my blog, so I'm going to, once again, attempt to write with greater frequency. We'll see how that turns out!

Bye for now!

Mothers' Day

We spent the day with my folks in Boston on Sunday.

The weather was windy but sunny & warm enough to keep us from getting chilled.  We drove over to Southie first to visit Castle Island, a fort that was built to protect Boston's harbor.  It juts right out into the harbor & now connects to the mainland.  The north side looks across the harbor to Logan Airport & the cruise line terminals.

We ate lunch from Sullivan's - an old time fast-order stand where we got hot dogs, cheeseburgers & the world's best onion rings.  We were going to get ice cream after walking around, but by the time we finished our loop the line was crazy long so we decided against it.

Then we drove over to Fan Pier where the Volvo Ocean Race festivities were in full swing.  Hundreds of competitors participate in Pro-Am races in Boston Harbor from April 25 - May 16.  The participants also crew the 7 sailing yachts that travel from Alicante, Spain to eventually St. Petersburg, Russia over the course of 9 months, covering 37,000 nautical miles.  Boston was one of the eleven global stop-overs & the only one in North America.   It was fun to get up close to the boats & watch the crew care for them.

After enjoying the music & merriment, we continued along the Harborwalk & made our way to the aquarium.  We didn't go in, though, because the ice cream from Emack & Bolio's

was calling to us!  Ice creams, root beer float & egg creme in hand, we made our way back to our car via the new Rose Kennedy Greenway, which now occupies the area the elevated I-93 used to be in before the infamous Big Dig tunnel project.  

All in all, it was a very nice way to spend Mothers' Day with my mom & my family.

Weekend Fun in the Sun - Part Two!

It was a little bit cooler on Sunday - though still warm for April.  I decided to buy some herbs from our local garden center & plant them before I needed to get the kids to Guard Up for their sword fighting classes.  While I was out, Phil started work on the RV - removing the anti-freeze from the water lines, cleaning up the fridge (he had a little accident with Dr. Pepper cans back in January/February - did you know that soda expands when it freezes?  Ka-Boom!), & cleaning out the "basement".  Some critter decided to use it as it's bathroom, which was quite disgusting...blech!

After I planted the basil & spearmint, I took the kids to class.  The warm weather inspired me & I went over to Whole Foods & bought a bunch of strawberries & a chocolate angel food cake.  I also got red peppers, summer squash & portobello mushrooms for grilling.  Add hamburger meat, hot dogs & the accompanying rolls & we were all set for a cook out!

After we were all back home, we started cleaning up the back yard, especially around the pool wall.  A ridiculous amount of leaves collected over autumn & winter & now buried the rose bushes & day lilies.  

Using rakes & a leaf blower, we pulled most of the debris out & brought it to the fire pit, where we decided to do this:

  

We ate dinner & dessert by the fire - as the sun set the temperatures dropped quickly.  It was lovely to drink hot coffee by the fire as the light faded in the sky.  Ahhhhh.....