Tag / Family

by JM

Maine’s Amazing OOB’s

2013 Summer Vacation ColiageOld Orchard Beach, ME (July 8th – 14th ) – Hours of planning for a week of vacation. The hours were mostly spent getting the RV ready for another 2-hour road journey to Maine.
Although this ride was going to be a bit more comforting… why, you ask? Because I had all new Bilstein shocks installed on the rig. Making the ride, turns and swaying much more tolerable.
Since Tami and I got away last weekend at Gunstock Mountain Campground in Gilford, NH a month prior, we found out that our hot water tank was shot too. Water just leaked out the back of the RV like the American-side of Niagara Falls. gushing big time…
Fast-forward, I ordered a new tank online and installed it with my Dad a few days before vacation (end of June). We connected the water line to shoreline water and bingo, I hear the tank filling (good sound) and I don’t see water dripping out the back…but,  I see water pouring out mid-ship. When I do an inspection of the bedroom, I find that the shower pipes have cracked spilling water all over the carpet.  Looks like this project will have to wait till after vacation.
During vacation, the weather on either side of the weekdays was sunny nice and warm. The weekday was cloudy and rainy almost every day. This created a challenge in keeping the boys tent dry and tended to be a bit chilly at night. You know that feeling of cold and wet. It’s not fun for anyone.

Tami’s Dad ended up in the hospital, so she went back home to attend to him for a couple of days. The boys and I caught the trolley that dropped us off downtown. We did some window shopping, ate some fried dough, walked on the pier, they went on the carnival rides, plus learned and briefly played a French Canadian game called Pétanque, also played mini golf, and ate some pizza.

All us boys had to use this in our shorts based on our bathing suits kept rubbing on our crouch

All us boys had to use this in our shorts based on our bathing suits kept rubbing on our crouch

We all had a day at Funtown / Splashtown in Saco on Thursday. The day started cloudy and it did rain for a bit but then the sun broke through and it was hot and humid for most of the day.

Jim took down 4 lobsters and a bowl of steamers during the week. Meanwhile, we cooked on the open fire a few nights with chicken that we had marinating for days. Have to say, there’s nothing like grilling on an open fire.

Marcus skinned his elbow from falling off his scooter barreling  down a steep hill at the campground with his buddy, Adrian.

When Marcus was at his Dad’s, Tami and I went out to “The Pier” for some nightlife and you can see Tami taking a injected shot from the Shot Girl.

In closing, we has a fun time together and look forward to the next camping adventure.  🙂

by JM

Weekend of Water Wackiness

Ashland, NH (May 31- June 2) – We spent the weekend in the NH White Mountains at a campsite called Jellystone Park Camp – Resort (http://abcamping.com/jellystonenh/) located in Ashland. The home of Yogi and Boo Boo. This park is known for the family fun atmosphere and the home of Adventure Zone. AZ is an inflatable paradise for kids and adults of all sizes. The largest of the bunch is Blue Crush which soars over 36 feet in height and has a slim waiting pool at the bottom the size of a small ship. Also, there’s two other slides call Hurricane and Obstacle, a course with a slide at the top.

Slide in Adventure Zone

Slide in Adventure Zone

This past weekend was a “scorcha” of hot weather. High in the 80`’s to low 90’s plus no site of a rain cloud in the sky anywhere. Also, its Jellystone’s theme “Wet ‘N Wild Weekend!” WATER EVERYWHERE! Get set to get wet everywhere you go!! Slip ‘n Slide, Water Gun Heyrides, Water Games. You couldn’t have picked better weather. Truely, it’s the first real warm spell in NH since last fall (ouch).

Our fun started Friday evening using the pool that was cold, but was refreshing with the hot and humid temperatures. It was convenient, our motorhome site was right across from the pool and snake bar.

Sat morning we started with a 2-hour kayak cruse up the Pemi River. Tami, Marcus and Jim rented our own kayaks and we paddled up the river and tipped over to stay cool in the crystal clear river. It was the first time for Tami and Marcus to be in a kayak. The river was so clear you could see the sandy bottom at all times. It was quiet and peaceful for most of the journey. I looked for frog, turtles, or any other wild life next to the shore on rock or trees that had fallen into the water. Besides a bird or Canadian goose fly over, I didn’t get to catch any animals sunbathing.. haha.

In the afternoon, we blew up our tubes and headed back down to the river. So we all stay together we tied them together to just float and drift with the lite current.

Come dinner time, we started a camp fire and cooked chicken, hamburgers, and veggies that can’t be beat for taste. That evening, we joined the rest of the campground for Candy Bingo. It was our first game when I hear Marcus scream out “BINGO”. The MC asked for him to come up to verify his card. He did and was asked to sit back down, as he did have a single straight line across correct, BUT he needed 2 other rows of numbers to be filled as well… To go without saying, he was a bit embarrassed! After bingo, we built a fire till about 10:30pm when we turned off the music and headed for the pillow.

We had a fun weekend together from doing pool activities to just hanging around the fire.

by JM

GO ZIP IT!!!!

Jim, Tami, Marcus and Lexi in all the safety harnesses getting ready to go up the mountain.

Jim, Tami, Marcus, and Lexi all geared up to head up the mountain for a thrill.

 Gilford, NH (June 30th, 2012) –

What a thrill!!!  None of us had ever done this before.  At first it was very intimidating to on the top of the mountain and mostly well over the tree line to start the descend.

Gunstock Mountain is a 2,300 ft NH mountain and is located in in the hart of NH lakes region which houses the 4th longest zipline in the world and claims to be the longest zip line canopy tour in the continental United States!  The mountain has 5 seperate lines that gradually gets longer and faster as you gain experience with the equipment. Speaking of faster it gets up to 55 mph.