Labor Day

I can never remember the purpose of labor day but usually feel pretty let down if there isn't one last big summer BBQ involved. This year was one of those years that I was sure to be jipped. We have no BBQ (since we were forced to leave ours in the buffalo backyard when it didn't fit) and no invitations came our way.


In the a.m. we worked at the office. Always plenty to do around there. Here is Camille earning $10 bucks, actually $8 after her Dad saw all the stuff she missed.

 I have been asking around for a local place to go swimming besides the beach. The beach is awesome but you can't exactly swim there. Everyone told me to head to the University Pool.  So we checked it out early in August since it's close by.  But when I saw the crowded pool and found out it was $7 a person- it just wasn't going to happen. I hate swimming in community pools and I couldn't spend $7 x 7 even if my kids hated me for it. With all this water around there I was determined to be swimming for free.


I mentioned this to the Bishop Sunday night while we had dinner there. He told us where his family goes. No beach, but a bridge crossing the river. They like to jump off there. So Monday afternoon when the work was done, we found the spot up in the woods 3 miles from our home. It was a bit crowded with new UNH coeds, but they were super nice and didn't seem to mind our family crashing their party.  I was the first to jump. It looked way higher from the top. The water was way warmer than the beach but definitely the blackest water I have ever swum in. But it smelled clean and I knew there was no chance of alligators so it was just fine by me.

Caroline went next, thanks to her father dropping her off the side. I told her that parents get arrested for throwing their children off the bridge.

He almost threw his son over next but I stopped him. We are easy to recognize in this picture. Brent is the white bald head giving his 6 year old a pep-talk before "helping" her over the edge. And my girls were the only ones not wearing bikinis as usual. Doesn't anyone besides senior citizens wear a one piece these days? Not on my side of the country.

Caroline wasn't the only one Brent gave a lift to. Savannah had a bad day and didn't swim at all. She was still recovering from an injury she sustained on Saturday after they finished setting up this.

 Our first trampoline ever. And already a sprained ankle. Five kids worked for 3 hours on this thing. Even Marcus was a ton of help. He carried off a 1/2 dozen screws and the girls spent an hour scavenging the yard for them.

The girls had to come up with a combined $100 and Dad paid the rest. It was a NH promise. Something to bribe them away from Washington. 

They insist that he also bribed them with a promise of a dog in NH. That was before he knew about ticks. Now we are both too worried about it running around through our woods collecting ticks and then brushing them all off in our house. It's pretty impossible to have outdoor pets here with the long winters. I don't know if they will ever talk us into that one. We already regret the trampoline. Even an enclosure doesn't save your ankles.

After most of us jumped and swam (Savannah sat and babysit on the bridge) for an hour we went home to shower and out for the burger that mom was craving. Did you know we don't even have a Red Robin in NH? We settled for Applebee's. And the burger was the only disappointment of the day. It was good, but when you're craving Red Robin since you can't grill at home, it's hard to substitute with an Applebee's burger.  Not the same. We should've bought a grill instead.