The Big Weekend

So we got to go to Camp one last time before the baby. Zach took a day off of work in order for us to be able to leave Thursday afternoon. Our plan was to drive to the mall and finally buy the damn video camera already. I'd decided on one and figured we just needed to get it already and nevermind ordering it cheaper from somewhere online. Well we didn't get to leave the house until 7:30pm so by that point we decided we'd just better haul ass to Camp so we could get there before it turned to Friday.

Jacob took a good three hour nap in the car, which made the drive much easier, but then when we got to Camp around 11:15 he was raring to go. We unpacked, got settled and then put in a DVD of the Gilmore Girls which we'd brought along since there are two channels up there and one of them is the French channel. I fell asleep on the couch, Zach in a chair with Jacob on his lap. Every time I woke up for a minute Jacob was still awake, watching the show. Finally at 3am he conked out.

The next morning we went to the nearby park and the boys played. Friday afternoon we were joined by my mom, Jamie, my sister and Marisa. This was a bold move voluntarily spending the weekend with my sister, but somehow we made it through without killing each other.

The black flies were just starting to come out, but not yet in full force so it was bearable being outside, which is where we spent most of the time there. This past winter packed a lot of ice storms so there were branches down all over the place which needed cleaning up. Thankfully the no-burn ban had been lifted since we were last there so we were able to burn the branches in the fire pit, and that's basically what we did all weekend long for like 10 hours a day.

Jacob was all into helping out with the branches. One might think it is irresponsible to let a four year old use a real saw all by himself, but you've never seen a kid so coordinated and clearly a natural at using tools of all kinds. So Jacob used the bow saw to cut up the branches, and he actually did a fair amount of the job all by himself.

On Sunday morning I woke up and cooked breakfast. At some point I think someone said 'Happy Mothers' Day' to me, and that was about it. So much for that. But I guess it gives me a little leverage at home now, as in But you didn't do anything for mothers' day and didn't say a peep about it! I did, however, get something unforgettable from Jacob. He gave me a broken nose, as in my own.

Zach was out back throwing the baseball around with the kids and I went out to have a turn. Marisa was using my glove and had it on the wrong hand, so I figured that it couldn't be that important to her. While I was distracted fighting with a five year old, Jacob went to throw the ball to Zach, who was a good 15 feet away from me. Jacob does this stupid side-arm throw sometimes that irritates the crap out of us, and he decided to do it right then. So instead of throwing the ball to Zach who was at 12 o'clock, it zooms right to my face, which is at more like 4 o'clock. It hit me smack in the bridge of my nose, where incidentally I have had three prior bone breaks.

The first time was actually with a softball in 7th grade and my nose got so smashed up that I had to have surgery. The times after that it was kind of like, oh, a broken nose? Yeah, whatever... so I never got it fixed but a later x-ray showed that the bone was indeed broken. That's why I can't breathe out of one side of my nose. So this time I just thought it hurt really, really bad. But now that it's a week later and I still have daily headaches, and this one tiny spot hurts wicked bad and I can actually move a part of the bone, I've decided that it must be messed up.

Anyway, it was a great weekend and we're looking forward to going back. Now the waiting...

Fern baby

The newly crafted dock

Safety first
(notice Jacob with his hands on hips being the boss)

Baby's first helmet