The Summer Rut

Summer is in full swing for Maura and I and we’re in a bit of a rut. It hasn’t been a summer for ambitious plans or even much activity. The weather has been hot and money has been short. We’ve stayed close to home most days and not found the energy to do much while we were here. I’ve been remiss as a parent and a travel writer. I’ve left Maura mostly to her own devices—which means she’s spent her time reading, playing video games and watching TV. At least a good deal of her time is spent with her nose in a book. I don’t have to make her read.

I’ve spent my days in front of the computer screen. I’m taking on-line courses in web design so time spent at the keyboard hasn’t been entirely wasted but I have not been as productive as I would like. I have not been writing.

We have managed a few activities besides our trip to Six Flags that I wrote about last week. Jennifer ran in the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge for the second consecutive year. She’s not a competitive runner but she did finish. Maura and I were there not far from the finish line to cheer her on as she limped by. Unlike last year we didn’t make it a father-daughter dinner night. There was no money in the budget for us to go out to eat, even for a hotdog. We had an early dinner of leftovers and then traveled into Boston where we sat on a bench in the Public Garden and read our books while the runners waited for the start, then made our way to the edge of the garden to see the finishers as they ran by.

Last week Maura started her formal summer activities. She’s in WeyRec activities at Great Esker Park again this year. The first week was tubing on the Back River, which should have been enjoyable given the heat early in the week but the session seemed to be under a curse. The tubers were bothered by bees and horseflies, swept away by currents (they wear life jackets and weren’t in any danger) and chased in by a thunder storm. Maura didn’t have nearly as much fun as she had the year before.

This week seems to be going better. She’s in “Survivor” learning how to build a fire and how to find food and water in the woods. She comes home tired and muddy every day but so far has always had a smile on her face.

A Trip to Six Flags

Last Wednesday we had a family outing to Six Flags Over New England in Agawam, Massachusetts. Jennifer and I had promised Maura we would take her to an amusement park during the summer since we had reneged on our plan to go to Busch Gardens when we were in Virginia during the spring. Serendipitously we received two tickets to Six Flags from Jennifer's sister Andrea, who had won them in a raffle but could not use them. That meant we only had to buy one ticket for the family, an adult ticket because Maura counts as an adult. The ticket prices are based on height - if you are tall enough to ride all the rides you can pay full price.

We got up early so we could be at Six Flags when it opened for the day. I needed to be back by 7:30 so that I could log on for a chat session for one of the online classes I have been taking. That meant that we had to leave the park around 5:00 to be sure of getting home in time. That left us plenty of time to enjoy ourselves  on the thrill rides with a break for lunch and a magic show thrown in.

Maura loves amusement park rides. She always has a good time when we go to an amusement park or a carnival. I don't think I've ever seen her not enjoy a ride except when she insisted on riding a kiddie ride she was too old for. She still gets scared sometimes. We rode most of the rides at Six Flags except for a few of the wildest roller coasters. I would have been game for some of the wild ones if Maura had wanted the ride but she wasn't up for everything yet. She did ride most of the smaller roller coasters and at the end of the day I talked her into riding the Tomahawk, which is one of my favorite rides. It's a giant horizontal wheel that spins while it swings back and forth. Maura was afraid of it in the morning and refused to ride it with me but at the end of the day she had found her courage and, as I expected, she loved it. She always seems too, especially when she's most afraid before she gets on.

We were ready to go at 5:00. Everyone was tired and ready for a rest. I didn't get one for a while. I had to drive home. Fortunately the traffic wasn't bad except near Boston. The only problem was that Maura had been drinking soda and juice all day and had to use the bathroom right when we were in the longest gap between service plazas on the Mass Pike. Some things never fail.

ISI District 1 Championships

On the weekend of July 1^st Maura competed in the ISI District 1 Championships at the William L. Chase Arena in Natick, Massachusetts. She competed in two events at the Alpha level.  She came in 6^th out of 8 competitors in both events but she was happy with her performance, and she had a good time, which is what matters the most.

