I Love Camping!

We had such a great time camping this past weekend. I love to go to the Cape, and I love to go camping, so the mix of the two is just awesome. We had a great site tucked back in the woods which was just heaven! It was kind of funny because when we got there and found our site, we looked down the hill and saw this:

Now, you have to understand that this was a steep hill down to a very root filled, washed out, rocky area. We thought this was our site and we were quite disappointed. So, I got out of the car to kind of direct MJ down this hill and upon further inspection I discovered that this was just the entrance to our site and we would acutally be located to the right in a wonderful wooded area.

Which, when we were all set up looked like this:

So, for the quick rundown of what we did:

Thursday night - we got all set up and were just sitting down to enjoy a nice campfire when it started to rain. So, we went to bed a bit early, only to be aroused at 12:15 AM to the two lovely raccoons in our screenhouse. They were knocking the rubbermaid containers open and trying to steal the food that was in them. So, I cowered in the tent like a scared baby while MJ scared them off. Then, only when I was assured about 1,000 times that they were all gone did I come out and help move things into the van. Lesson learned: Even if you think things are safe in sealed containers - the raccoons are smarter than the containers and they can get into them!

Friday - we decided to go to the Cape Cod Chips Factory which was lots of fun to see where they are made and you get free samples too! Then we drove Route 28 through the Cape and stopped at a bunch of shops and stuff. That was lots of fun as we have not explored this area before. Lots to see along here.

Here we are at the Cape Cod Chips tour:

Saturday - we spent the day in Provincetown. This is one of our favorite places! We wandered the streets for a few hours and had a wonderful lunch (lobster and crabmeat rolls) at the Lobster Pot. No pictures from here as we didn't bring the camera. We got back to the campsite and played card games for a couple of hours!

Sunday - We played mini golf and went to get ice cream. It was really hot out! We decided that we would go back and go to the beach at the campground for a couple of hours. Well, we got to the beach, just got into the water floating peacefully on our floats and wouldn't you know - the thunder started. So, out of the water we came and back to the campsite we headed. We then decided to pack up everything besides the tents as there was a large threat of rain all night long, and there is nothing worse than packing up in the rain. So, we got all of that done and enjoyed another night at the fire. We did have some great rain over night, so good thing we did!

Today (Monday) - The rain held off long enough for us to pack up the tent and we were on the road! We made the obligatory stop at the Christmas Tree Shop on the way off the Cape. We then had the joy of making another stop about 2 1/2 hours into our journey as we had a flat tire. Now, mind you, it was not just any flat tire, but the rim is bent too! And it always happens that you have a FULL car when you need to get at the things like jacks to help you change the tire. The best part was that a State Trooper changed it for us! Must have been a slow day or something! So, now we have the lovely expense of a new tire and rim for the van.

I'll leave you with a few more pics of our trip and I'll charm you with some wonderful tales of the people we came in contact with in a later blog. Let's just say they were some real gems!

A wonderful fire!

Enjoying the fire together!

An one last one of one of our awesome breakfasts! We cooked every morning!

All Systems Go!

Things are looking really good around here! My back is feeling SO MUCH BETTER - it is amazing. I guess the bedrest did wonders for it! I went to the chiro again today and she said that I am definitely much better. I have actually been up ALL day today with the exception of a 1 hour rest. So, camping is on, just with modified activities - we are not going to bring the bikes and kayaks as planned, but we will still have a great time. We can walk in the woods, go to the ocean, spend a day in Provincetown (one of our favorite destinations), go to a drive-in movie (I've never been) and much, much more.

Everything went very well with the insemination today, too! Reggie looked great under the microscope and I looked great under the speculum! To top it all off, we had the doctor that we both really like to do the procedure today. That makes all the difference in the world. She said everything really does look great and due to the cramping I had this morning, the timing looks great as well. Now all we have to do is wait for two weeks and I promise that I am not going to look into any symptoms - I am just going to let be this time. HA HA!! It is so hard, but at least we have camping to take our minds off of it all.

Oh, and to top it all off, we didn't have to get up for work this morning because it is SUMMER VACATION! I love a good day!

Out of Commission

So, I am out of commission! I bent over to pick up a piece of paper on Tuesday at work, and my back went all out of whack. I have been walking around like Quasi Modo due to the fact that the top half of my body leans distinctly off to the right. You can literally see that my spine is not in line. Needless to say, summer vacation came three days early for me and not in a good way. I have made 2 trips to the chiropractor and have literally been laying flat on my back since Tuesday night.

MJ got me all set up today and I have my laptop resting on my stomach while laying down because I am going completely bonkers being in bed all of the time. One can only read and watch TV for so long without going crazy! We may even have to cancel our camping trip which would be a real bummer.

And, of course, in the midst of all of this it is time to inseminate on Monday. I went to the doc yesterday and all things look good, so I trigger tonight (give my self a shot to make me ovulate 36 hours later) and then we have an appt on Monday at noon. Reggie (the sperm) is waiting at the doctors office for us!

That's all from here!

An update for my faithful readers

Ok, so when I started this blog, I figured it would be a great way to keep people informed of what was going on in our lives. Now I seem to have this following who demand updates, more pictures, and so on! Who would have thought?!

Anyways, there isn't a whole lot going on around here. The biggest excitement is that this is finally the last week of school! I thought we would never make it, but here it is - only five more get ups. We can do it - the best part is that on Friday the PTA does a wonderful lunch for us and then we have a great retirement party/newly adopted baby shower/end of the year party to go to. That will be LOTS of fun - always is.

