Playing for Pizza

This novel was not the ordinary John Grisham writings, but it was still an interesting read. It was an easy flowing, smooth flowing book reflecting the typical writing style of the author.

The book was about a third string American Quarterback who had blown a playoffs game while his team was in the lead. While he was in the process of losing, he obtained his third concussion which landed him in the hospital.

When he was lying in the hospital bed, in and out of his medicated sleepiness, his agent found an American Football league in Italy for him to play since none of the NFL teams were calling his agent for the next season since his current team obviously let him go after the horrific loss.

The novel walks us through the first awkward moments of his arrival in a new country, learning about his new team to accepting his new surrounding and moving on with his life without giving up his new friendships/team and commitments.

This is a light-hearted, quick read that I would recommend any football fan to pick up. It was definitely a page turner (even if I didn't have my airport challenge to help me along).

Rain, Rain, Go Away! Please!?!?!

I like rain on most days. Its good on a lazy days when I want to curl up on the coach with a good book or watch movies. Or to help water the garden or grass. Or to cool things off on a hot and muggy day.

But, today I'd rather it not be raining for two reasons. The first reason is my camping gear can't dry off with it laying all over our backyard trying to dry from camping the other day. We've had consistent on and off again showers/storms for most of the day and I can't catch a break (we even had some hail during one of the storms). I laid the gear out this morning since the weather said we would get PM Thunderstorms. I thought the situation was perfect! I could lay everything out during the day and by early evening we would be all set.

So I laid everything out this morning in the bright sunshine. I went out to lunch with my FIL (Jeff and Zack were golfing) and when we came out of the restaurant, it was raining. Ugh! So, that was the beginning of my run outside after the rain, dump all the puddles off the gear then hear rain again tapping on our windows indicated that all of the gear was getting wet AGAIN!

The second reason is, it brought water into our basement again today. It happened about a month ago after a hard, fast rain and we couldn't figure out what had happened. Well today, I was bringing in some of our camping gear to lay out in the basement and noticed that we had puddles in our laundry area. I immediately summoned Jeff and my FIL to check out the issue. We ended up having up to 2 inches of water in some areas and it just go into everything. *Sigh* We figured out it came through our sink near our washer since the street was temporarily flooded from today's heavy rain.

My FIL jumped into action putting some sort of fitting that would allow only out-going water through the pipe. I hope it works and prevent flooding somewhere else in the house. Oh, I hope the rain will end soon! But, it doesn't look like there will be an end in the immediate future since its still raining out there now! *Sigh*

Camping With Zack

Lets start from the beginning, Monday morning. We still hadn't told Zack that we were going to go camping. We didn't know how he would react since a few months back we brought up the idea and he wasn't too thrilled about camping. We just didn't know how to pack the van and not let him know until the last possible moment so there was no negative feelings.

So, we came up with a plan. Monday morning, Jeff would bring Zack to get a fishing licence. We could tell him that much since he had to pick out a pole and he already likes to fish. No problem. Then while they were out, me and my FIL/Grandpy would pack the car.

Yup, we got the van packed with all of our supplies without Zack even knowing what was in store for him. As Jeff asked him to get in the car, Zack noticed all the stuff and he heard that we were staying over (since Grandpy said I will see you tomorrow when I come to visit). Zack asked, are we staying in a hotel? Jeff looked over at me and said, Sure! So, Zack hoped out and got a few things to take along since we weren't going to be back for a little while.

After we hit the road, there were a couple questions - where are we were heading? (since he wanted to know if he could take off his shoes in the car), when were we going to fish? But nothing about all the stuff in the car.

About an hour later, we pulled into the check-in area at Tolland State Forrest. Zack stayed in the van and when we returned I mentioned to Jeff to ask him if he has any idea what we are doing. Jeff asked and Zack said, we are fishing and camping. Bingo I said. And then the questions came pouring in from the back seat. Since he's never been camping, there was a lot to ask. They were the basic, but good ones to know-
Where are we going to sleep?
Are there any animals around?
Where do we put our stuff?
Where do we go to the bathroom?
What do we eat?

