No pictures Please she's too Crabby!

So after basting ourselves with sunblock we went swimming at Hampton beach for the day. They had forecast a 94 degree day & they weren't kidding! Hampton always has the coldest water & today was no exception. Lois had been freaking out the night before because the news showed footage of a shark which showed up at a beach on Cape Cod on Sunday. I told her the oft repeated & quite true adage that sharks like warm water & won't show up in colder waters & Hampton is cold! Phil has told me how when she'd take her kids to Rockland to visit her in-laws they would always spend a few days at Nantasket beach & her MIL would be embarrassed sitting on the beach because Phil & her kids would often be the only ones in the water because the water was so cold & people would remark on their being in the water. Phil says the cold water at Hampton & Salisbury inured them to cold water & that Hull didn't feel so cold!The water was that cold Monday & Lois relaxed about the sharks after feeling t!
he water.

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Sunday Continued

Picture of Cam at the beach on Monday.. To continue from the previous post The spray sunblock works really well! More on that later though. After we finished at the store we went to Carters for ice cream- Theres a beautiful view there back towards Haverhill no one but Phil & I. The kids were impressed with the homemade ice cream though! Then we went back to Phil's place & I did her nails for her & fixed a split nail for her. At 6 we went back to the room to meet up with Jonathan & his girlfriend for pizza.We went up to their apartment & they told us about their trip up to New Hampshire the day before & about climbing mt Tecumphseh {I think thats how you spell it} then we looked at pictures of family & places they've been on their computer & we went through the picture album we brought with us. During all this I also got a bunch of laundry done... We had a great day all together.On Monday we went to Hampton Beach New Hampshire.& the sunblock really paid off!

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Busy Busy!

This is me asleep in a chair at my grandmother's place. Worn out with all the fun we've been having! On Sunday we drove around looking at more places from our past.Took Phil to Skips for burgers & curly fries & then around to places from her past also. Such as the house she grew up in & raised her kids in which is in Bradford across the bridge from Haverhill & was built by her father & grandfather sometime fairly close to the turn of the last century. During this we stopped at a drug store to pick up nail polish & nail clippers for Phil. I got 2 new things which I think are really cool but which I've never tried before.One is a tide stain stick which fixed my cream colored shirt which I'd gotten cheeseburger juices all over at Skips. The stuff actually worked! Even though it says it won't allways work on grease the stains disappeared. The other thing I got which I really liked was a can of Neutrogena cooling spray sunblock. I was skeptical because I didn't see how it could w!
ork well.

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Saturday day 4 of the Vacation

Pic is Val in the chair she's insisting upon curling up in at night.Chunkys has 2 screens & tickets are relatively cheap. it cost 18 bucks for all 4 of us to see Pirates of the Carribean & then we ordered our dinner. Which is served to you at long tables which you roll up to on chairs made out of Lincoln Navigator seats on wheels . The seats have an armrest & recline back for comfort.For an appetizer we had 'wizzard of Ozzarella sticks' for an appetizer. Cam had a beef frank hot dog of course & Val had Spongebob macaroni & cheese, I had french onion soup & a 'Pirates of the Caribean cheese quesadillia' & Lois had a 'Roman wrap' which amounted to chicken ceasar salad in a wrap.When Val was a baby & we lived up here the ex & I used to go to Chunkys & their food has certainly improved since then! Pirates 2 was excelent of course! & it was was both Val & Cam's first big screen experience so that will be a good memory for them!

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Visit in Haverhill

At about 6 we went to meet Jon & check out our temporary digs.Closet space, Big bathroom,a view of the river & the new bridge & a big comfy bed. Then we went to dinner at my favorite Chineese resturant- Oriental Gardens.That was good but we all over-ate. Then back to Phils & then to the room. Off to sleep- Cameron on the couch in the picture. he especially likes this spot because when he hears a train passing over the bridge to the left of the window he can sit up & watch it go by. Saturday we were at a loss as to what to do. I have a terrible aversion to going to overcrowded places so Hampton beach or Boston were both out of the question for Saturday & Sunday. But the day loomed before us HOT, Muggy & possibly...boring? On vacation? Not a bad thing as far as I'm concerned- bored = rest after all- but my high energy bunch wasn't having any of that! We ended up going to Chunkys for the afternoon.Chunkys is a movie theatre but not a normal one.I wish was more common in my are!
a too

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View From My Grandmother's Place.

