Where Did this Past Week Go?

Wow, time is flying on by! I have been very absorbed in trying to clean and organize my house.. an ongoing project for me. I'm also working hard to finish my oldest son's school year, and have been busy making lessons up for Samuel and his youger brother, who will start kindergarten this fall.

Samuel has been very caught up in a Playstation game, Jack and Daxter. He and his younger brother like to play it. It involves visiting various locations, so Samuel now "plays" this game while he is outside. There are 4 or 5 locations in the backyard he sits and goes through this game in his mind. Each location he plays at represents a particular location in the game. While he is doing this he sifts through the dirt or pine straw or sand that happens to be there. This week I'll be breaking the news to Samuel and his younger brother that starting next week we'll be taking a "break" from this game!

One night last week I had Samuel try something new for dinner, meatloaf. His brothers ate it without a problem. I had to provide soda as a reinforcer for trying it. He has not liked hamburgers lately so I figured he wouldn't be very willing to try meatloaf. As I asked him to eat it I made sure he knew a sip of soda would follow. He was not happy! He leaned over, SMELLED it and said "I don't want to eat STINKYBURGERS!" Now there's a new name for meatloaf!

I have noticed an increased sensitivity to smell with Samuel in the last few months. He smells his food, he smells other people's skin (usually their arms), and he smells his own skin and his armpits! While I was kind of sad he didn't like my cooking (though I didn't care for meatloaf as a child either!), it was enlightening to know WHY he didn't like it and I was glad that he was able to tell me this.

In the last week or so Samuel's interest in watching videos has returned. Watching videos has taken a back seat to playing on the computer for quite some time now. As his interest in videos increased his interest in playing on the computer has decreased. As always, he likes carrying around videos with him. He took quite a selection with him on our vacation. I limited it to what he could carry in a small canvas bag. He likes to carry them with him when we go out at home too. I make sure I specify to him that they STAY IN THE CAR.

Lazy Sunday

I have a billion things I could be doing today, but I'm trying to make today a day of rest, like Sunday should really be! My husband and oldest son are away this weekend. They have a racing event up in Sodus, New York. This is relatively close to where my husband grew up, so he invited a bunch of friends and relatives to come watch. This is a different type of event than they participate in. They have been away a little longer, and when I have talked to my husband on the phone it sounds like it has been a lot of work. They are very tired.

My youngest boy is playing playstation and Samuel is playing out in the back yard. I can see him out my window.

There is an awesome lineup on the History Channel later this afternoon, awesome for our family anyways. There are three "Mega Disaster" shows on in a row.. first there's "East Coast Tsunami", then "Asteroid Apocalypse", then "Yellowstone Eruption." My oldest son will be so upset that he missed these! Then after that there is an "Ice Road Trucker" episode! My husband and I really like this show. (I bet if my husband wasn't so busy with everything else in his life he'd go up to the Northwest Territories this winter to try his hand at ice road trucking! Either that or he'd be up in Alaska on one of those "Deadliest Catch" fishing boats!)

Coming soon..I have been tagged by "Bishops Wife" to share 8 random facts about myself.

Settling into a Routine for the Summer

We have been back home from our vacation for a week and a half now. It's different having Samuel home all the time now. I'm relieved that we don't have to do all the driving around. I am so over the "mom's taxi" lifestyle! Here's the general pattern of our weekdays:

WAKE UP

The kids are getting to bed quite late, so I let them sleep in. I try to get up around 5:30am. Mornings are my time alone to get things done. I work in the kitchen, laundry room, and then get outside to water plants or pull weeds.

Ideally I would get the kids up at 8am but it's usually 8:30. Then we rush to have Samuel dressed by the time our in-home helper gets here at 9:00. Samuel has not been nearly as cooperative with her as I had hoped he would be. She used to come after school, and Samuel was often tired and irritable at the prospect of 3 MORE hours of work after school. I'm going to start getting Samuel up at 8am. Perhaps if he has some time to play by himself before she arrives he'll be happier.


I had thought the 3 hours his helper was here would open up all kinds of time for me to work with my other children (we have to finish 4th grade this summer for my oldest son). But it has been very hectic. The three hours go by very fast. My oldest son isn't always very agreeable to working at this time either! My baby sleeps in until 10-11 so at least things are more manageable because of that.

AFTERNOONS

We eat lunch after the in-home helper leaves. Then I give the boys some free time. After that I get my oldest son back to work. Baby girl takes her nap at 3 o-clock. I sit down with Samuel during this time and go over some work with him. He either gets to play outside after that, watch TV for a while, or play on the computer.

