Home at last

Well I am back in Westminster and my vacation is almost over. It's back to work tomorrow. We have to finish unpacking and I have mountains of laundry to do. Vacation was a lot of fun but I glad to be back, it was heaven to sleep in my own bed after spending a week on a pull out sofa bed. Got to go, that laundry won't wash itself.

Vacation Day 7, back on my feet

Today was an almost perfect vacation day, I hardly did anything. We slept in and when I woke up my foot was not hurting as bad so I didn’t go to the hospital, although I was limping all day and after too much time on my feet I would have to sit down.

The only downer to the day was going shopping in the early afternoon, but that was only for about 1.5 hours. We hit some of the shops in Fenwick Island Delaware. My nieces got each to a hermit crab and named them Sarah and Crab. When we got back Jacie and I headed for the pool. It was really hot out today and we sat at the pool for about 3.5 hours, it was great.

We ended the evening by going to do a few last minute things at the boardwalk. We walked for a while but my foot was really starting to hurt so I found a bench and watched people until we were ready to go. I have determined that people wear stuff on the boardwalk that they wouldn’t wear in normal life. So next year I am bringing a pair of chaps and a leather biker hat.

Vacation Day 5...Cannon Ball!!!

Lazy day so far. We got up late and Jacie made everyone breakfast, it was delicious. We then headed to the pool at 11:00am. Funny thing happened there…there are a lot of pool toys that the residents leave at the pool and everyone shares. Me and my 6 year old niece Bailey were throwing a plastic torpedo around and she would dive to the bottom to get it, she was really excited because this was the first time she was able to hold her breath to swim to the bottom of the pool. As we were playing a young boy came over the us and told us that it was his torpedo and he took it from us…well I was a little miffed at this and my niece was pissed off too and she is only six. So I did the proper adult thing…I cannon balled him and all of his little friends. This was probably the best cannon ball I have ever done…a few innocents were dampened sitting around the edge of the pool, but it was for a good cause. Bailey thought it was the neatest thing, we are planning another round of cannon balls tomorrow if the same kids are at the pool.

Stay tuned for more…

Many hours later:

We checked out the Northside Park to do some walking this evening. It was a beautiful park, it has many ball fields, a large play playground, three walking paths, tons of open fields, a pier, and much much more. The next time any of you get to Ocean City please take some time and spend an evening at this park. We chose to walk the mile path, and we did 5 laps, the other walking paths are three quarters of a mile and a half mile.

After the walk all of us met up and headed to Cold Stone Creamery, which is torture when you are trying to eat healthier. Jacie and I split a sugar-free, fat-free, and flavor-free vanilla with almonds, graham crackers and mini chocolate chips. It was OK, but nothing compared to their original creations. Please enjoy the pic of my 2 year old niece enjoying her ice cream. Catch you later, gators.

My niece making sure the bowl is empty.

(Image by the Original Craigster)

Vacation Day 4, or the never ending walk

Me, Jacie, Janet and Courtney all got up early this morning to take a walk on the boardwalk. We drove to the inlet and walked all the way to the other end and back it came to just under five miles. There were quite a lot of people on the boardwalk for being so early. We stopped on the way back and got donuts for everyone else.

My 6 year old niece snitched on me this morning. Her mother told her she could only have one donut because of all the sugar. So I did what any cool uncle would do…I gave her another donut. She was so happy and promised she would not rat me out. Thirty minutes later she told me that she was going to tell her mom, and darned if she didn’t. So I have been calling her snitchy all day. She won’t be getting any more donuts from me.

At 11:30 we decided to walk to the Country Peddler county store. Everyone thought it was about 10 blocks away. Well it turned out to be 30 streets away and we didn’t get back until 2:30. With all of the walking today we could have started at the inlet and walked to Delaware. My feet hurt and I think I have sunburned my head. Peace out…smell you later. Craigster…

Several hours and cocktails later…

We had dinner at Harpoon Hannah’s and it was fantastic, I had the fresh tilapia stuffed with crab imperial. After dinner we sat at their tiki bar and my mother-in-law bought us drinks. Other people may have issues with in-laws but mine is awesome…she bought me several Guinness, none on tap only in cans…beggars can be choosy.

After dinner we ended the evening with a round of mini golf at the Golf Down Under. I was last in my group and of everyone I got the worst score, even my 6 year old niece the snitch beat me. Jacie had the best of everyone a 38…1 under par. I’m done for the evening.

I’m not drunk, I’m drinking.

Vacation Day 2

Vacation Day 2

Well I am finally at the beach, good old Ocean City, Maryland. We had planned to leave this morning at 7:00am but of course that never happened. Before I go into the events of the day I should give you a cast of characters:

Me: The Original Craigster that you all know and love
Jacie (pronounced Jackie): Is my lovely and talented wife
Janet: Jacie's mother and my mother-in-law
Mat: Jacie's brother and my brother-in-law
Laurian: Mat's wife and my sister-in-law
Bailey: Mat and Laurian's 6 year old daughter and my niece
Ally: Mat and Laurian's 2 year old daughter and my niece
Courtney: Jacie's best friend and defacto family member

All of us are staying a two bedroom condo half a block from the beach on 56th street.

