Sundays In My City

It's been a fun, busy Easter day so far! Egg decorating, hunting, church, another hunt and brunch. Phew! Hope your day is as nice!

Best photo bomb ever!!

Happy Sunday :)

Frag'n Friday

Let's catch up from the week, shall we?

*K now has a bright pink cast on her thumb. This has proven a few problems with showering, putting on make-up and writing, but she's being a good sport about it.

*B sang in a school talent show and of course I have to share it with you....





*We had a 2 hour delay today on the second day of spring. 7 inches of the white stuff fell over night. It was like a cruel joke looking out my window this morning. I will say that it was pretty and a lot of it melted in the balmy 37 temps by the time I got out of school this afternoon.

*I finally got my car back today from the accident 2 weeks ago. It looks great on the outside, but on the inside it looks FANTASTIC! The auto body shop detailed it. Holy crap, it almost makes me want to have body work done on my car every 6 months or so just so they will clean the inside!!! I may not let anyone into it for a week!

*I admitted on facebook that I bought hummus for the first time the other day. This was a big step for me. Since September, my two teacher friends force me to eat it every day at snack time and I decided that I liked it and should probably buy it for myself! A friend of mine sent me this on FB.

Yup, she's got me pegged.

*I am in a college basketball pool which is hysterical because I am not really a fan of basketball (playing it, watching it, breathing it....). My top 8 are still alive. Don't ask me my strategy, I didn't have one. We will see how far that gets me.

Happy Weekend!

Good News: She Liked Skiing....

K got the fantastic opportunity to go to NH this past weekend to celebrate her friend's 16th Birthday. The family took their 3 kids and 3 friends up to Loon for tubing, eating and skiing.

K skied when she was about 3. Then, soon after,  she switched to snowboarding. She decided that she was going to try skiing again this weekend. Because I could not take her for a trial run before hand,  I gave her lessons on how to put on skis and how to get in a pizza shape and how to keep her hands in front of her in our family room. That's normal, right?

Off she went on Friday . Periodically, I would get a text or find a picture on Twitter or Instagram of she and her friends having a blast.

Saturday morning, the texts started like this:

11:21 am We're on our way to the mountain! I am going to die....
11:40 am We are buying tickets.
11:42 am I am really nervous. I am going to die.
12:06 pm Wow, I am really good.
12:27 pm I haven't fallen once and I can stop and turn! I like this.
1:54 pm I am in a gondola!
3:39 pm Just got done and I hurt my thumb and it's a little swollen but I think it's fine.

Now, I have been around the slopes a few times. Need proof? Check out this post and this one. And I know that the most prominent injury on the slopes is broken thumbs/hands. My sister and brother had matching casts one year when they were in middle school. As she was describing her thumb through the evening, she mentioned how it was swelling and turning purple. I feared that when she got home, we would be taking a trip to the ER.

She helpfully sent a video of her thumb to me on her ride home. No, you do not need to see it.

Sure enough, we went to the ER when she got home. This was our 4th? visit in the past year. She manages to do things on weekends. Soon we will be calling and requesting our favorite nurses.

Sure enough: Broken.

I am currently waiting for the orthopedic Dr. to call and the Principal of the High School to hunt me down because she will not be able to take her MCAS (standardized testing) this week because she cannot write. I swear, never a dull moment.

Cheers!

The one thing about working in an elementary school is that I am reminded of when my girls were little. I picture them sitting at lunch laughing with their friends, going across the monkey bars, answering questions in meeting, and so much more.

I also get to go to music class. Never one of my favorites growing up, and now, not either. I was schooled in how to sing the lullaby "Hush Little Baby" last week, though. I guess the version I sang to the girls wasn't quite "right".

My version:

Hush little baby, don't say a word,
Mama's going to buy you a mockingbird.

If that mockingbird don't sing, 
Mama's going to buy you a diamond ring.

If that diamond ring don't shine,
Mama's going to drink a glass of wine. 

Maybe I should have paid more attention in music class.

Cheers.

Sundays In My City

Winter storms have battered the coast for the past 6 weeks. Stories of erosion and houses falling into the ocean are common on the news. B and I ventured out to a few places over the past 2 days to document some of the damage and in some cases, beauty. These photos were taken on Lighthouse Beach in Chatham. Some of you may recognize the Beach Club's tennis court. Maybe they can have sand castle contests on it now? There was a Coast Guard boat checking out the seas (glad it wasn't me).

These photos were taken at the Chatham Fish Pier and at Scatteree Beach. We joked that the boat with all the seaweed in it was probably Brooke's dad's boat. It was.

