me & Papa

1st day of School!

3rd Period. It is the first day of Photography. I go over the syllabus, which clearly states, “full use of a digital camera is needed.” About three minutes later a student asks, ” Do we need a camera?”

Big Moose River Kayaking Trip!

Blowing Bubbles…

Its Under the Sea Week at Feats of Clay! Fifteen happy campers and only two camp counselors… oh well, we can handle it! The project of the day is called bubbling. You mix paint, water and dish soap in a bowl, give the kids a straw and let them go! Once they have enough bubbles, you scoop the bubbles onto a surface, in this case we used a small dessert plate, and wait for them to pop. Once the bubbles have popped, the impression of the bubbles remains, because the paint got mixed in with the soap etc…its a very cool look for doing an “Under the Sea Scene Plate.” Anyways, Meredith and I are walking around supervising and helping the fifteen children as best we can… I look up and see Michael (6 years) standing up and gagging. I knew in an instant what he had done. He had taken a big swig of the the painty, soapy water! I rush over and ask if he is ok, then i leed him over to the garbage can so he can throw-up…if need be. He gagged a little bit more, and then i got him a water bottle, had him rinse and spit, and also drink a little bit. He seems recovered enough so i send him back to finish his project. I follow him and walk him through it. Blow the bubbles, not take the straw out of your mouth and take a breath. now blow some more bubbles… etc.  Every once in a while I look over to check on him, and every once in a while I see him spitting in his bowl. I guess it didnt leave a good taste in his mouth. lol. So now his bowl is paint, water, soap and Saliva! haha!

I got Bars!

Rachel searching for service… a familiar sight on our ADK vacation…

I can’t believe you fell for it…

Feats of Clay Summer Camp. Theme: Ice Cream Social Week. Introductions…Name, Age, Where do you go to school, and What is your favorite Ice Cream Flavor. Everyone answers without a hitch. Everyone except Michael. He answers, “My name is Michael, I am 7 years old, I go to Enders Road Elementary, and I don’t like Ice Cream. My jaw drops… and I think to myself, “What little kid doesn’t like ice cream?” “Micheal, what do you mean you don’t like Ice Cream? You signed up for the wrong camp week!”  He just giggles and says, “I like Orange sherbet.” OK… I can work with this. So, the last day of camp is our “Ice Cream Social” Day… and I had gone to the grocery store at Eleven P.M. the night before to get him his orange sherbet to make sure he could have snack with the other kids. I begin to serve the ice cream and give Michael his special snack…and he says, ” I wont eat that.” I respond with, ” You wont what? I got that especially for you!” ” I will just have vanilla Ice cream.” “You will eat what? You told me you didnt like ice cream! I cant believe this!” “I can’t believe you fell for it.” Says a little 7 year old. I was dying of laughter!

But My Dad Calls Her Tracy

My second family is sitting outside of Brueggers Bagels. Colin (5) Kate (6) Mom & Dad ( I dont think they want me giving away their ages.) Another family with small children are sitting next to them. Colin points and says, “Well, what’s your name?” The Mom replies, ” This is Caroline, and my name is Anne, and this is my husband Bill. What’s your name?” “Well, I’m Colin and this is my sister Kate. And that’s my Mom and my Dad. But my Dad calls her Tracy.”

I love traffic!

So… I need to pick up my brother from work at 6:00 yesterday evening…so I leave at around 5;35 to give myself plenty of time to get up to the SU area during rush hour traffic. I hate being late. So what should have taken me 2 minutes TOPS to get through the small village of Manlius ended up taking 17 minutes. Really? Are you kidding me? And all because some girl got a flat or something on the side of the road…so 2 lanes of traffic had to become 1…but really? 17 minutes? The town/village of Manlius has 37 police officers….and only one was out there. And guess what? She was not even directing traffic…she was sitting in her car! Really Police Lady? Really? Its not like there is any crime at all in Manlius, so what could the other 36 possibly be doing? And to top my evening off, I was sitting at a red light on the way home, the second the light turned green the guy behind me honked his horn! I did not even have time to put my foot on the gas! Seriously!

My Friend Ben

Benjamin Webber…family friend since…well, forever. He always says he wants to be a Bender, and we have been trying to figure out how to make that happen for quite a while now. 

I finally figured it out…all he has to do is marry me (he is only two years younger) and then change his last name to mine. Problem solved. 

Problem discovered…I have been planning on having Brook’s House of BBQ (Oneonta, NY) cater my wedding for the past few years now. They basically have the best chicken and potato salad in the entire world. Ben is up to my Gma’s for a play date… dinner time rolls around. We order take out from Brook’s. No one told me this but apparently BEN DOESNT LIKE BROOK’S CHICKEN! OR CHICKEN IN GENERAL!! What? I can’t Marry him! I don’t know how in the world we are going to make this work…lol

This past weekend I am up to my Grandparents for a visit…Ben comes for another play day with all the kids. I soon discover he got a girlfriend while at college. I say,” Well, what about me?” He answers, “It’s ok, she is in Massachusets.” 

We also took him to the actual Brook’s restaurant. (He had never been) And he liked it! I promised to try my best to make this relationship work!

Phone Call…

9:53 p.m.

(phone rings.)

Hannah: Hello

Zachary: Hey, Guess what?

Hannah: What?

Zachary: Well, I’m at Wal*Mart, you know, cause I had to get Black shoes and some shorts…

Hannah: Oh. And?

Zachary: And there are four cop cars and and an ambulance and… (blah blah blah)

Hannah: Why are you telling me this?

Zachary: Because there was a bomb threat to ONEONTA WAL*MART! Awesome. So I’m stuck here!

Hannah: Did you really just call to tell me that? Really? Here, talk to Kyle…