What A Catch

What a blast the spawn and I had this weekend. From pitching our newly bought tent, to camping in the cool damp rain, to tying knots, fishing, hiking a good 5 miles, to tearing down our newly bought tent soaking wet! We had fun!

Youngerspawn was out there Friday afternoon, all night Friday night and all day Saturday until about 5 p.m. Then my dad called and asked if he wanted to come over and spend the night with them. He fished, played hard, got all muddy and soaking wet but never tired out. He decided to spend the night with my mom and dad Saturday night. Everyone in the pack knows him as and calls him pigpen. And everyone kept an eye on him. We've had over 12 inches of rain just in the month of August this year and our rivers are over flowing. And we were camping out right on the river's edge.

Elderspawn and I went with our Webelos group. We completed achievements, earned belt loops, built a council campfire and had a blast together.

A council fire. A little lopsided, but boy did it burn good and hot for making S'mores over Saturday night.


The most fun and excitement came when one of the members from our pack, who is an Eagle Scout himself, yells for us all to come over. Then he proceeds to show us his catch of the day. A snapping turtle. The boys thought it was really cool. They learned were taught not to get near one though, as they have very long necks and very strong jaws and can crush your bones should one get a hold of you.


Sorry it's head turned out so blurry but that sucker was in action! That's the hand of the Eagle Scout holding onto it's tail. The only area you can hold onto one where they can't get a hold of you!


Welp, I've got a ton of laundry to do. At least the gear's all cleaned up and put away! TTFN!

Fair Time, Already, Yet Another Day

My mom and I decided to head back out to the fair for a bit today. We weren't out there as long today though. We go every year on Saturday for the delicious grilled bbq chicken dinner they have. ES, my mom and I all got 1/2 chicken with coleslaw, and a dinner roll. I had a baked potato with mine and ES and my mom had french fries. The $7.00 cost of the meal also includes a drink with it and they provide as many condiments as you desire. My mom and I shared our meals with YS as he doesn't eat a whole lot in one sitting. He's more of a muncher. They gave us an extra plate, plasticware and a dinner roll for him. I already had a drink for him. ES sure did some damage to his dinner. He ate all the chicken, coleslaw and half of his fries. I ate his dinner roll and all of my dinner. I sure know how to put away the food!

Pigpen Youngerspawn living up to his nickname. After I took this pic, what remained of that chocolate ice cream cone ended up all over his shirt, shorts and shoes. I said "welp, looks like we have to leave now." In response I get "nope mama, you brought me extra clothes, 'member!?!" This is actually pretty mild though. He wasn't given the nickname of pigpen lightly. He attracts filth. He's all boy! And he's all mine.

Pigpen 2 Elderspawn with the remnants of his chocolate ice cream on his chin. He managed to keep his clothes fairly clean today. A couple of grass stains is all. Today was the first day his sinuses were pretty cleared up. Must have been allergies. Thank goodness. He was all for game playing today as mom didn't have enough money for rides too.



Ponies Youngerspawn taking a leisurely pony ride all by himself. This was the first year he was able to hang on and stay in the saddle without me walking beside him. Elderspawn is past the weight restriction now to ride them. Sniff, sniff. My babies are growing up. I remember the pony rides from when I was a kid. I couldn't get enough pony rides!

Fair Time, Already Part Deux

Today is Thursday, a dawn of a new day. When ES woke up this morning, his head and sinuses still plugged up, but not feeling warm. Again, it's also running down his upper lip and into his mouth, which must be open in order to breathe. I again blasted them open with the nasal spray and told him he should see a doc today. It could be 1. horrible allergies with the mold count being through the roof right now from the storms. But one usually doesn't run a fever with allergies. But if it is then the doc could give him better allergy medication than what he's been taking to help him feel better. 2. A sinus infection, which he would then need antibiotics to get over it. 3. Or just a plain miserable summer cold. This, unfortunately, must run its course.

Well, this is the response I get: "But mom, I feel fine." "I really want to go back out to the fair for kid's day so I can ride rides." "Please, mom, I'll be good out there."

Oh, geez, play the ole sappy I'll be good trick with me, would ya huh!?!

Well, geesh, of course it worked on me. The only response I could mutter was: "Are you sure you feel alright?" Knowing full well by looking at his eyes he really didn't. He had the black under his eyes from his sinuses being so plugged up.

Needless to say, we got out there about 1:30 this afternoon. We walked around for awhile, sat in the tent for awhile, YS and I ate while ES refused anything to eat at all. NOT my spawn again!

Around 3 ish YS is getting antsy to ride rides. My aunt gave us 12 leftover ride tickets she had and we headed out, this time it was just me and the spawn.

Well, ES and YS went on a bigger ride together then ES went on a ride by himself that YS is too little to go on. As soon as ES walks through the exit gate he tells me that he's done with rides. I KNEW IT. He's feeling like shit again.