These photos were taken at Nauset Beach in Orleans. That is Liam's Clam Shack from the front and back. Looks like the clams might be a little sandy this year. Also, the gazebo is on the edge of the parking lot (that is covered in sand). B is sitting on a bench that has a 6 foot drop on the other side of it.

These are some random photos of Chatham Light, B pretending she is on a balance beam and a clever way to hold up a new house in 50 mph winds.

More balance beam tricks from my trusty companion. 

Thanks for always tagging along on my photo hikes, B :)

Crash and Ouch

Today was a first for me. Well, sort of a first. I got in a car accident today. I have never hit another car until today. And no, it was not my fault. Let me paint the scene...

Rainy, windy, crappy day and B was checking out a high school in the area. I dropped her off there and experimented with a new way to get to work. I was only going about 25 or so when a little car took a left, while driving at me and way to close to me. I knew, no matter how hard I slammed on the brakes, that I was going to hit him. I slammed the brakes, closed my eyes and evidently protected my face with a karate chop to the airbag with my forearm.

I thought my car was on fire when I looked at the airbag because some sort of smoke was coming out of the steering wheel and the smell was atrocious. I basically jumped out of my car. The poor kid came running over to me telling me it was his fault. I felt like saying, "no der", but kept it to "are you ok?". Wound up, he was late for school and was trying to get their quickly. I have to give him credit for wanting to be on time. The police came, the ambulance came, my car was towed.... I hopped in the ambulance to have my arm checked out. I knew it wasn't broken, but it hurt like heck. That's when I realized that I karate chopped my air bag. I looked up and my friend Debbie was randomly knocking on the door of the ambulance. She said, "I saw your car and couldn't leave you here alone and then I thought what are you doing in this neck of the woods?".

It was nice to have a friend there. I was pretty shocked by the whole incident. Then, I got to check out my car, laugh at all the M&Ms that spilled all over the front floor mat, go to the insurance company, talk to insurance people and get a big hug from my mom. She insisted I go to our local fire station to get checked out again.

There is nothing like walking into your local fire station wearing the same color jacket as your mom and announcing that she made me come. This does not compare to the story I wrote about my sister visiting the same fire station.

I am getting my blood pressure taken while my mom is answering questions.

Name? She gives her name. I say, "I think they probably need my name."
My mom, "Really?"
Fireman, "Um, yeah."

Seems that I was fine as long as I had some ice and Advil. They didn't suggest the wine I had tonight, but I couldn't think of a better pairing with the Advil.

Actually, I made a cake, too. Seriously, what goes better with a car crash where no one gets majorly hurt and wine and Advil?

Poor baby....

Swimmers, Penguins, Belugas, OH MY!

This weekend was the Championship swim meet of the YMCA season. We had to go all the way to Connecticut for it. Not just over the bridge to get off of Cape Cod, but through the whole state of Rhode Island! Crazy, right? (I am being sarcastic, it wasn't that bad.)

B was set to swim Saturday night. She and some of her teammates passed the time by taking selfies. They were cracking me up. 

I do not have any pictures or video of her swimming (much to her dismay) mainly because some of the coaches were walking back and forth, jumping up and down and screaming their heads off at their swimmers. Basically, getting in the way. The coaches on one team dressed like construction workers....were they channeling the Village People?

The meet was fantastic! B had 3 personal bests which means she beat her previous times in her events. And by beat them, she really slaughtered them! We stayed the night in Mystic, CT with one of the coaches, his wife and their son. I am not sure if it was the fact that we were exhausted by the time we got to a restaurant at 9pm or that we really are funny all together, but boy, did we laugh!

The next morning Coach Bob, B, T and I went to breakfast while Laurie lounged in bed (haha, right Laurie?). We got T laughing so hard that T spit eggs across the table. Bob was telling us that one of the coaches on another team was telling an 8 year old boy, that "it's all on you!" as he walked up to the start. No pressure on the poor kid or anything. We also brainstormed on how this lady made her poof. One theory was that she hid all the bacon in it. So, ignore T laughing so hard in the picture and look behind him.

We went to Mystic Aquarium for a chunk of the day. It is a great aquarium and there are a lot of outside exhibits. I am sure it is even more beautiful in the spring/summer, although the occasional snow flurries were fun. Poor T, he found out what it was like to be part of my family. Pictures galore!!

I do not know who this little girl was, but I had to take this picture. It was so cool seeing the Beluga's through these big windows.

Here are B and T "patting" the Beluga. 

One Beluga was playing with this green ribbon. He/She was having the best time letting go of it and grabbing it again and again.

All in all, a fantastic weekend!!  My ab muscles may never be the same from laughing so much, which is the best kind of workout ever!!