From Stink to Stuck

Sooo Boomers run in with a skunk didn't quell his canine curiousity. It wasn't another skunk but a porcupine last night. There were only about six quills total stuck in his nose and muzzle. I consulted the internet again for some info on removing the quills ourselves, rather than taking a trip to the animal hospital. Armed with a pair of pliers, Dom and I successfully removed all the quills. Has Boomer learned his lesson about late night frolicking with the local wildlife? I'm not convinvced. No more unsupervised night time jaunts for Boomer.
We have had Copper for 12 years and never dealt with either of these things. After having Boomer for 10 months he manages to get into both within a matter of days. Just goes to show how dog personalities differ as much as people.

A Very "Harry" Weekend

Yes I was one of the millions eagerly awaiting the release of the new Harry Potter book this weekend. I ordered online from Amazon and spent most of Saturday afternoon reading.

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day, breezy and in the 70's and as much as I wanted to curl up and finish reading the book it was just too nice out! We packed up the kids and headed up to Holderness to the Squam Lakes Science Center to visit some "hairy" critters. The center is one of our favorite places to visit. Such a favorite place in fact, that we have become members. There are a variety of animals native to NH all along a winding hiking trail. It is neat to see the animals up close and there are a variety of interactive things for the kids to touch and explore.

One of our favorite animals to visit has a been the bobcat. There is a young bobcat at the exhibit that I can usually coax into chasing my camera strap(Through the glass!). He acts just like a big house cat. My other favorite are the otters, especially when they are frolicking in the water.

After visiting the Science Center we took another quick hike along the shore of Squam Lake and found some cool campsites we'd like to try in the future.

On our return home I did bury my nose back in the book and finished it Sunday night. It was a great book, one of the best of the series and that is all I'll say in case some of you are still reading it!

Stinky McStinkface

This is Boomer's new nickname. The reason for this new nickname is that late last night he had an unfortunate encounter with.......yeah you guessed it...............A Skunk!!
Sooooo at 10:00pm last evening I was outside giving him a bath. Boomer in fact seemed much more upset with his bath than being sprayed by a skunk, it seemed to be only the top of his head that was sprayed. I found a recipe online consisting of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dish soap. This concoction seemed to work well enough. I doused him again this morning and there is only a slight lingering smell. I hope that he learned his lesson but only time will tell...

Wild about Webkinz!

We have fallen victim to the latest children's craze: Webkinz. If you haven't heard of Webkinz they are cute little stuffed animals. Each animal comes with a special code and if you go to the webkinz website you can adopt your animal and take care of it online. You can then earn kinzcash to take care of your pet. You earn cash by playing games at the arcade or doing jobs at the employment office. You can buy food, clothes, furniture, additional rooms, etc. And if you have friends that have webkinz you can visit each other and even send them gifts and mail. The girls are having a blast taking care of their pets and it has been a great rainy day activity. We are also in the process of making a house for the stuffed animals as the girls enjoy playing with the actual stuffed animals also. I will post a picture when we finish 'decorating' it. There are also trading cards to collect. In each set of trading cards you get codes to get stuff for your webkinz. The only downside has been convincing the girls that they don't need to own every webkin ever made!

Here are the cute little critters themselves.

Becca has a lion, a tiger and a bunny. Kenzie has a white terrier, an alley cat and a chihuahua.

And.... well....the panda is mine. Yeah I'm hooked too but I only have one.....so far.....Hey moms gotta play too!

Hillsborough Ballon Festival

Every year we try to make it to the Hillsborough Ballon Festival to see the balloons take off. Last year they didn't go up while we were there but this year we got to see them all take off.

The balloons are so bright and colorful and fun to take pictures of. I probably took about 50 pics but here are just a few for you to enjoy!

St. Peter, Nascar and The Horribles Parade

What do these three things have in common? Absolutely nothing except that that they happened all within a matter of days keeping us very busy.

Viva San Pedro!





St. Peter's Fiesta is a celebration in Gloucester, Ma. ( and I believe several other places) in which St. Peter is celebrated as the saint who watches over the fisherman. There are many days of celebration that begin with a parade where St. Peter is paraded through town and is brought to St. Peter's square where he is set on a altar. At the square there is also a big carnival set up with games and rides for the kids and of course food and traditional Italian music can be heard all day long.
Other festivities include the blessing of the fleet, seine boat races, a parade and the greasy pole.




I will try to explain the greasy pole but you really have to see it to get the full effect. The greasy pole is a long pole set out across the harbor that is greased up with some sort of environmentally safe grease. (It usually thick and black but this year it was white and looked suspiciously like Crisco.) At the end of the pole is a flag. The object is to walk across the pole and grab the flag before tumbling into the freezing water below. Depending on wether it is high tide or not you may have an incredible long and potentially painful fall depending on if you hit the pole on your way down. Many of these guys risk ever becoming fathers as they do the old splitsville on the pole. The walkers are dressed in crazy costumes and are usually pretty well liquored up by the time they start walking.



I included a picture hours before the greasy pole. We didn't actually watch the greasy pole this year. In the middle of the picture is a large structure which is where the walkers wait for their turn. Coming off the structure on the right is a long pole parallel to the water and at the end you can see the flag. As you can see it is a long walk and a long drop into the water!






NASCAR

As many of you you know Dom and I are Nascar fans and really enjoy going to the races at NHIS. Last year for the July race it was about 98 degrees and humid and it felt like you were melting sitting in the sun up in the bleachers. We ended up leaving 1/2 way through because it was just too hot. This year the weather was a perfect 70 degrees, breezy and overcast.

The girls were in Gloucester still with Dom's parents and we were lucky enough to have a reserved parking spot waiting for us so we took our time getting there. Normally we head to the race from my parents house and we end up spending a lot of time sitting in traffic getting to the track. We had no idea how close we were to the track coming from our house. We used the trusty GPS to guide us and after cruisin down some back roads came out a mile from where we were going to park. It only took us 35 mins. and barely any traffic! It was only 35 mins getting home too, thanks to the back roads! We still left the race a little early to beat the mad crush of the crowds back to the car. Unfortunately our driver, Carl Edwards had a bad pit stop that cost him the race but it was still a fun day!

For some reason blogger won't let me post any of my pictures from the race!

The Horribles Parade

On July 3rd we were back in Gloucester for the Fishtown Horribles Parade. No one has ever been able to tell me exactly what a horrible is, but it seems to refer to the people who dress up to be in the parade. Anyone can participate and as well as many different characters, there are bands,(the steele drum band is my favorite.) floats and lots of other fun stuff. Prizes are given out in different catergories. This picture is a fine example of a "horrible" and she/he even jiggled as she/he walked!

Becca, Dom and I ended the evening watching fireworks over the harbor. Kenzie doesn't like loud noises and stayed home with Nonna and Nonno.

Our adventures ended at Ma and Pa Sizemores where we were treated to Steak on the grill!

Techinal difficulties!!

Been having trouble posting pics. Hope to have something up in the next day or two so check back soon!