Memorial Day- it's not just for mattress sales...

Don't you hate the commercial hype around Memorial Day?  As if having a new mattress will help you remember those who have given their lives for the freedom we enjoy in this country...  goodness gracious.


I hope you have a meaningful day- full of good memories and thankfulness.  And if one of your loved ones has paid the ultimate price, then I thank them and I thank you.

I love a parade!

Our big hometown parade was last weekend.  It was two hours long and so much fun.  We saw the usual local celebrities, politicos, businesspeople, clowns, dogs, dancers, gymnasts, horses, fire trucks, and candy flingers, along with some friends and many school marching bands- including the one from my school.  It was perfect weather- just cloudy enough to keep cool, but no rain on the marchers.
Here's a glimpse:

Steakburger-  established the same year as me!

Shouldn't throw hard candy- it breaks.

I think a great time was had by all- see you guys next year!

Mama said there'd be days like this...

So, I made some Kool-Aid the other day.  Not because I have a kid, but because I rather like Kool-Aid.  It's cheaper than soda, I can cut the amount of sugar I add to it, and it can be a nice change from plain old boring water.  Sometimes, Ab drinks it, too.

I mixed up some Black Cherry flavor.  As I was stirring it, I thought it would be nice if it tasted a bit more like Black Cherry Creme Soda.  I added about a half teaspoon of vanilla extract.  It smelled great.

I tasted it.  It tasted exactly like cough medicine.

So much for experimentation.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, and especially to my mom who made us a whole lot more than Kool-Aid!

"It's like chapstick for your armpits."

Deodorant, that it.
(Insight brought to you by my favorite pre-adolescent.)

The TRIP- Boston Freedom Trail

To best show you the Freedom Trail in Boston, I thought maybe I would use my scrapbook pages.  (Otherwise, there would be way too many photos to caption!)

I think you can click on a photo to enlarge it and read the journaling...

May the Fourth be with you

Happy Star Wars Day!

Teacher Appreciation

It's Teacher Appreciation season.  I got some nice treats from the PTA last week- some chocolate, a massage, breakfast... 

This week kiddo is getting gifts together for her teachers.  I made some cookies for their luncheon, and then had to think of something useful and inexpensive to give her regular teacher, her math teacher, and her substitute who is finishing the year for the regular teacher who just had a baby.  I didn't want her to give the usual "mug with candy in it".  Every teacher has too many mugs and no one really NEEDS more candy, so for her regular teacher,  I went with colorful whiteboard markers.  Many schools provide teachers with markers, but not all can afford them, so teachers often purchase them themselves.  I know I love getting new markers.

But wrapping up a package of markers from the store just didn't seem very festive.  The caps of the markers look like flowers to me, so I went with that. I bought a flower pot, got some clear glass stones from my craft room and some colorful cardstock from my stash, and went to work cutting out circles and stars.  I punched holes in the middle and slip them over the uncapped pens and then pushed the caps back on tight.  I put two pens together for the flower stems- you can barely see the caps of the bottom pens above the glass stones.  I also added a few colorful gel pens to the flower arrangement- teachers cannot have enough colorful pens.

Here's a few shots of the finished product:

The flash was on- I didn't really want it on, but then I thought the effect was kind of cool so I included it.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all you teachers out there!  (And that includes my mother who probably would have been a homeschool mom if anyone had heard of that way back then...)

The TRIP- Boston Common and Public Garden

We cooled our feet in the Frog Pond while waiting for friends to come out of the restroom. 

The restroom.

Walking to the Swan Boats in the Public Garden.

We can see the swan boat dock.

It was a warm afternoon- perfect for a boat ride.

The Swan Boats are the only ones of their kind in the world.
They were part of the story in "Trumpet of the Swan" and "Make Way for Ducklings".

Happy boater!

The guys that pedal these must have some great calf muscles.

Cool little bridge.  There was a wedding on the bridge as we pedaled around the lake.  
I didn't take pics of the wedding... felt like I was intruding.

Real swans

Dedication to author of "Make Way for Ducklings".

Here the 8 ducklings are following their mom to find a new home.
Sometimes, one of the ducklings gets stolen and either has to be hunted down or re-cast and replaced. 

This was my second time in Boston.  Last time, I did not get to see much of the Common or the Gardens.  It was fun to spend more time in this part of the city.  We enjoyed our time here in the late afternoon and then headed out to find the hotel.  

THAT was an experience, because I hadn't gotten a google map that took us from the park to the hotel, just one that took us from the previous museum to the hotel.  Took us twice as long to get there.  Next time, I will stay in the city instead of the outskirts!