Summer 2012

This week, school started back up again, so I figure its time to recap Summer 2012 and all the things we did, and didn't do these past 60 days.

Of course, the summer always starts with the Cape trip, and this year was no different.

• Staying in the house were: Jason, Michelle, Jack, Andrew, Tom, Liz, Thomas, Julia, Moussa, Mounira, George, Bo, Owen and Evan - Nancy, Liam and I stayed in the camper.
• Jay popped in for a few nights too
• Moussa was there the whole time, and was a cooking MASTER.  He prepared for us:
• Pork tenderloin with apple stuffing
• Home made bagels with home made cream cheese - of course!
• Fried anything - including fries, chicken fingers, fried dough, fried tortillas, chicken wings, buffalo wings
• A variety of dips
• Chili
• Steak tips
• Lasagna
• and much, much more
• Nancy found a new drink: Vodka, Sprite, Vodka, Mio berry, Vodka, and a lime
• The weather was perfect all week
• The Miller's refurbished the downstairs bathroom and it looks great.  They also cleaned the beach a bit and cut a few trees (only about 100 more to go)
• The AC went out on day 2 and wasn't fixed until day 7
• We spent time at both Old Silver and Sippewissett beach 
• The annual fire works were an experience.  On the first shells, Moussa failed to use the enclosed launcher, so we had 4 giant explosions with sparks at ground level.  Needless to say, the Pisciotta's never made it back for the rest of the show
• Card games and drinks (lots of them) every night
• The adults all got the chance to go out for a nice dinner - no kids.  That was a treat!
• Loys of fishing, a little golf, and no bike rides

In July and August, we had the following:

• Owen and Evan spent time at Camp Pisciotta while they went to Bob Lord's Football Camp and they had a blast.  We'll have to plan that annually.  
• We had done Six Falgs New England in late June, so it was off to Six Flags Great Adventure in July.  See the related post for more.
• We had to replant some of the garden as the evil deer came through and munched away when we were on vacation.  By the end of the summer though, we have hundreds of tomatoes, plus peppers, jalapenos, green beans, cukes, and later on, our first zucchini!  The watermelon plant grew, but no fruit.  Same with the pumpkin, which we got only because it was mislabeled as a squash.
• Owen and Jason from down the street became inseparable for a while until Owen scratched him with a paint scraper   Since then, its been the silent treatment.  The good news though is that both Liam and Owen had a number of days at a friend's house or with them coming over, or even just meeting up to go fishing.   Evan - not so much.
• We camped one weekend in OOB with the Foulds.  Nancy actually enjoyed herself so much that she's been trying to schedule another trip soon.  
• We painted the kitchen - completely done.  No lingering trim, curtains, or anything.  As a painting team, I'll have to admit, Nancy and I are pretty good
• Football started in late July - both Owen and Evan won their first games

Everyone said the summer flew by to them, and I guess you're always going to want it to be longer, but I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this summer.  More camping would have been better.......