EVENINGS
Once 4:30 or 5:00 hits I scramble to clean up the kitchen and work on dinner. After dinner the kids and I get outside for a while. I play with Samuel a little and then I do a little gardening. If my husband is home and is working in the garage Samuel likes to "hang out" with him out there. I'm encouraging my husband to find something for Samuel to "help" him with out there!

BEDTIME
Bedtime for the boys has been around 10pm. I'd like it to be a little earlier, but by the time I bathe the 3 younger ones and we get them a snack and let them play something of their choice (an incentive for Samuel to put on his pajamas by himself), this is what time it is. Samuel hasn't been falling asleep very well since school got out. He talks to himself a lot during this time (he is doing a lot of "self talk" all the time now, this has been increasing since last fall). Often he calls me and asks me to lay down with him for a while. Sometimes he will leave his room and come find me.


My oldest son is participating in a music/art day camp in August. Other than that we have no scheduled camps or activities that we are participating in this summer. We go to the park one morning per week and that is where my oldest and youngest sons get to see their buddies on a regular basis. Samuel doesn't particularly care about seeing anyone there. Our in-home helper comes along. Ideally we'd be looking for chances to make him socialize there but we're still working over the hurdle of getting him to do anything there besides talk to himself.

How is this compared to the past few summers we've had? Well, I'm relieved to not have to drive Samuel in town for summer school. That lasted 4 or 5 weeks and meant getting him there by 8:30am and then picking him up at 11:30. Since I have been still doing school work for my oldest son during the summer for the past few years, that was tough because there wasn't enough time to get much of anything done in the 2 hours we could be home. Then, last summer Samuel would get home from school and have 3 hours of in-home help! Two summers ago I was pregnant with my baby girl and didn't feel like doing much of anything! Last summer she was not walking yet, so my activity was restricted somewhat by having her around. This summer I can get around and do things a little easier since the baby is mobile. However, she wants to stick to me like glue and wants to "help" with everything! If she is not "helping" then she is inevitably tearing something apart around the house!

Making Snacks!

As Samuel has browsed his favorite website these days, Nick Jr., he has become interested in some recipes that they have. He started talking about one of them soon after we returned from our vacation, "Lazytown Sports Candy Pops." After he told me that he was going to make them several times, I finally sat down with him at the computer and we printed out the recipe. A day or so later we went to the grocery store to purchase the ingredients (I'll talk about that trip in a separate post!). Here is a picture of the finished product. I was supposed to get 6 of them, but we only got four.


I shared one of these with my baby girl. I liked it and Samuel liked his too, though he didn't ask to eat any of the others after that. They contain vanilla yogurt and then you mix in crushed pineapple, and a mixture of berries. I used blueberries, grapes, and strawberries. You put it in a plastic cup and then freeze it. I was very surprised that Samuel liked it because he doesn't eat most of these fruits. I'm sure frozen up in a popsicle they were a good sensory treat for him though.


A couple days after we made the sports candy pops, Samuel woke up while I was in the shower, went down to the kitchen, and decided to make his own "treat." When I came downstairs there were five plastic cups on the kitchen table. In each one were some Nestle's strawberry powder, a small dab of Cool Whip, some Hershey's Chocolate syrup, and then a marshmallow. He called it a "Wuzzleburg Sports Pop." ("Wuzzleburg" is from "Wow Wow Wubbzy") While I was surprised at the combination of ingredients, they do look kind of nice together. He also used a very small amount of each ingredient, so it was almost like eating an enhanced marshmallow! I'll have to help him with the presentation.. maybe it would be a good topping for an ice cream sundae!

We'll be doing some more recipe browsing and "cooking." I'll update our culinary adventures as we go along!


Recipe for Lazytown Sportscandy Pops, from Nick Jr. website

Servings: Makes 6 pops

Ingredients

1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple in natural juices
1 cup combination cut up grapes and berries (blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries)
2 cups vanilla yogurt
6 tsp. raspberry or strawberry jam
6 plastic spoons
6 six-oz. paper cups

Step 1 Place the paper cups on a cookie sheet.

Step 2 Transfer the yogurt to a large bowl and set aside. Drain the crushed pineapple and stir it and the fruit with the yogurt.

Step 3 Spoon the fruit and yogurt mixture--a little at a time, about a fourth of the way up--into each cup. Add a thin layer of jam on top of the fruit mixture.

