Wilderness Family

Yesterday we all went to John & Maggie's for John's graduation party. They have the most beautiful new home. They certainly deserve it and I want one too - just like it! It's really a great home - huge and brand new. I may be getting a new oven though. Ours is making very bad sounding noises. We'll get it checked out first. My fears of one appliance breaking after another hopefully won't be coming true, but the dryer isn't giving me warm fuzzy feelings - no pun intended. Anyway, the party yesterday was fun and Shara had a great time playing with Hannah and Morgan.

Last night we had a little camp out in our back yard. Shara's first night in a tent! It was a lot of fun. We had beer (Alan commented that mommy should have a beer, and it did make things much more relaxed) & s'mores, which are really messy. I had to bring the marshmallows back in the house or I could have eaten the whole bag. Shara enjoyed them too. We all had a really great time. Shara enjoyed laying in my lap relaxing by the fire, watching the bats fly around, and listening to the band down the street. Our neighbors had their annual party and the band played until after 8 with the karaoke going till around 10. It was great and certainly lent to the festival atmosphere that camping out always has for me. Shara & I went in to sleep around 9 but she wouldn't fall asleep until Alan came in. He was staying with the fire. She did go to sleep and so did I, only waking to Alan's snoring, which made me feel every rock in our lawn. Shara ended up at the bottom of the tent, and I only moved her when she mumbled something in her sleep about moving her up, so I slid her back. She didn't remember any of it.

We woke in the morning all about the same time - around 6, and had coffee and breakfast outside, then went for a walk down the street and a jog back home with me having to have Alan time me doing the 300 meter dash, almost killing myself in my crocs. We then got a little cleaned up and went to West Bridgewater to find a geo-cache. About this time I realized that I hadn't even checked my email! I guess camping out made us all feel like we had a mini vacation. The Geocaching was fun, if not buggy. We saw deer, raccoon, dog, human, and horse prints. We also saw so many mushrooms. One was purple - very cool, but looked really deadly. Shara was a little scared about looking at the little waterfall - more like a drain, but had a lot of fun treking down the path and really wanted to walk in the mud. Of course she wanted to be the leader because mommy & daddy never let her do anything fun, etc. Her new thing! We went for lunch at Good Days. Later on we baked a cake for Jill's party, and then relaxed watching the Nutcracker.

Take me to the Fair - 08

We went to the fair yesterday - weather was great, but it was so slow. They had a 40% chance of rain and we decided the weather's been so unpredictable that we can't make our plans based on the weather. We had fun after we established the 3 strikes and you're out rule when Shara had several fits and didn't stop until we started to leave. I don't know what was up with her but Alan thinks she was just having fun playing us. He's probably right, and it was really annoying. I'd have been really annoyed if we left for that reason.

We ate a little too much and the jambalaya was not so great, but it's good to try new things. Rather disappointing because it smelled so good. Alan's kabobs were very good, as usual and i had a good baked potato - broccoli & cheese topping, hoping Shara would have some broccoli. Shara had 2 italian ices - ate almost all of Alan's and then had one of her own. She liked the lemon ice the best. She also and a huge hot dog (don't think it was a foot long, but could have been) and the roll, while we watched the magician. The fries were had in the car on the way home. We pet bunnies - so soft, and Shara even went to the bathroom all by herself - I stood outside the stall. Shara's favorite part was eating the treats. She also loved looking at all of the rides. I'm sure she'd like it even better at night. The music was good - a retro 50's band, and it was fun watching a group of older women singing and dancing. That's pretty much when we left because it started to really look like a storm was brewing. We got to the car and it started to sprinkle before we left the area.

I'm hopeful that Shara's fits are going to be over. She screams and gets so mad when she doesn't get her way. Really bratty stuff. The other night she slept with us because we watched A Bug's Life and she was scared of the grasshoppers and didn't want to sleep by herself. We decided no more movies but now I'm wondering if we should do the movies, knowing that it will also be a night of her sharing our bed. I'd have no problem with that. Not sure Alan will like that. She went to bed just fine last night, so the fear of starting a habit is gone for me. That's the biggest fear I have with her wanting to sleep with us. But other than her pushing me to the side of the bed, it's not so bad having her with us. I actually like it some times.

Cute & things

• I'll be done in a gypsy.
  
• Makes up her own songs - just sings nonsense words.
  
• Last night we went puff ball hunting.
  
• We made s'mores the other night, gas grill, but real sticks.
  
• Not so fun - last night I had to tell Shara that if she cried and screamed after daddy left her room, she'd be crying and screaming alone and she would not sleep in mommy and daddy's bed. She kept quiet, until she slipped while coming out into the hall to turn on her fish night light. Went back to bed with little problem.
  
