Rhododendrons and Dromedarys

We have a fantastic group of girls right now at the Shelter. I wish it was always thus.

Went on a field trip today to Rhododendron State Park in Fitzwilliam. I was a little disappointed as the rhododendrons were not blooming as profusely as I expected. However, it did provide a nice little hike before our picnic lunch...In spots, it was like a rhododendron tunnel and seemed positively jungle-like. I was glad I was not claustrophobic.

Lunch is supposed to be an event where you eat, not where you are eaten. But today's picnic lunch proved to be a little of both. The mosquitoes of Fitzwilliam have an unusually fierce bite. It looked like I was getting hives on my legs and ankles...thick, puffy, pink bites. Ergh. I doused myself with bug spray but it was too late.

After that we proceeded to TWINKLE TOWN to hone our mini-golfing technique. This morning, when Matt told the girls we were going to Twinkle Town, the girls - who are unfamiliar with the area- really thought we were going to a real town named Twinkle. Um. No. It was a pretty fun excursion, and gave the girls plenty of opportunity to practice anger management skills as they skyrocketed past par. And then we settled down to...MORE ICECREAM! Hurray! Moosetracks icecream is the best!

Last week when we went to Pack Monadnock for a picnic, we played,
" When I went to California..." You know...the game where you take turns listing things alphabetically. Well, my contribution for "D" was 'dromedary.' It was pretty hilarious listening to the girls try to remember and pronounce that one...It seemed like every girl had a different pronunciation each time they had a turn. Mostly, they settled on "drama-thing." This morning, I was quite impressed at the breakfast table to hear some of them reciting the whole alphabetical list of things from last weeks' game. They still hadn't really gotten the dromedary thing down. Some of the other items listed were, "A- Air-conditioning", "B- Boyfriend"..." G- goo-goo dolls", "H- hot guy..."

Speaking of California, Brad is heading west early tomorrow morning and I am dreading the next five days. It STINKS to not be with him. I am going to miss him so terribly much. We barely survived the last five day separation- when I went to Florida in January- and when I staggered in the door around 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning, January 25th, we swore to each other that we would never put each other through this again...but it must be done. Sigh. ( Well, I don't think we really swore to each other, but it would sound silly to say that we affirmed to each other, " Never again." Doesn't quite have the same desperate ring to it...) So I'm planning all sorts of things to keep me busy and distracted while he's gone. Wish me luck!