Poolside Memorial Day Weekend *pics*

Dear Diary,

Going into the weekend the forecast was a bit iffy.  And if I remember right it was raining overnight Friday into Saturday.  There was also a lot of constant winds.  When we woke up Saturday the sun was shinning but the wind was still extreme.  In the community where we stay Memorial Day weekend is the official opening of the pool.  Reagan was set on going.  I didn’t hold out a lot of hope but to the pool we went.  I was so incredibly, pleasantly surprised.  There are high fences around about half of the pool area and then tall trees around the other half.  It was sheltered enough that the wind was almost non exsistent.   You can see the trees in the below picture and where the fence begins on the right.  The fence continues along the right and then back behind where I’m sitting in a lounge chair.  The sunshine was bright, warm and perfect and I soaked it up with pleasure!  Our Saturday there was so lovely that when we woke up Sunday and there was still a bit of a cool breeze that we headed back to the pool.  Sunday seemed calmer and a bit warmer but we made it a third pool day anyway.  The true temps were only in the 60s.  I’m sure on the beach, near the water and in the wind it would have felt like 60 but in the shelter of the pool area it felt every bit of 80 in the sunshine.  It was perfect!

Friday afternoon we began our drive to the shore as school let out at 3.  In the evening, about half way through our trip, we had a quick dinner at Chick-Fil-A and then we stopped at Wal-Mart because Reagan and I had talked about him getting to pick out another Hero Factory Lego set.  They had a good selection and he found one he wanted.    We continued on with our drive which included more traffic than usual due to the holiday.  I think our usual, just under three hour, trip took about 4 on Friday.  Once near where we stay we did a quick grocery shop to stock up on snacks, lunch items, drinks, ice, etc for the weekend.  Reagan also picked out a DVD… The Gruffalo’s Child.  While I settled us in at the camper Reagan watched his movie and played with his new Hero Factory set.  It wasn’t long until bedtime.  We snuggled up with a Serendipity bedtime story.

Reagan had picked out Honeybuns at the store.  I enjoyed one with my coffee on Saturday morning.  This picture also shows the 20" x 20" ceramic tile that I found at Home Depot to place over the stovetop.  I backed it with sef- adhesive, cork shelf liner so that it wouldn’t scratch the burners underneath.  I think it’s a good solution.  And you can’t really see here but it matches the countertop well.

Reagan woke up shortly after I did and played with his Hero Factory toys for awhile…..

He also spent some time doing some pages in his summer workbooks.  I might be getting a bit ahead seeing as school isn’t officially out yet.  These books (one math and one literacy) are from his school and are meant to bridge Kindergarten to First Grade but they seem a bit too easy and like there isn’t a whole summer’s worth of work.  I will most likely have to supplement with something else.   Reagan also worked on a project to earn his Family Travel Belt Loop for Cub Scouts.  He made a list of items to pack for a three-day trip.

My normal routine at home is showering at night but this weekend somehow we ended up in a showering in the morning routine….. all set to head to the shower.  We almost always shower in the bathhouse rather than the camper so we sort of pack to head over.

Several times over the winter Reagan has mentioned wanting to get a snorkel for the pool.  On our way to the pool on Saturday we stopped and he picked one out…

Reagan’s appetite was big this weekend.  Most days he ate two meat and cheese sandwiches while at the pool….

He would get chilly while swimming and come to bundle up in towels.  He also likes to be in a towel tent while he plays games on the phone….
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The water was cold! They had just filled it this week.  They will be draining it again this coming week to repaint and then will refill it.  They fill it with well water so it will continue to be cool for awhile.  I’d get too hot and decide to cool off but only needed to go in to my knees before I was refreshed.  On Sunday I did end up going in up to my waist. 

There were lots of friends… some we knew from past summers.  Other’s were new friends….

Saturday evening we had dinner at Cracker Barrel and then settled back in at the camper.  We watched Free Willy 2 that night and I started and finished the Camping Edgy Album from the weekend before’s camping trip…  I’ll have to get better pictures of the inside.  Something is wrong with the tv in the camper.  We had Reagan’s DVD player along and were able to watch the movie that way.