Zack and Jeff setting up camp

After answering and showing Zack what our plans were, it was time to set up camp. Jeff immediately involved Zack in the set up process. He let him pick where we would put the tent, let him help pound the steaks in, carry the stuff out of the van (while I was getting things out of the van for the eating area) and load things into the tent.

Our camping area (the green tent covered the picnic table area)

After we were settled in and the van uploaded, Zack wanted to know what we would do? We said relax and spend time with each other in the great outdoors. You could tell he was a little nervous since he didn't know what to expect, but as time went by, he warmed up to the idea.

Our fire keeper

Zack helped run the camp. He kept an eye on the fire and made sure there was plenty of wood in it to keep it high. He also helped make the marshmallow sticks with his new camping knife (hey, we though he was old enough to have his own under our supervision since his mother still treats him like an infant which is obviously not the case).

After the evening wore on, he was able to see first hand how we eat our meals while camping and keep ourselves entertained by playing many games (yatzee, uno, scrabble & poker) . Then we made s'mores and sat around the camp fire. Yeah, he had his PSP, but he barely picked it up (score for us for keeping him away from it). Then it was time to sleep for the first time in a tent outside. I think it went well since we were all in the same tent and just kept telling him there are no bears (well, at least we hoped so).

Our little fisher man and Jeff in the back of the canoe

On Tuesday, it was time to go fishing. Jeff's co-worker has a camp sight there too and he said we could use his canoe to go out and fish. So, we all hoped in the canoe (I believe it was my first time and I know it was Zacks, and we all did alright) and headed to a quite area on the lake. Unfortunately, we didn't catch any fish, but we had fun trying to paddle and stay straight on the water. Yup, we did a few 360's but it was all in good fun.

Zack and Grandpy before fishing

About lunch time, Grandpy came to visit. He brought lots of goodies, including live bait to fish with (we used a lure earlier). After we ate and showed Grandpy around our camping area an a little beyond (you know the important areas like the restroom facilities) it was time to head back to the water and see if we could catch anything this time! The four of use couldn't fit in the canoe, so we fished off the co-workers docked boat (yeah, that was my idea) since he wasn't around to bring us out on the water.

Zacks first fish of the weekend

It took no time before the fish started to bite. Why didn't we think of this area first? But then we wouldn't have had the fun on the canoe! Zack caught 5 fish (we caught and released since its a lake rule). We think the first two were the same, but hey, it was still fun. He was such a big kid since after he caught them, he put the gloves on to hold the fish to help remove them from the hook. He even tried to use the pliers to remove the hook (but daddy and grandpy actually did it while I took pictures) but it didn't work out to good for him.

Me and my first fish I caught since I was 12 years old

After Zack caught his 5 fish, he was all set fishing. But our philosophy was after spending $30 on a licence and grandpy spending $20 on bait, we weren't done yet. So, we all took a crack at it. I caught 2 fish (under the agreement that I didn't have to take them off the hook, why should I since there were 3 guys who had done it 5 times before I picked up the pole....Zack needed the practice anyway, right?).

Jeff and his prize fish

Then Jeff tried a few times and caught one fish. He was trying out in a different area then us to see if the fish would bite there, but no luck. So, he was happy to catch the one fish in the same area as us. Grandy tried, but he had more fun tormenting the fish rather then catching them. He would hold the bait over the boat and move it out of the area before he would actually catch the fish. Oh, well what ever floats his boat (no pun intended).

After fishing again, it was time to eat supper. After we all ate we walked grandpy around the entire state forest camping area for a nice evening walk. Then he hit the road to head home. That evening we were invited back to the co-workers camp for some fire works and a big campfire. It was a wonderful end to a great couple of days.

Yesterday morning, was a little different. We woke up to the sound of rain on our tent. So, we packed up everything in our tent even before checking out the rest of camp. We got outside and realized it wasn't raining hard at the moment, but everything in our picnic area was soaked (the rain must have blown in sideways). So, we decided to skip making breakfast, pack everything up and take care of everything after we got home. Oh well!