Step 4 Add another layer of fruit and yogurt mix, another thin layer of jam, and continue like so until the cup is full.

Step 5 Insert a spoon in the middle of each cup (handle side up). Cover lightly with plastic wrap. Freeze until set, about 3 hours or overnight.

Step 6 To remove the plastic cups, dip the cups into warm water for about 5 seconds and gently slide off.

Maine Vacation - Midcoast Region

The third day after leaving home we arrived at the cottage we would be renting for a week. It is in New Harbor, Maine, and we rented it from L. Dewey Chase Real Estate. We stayed in a cottage called "4 Stars." You can look it up at this website: rentals.ldchase.com/rental.list.php We used this same real estate company four years ago to rent a different house and were happy with them. The house we rented then would be too small for us now. This time we were a closer distance to Pemaquid Beach, a place we have come to enjoy over the years. We could walk to this beach by crossing a path in an empty lot across the street from us. We had to walk over some big rocks to get there. I had a hard time with that since I had to carry the baby. I was amazed how easily Samuel was able to walk over them!

Samuel absolutely loved the beach. I think he was in sensory heaven! He liked playing in the sand and walking in the COLD water. It was a bit too cold to wade, but there were a few hardy souls that were doing so, and swimming! We spent lots of time at Pemaquid Beach. Each time we went Samuel explored a little more. One time he and I walked to the opposite end of the beach and explored some rocks. He liked wading and sitting in the sun-warmed pools left behind at low tide. By the end of our week there, Samuel was picking up the seaweed and checking it out!

Here are some more highlights of our week. One cloudy day we went over to Boothbay Harbor, about a 30 minute drive from where we stayed. It is a charming town that has a lot of quaint boutiques and antique shops. This time we only had lunch there, no browsing in shops like we did on our honeymoon! On our way home we stopped at a miniature golf course and my husband took all three boys. Baby girl and I wandered around the rest of the property and browsed through a sea shell museum. The owner of the golf course runs the course during the summer and then lives in Florida for the winter.

We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to take a family ride on the water. Our good friends who live in the area have a son who works at a marina near Falmouth, Maine. We were able to take a catamaran ride thanks to him and his friend who owns it. I was a little apprehensive about all of us being on the water, but felt better once I saw the kids would have life jackets to wear. I thought Samuel might enjoy wearing it, thinking it might be like a weighted vest, but he wanted nothing to do with it. We kept a harness on him instead. My oldest son got to stear the catamaran, which he greatly enjoyed!

On our last day of vacation we went to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, down at one of the southernmost points of the peninsula we stayed on. We honeymooned at an Inn that was within walking distance of this. On another visit (the one where Samuel kept waking up at daybreak - 4am!!!!) we had dinner in the house right next to the lighthouse. Some people we knew at the time were renting an apartment on the second floor. They had been living there for 15 years (would you ever give up an apartment like that?)! There are some amazing rock formations and cliffs in the surrounding area. My husband and oldest son walked on them while the rest of us explored the park area.

The godparents of our two youngest children live in this area. We saw them every day that we were there. We used to see more of their sons, but they are all grown up now and have moved away. Our last evening they had a pot-luck dinner for us at their house and invited other people we have met over the years. It was great fun, though (as often happens) I did get a little overwhelmed as the evening went on with whiny demanding kids, mosquitoes, and a husband caught up in conversation with other adults!

Other information about the area we visited.. locals and tourists enjoy a local treat, The Lobster Roll (pronounced "lobstah"!!!). It can vary a little, but it is basically a hot dog roll with lobster meat (I've had it where the meat is mixed up with mayo, like tuna salad). The going rate for one on this trip was about $17! We did not partake this time. One of the towns we passed through in Maine as we headed north, Wiscasset, had people lining up for them!

One of the northernmost towns on the peninsula we stay on is called Damariscotta. It is quite picturesque. During our stay we experienced its main street, including the sidwalk, being repaved. It made traffic through the town heavy, but fortunately there were ways to get around it. The paving was completed our last day there, just in time for the area's tourist season, which always gets under way the week of the 4th of July.

We were very sad to leave our cottage as well as our friends and the area. We hope to be able to return next year. My trips to Maine have always been enjoyable no matter what stage of baby and toddler I have to deal with, but I sure do look forward to the day when I can experience these things with children that are a bit more independent!