We are getting ready to go camping the week after school gets out and Laura, Sue, and Olivia will be joining us for 2 of the nights. It will be lots of fun - if you are interested - we are going here: http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/southeast/nick.htm Nickerson State Park is a wonderful place to camp with lots of ponds, close proximity to the ocean and wonderful bike trails. So, in addition to bringing all of the camping gear, we will be bringing the bikes and the kayaks along as well. I can't wait.

Nothing exciting on the TTC front - upped my dose of follistim to 150 and I go for another ultrasound and bloodwork on Tuesday. We are hoping for insemination on Monday the 23rd. If it is the end of this week, that will make life very crazy with it being the end of school. I am having a bit of an issue with my meds as Caremark only shipped me enough for 2 days. The doctor prescribed enough for 10 - so, I will have to fight with them on Monday. I really hate dealing with them - supposedly we had this problem fixed before it shipped, but apparently not!

Nothing really exiting this weekend - we went shopping yesterday and had a fire last night - Smores, YUM! It is rainy and 58 here today, so just hanging out. That's about it folks!

We Smoked 'em . . .

... the competition, that is! Yes, we WON the city track meet last night. We had lots of fun and the kids were great. It was a really hot night, but great to be outside and having a good time. The kids looked great in their orange track meet t-shirts! According to them, I owe the team cake and ice cream because we won - I suppose they are right!

We took the kayaks out on the lake tonight. It was so beautiful out. It was close to 100 degrees today and the first thing we did was jump into the lake before we took the boats out. We have a pair of loons that live on the lake and we saw them. The water was warmer than we expected and it is always nice to just take a leisurely paddle around the lake.

I started my Follistim tonight - bloodwork and baseline ultrasound were good today. Here we go again - Try #8. I would so love for it to work this time. We are trying this time and then once more. After that we are probably done. We can't afford IVF or adoption, but are looking into foster parenting. So, we will know where we are headed one way or the other by the end of the summer.

Nothing more to report from here!

HOT, HOT, HOT

Ok, so the heat is here! Today's high was 92 and tomorrow and Tuesday are to be much of the same! The poor dogs are just dying - panting like crazy. Of course the heat has to come in for the end of the school year - let's make the last 2 weeks as miserable as we can. To top it all off, I am the "coach" of the school's track team and we have the city track meet tomorrow night, when it will be a glorious 90+ degrees. Fun, fun. Now, let me explain this a bit - I am the coach and all that means is that I am the sucker who said, "Sure, I would love to go hang out with a bunch of kids who did well at field day and cheer them on while they compete against the other elementary schools in the city!" Actually it is lots of fun and the kids really enjoy it.

We had a great weekend - went to see Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian on Friday night. Then, last night, we went to a NH Fisher Cats baseball game - they are the AA team for Toronto. It was great fun and they had a fireworks show after the game. Plus we went to dinner and to the LLbean outlet on the way over!

So, today we sat down and made our dining reservations for when we go to Disney. We'll be taking in a couple of character breakfasts - Donald's Safari @ Animal Kingdom and Chef Mickey's, the german restaurant at Epcot - Biergarten, and the Hoop Dee Do Musical Revue dinner show. I can't wait!!! Lots and Lots of fun to be had. Disney will now also make custom maps for your vacation of all of the theme parks, so we went through and marked all of our "favorites" in each park and they will send us these maps. Only Disney would think of things like this.

On the TTC front- I started my cycle today, so it is off for bloodwork bright and early tomorrow morning. That means we should be inseminating either very late next week, or the very begninning ot the week after, or possibly the weekend of the 21st. We'll have to wait and see how it all pans out.

only 10 more get ups (school day get- ups, that is)!

I love lazy days

So I called in sick today and it was wonderful. It is raining (which we desperately need) which makes it all the more wonderful. I can spend time on the computer, read, watch a movie, and so on! MJ and I both got our haircut and went out for lunch - Mexican - YUM!

This weekend it is supposed to be 90 degrees and we can't wait! Much better than the 57 degrees it is right now. We are planning on getting the kayaks into the lake, so that will be tons of fun. I love to just paddle around and enjoy being outside.

I get to go on a field trip on Friday so that will be fun. We are taking the kids to a planetarium. I am sure they will love it. Field trips, snow days, and summer vacation - just a few of the perks of being a teacher!

Only 12 more days until vacation!

FIFTEEN . . .

. . . more get ups! That is how many days of school we have left - three full weeks. Only three weeks until summer vacation bliss! Definitely one of the perks of being a teacher! 10 weeks of uninterrupted days off! We are going to Disney World this summer and can't wait. I haven't been to actually do Disney in probably 15+ years. I have been to Florida and gone to a park for a day or something like that, but we are DOING DISNEY!!! We are staying at the POP Century Resort, we have our 6 day park tickets, including the Water Parks - and I can't wait!!! Only 45 more days until we go.

We had a great weekend - went shopping in North Conway yesterday - great outlet shopping. Our steal of the day was a $650 dining room table marked down to $99 at LLBEAN. We were so excited! My dad is coming over in a bit to help me get it into the house since MJ still can't lift more than 10 pounds. It is amazing - practically everything weighs more than 10 pounds.

Today is a beautiful New England Day - a little cooler than normal for this time of year, but I'll take it!

I feel like the Little Engine that Could - "I think I can, I think I can" . . . make it to the end of the school year, that is!