Even thought it rained on our last day and cut our camping adventure short, it was still a wonderful first couple of days that we all really enjoyed! Jeff and I will camp one last time before the cold weather comes in the fall and we will definitely do it again next summer with Zack.

Oh, a camping we will go........

Jeff, Zack and I are off to our campground. Wish us luck because Zack has no idea what is in store for him. He just knows we have a surprise for him! We will be back Wednesday evening and I'm sure I will have all kinds of stories to tell and pictures to share.

Weekend with Grandpa

What a quick and great weekend we had with grandpa! Its too bad it went by so fast. We'll see him again over Thanksgiving, but sometimes I wish he lived closer so I can see him more.

Grandpa's posing in the car, he didn't want to drive it for real

But he kept us busy! He was shy at first about asking us to do things for him around the house, but I kept insisting that we do stuff for him (after the trip to the mall of course so he could people watch while Jeff and I would go into stores).

Jeff showing grandpa where the roof went on the convertible

It started off by replacing the kitchen mats and table place mats that we bought at the mall. Then Jeff and I washed the front of the house windows (Jeff had the outside while I had the inside). After the windows, Jeff cut the front lawns grass and then put down some grass seed over an area where Grandpa had a tree cut down. While Jeff was doing that, I was cleaning up area's inside for Gramps.

Grandpa sitting on his chair outside

After a hard day of work, we enjoyed a great supper out on the town.

Today, after we went out for breakfast, we were on the hunt for a new desk chair from Grandpa. We finally found one and then put it together for him. His old chair started to give him a problem.

Here's the story about the chair-Grandpa explained to Jeff the issue with the chair, when he would sit in it, the chair would go down (also picture grandpas hands up in the air over his head, like Frankenstein arms, and then slowly move down). Jeff went into the room to check out the situation. Shortly, Jeff came back to report that it didn't give him an issue. Oh, Grandpa marched right into the "little room" and showed Jeff just how the chair was acting up. What it ended up doing was after you sit in the chair, it would slowly give away and sink to lowest point it could go. Oh Jeff said, the hydraulics went. So, that was the start of our chair searching adventure.

It was such a great time seeing him. I can't wait to see what he has in store for us next time!

Thankful Thursday

1. Rekindling old friendships
2. These last few beautiful days of August. Its sad to see the summer disappearing, but at least its not a soggy ending!
3. Spell Check. Oh how I love thee!
4. My dental clean bill of health. It wasn't always the case, but I fixed that situation over a year ago and ever since its been great (even at today's cleaning, yeah).
5. Having time to myself. I love my family dearly, but having quite time is nice once-in-awhile!

Heading North

This morning, Zack had a golf tournament. He has one every Friday throughout the summer at Brookside Par 3, 9 whole course. Its a cute set up they have there for the kids. Each group has 3 kids (and at least one adult to keep score) as they walk the course, but not specifically by age group. On the score card, the ages are noted and then later on it is determined who won in the age groups after all the score cards are collected.

Zack didn't want me to take pictures while he golfed, so I snagged some before he started. He didn't want me to interrupt him while he played (such the concentrated player).

Jeff walked around with him as I stayed back, snapped some photo's of the area and then went back to the car to read (yup, I finished my book today that I started at the beginning of the week with the airport read challenge, yeah).

Zack finished the course in an hour and half. He came in 3rd today. He had fun with his dad and the other kids he walked around with. That's all that matters.

After Zack played golf, we went out to one of Zack's favorite restaurants and that is when we met up with his mother (yeah for us). We had a civil lunch with her (even though I wanted to jump over the table and just show her how I really feel about her) and then it was time to say goodbye for the time being (remember, she has to drive him to MA for the second week of vacation, its all BS).

This evening we made it to the Beltsville MD area in decent time (since there is always traffic on the VA/MD border around the beltway). We stopped in the see grandpa for a quick visit for tonight to touch base and get things worked out for tomorrow (we had to find out what Jeff and I have in store for this weekend to help him out). Oh how we have our hands full for this weekend!

The hotel we are at now charges us for the Internet connection. So, I will tough base on Sunday after we return home before the second half of our vacation kicks off. Have a great weekend!