Winging it in...Boston!

This one time, at band camp…

This week is kind of a blog of two halves- I have been away with the kids from school all week, which means the majority of my waking time was concentrated on them- actually the entirety of my waking time and 90% of my sleeping time has been all about them this week, as I’m sure anyone who has taken kids on camp can attest to. I do have to say that this was possibly one of the best camps I have ever been on, in terms of organization, resources, activities and counselors looking after the children. Also, and quite possibly the highlight for me was the food! It was awesome and I would have loved to brought the kitchen staff home with me- this was better than a lot of food I actually pay to eat, and I was most disappointed to wake up on Saturday morning in my own bed, but without the waffles, pancakes, bacon, sausage, breakfast potato, scrambled egg, French toast and maple syrup, being laid out on the dining room table.

The camp was just outside of Peterborough, New Hampshire and thus very snowy. In fact we woke up on Wednesday morning to enough snow to bury a picnic bench and more to come for the next 5 hours. It did finally stop but not before it was about 4ft deep. Needless to say the kids loved it! They spent the day building quinzhees, using a snow cutting machine to create mazes with vertical walls and cross country skiing. They even found time to create the biggest snowman known to man- it was 10ft tall, and required a set of snow steps (they took this project very seriously) in order to enable them to finally reach the top. They had already exhausted the possibility of climbing on the body as they constructed it, and I think it only stopped at 10ft as they realized they weren’t strong enough to carry any more snow higher than its head.

Making the most of the weather (we did realize that NH in February was going to be snowy) meant Tuesday saw an all day hike (and I do mean all day!) when snow shoes came in handy, walking across frozen lakes and rivers, and building camp fires in the snow to make lunch- you gotta love s’mores in the middle of the day! Thursday was a high ropes course, zip lining and zap lining, and rope bridges, again all in the snow, and an afternoon of ice fishing! The joys of having a frozen lake to drill into. I must admit to having dipped out on the ice fishing, and volunteering to run the inside part of the science workshop. Of course all the outside activities and snow did mean that the best part of the night was spent running back and forth to the drying rooms trying to get the kids clothes ready for the next day…

Again, as anyone who has been on these trips can attest to Friday means repacking suitcases and clearing out cabins. I could now work in REI on a Saturday having rolled about 30 sleeping bags, and after clearing out the girls’ shower block I could open my own branch of Bed, Bath and Beyond! The bus journey home flew by, I’d love to say this was because the kids were so good- but actually it was because I slept for half of it!

Saturday- and the weekend that I thought was mine to play with disappeared in the blink of an eye. I was up bright and early- not because I wanted to be, but because the alarm clock woke me up and I had to be out for a hair appointment. Why is it that hairdresser inches and always three times bigger than regular inches? My hairdresser is great and my hair is exactly the same as always, even if I did refuse to let him touch my bangs. I had great plans for the afternoon, shopping, new furniture, laundry, maybe catch a movie and catch up on some of the work I needed to do having been away all week and away from an internet connection (a week with no Facebook, and a dubious cell phone signal! What is the world coming to and how did we cope before smartphones?) No- really it was highly important work. Anyway, having started the laundry off I promptly fell asleep and a good three hours of my life disappeared.

Luckily that just meant that games night was a little closer! Games night has been in my diary for a while- but due to people having other commitments has been moved numerous times… But “Whose in the Bag” and “Rapidough” proved that anticipation need not dull an event (or that may have been the alcohol?) Anyway, a great evening was had, and I think the girls proved that dough is not actually needed to make a good rapidough model- in fact we found it quite hindered our progress.

Today has been random drive day- thanks to Miss. Yeardley- which means I have eaten lunch in a pub with Laura Ashley curtains, a moving Psycho impersonation on the signboard (I think he was meant to be ringing a bell) and due to the outing from the Old Peoples’ Home opposite I think we were the youngest people to be eating in the pub by about 40 years. I knew I should have gotten those grey streaks yesterday after all. However, on the way back from Danvers we made an impromptu stop at a British Store in Peabody! Having not been back to the UK for nearly two years now I was a little amazed at all the exciting produce; Crème Eggs in bar form, who knew? I did sound a little “special” as I just stood there reading names of products I had even forgotten existed, and when was the last time anyone got excited by a packet of Ariel washing powder? I do now have Jelly Babies, Munchies, Yorkie bars, hula hoops (one packet less that I originally purchased) and my very own (total rip off) Cadbury Buttons Easter egg. The box says 99p, but I handed over $5.00 hard earned dollars for it. It will be eaten very slowly and savored in every bite!