Later on, after YS rode all the rides he wanted to ride and the spawn played a few games, we decided to head back to our tent for a rest. It was around 4:45 by now and the reduced rides end at 5:00 anyway. ES decided he was finally hungry and ordered some nachos and cheese. He ate half of it and said he was full. This is my kid who normally can put away 3 hotdogs on buns in one sitting and still want more. This kid eats me out of house and home :) Oh, so, NOT my spawn.

YS got an order of nachos and cheese as well only eating half of them and I got myself an elephant ear with cherry pie filling on top of it. Delicious!

We left the fair around 5:15 and after a potty break we arrived at the car about 5:30. I turned around in the car and told ES that the immediate care clinic is open until 9 or 10 tonight and I can still take him.

But, why mom, I feel fine is the response I keep on getting. This kid could have one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel before he'd admit to feeling sick enough to go to the doctor. I think I'm just going to have to hog tie and tar and feather that child and force him to go. Again he's all plugged up and starting to feel warm again. He really doesn't like doctors. He thinks they're all going to stick that swab in his throat for a strep culture.

Worst thing is, because ES wasn't his normal self, I didn't get any pics from the fair this year. I didn't feel like bothering with the camera. And this year he was too tall to ride the smaller rides with his brother, the ones he was willing to ride because he really felt that shitty........

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that this morning YS woke up really early, snuck downstairs, got a hold of my salt water taffy and damn near devoured a full pound of the sticky stuff. And he never got sick on it. Explains why he didn't eat a whole lot at the fair.....

Fair Time, Already

This week is the annual Boone County Fair. As you can see by the pic on the website, our fair is huge. It's the second largest in Illinois only smaller than the Illinois State Fair itself.

Of course it is the big hurrah for the spawn to go to. It's pretty much the last biggest thing we do during the summer, except we'll be camping out in a couple of weeks with the scouts, before school starts back up.

Yesterday and today were both kid's days where the rides are reduced. Yeah, at our fair each ticket costs $1.50 and some of the rides take 5 tickets each to ride on for a total cost of $7.50 a pop. This is why we go on kid's days only when it only takes one ticket per ride.

Yesterday, we got out there around 1:00, an hour after the rides started up. The spawn were all gung ho to get going on those rides, but alas mom simply told them "not until I have our old time photo taken of us first. I want you boys clean!" We got through that and headed out to the midway. I bought 10 tickets for $15.00 for rides figuring if I needed more I could always get more later. Good thing I only got 10 of them cuz Elderspawn decided to start feeling icky and only rode 1 ride, went through the crazy fun house then proceeded to hand me the rest of his tickets while telling me to give them to Youngerspawn. THIS IS NOT MY SPAWN!!!! He would NEVER share his tickets with his brother.

After I managed to burn through the remainder of the ride tickets and the spawn played a handful of games, we headed off to get a bite to eat. Corndogs for me, YS and my mom and hotdogs for ES. Then we all decided we all needed some creme puffs. I think they keep making them things bigger every year! YS had problems eating all of his, so I got to finish his off as well. Delicious.

We walked around a bit, YS, my mom and I had some roasted ears of bi-color corn but not ES he refused his favorite vegetable, especially on the cob, bought some candied mixed nuts for Graumagus, some salt water taffy for me and decided to call it a night. It was around 6:30 at this time and ES just wanted to go home at this point. Again, this is NOT my spawn!

As we were leaving, YS decided that some ice cream would hit the spot. Again NOT being my spawn, ES refused his favorite chocolate ice cream. I finally convinced him to get some but in a bowl and not a cone, less to eat that way, and he did and enjoyed it.

By the time we got home, ES's sinuses and head were so plugged up he wasn't getting airflow through his nose whatsoever. And the mucus was dripping down his upper lip and into his open mouth. I had to blast them open with some really strong nasal spray. Later on he started feeling warm so I had to add some Tylenol to the mix.

I decided to call off work and take him to the doc today. Well.......

A Couple More Pics From Today

Youngerspawn "playing" volleyball. He caught it, threw it over the net and kicked it under the net instead, but that was our version of volleyball. We used a badminton net instead of a regular volleyball net and the poles for it were made out of PVC pipe so it could be lowered.













Elderspawn out on the volleyball field. He looks so thrilled to be doing this. He really doesn't like any sports to speak of.

Pics From Today

Youngerspawn listening to the instructions on how to steer and stop his Cubmobile, but his helmet kept falling off the back of his head. Proper protection at it's finest! At least the cars came equipped with working seat belts!









I got in on the action for one race. They needed another person so I decided to race my own boy.









Elderspawn getting ready to head down the ramp in his Cubmobile.













This is where Elderspawn used his legs to stop, popped a wheelie and got all banged and bruised up.









