Paddler Home!

My dear son has been on the Current River in Missouri all week with the Boy Scouts. They paddled 92 miles over 5 days, camping each night.






They just arrived home an hour ago, so I haven't heard all the stories yet, but I wanted to share a few pics and highlights.
1. Simon wrote some limericks about his fellow paddlers (mostly about the capsizing events!),
2. Simon has an amazing paddler's tan, with VERY strong tan lines showing that he was wearing his PFD and his sandals all week.
3. It was very very very hot. So hot in fact that Si went directly to a cool bath upon arriving home. LOL




4. Si's canoe-mate was Dominic, pictured with him here.
5. Si is starving (well, nothing new there)

A few catch-up pics

A few weeks ago we visited my in-laws in Marietta, OH. It's a lovely little town on the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, and they're wonderful people so we enjoy visiting. Si and Mike also love to get a few bags of their favorite potato chips, Mister Bee's. They love them above all other chips, so when we saw a delivery truck parked a block away from Grandma's house, I just had to get Si to pose for pictures! There is a better pic of the truck, but as this one shows my teenager smiling it won out.

He was so happy to finally get some chips, he just stuck his head into the bag to breath in the goodness of Mister Bee's. LOL He is in heaven!










Mike and I have been trying to eat healthier, and for us that includes sushi. Thing is, sushi restaurants are EXPENSIVE! We've hit upon a compromise. We spend half the money or less and just buy the raw fish ourselves. Some cutting and arranging, and presto - our very own customized Sashimi platter!




More food than we'd get out, quality on par since we buy it from a Japanese grocer that supplies those restaurants, and as an added bonus we get to enjoy it in our own home and stuff! As you can see, I've been playing around with arranging.





Memorial Day brought us to Operation Flag. The Boy Scout troop goes to a local cemetary every year to replace flags at all the graves of veterans. It's a good thing they do. There's always some older veterans there to talk to, and the boys all get to be a part of honoring brave men and women who have fought to make our country what it is. Simon was even on the news! As the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, he was the "ranking" scout for the event, and spoke for the troop. He did a great job! I was hoping it would be available online, but no dice. We caught it on DVR, though, and will be sharing DVDs with grandparents. :-) Maybe Si and I will upload it ourselves later today.

Today is our last day of work/school before THE EPIC ROAD TRIP! Our intent is to post daily updates from the road with video, so check back over the next couple of weeks and see if we managed to figure it out!

The Drip Is Gone!

Ahhhh - sweet relief! My nose no longer drips! I had most of the packing removed yesterday morning, and I feel GREAT! My energy is still very low, and I am getting tired very easily, and I"m still not supposed to do much . . . but boy, do I feel loads better! That packing up my nose sucked!

I am going back to work - again! I'll be starting back to work part time next Wednesday, Aug 19, and I'll be on "light duty" until Sept 1. I'm going to get the rest of the nose packing (nasal bolstering? snotton cotton?) taken out Tuesday morning, and Tuesday night I'm having a sleep test, so that we can figure out what the heck is going on. But I'm going back to work, dammit! I am going CRAZY being home! OK, truth be told, I'm sleeping most of the time, but still . . . it's the idea of the thing.

So - just to amuse myself, I want to post a few pics of Si (my 14, nearly 15 yo son) on the Appalachian Trail. He was there with his Boy Scout Troop - 3 leaders and a passel of boys. They hiked over 50 miles, 5 days. These are my favorite shots. He didn't take a camera, but others had them, obviously. I love this pic of him looking out from Black Rock. So bold and strong!



This is the whole group the first morning of hiking. See how chipper they look? Si is in the middle of the front row looking strangely demonic - no idea why he has that look on his face! LOL






But this one captures the spirit of the boys best of all. They're at the Civil War Correspondents Memorial near Harper's Ferry.

Go Bucks!





SHAMELESS PLUG: If you live in the Central Ohio area, you'll want to check out the HUGE Boy Scout Garage Sale this Saturday, Aug 15 at Overbrook Presby Church, 4131 N High St, just north of Whetstone Park, 9 am - 3 pm. They've been collecting donations all summer long, and it's going to be HUGE! This is a great place to find cheap housewares, school clothes, toys, collectibles, books, yard stuff, and there is even a boat! All money collected goes directly to support the boys and their camping (like going on the AT). Our troop does this one fundraiser each year, and does not sell popcorn or anything else, so this is it! Thanks for supporting the Boy Scouts, troop 474!