Today's the big day

It's February 23. Walker's 6th birthday. The first thing he said this morning was, "I'm six!" He's very excited about his party this afternoon. We got up early and changed the sheets on the guest beds so everyone has a fresh bed tonight for the "VIP" part of the party. Today is a 2-part event. At 2:30 we have his "kid" party at Steppin' Out. We'll be playing party games like: sack race, 3-legged race, musical mats, 4 corners, etc. We'll have cake there (no ice cream - he doesn't want it so why should we spend the money). If there's time we'll do more games. He doesn't want to open presents there. The past couple of years we've just brought them home to open in peace and sanity. We both dislike it when everyone rips open the gifts for the birthday person. He'd rather enjoy it slowly and open his own presents instead of get aggravated by the littler kids "helping" him. After that party is over we're moving into phase 2 of the party where his big kid friends come back to the house for a sleepover. More cake and pizza and other assorted junk food, along with present opening, movies and games. Busy day ahead. We've got to get busy cleaning.

Walker hasn't even asked about any gifts we might have for him. I can't wait until Scott gets back from plowing (it snow yet again all day yesterday). We got him a new bike! We also got him a new x-box game (Pinata) and the movies Spiderman 2&3 (he already has 1). When people ask what he wants he's been saying cough drops and gum ball. He'll probably end up with quite a few. Art supplies are always good. He hasn't even used the Christmas toys much so he really doesnt' need toys. He also wants gift certificates to Kohl's so he can do some clothing shopping. I'm so glad he likes that, but it's sort of unusual for a 6 year old to love shopping isn't it? He loves going into the dressing rooms and trying things on. Of course he is the type of person that everything fits AND looks good on, so he wants to buy everything.

Mom is getting her new sun room/3 season porch addition. If the weather is good construction can start in just 3 weeks. She is very excited. It's going to be really nice and add more usuable living space.


Mom (far right) at Tokyo Joe's with some friends.




Mom (far right again) with friends at their Valentine party.

Mom has a more exciting social life than I do. She's got parties, plays, shows and other events a couple times a week. I'm glad she's got lots of friends in her neighborhood.

Rainy Monday

Here is a picture of Scott watching a Patriots game. Not the Superbowl. This was back when we still had a chance. The Christmas tree was still up.

It's warm and tropical here today. Feels like spring with the warm breezes and soft rain.

Happy birthday Felice.

We're getting ready for Walker's birthday party on Saturday. I know his bunk beds are for his birthday, but I wanted to get him something more fun and give him a surprise. This morning I got him a new bike. It's 18" as opposed to the 12" he'd been riding. It came with training wheels which is a good thing. He'll probably learn to ride without them this year, but he still needs them now. Of course, now that he has a big boy bike, I'll need to get one too. My only other option is to start running (fast). Think I'll go with the bike option.


Walker up in the top bunk of his new birthday bunk beds. He will only sleep here if there is someone sleeping in the bottom bunk. But it's still fun for him.


Here are a few more pictures from my birthday party. These are from my camera (the FILM one). I told you they'd take a while to get here.


Me and Sue


Sue and Scott


Lisa and Sue

Ann, Lisa, Sue

Dreamin' of Summer

Walker has no school again today due to the weather. It's the 2nd day off for him this week. Dance classes were cancelled this morning. A fun, snowed in morning for us.

I've been thinking about summer. We're more than half way through the school year, so summer is almost back. Last June's trip to Smuggler's Notch, VT was so great. It's a really family oriented resort. Something for every age. I'd go again if I could afford it! http://www.smuggs.com/ to check it out.

Below is a postcard of one of the Smuggs pool areas - the Mountainside pools. This area was Walker's favorite. Three pools and lots of slides, waterfalls and fun.


We're ready to book our camping trips. We're going back to Whit's End in July for about a week. We thought that was the best place we went last summer. I also want to try new places. You never know until you try, right? I've been doing lots of online researching of NH/VT/ME campgrounds and have come up with two to try. Crow's Nest Campground in Newport, NH http://www.crowsnestcampground.com/ and Ames Brook Campground in Ashland, NH http://www.amesbrook.com/ look like good ones. It's hard to tell from just a website, though, as we know from experience. Both these places have riverfront sites as well as pools and playgrounds. Waterfront sites at areas with pools are what I've been searching for. Who wants a campground with no swimming on site? Sounds hot and dry. When I think of camping I think of waking up and seeing water, having coffee with my feet IN water. Stuff like that. So come back here and look for the reviews after we've tried these.

Now we just have to figure out the WHEN and WHO will be going with us details and we'll be all set to book. We've learned you have to book very early (like when they first open for the season). You can't just decide in August to go away for the weekend and expect any available sites, especially good, waterfront ones. So, any people in our camping circle that want to come with us anywhere let me know soon so we can put it on the calendars.

The Pats loss was a devastating blow for all of New England. How sad this week has been. I think it's also sad that both Brady and Moss have decided not to go to the Pro Bowl. Are they really injured or is it sour grapes? Seems a little like poor sportsmanship to me.

Go Pats!

Less than an hour to go to kick-off for Superbowl 42. We are very excited and ready to watch and win. We are looking forward to an historical "perfect season." It'd be a devastating loss to everyone in New England, but especially to those players. I hope they can pull this off one last time. Then they deserve a vacation. Disney World? Anyway, we are ready. Scott just took a roasted turkey out of the oven. It smells yummy. He also just put scallops and bacon in the oven. Like I said, we're ready for the game.

Kaylee came over this morning. We were so glad. Walker was tired and grumpy from staying up too late last night. Danny and his family came over. We even got them to do karaoke but that's another story. So Kaylee was the only one able to bring Walker out of the tired grumpies. Good. We got to see her because she didn't feel like going to watch 8 hours of wrestling. Jonathan was at another tournament. He did well, we hear. Came in 2nd today! He always places well. We're all proud of him.

I told Walker and Kaylee we could do whatever they wanted. They chose bowling. That's twice in one week for me. Apparently frequency does NOT make me a better bowler. We went to a different bowling ally. They were big balls, not candlepin. I'd never used big balls and neither had the kids. Walker used a 6 pound ball and Kaylee an 8. I tried to use an 8 pounder, but the holes were too small. I had to go up to a 10 pounder. My poor back. Kaylee got the high score out of our 2 games - 103. My top score today was 91. She and I both got strikes in our last box. Cool. My poor back, though, is going to keep on remembering today for a while.

Kaylee playing "glow" air hockey at the bowling alley. We went to Striker East this time, in Raymond, NH.

Walker playing air hockey.

We have a herd of turkeys living close by. There are 30 of them. They march single-file up the road to eat across the street from us. We bought cracked corn today and Walker and Kaylee spread it around the yard so the turkeys would come to visit us. And no, the turkey in the oven is NOT from the wild herd. We'll see if they like cracked corn.




Walker, this morning in the "movie cart" at Hannaford. He's getting a little big for it now, but he wanted to check out the new show they added, the Wonderpets. He also got a surprise episode of the Backyardigans. That wasn't advertised on the cart. A bonus. And only $1.00. He was munching on one of those free cookies. It's good to be a kid at Hannaford.



Walker and Nanny on Tuesday. We were leaving after our visit (Nanny Day is every Tuesday).