So we arrived at my grandmothers apartment in the early afternoon & visited with her for awhile- My bottomless kids got hungry & so we went out to get some lunch. Original plan was to go to Ari's for subs but they were so crowded that I just drove through the parking lot.Then we went to Papa Ginos & had subs there instead. When we were through eating we drove around looking at places from our pasts. Hale Hospital where Lois was born, Anna Jaques Hospital where Valerie was born.Whittiers Birthplace where we lived during both events. We got some groceries both for Phil {My Grandmother} & us.Took Phils groceries to her & waited for it to be after 530 when my cousin Jonathan gets home from work. The apartment building he lives in has a guest suite. well- more like a room- a hotel room. Which they rent out for a nominal charge- Phil had set it up with Jonathan to rent for us at her expense for the first 4 days at least. I'm paying for annother 2 days to bring us up to our visit !
with Ann.

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Vacation still day 3

So we left Weymouth & headed north towards Haverhill via Boston. While we were packing our stuff my mother & I debated the proper time to leave if you want to get through Boston on a weekday. She was of the opinion that leaving around
10 am was good. I belive its better to wait a little later anywhere from 10 til 230 or so- even later when its not a weekend or a Friday. However I was proven wrong by 2 things- a breakdown on the southeast expressway complete with Mass Statie in full uniform, cute butt & car with the lights running {Cam is especially impressed with the police car lights here! 'they don't just go round & round like at home Mom' he says.} & the fact of the I-90 tunnel being closed due to a ceiling tile falling on a woman who was riding to Logan with her husband to get his brother at the airport. The tunnel is closed indefinetley now.Thats screwing up traffic all over Mass!& so we were in traffic for about an hour just getting through Boston!

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Vacation day three

Picture of the ubiquitios Boston traffic during our transition from the south shore to the north shore.. back to previous subject... My cousin Jen has not seen Lois since she was 7, Valerie since she was 13 months old & has never seen Cameron! Jen & I were such close friends when we were younger- from birth to about 25 or so. We always loved each other's company. Our husbands though, were/are controling & my ex, especially did not like us to get together too much- we could finish each other's sentences a lot of the time. My ex seemed to think it took away from our relationship for Jen & I to be so close. {it was ok for him to sleep around though!} I kind of get the feeling that Jen's husband is uncomfortable with our friendship too. I am hoping to reaffirm our friendship this week if/when we get together- I'm writing this Saturday at about 11:30 pm & haven't heard from Jen at all yet! more to follow annother day.

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Day 2 Continued

We went, on Wednesday night,to the Ground Round I had french onion soup which I'd been craving lately. After dinner we went back to my mothers & hung out with her until bedtime. This included serious discussion of what to do about the air bed which was leaking air badly. We haven't been able to find the second {& probably the third, fourth & fifth} hole in the air mattress, which we have to locate in order to patch.So night 2 I took the fold out couch & Lois got the mattress! She wasn't too happy about that! But when I made the deal we agreed that we'd swap back the next day & she was ok with that. While checking my email I found that Ann wasn't going to be available for as many days as expected -leaving us with 2 days which are unplanned. Jen though, my cousin, emailed & said she would be available so we can get together & see each others kids! {I havent seen her oldest since she was a couple of weeks old & have never seen her younger child!} I'm really looking forward to !
seeing them

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Vacation Day 3

The second actual day of our vacation was a lot of fun {for me at least!} we went to a country store which is south west from my mothers house by about an hour. It has all kinds of house decoration, toys,kitchen accsesories & different foods. The kids liked some of the place. The player pianos for instance. & Lois enjoyed it. I got a new set of cannisters {for the first time since I got married in 1993!} & some salt & pepper shakers which are shaped like mason jars.among other things. Then we hung around at my mother's house for awhile.Then we checked out an upscale shopping area which was built where one of my first jobs was{building #19 as a casheir} We checked out Kohls which I was dissapointed in since they were way too expensive- worse yet they were acting as if the prices were actualy great! after driving around debating where to eat we had dinner out- both my mother & my grandmother prefer to go out to dinner than to worry about cooking & cleaning up afterwards!

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