• We watched Meet the Robinsons and her big thing after that, which was thankfully short lived, was crossing her fingers when she said something so she didn't have to be telling the truth. Very obvious since she needs to use her other hand to get her fingers to cross (-:
• She really is quite the actress - if she's screaming and carrying on, I can start laughing and she'll start smiling, knowing that it's all a joke. I still can't figure out why it's more fun for her to pretend to be angry, sad, etc. than to have us all laughing and playing nice together. She won't tell me.
• She's up - bypassed me to go turn off her fish light and meow back at Brutus.
  

Catch up

We had a great visit from Bubbe & Jill last weekend. I felt like I lived in California with the perfect weather, swimming, grilling pizzas and eating outside with a nice bottle of wine. The whole weekend was relaxing for all of us. Jill was Shara's idol and it reminded me of when I used to see Liz & Samantha all the time - aunt laur!, aunt laur! Jill had to have company when taking a shower, was the one to keep shara company while getting dressed, playing, etc. Basically her shadow. They both had fun. Bubbe also got some nice Shara time, something she tries to do over the phone, but Shara never cooperates with phone conversations. Yesterday she actually talked to Bubbe on the phone, but it was cut short when she layed down in bed with it and it fell on her face (she's fine). Back to the visit - Saturday afternoon we went to Brigg's nursury and everyone was rightly impressed. I got a white phlox, Jill got a goonie bird and disguested by the pig (it's gross - fat, smells, etc.) Shara had a blast getting pushed on the swings by Jill. She could have swung forever! Saturday night we had a noisy dinner at the Chateau and mom, Jill & I all had the seafood platter and were all a little disappointed. I always say it's best to just get classic Italian dishes there, but it was fun regardless. We picked blueberries together at Ward's berry farm which was rather unexpected because we were only going to be going out to breakfast (Good Days, of course) and on the way back home decided to head out to pick some berries. That was a lot of fun - wasn't too hot, lots of berries, etc. We then said goodbye and all agreed we needed to do this more often.

Nothing too special happened during the week, mostly because shara hasn't been napping and has been a little cranky in the evenings. Friday Alan & I took a hike in the Blue Hills and picked Shara up a little early from school. We went to pick up my car from being serviced and on the way out Shara was "skipping" on the sidewalk and wiped out. Both knees and her hand got booboos. She heals really fast but was rather upset. They were pretty bad scrapes. Friday evening was rather low-key and Saturday was not so great either. Mostly because our plans were interruped by daddy being paged. We were on our way to the Westport farmer's market - actually about 10 minutes away, and had to turn around and go back home. We were all pretty unhappy about it, but we had lunch and Shara and I made zucchini bread. She then took a "nap" - actually I told her she could play quietly in her room. She shut the door and several minutes later appeared bedecked in jewels and her new, too big, patent leather heels. Very cute.

Seeing as quietly wasn't working that well, and she really wasn't acting tired, we got ready for Chris and her friends from England to come over. We were all going to go out to dinner. Shara was, as usual, slow to warm up. She wouldn't look at them for about 1/2 hour, but once she did, she didn't shut up. She danced around and basically went crazy. Dinner was good - Fresh Catch. Stephen had shashimi & lobster for the first time. I got to have my summer fried seafood fest and even have dinner for tonight as well. Everyone was pleased. We had hoped to come home and have somores, something very American, but Shara was too off-the-wall, so she had bedtime and everyone went home for their bedtime too - lots of running around for all.

Yesterday Shara & I tried another farmers market - rehoboth. I was a little disappointed. There was just a farm stand, no crafts and event, like in Carver. We did get some really nice veggies though. Shara picked out several. On the way back we took a large detour to get the doughnuts I've been craving - Butler's. Unfortunately they had no more cream left, so we scrounged and picked up a few that weren't all that good. Shara had no problem with her chocolate frosted with sprinkles. Went home, had lunch, then watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Shara really liked the dancing, lights, etc. I thought she would. Then we checked out the swimming & gymnastics. I turned into an aparatus while she vaulted off the couch and over me. Then on to another dinner. This time at Oma & Jidor's. Chris, Stephen and Jay were there as well, and Shara got to play with her new princess makeup table, which we decided to keep at Oma's so she'd be able to play with it when she visited. Dinner was very good, as usual, and we didn't leave until after Shara's bedtime, as usual, so she's still sleeping and I'll have to wake her up soon. I guess she'll be getting back on schedule with naps again!

Here are some pictures of Caroline's birthday party, the sand sculpture event at Revere beach and Briggs. Oh, also are shara's first dentist appointment. Wow, it's been a while since I wrote anything. That will need another post on it's own.