Back of Elderspawn's calf. You really can't see the bruising below the scrape in this pic because of the flash but it's pretty. I'm more worried about the ankle on his other leg. It's a bit swollen right now, but he says it doesn't hurt and he's walking fine on it.










**Edit** I haven't figured out how that boy didn't break a bone. This morning both legs have huge, dark black bruises on the backs of them. The only thing I can figure out is that he must have gotten his dad's strong bones.

What A Day....

....this has been. First, the spawn and I had to get up early, bathe, dress, pack the van and head out to Wal-Mart by 8 a.m. to pick up 20 gallons of drinking water, 4 bags of 22 lb. ice, 3 containers of lemonade mix and a sub sandwich totaling 24 feet in length in 8 - 3 feet sections. Oh, but, on the way there I had to do a lot of slamming of the brakes as to not hit the idiots in front of me constantly slamming on their brakes. Thus the results was the ruining of my jello and fruit salad. I ended up having to break down and buy some Macaroni Salad while I was at Wal-Mart so I had a dish to pass out there.

When I pull up to unload the van a few other scout's parents came out to help. Well, lo and behold when one of them opened up the tail of the van 5 of those 3 foot sections toppled out onto the ground. Thank goodness they were all on cardboard and wrapped up in plastic bags.

We managed to get it all unloaded, the sandwiches put back together, the totes of stuff unloaded and set out.

Then I headed out to see how the activity set up were coming along. We had:

Cubmobile Races: Ramps, cars and helmets all set up and ready to go.

Volleyball Net: In the process of being set up.

Relay Races: Person running bringing the stuff for it and running it: nowhere to be found, yet. I had brought ropes for 3-legged races and sacks for potato sack races so I pulled them out and had them ready to go.

Shortly after she does arrive, another one of the parents comes up to me to inform me that youngerspawn peed in his pants and asked if I had brought extra clothes. NOPE! He hasn't wet himself for a long time so I figured he'd be fine. Guess I was wrong.

Luckily, the person running the relay races had extra clothes in her van that fit him.

But after that, I kept losing track of her and where she was setting up the relay races. All the while I'm trying to split the kids into 3 different age groups and get things started during which The Cubmaster kept saying to me, "Maranda, what are we doing, what are we doing" all the while I AM SPEAKING. I turned to him and simply stated that I had just said what we were doing had he been listening. Then he tells me not to let my anger show. Don't talk over me and I won't get pissed off, umkay? And, that wasn't anger rearing it's ugly head simply my irritation at you! Then, one of the adult volunteers comes up to me whining (yes, actually whining) about how she wanted to help out with the food and not the volleyball. Now, we had a planning meeting for this activity, which she didn't attend. I sent out numerous emails to which she never responded. And there's a wonderful invention called the telephone. Learn to use it. You don't say anything to me, I put the volunteers where they're needed. I don't wanna hear it.

After this, the day progressed fairly well. That is until it was Elderspawn's group's turn at the Cubmobile races. I missed his first race and asked him to race again so I could get a picture of him. He agreed and lo and behold when he got to the end of the racing area he put his feet down to stop himself instead of using the brake on the car. He managed to get both feet down, bent underneath, and stuck. Even the back wheel of the car was up in the air. He managed to run right over his own legs. He got some nice scrapes and bruises out of that one and where he scraped up his ankle it was a bit swollen but luckily no broken bones that I know of. Figures, only my kids would cause a raucous.

Chow time came, and it wasn't set up in the most convenient of ways. The plasticware and napkins were all sitting on top of coolers instead of sitting on the tables so many people missed where they were at and had to come back for them. And the desserts weren't on the food tables. Heck, they hadn't even been opened. I remedied that one in a hurry. Then we had to make up more lemonade, so of course I had to get the water and mix to make it up and more ice to pour into it to get it cold. Of course, everyone kept on pulling me here there and everywhere so I really never got to eat.

Then, we had popcorn sale prizes to hand out to everyone. Luckily that only took a few minutes to do but I had to get all the kids from the playground out in the park so they could get their prizes. And we were behind schedule.

Then, clean up time came. We had over 9 feet of sub sandwich left to divide up, tablecloths to rip off, tables to scrub down, garbage to pick up and a ton of stuff to load up and haul out, etc., etc., etc. I had to cut out early. Sorry guys. We had the subs packed up and divided up, tablecloths off, most things loaded back up, tables scrubbed and garbage picked up when I left. Needless to say though, I had to put the hammer to the floor getting home and I was still 5 minutes late getting there. Grau really had to punch it to get to work on time.

And it's only 4 p.m. right now

We did have a good 80 to 90 people in attendance today. We did have beautiful weather considering we were supposed to have had isolated thunderstorms this morning. I guess I should be happy about that.