The next morning (Sunday)  Reagan did some more workbook pages and he also did another part of the project for the Family Travel Cub Scout Belt Loop.  Together we calculated the travel costs for our trip.  We used my cars milage rate, the current cost of unleaded gasoline and the distance to and from the beach camper / home.    It is something that we normally would not stop to think / talk about.  I enjoyed working on it with him.   He is recording it all in a notebook that he can present to earn the beltloop.

We spent about 6 hours at the pool on Sunday.  Saturday was about 5 hours.  Monday we were there about 4 before making the trip home.

Sunday….

Lots of friends…

Sunday night we made a quick stop at the store.  I needed some allergy medicine.  I grabbed a chicken burrito on our way back to the camper.  Once there Reagan had his left over macaroni and cheese from the night before and we watched Free Willy 3. We’re both enjoying the movies.  I also worked on making some cards that evening.

At the pool I finished listening to Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley High Confidential which is the Wakefield twins from our childhoods 10 years later….. now in their twenties.  It didn’t knock my socks off.  There was a lot of repetition BUT I still loved hearing more about them as grown ups.  There is another group of stories that take place 3 years after this one.  I want to get a hold of that, too.  In the car I was listening to an old Debbie Macomber…. The Jury (juror?) Part of the Unexpected Husband duo.  I enjoyed that too.  I’m still actually reading (not listening) to Tuscan Holiday by Holly Chamberlain.  I find that when Reagan is near water though I’d rather listen and keep my eyes on him then have my nose in a book and have something happen to him.  He’s pretty careful but accidents can still happen.  He and I also read one of his Magic Treehouse books together at the pool.  We finished Monday with a Mad Genius about Leonardo Da Vinci. Summer of the Sea Serpent is up next.

Monday he brought his boat out of his beach toy bag to the pool…

More friends…

I got Reagan changed into dry, comfy clothes for the ride home.  We left around 2 on Sunday.  With traffic the trip took us an extra hour on the way home, too.  Reagan decided he wanted a donut on the drive home.  I needed to use the restroom we we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts….

Last week or so I was walking at the mall and stopped in at Crazy 8.  They had some comfy, cotton shorts and t-shirts for $4.99 each.  I picked out three sets for Reagan.  These orange shorts and this shirt with Woody posing as a lifeguard was one of the sets…  The sign says NO CATS ALLOWED.  I thought it was cute…

 

That’s it for our weekend.  We’re back to work and school for the week.    Thursday evening Reagan will walk with his Scouts troop in the Memorial Day parade in our town.  Our neighbors are having a cookout that evening that we are invited to, also.

Friday I’m bringing one more batch of birthday cupcakes for the fourth Kindergarten teacher.  She has a summer birthday.  The kids celebrated with the other 3 teachers.  I thought it would be nice to include her, too.  Its always fun for the kids to have a special treat at school, too.  And the end of the school year is a good time to celebrate.

I’m also coordinating the end of year gifts from Kindergarten to all of their teachers.  They have 4 main teachers and 8 special teachers (2 PE, Art, Music, Spanish, Science, Computers, and Library).  One of the class parents suggested Target giftcards.  I, along with the other class parents, liked this idea, so that is the plan.    Currently I’ve had 20 of 28 families donate.  The deadline is this Friday.  The homemade cards I started to make at the beach camper this weekend are to pair with the giftcards for the teachers.

This past week I signed up to participate in an ATC (artist trading cards) group at the local scrapbook boutique.  I’ll have to do an entry on this.  I think these will be fun, creative little projects to work on at the shore.  The theme for June is birds. July is Beach.  We’ll swap cards with a group of 7 or 8 each month.  I’ll share more as it goes along.

I’m toying with the idea of camping again on Saturday evening. I’d take him back to the same state park we were at the weekend before last where he was catching fish.  We really didn’t get time on the beach there since it was cool.  If it looks like a warm weekend it might be too tempting not to go.  I’ll have to watch the forecast. Reagan has a soccer event Saturday morning, a pool birthday party at 11 but after that we are free for the rest of the weekend if we decide to camp.  I’m not sure what Keith’s plans are.  Maybe he and Woody would like to go….

Enough rambling from me….

Happy Tuesday!

 
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