As I said we were planning on leaving at 7am but did not leave Westminster until 8:08am. We stopped for breakfast at Panera, ran a red light, and had to go home twice (Jacie forgot to pack shoes, I forgot my glasses).

On the way here I saw something I had never seen before...a clown driving a car. It really freaked out my wife, she has a phobia about clowns, and this guy was in full blown clown make-up, right down to the big red shoes. We passed him before I could get a picture taken.

We met Jacie's brother's family at the Country House in Salisbury at 11:00am for a little pre-vacation shopping. While Jacie and Laurian went about shopping, me , Mat, Courtney and Bailey decided we were going to go to Best Buy and kill an hour while the rest were shopping, unfortunately we got lost on the way and ended up in the "hood," we did eventually make it out and got to spend a few minutes at Best Buy, where I managed to lose my sunglasses.

Well we all got back together and back on the road heading to OC, and we decide to stop at the grocery store before going to the condo. I thought this was a bad idea since the car was packed. Me, Jacie, Janet, and Courtney all road together in Court's Hyundai Tucson, and the car was packed tight with bags and beach stuff, there was just enough room for the four of us to sit after we got packed. And now they wanted to add a weeks worth of groceries into the mix, it was not going to turn out well, so I argued against, and we got groceries anyway. Here is how we got all of them into the car. Janet and I sat in the back seat and Courtney and Jacie just loaded the groceries on top of us. Luckily we only had a short drive to get to the condo.

So we arrive and after what seemed to be an infinite number of trips up three flights of stairs I was ready to unpack and unwind. BUT...I made a few omissions when I was packing my suitcase...I forgot my swimming trunks, and somehow only packed two t-shirts, good thing Sunsations is across the street.

List of things I need:
Sunglasses
Swimming Shorts
T-Shirts



8 Hours later…..

We ate in this evening and then spent the rest of the evening at Ocean Downs Race Track to watch some harness racing.

Here were my picks for each race and how they finished:

Jack Flasher 1st
Auntie ATM 4th
Totally Obsessed last
Joc O Chip 1st
Cheap Skate 1st
Wishwell Dreamgirl 4th
Poker Oak 6th
Hey That’s Mine 2nd
Lady Bidmore 2nd
Call Her Lucky last

As you can see I picked some good on and some bad ones. I didn’t really matter since I didn’t bet on any of them. So out of all of us I was the only one to come out even.

We left the track and headed back to the condo, once we got there (at 11:30pm) Jacie and I decided to walk to the Sunsations and pick up a few of the things that I forgot: new swim trunks, 2 new t-shirts, and a new pair of shades. Now I am ready for the beach tomorrow.

Until next time, this is the Original Craigster signing off. Nanu, Nanu.

Vacation Day 1

It sure didn't feel like I was on vacation today. I had a lot of stuff to do today before we leave for Ocean City tomorrow. The first thing I wanted to do was go get some new contacts from Wal-Mart, but I realized on my way that I forgot and left my wallet in my desk at TAC on Thursday, so I have to drive into work and get it. It wasn't all bad, it gave me a chance to pick up a couple of more books to read while I sit on the beach. I was able to finally get my contacts and head home to begin working on my "honey do" list. I had several loads of laundry to wash, as I was working on that I got a call from my wife, she forgot some papers she needed for work and wanted me to bring them to her, luckily she works in works in Westminster now so it only took a few minutes to do that and it gave me a chance to go to the post office to have our mail stopped.

So I got back home and while I had the laundry going I started cleaning the house. I promised I would clean it from top to bottom as part of Jacie's birthday present. I finally got done cleaning and folding the laundry, packing some things as I went along. It was then time to mow the lawn, which I enjoy doing especially on a nice day like today.

So I am nearly done my list when Jacie calls me and asks me to go to her Grandparents farm and help clean out the horse stall. My wife keeps her horse, Jordan (she is pictured to the left and is blind in one eye) there, although I am officially claiming the horse as mine, after all I feed her each morning and clean out her stall. Now cleaning out a stall isn't all that bad. The first layer is just straw wood chips and poo (horse poo isn't that bad). It isn't until you get to the layer underneath that you really earn you money. This layer is a trampled and smashed up mixture of poo, wood chips, straw, and a slurry of pee. You can't quite imagine the smell, you have to experience it for yourself. If this stuff were gold I would have been rich, since I was standing about ankle deep in it. The silver lining is that shoveling all of that sh...stuff is quite a good workout.

Jordan
(Image by The Original Craigster)

Got back home and cleaned up and it was time to get the dogs ready for their vacations. Sadee is staying with my mom for the week, Oakley and Dayzee our staying with a friend of ours. My mom loves watching Sadee (she's her favorite) despite her gimpy leg, bad breath, and constant sneezing (the dog not my mother). So the house is very quiet now, no little claws clicking on the hardwood, and I only have a few things left to do before I can relax: clean the fish pond filter, finish packing, load up the car....................you get the idea.



Dayzee on the Left, Oakley on the Right
(Image by The Original Craigster)



Sadee
(Image by The Original Craigster)