Road Trip Diary - DAY 4 & DAY 5

On this day Brooke and Danielle once again donned their bug spray and went on an adventure to find the beaver pond. Their attempt was unsuccessful but they got a lot of exercise in since it was a really L O N G walk. They entertained themselves by singing "over the river and through the woods to the beaver pond we go". They came across an abandoned truck and decided to write both of their names on it. They found an old hunting shack but it was all locked up. I can imagine the thoughts and stories they were making up for how the truck got there and who's shack it was...because naturally they are creative, that's why we have so much fun on our road trips. And then...

as they were walking.

They heard it...

somewhere in the bushes

something growled.

They quickly turned and headed back to the cabin. Did I say quickly...it was more like rocketing out of that area. I guess I should have reviewed with them how you are supposed to quietly turn and back away from the noise. No, instead the two of them took Brooke's boyfriends advice and skipped while singing opera to keep their minds off the strange noises. We may need Wilderness Training 101.

When they came back we went for a swim in Beebe Lake which was at the end of the road leading to our cabin. This is a beautiful, clear lake...so clear you could see the color of your toenail polish when you looked straight down to your feet. A little bit more important to me...was the fact that this lake is very deep. Okay, so I'm not the best swimmer, a little panicky about going under water probably because I have nightmares about that. Sssoooo, letting Sam swim in the lake was freaking me out a bit. I made him wear his life jacket, not really comfortable with just the swim belt in this situation. However you have to remember Sam has extremely low tone, if he's sleeping and you want to pick him up, it's like picking up butter....absolutely no rigidity in this guy. So you put a life jacket on him, float him in the water and immediately the life jacket is moving north as he's g0ing south...picture a life jacket with arms sticking out to the sides, and a head sticking out where the chest of the person should be. I had this fear that if he raised his arms up he would slip right through that jacket and sink to the bottom. This will probably be the new nightmare that keeps me up at night.

He loved swimming in the lake but wasn't extremely happy about the fit of the life jacket. Do they have life jackets for low tone kids and don't tell me about the ones that have the straps that go between your legs. I mean really...could that be comfortable in any way, shape or form??? Especially for a guy???

So anyway, we finished swimming, walked back and ate some dinner. The girls chose the movie "Somebody Help Me", a movie about people that get killed when they go on a vacation to a cabin in the woods. Great choice girls...what were you thinking??? Luckily there was a character named "Kimmy" who was so annoying that the movie wasn't as scary. Sam and I went to bed early so we would be ready for shopping the next day.

On day 5 we went to Bennington to do some shopping. We went into a chocolate store and got to see an 88 pound chocolate moose. Well...there had to be a story there..right??? So I found it for you, check out this link to hear about the marriage ceremony of Benny and Molly: http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100821/NEWS02/708219883/1003/NEWS02
Wow, must have been a slow news day!

Anyway, Sam found an animated dancing bear and proceeded to squeeze it's paw and dance with it while the rest of us browsed the store. I'm pretty sure by the time we left they took the batteries out of the bear...welcome to my life. And no, I didn't buy it. Sam's evaluator Ellen frowns on encouraging Sam's stimming or OCD type behaviors.

While we shopped I got a call from Ben...Aaawww...he missed me. NO, he needed to know where his social security and birth certificate were so he could get his temps. I kinda chuckled to myself as I hung up thinking about Ben and Jeff filling out the paperwork, both Dyslexic and neither one can spell very well...but I had confidence they would figure it out because if nothing else they are resourceful.

We shopped for a while and then decided to get Brooke and Danielle something to eat. I have figured out that if you don't feed teenage girls they go beyond cranky and get downright ugly. Suddenly they were snipping at each other and Sam and I quickly recognized we needed to get food in them...NOW!! We stopped at a restaurant in Rutland that served steak and seafood. The decor was dark and it consisted mainly of animal heads that stared and watched you as you walked through the restaurant. We went from hungry and cranky to full and delirious. Sam suddenly grabbed his napkin and would say "Here it comes, here it comes...Ta DA" and then throw his napkin. I don't know where that came from but it cracked us up every time along with the fact that quite a few of the elderly patrons kept choking on their steaks. Note to self: remember to cut my steak into smaller pieces as I age or don't order it at all. I know it shouldn't have been funny but by the third time we were laughing so hard we were crying. You know how when you travel, you figure you will never see these people again. I hope that's true...because they probably thought we were a little strange.

We continued to drive and checked out Adventure Land. It was a cool place but they were closing up for the day so we didn't stay. We stopped at Walmart to get Brooke more string for...YEP...you guessed it her bracelet making addiction. We drove home and had spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner, Sam had hot dogs and cucumbers. The girls movie choice turned out to be a dud, they chose "Cold Storage". Stay tuned for Day 6 & 7, where the adventure turns into a few life lessons.