Jennifer and I got up early and drove her to Natick twice. On Friday morning we fought traffic at rush hour to get there on time because Maura had an early ice time for her individual program. She was scheduled to skate at 8:40 am but she had to be there an hour earlier. She had a special treat—her grandfather came to see her skate (she calls him Papa). He lives in Florida and hasn’t had the chance to see her compete before. On Sunday we were back for Maura’s stroking competition. Maura skated even earlier than she did on Friday but it was an easy trip because there was hardly any traffic.

The truth is that Maura loves skating and she enjoys competing but she doesn’t care that much about winning. I think if she did she would work a little harder than she does. She has exercises to do when she isn’t on the ice but she never does them unless I bug her about them—not just remind her but bug her. It’s about as easy to get her to clean the cat’s litter box as it is to get her to practice holding her arms out for a few minutes so she can train herself to keep them up when she’s skating. I don’t expect Maura will come in first often unless she discovers that she cares more than she does now but if she is happy I am. She’s found a sport that she enjoys enough that she wants to participate regularly. It’s something she can keep doing for as long as it interests her. I’ll never be upset if she doesn’t want to be competitive.

Camping in Sandwich

The last week of June was a big week for us. Monday was Maura’s first visit to Fenway. Tuesday we all headed to Sandwich, on the upper part of Cape Cod, for a camping trip. After we had discovered that our luggage rack wouldn’t fit the car we bought in December and then fixing the problem after a quick run to REI for a part we packed up and headed out on our trip. We arrived at our campsite in Shawme-Crowell State Forest in mid-afternoon and had just enough time to get camp set up before the first of several thunder storms hit. Fortunately there was little wind and our tent was snug and waterproof, as was our picnic shelter once we threw a tarp over the top. Heavy rain made it hard to get a fire started and once we retreated to the car because of nearby lightning but the storm finally passed. We were able to enjoy our dinner and eventually s’mores around the campfire.

Wednesday was our day in and around Sandwich. We visited the Sandwich Fish Hatchery where Maura fed the trout being raised there for stocking the ponds and rivers of Massachusetts. It was fun to watch the fish swarm to the food scattered on the water.

From the Fish Hatchery we drove to Long Pasture Audubon Sanctuary in Barnstable. While I was changing into my boots a titmouse landed on my hat. Later as we hiked along the beach the same bird visited all three of us as we walked on the sand, pecking around our feet and landing on my shoulder and again on my hat. We later learned that the bird was a fledgling. He hadn’t yet learned to stay away from humans and to avoid being caught in the open. With luck he will learn the lesson before he is eaten by a hawk. On our trip to the Audubon Sanctuary we also saw crabs and mud snails, as well as two musk turtles basking on a log in a fresh water pond. Honeysuckle was in bloom and it filled the air with the sweet scent of its flowers.

After our visit to the Audubon sanctuary we headed back into Sandwich. We stopped at the Greenbrier Jam Kitchen and bought some spicy fall fruit jam, then drove down to the Cape Cod Canal to have a picnic. After lunch we visited two historic buildings in Sandwich. The Hoxie House was built ca. 1675 and once housed the family of Sandwich’s minister. We had a very nice tour from the friendly docents in the house, though I’m not sure of the accuracy of all the information that they gave us. After the Hoxie House we visited the gristmill at the other end of Lower Shawme Pond. It is a working reproduction of one built on the site in the 1650s which operated there from the 17th century until the late 19th century. It was interesting to see how flour was made before modern flour mills.

After the visit to the grist mill we headed back to camp for another evening by the fire. We had another enjoyable night in camp, this one without rain. We cooked in the open fire, had s’mores for desert again, and read stories aloud around the campfire until it was dark (and then finished the story by flashlight). The next morning after breakfast we packed up and headed home. Everyone had a good time and we returned energized and rested, but covered with mosquito bites.