All photos are from Flickr.com. Pemaquid Beach pictures taken by MaineMama. First picture is of the NW (I think!) end of the beach and second photo is of the SE end of the beach, if I have my directions correct. We walked on a path through the area with the trees in the second photo to get to the beach. Picture of the seaweed was taken by Thallium. Boothbay Harbor picture taken by Harry390. Picture on the water taken by denjes3, near Falmouth, Maine. We sailed on the catamaran near here. Pemaquid Point Lighthouse picture taken by eva8. Red's Eats picture taken by Madame Pocklock. Lobster Roll picture taken by wendalicious (this is a lobster roll from Red's Eats). Damariscotta scene picture taken by GTOfan. Downtown Damariscotta picture taken by Wildhorses.

Maine Vacation, The First Few Days

We left for our vacation early on a Thursday evening. We drove for about 5 hours up Interstate 81 through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and then we stayed overnight in Port Jervis, just over the border into New York. We didn't stop until we got there! We were able to do this thanks to bringing along sandwiches to eat for dinner, a box full of little toys to keep the kids entertained, and the availability of oldies music on the radio, which my kids love. I think the time of day we were travelling helped as well; I suspect this long of a drive would not have worked had we tried it first thing in the morning.

The only source of frustration for Samuel on this leg of the trip was that he had great difficulty in trying to see the sun set. We were driving through mountains so by the time he thought of looking at it, it was below the horizon of the mountain tops. When we left the mountainous area we had tall trees to contend with. The setting sun was a gorgeous orange ball that evening, but you could only see it when a quick opening came up between the trees. Samuel started crying and said "I want to leave tree land!"

We stayed that evening at a Comfort Inn right along the interstate. Samuel was quite happy, he loves staying at these kinds of places. He talked about it the rest of our trip. I asked him today what his favorite part of our vacation was and he answered "Staying at the Comfront (how he pronounces it!) Inn."

The next morning our family of six invaded the breakfast room at the motel and then got on the road for a roughly six hour drive to Freeport, Maine. We traditionally stop at the roadside liquor store in the narrow stretch of New Hampshire that we drive through (New Hampshire either has a low sales tax, or maybe even no sales tax, on liquor). While we were here Samuel said hello to several people that we saw. He did this quite frequently on our trip and would then ask "Where are you from?" On this occasion the woman he spoke to told him she was from Cambodia! People are surprised to get a "Hi" from him, but everyone he talked to was very friendly.

We ate a late lunch/early dinner at The Jameson Tavern, a place we have frequented just about every trip to Freeport. Samuel got a case of "the sillies" while we were here. This was to be another frequent occurance on our vacation. He started laughing and giggling very loudly. I'm sure this was just a reaction to being cooped up in the car all day. Each time he did this I took him outside for a few minutes (or somehow removed him from what was going on at the time). This time I took him out to the parking lot and had him jump around. I also gave him some "big squeeze" hugs and I had him hold my hands and spun him around a little. We got a few funny looks from passers by, but I'm sure I'd take a look if I saw something like that too.

We stayed that evening at The Harraseeket Inn, a family tradition. My husband and I stayed there on our honeymoon and we have stayed there three other times now. It's quite an adventure each time we go with more children, but it is a very family-friendly place. Samuel remembers his stays here and always looks forward to going back.


While at The Harraseeket we went on a walk along Freeport's main street that has lots of outlet stores. We always stop at the L.L. Bean outlet store. We browsed there a bit and my husband returned solo the next morning to do some clothes shopping. We went in the pool at the Inn several times. Samuel has been afraid of the water on past trips but this time he loved it. It was our baby girl's first experience in the water and she loved it as well.

I neglected to take any pictures while I was on my trip but still want to share some of the images from our trip. I am able to do so thanks to Flickr.com and the following photographers: First two photos: Port Jervis, NY , from Click Click Photography;New Hampshire Liquor Store photos: Red Building from The Cod 72, Road Sign from autumnsan ;Jameson Tavern from kara.brown ;L.L. Bean outlet store from kmf164;Harraseeket Inn photos from marcomazzei and j_dian

Back to Reality!

We returned from our vacation Saturday evening. We had an absolutely fantastic time. I will share some of the details over the next few days. Samuel did very well. He had his moments of frustration, but every single member of the family did as well. The only two negatives of our vacation were the mosquitoes (quite prevalent in Maine this time of year) and the fact that I did not take a single picture our entire vacation! I had hoped to share some of the beautiful scenery of the area we stayed. I'll have to find other ways of sharing it.

Now it's back to our everyday lives. I'm about to go wake Samuel up to prepare for the arrival of our in-home helper!