Nolan's salsa scale

Last night, Bill made up a batch of homemade salsa. His salsa is delicious. However, the boys tend to be suspicious of it. It has chunks (ew!) and flavor (the horror!). But I convinced Nolan to try a little. 

He chewed thoughtfully for a moment. I asked him how he liked it. He said, "Well, on a scale of Legendary to Epic, to Good, to Poop, to Super Poop, I'd have to give it a rating of...."

Yes. He paused for dramatic effect. The kid is going to grow up to host reality TV. 

"Good. I'd call it good."

He seems to think he was giving Bill a great compliment. He would have been in trouble with me if he had labeled it as 'poop' or 'super poop'. 

I told Bill I thought it was legendary. He seemed to think I was exaggerating. I'm not. I could eat it with a spoon, no chips needed. 

What were they thinking??

Last week Saturday, we took the boys to Mackinac Island.  We were on our way home from our U.P. house, so we spent the night in St. Ignace and headed over to the island first thing Saturday morning.  Sam would have been perfectly content to ride the ferry back and forth all day.  He was fascinated with it.  TJ was only mildly interested in things...he was more annoyed that he was without internet all day and couldn't play on his iPod.  Nolan was up for adventure and was pretty impressed with everything we saw.

We rented bikes and rode around the island.  TJ was on a bike by himself, Bill and Sam were on a tandem bike, and (lucky me), I was on a bike with Nolan behind me on a tagalong.  This means that I rode 8.1 miles with 48 pounds of cheerful dead weight behind me.  He doesn't feel obligated to pedal very often.

We made several stops.  One was at Arch Rock.  A  new staircase was just built last summer so you can access Arch Rock from the road that wraps around the island.  But it's quite a commitment.  I believe it was 207 steps up...in the sun, right after we got off of bicycles.  It was a slow climb.  Nolan clung to my hand and needed encouragement to keep going.  At one point, he was completely out of breath and said, "What were they thinking, putting this rock up so high?"

I laughed.  Yeah, what were those guys thinking...4000 years ago when the arch was formed?

When we got to the top, Nolan looked around in awe and proclaimed that the long climb up had been "totally worth it".  We all agreed.

European Parking Problems

Last Friday night was my summer work picnic.  This year, we had a picnic area reserved at the Whitecaps Game, with dinner included, and all expenses paid.  We even had $20 each in spending money.  That means $100 for my whole family.  The boys got a ton of stuff and I didn't spend a dime of my own money.

But Sam did not come with us.  The day before he started complaining of a headache and running a fever.  I had hoped he would be feeling well enough to come with us to the game, but his fever was still 103 at 5 p.m. on Friday.  One of the nicest things about living with my parents is that I didn't have to scramble to find a babysitter, nor did I have to fret about Sam being home without us.

Shortly after we left for the game, Sam really perked up (ibuprofen is amazing stuff).  For fun, he started reading an atlas (I know...his idea of Friday night fun is rather peculiar).  He felt a need to keep texting me some of his observations.

The one that had me laughing hysterically?

"Hey Mom, did you know that there is a country that's only .7 square miles big?  It's called Monaco."

I wrote back that yes, I had heard of Monaco.  He came back with:

"It's so small, that when they throw a party in Monaco, some people have to park in France."

The kid is hilarious and he isn't even trying.

And in case you are wondering, we got Sam a hat, a blinking sword, blinking teeth (don't ask) and popcorn.  He was pretty happy with his loot.