Pain

The heat has finally taken its toll on me, causing my phantom pain to kick into overdrive. The past few hours have been miserable, with my missing toes twisting and contorting in unnatural positions. I have been miserable trying to find relief and a comfortable position. 

Phantom pain during the morning hours is an odd occurrence for me. Typically the pain sneaks into the early evening or in the middle of the night. I am hoping that it will be fleeting and that I will be able to find relief soon.

Other than the pain and the heat, there is nothing to report from Ohio. 

Hot Hot Hot

Well, the headstone has been forklifted into the back of my mother-in-law's Chevy. As soon as it was placed into the trunk I saw the back end of the car drop. Robby keeps chuckling because his grandma's car was turned into a low-rider.  Transporting it back to VA is going to be a completely separate event, so I'm not overly concerned about stowing a headstone in my yard just yet. 

With the stone retrieved, our plans for today are wide open. I think we are taking a trip to the county dump, but as far as I know, that is the extent of our plans. I'm sure that Timmy will enjoy riding his little bike through the neighborhood. The wide, flat streets make the perfect racetrack for my little cruiser.

Yesterday was hot, and today is going to be even warmer. I think we are all struggling without air conditioning. With the oven going throughout the afternoon, the inside of the house was warmer than it was outside. I've come to the conclusion that I am too old and too pudgy to function in a nearly 100-degree house.  

Monument Quest

The travel fairies smiled upon me yesterday, providing me with a smooth flight with well-behaved children.  Although it was a long day of travel ( most of it in a car traveling to or from an airport) both Robby and Timmy traveled like seasoned pros.  Hopefully the trend will continue throughout the week at Grandma's house.

We are headed out to a cemetary monument store ( although I don't really know if it is called a store) this morning.  Scott's mom replaced the headstone on her husband's grave, and apparently the old one is coming back to Virginia with us.

 I have no clue about where we are going to place a headstone in our yard, but I know that I am not in a situation to point out the logistics. Also, I am not completely confident that we will be able to get it home.  I seem to be the only one with misgivings about the weight of the monument, so I am channeling my "keep my opinion in check and go with the flow" attitude as we begin our monument rescue quest.

It should be interesting.  Hopefully I am wrong, and it will be easy to put a headstone in the trunk of a Chevy sedan.

Traveling

My anxiety is in overdrive this morning. We are flying to Ohio to spend time with Scott's family and I am dreading trying to keep Timmy entertained and quiet on the plane. I love my little Hamlet, but he is a ball of energy who is difficult to contain. Flying with him is a high maintenance, all hands on deck activity which I find draining. 

We have his Yoshi backpack full of quiet toys and a fully charged iPad. The toys, along with a bag of gummy lifesavers, will hopefully be enough to keep him entertained on the two-hour flight. Of course, after we land we have another two-hour drive to Grandma's house, but I will cross that bridge after we land.  

I'm not a fearful flyer, but I can't say that I enjoy it. Even if I were traveling along, flying does not rank among my favorite activities. The fact that I am traveling with the kids only exacerbates the stress that I already experience when heading towards the airport.

Wish us luck!

Scavenger Hunt for the Win!

Friday I took the Cousin Crew on an adventure and, not to brag, I knocked it out of the park. The adventure was both inexpensive and simple to plan, but I have learned that it doesn't cost a lot of money to have fun and to create memories that will last a lifetime. I bought a Groupon for a scavenger hunt through the City of Harrisburg, and my goodness did we have a good time.

Because the adventure was going to involve a lot of walking through the city, my Mom offered to take Timmy to the pool for the day. Although he was missed, I know that the decision to exclude him from the activity was correct. Timmy would have been bored and his being with us would have been all-consuming. He had a great time swimming through the afternoon with my Mom, so in his mind, he didn't miss a thing.

The scavenger hunt was an absolute blast. Using a dedicated app and relying upon our cyber guide for support, the kids and I ran through the city searching and snapping photos of the required items. The clues were all provided in the form of a riddle, which was fun for all of the kids to decipher.  

When reading about the scavenger hunt I learned that bonus points were provided if the photos of the sought items were silly in nature, so my Mom helped me assemble a small bag of props. With the motivation of extra points to push us higher on the leaderboard, the kids were all in on being as silly as possible. With their inhibitions checked, the Cousin Crew had an amazing adventure through the city.

The memories are countless, but my favorite involved finding a photo of a clock. We deciphered the clue while in the State Capitol building, and my niece ran to the help desk to ask about the location of a clock. (Because we had been scouring the building for several clues already, the help desk already knew we were in a competition.) The guide couldn't remember where we could find a clock, but somebody wearing business attire overheard our conversation. Without missing a beat, she said "follow me to the clock."  

We were taken into a back elevator and a keycard was swiped to take us to another floor. We exited and the hustle and bustle of the rotunda were replaced with an ominous silence. We were escorted into the Governor's Office and shown a beautiful clock. In the corner of the grand office, the kids silently grabbed their props and I snapped the photo in front of the clock. 

The lady who escorted us to the Governor's clock was not an isolated incident on our hunt. Everybody whom we approached and asked for assistance was quick to help. It was refreshing to see so many strangers willing to take time out of their day to help a bunch of kids whom they didn't know.  

Because the kids completed the bonus tasks, which included doing yoga in the middle of a park or pretending that you were a supermodel on the street, we finished the scavenger hunt at the top of the leaderboard. Competing against 271 other teams, the Cousin Crew finished first! We had so much fun on the scavenger hunt, this adventure is going to be hard to beat.