That's what we are calling this week. Since Loch is lucky enough to be away at camp, we are having "Camp Finnegan" where we go swimming, to the beach, he gets to stay up late and if he wants to eat nothing but 6 Clementines for lunch he can (he did that LOL!).
It's hard to do any canning when you are attending Camp Finn, but I managed to get it done. I did spicy dill pickles and dilly beans in the morning. I normally do refrigerator pickles so I'm not used to the color change that happens to pickles during the canning process, I'll have to get used to that but I thought I'd do something different this year, especially since it's been awhile since I had the canning equipment out.
The jalapeños had to wait until evening since Finn wanted to go to the beach and honestly I was sick of the vinegar smell in the kitchen so I was ready to get out of the house myself.
Excuse my obsession over Live Oak trees, they are my favorite and only recently has it dawned on me that when we leave the military I will probably never live near them again. So I take photos of them whenever I'm at the beach, lots of photos.
Sailor Dad has been working from about 7 am until well after midnight every day this week, so we thought it would be nice if we surprised him with a chocolate shake before we headed home for the evening. Finn calls it "going to see daddy in jail" LOL I guess because of the coveralls he wears when he works on the jet and that he's always standing behind a tall fence and gobs of concertina wire haha! They were nice enough to open the gate this time so we didn't have to throw his dinner over the fence :)
I feel kind of bad, while we are at the beach cooling off hubby gets to do things like crawl around on the hot metal of a jet in 100º heat, but as he points out it's way cooler than doing it in the Persian Gulf in 120º with jet blast in his face and full gear and helmets on! I guess it's all relative.
(hard to see, but there's people on top, looks like a big ol' cookie sheet to me, ouch!)
After getting home I was able to deal with the jalapeños, I pickled and canned 4 pints of rings and picked out the biggest ones to seed and halve and those went into the freezer for stuffed jalapeños at a later date. My kitchen still smelled like vinegar this morning.
Finn stayed up late watching Hawaii Five-O, his new favorite. We just finished the first season of the new one and Finn is an addict, after his shower last night he decided to do his hair "like Danno"!
I didn't feel like shelling out the bucks for season two quite yet so I started the "old" episodes from Netflix and Finn was even glued to those! I have a 7 year old obsessed over old Hawaii Five-O episodes, can't believe it. I'll have to see if Netflix has Magnum P.I, or Knight Rider episodes LOL
With hubby at work almost 24/7 it's just Finn and I attending Camp Finnegan this week, it's supposed to be over 100º for the next 3-5 days so I have no idea what I'm going to pull out of my hat tomorrow. It just occurred to me that I don't think I've been truly alone with Finn this long since the first night in the hospital! It's always "LochandFinn" so this is pretty weird!
Just as I'm finishing up this post (I'm at Finn's music lessons) I can hear him learning the theme song from Hawaii Five-O on the ukelele in the other room... no doubt I will have to listen to him play that all the way home in the backseat :)
p.s. Loch called last night and I wish I could have recorded it to load onto the blog! He was talking so fast, all about zip lining, rock walls, orienteering, and flying cockroaches in the bunkhouse LOL... I guess he's having a good time, and they DID go tubing, they got caught in that storm the other night so I'm glad I didn't know that at the time or I would have been pretty worried. He's going on an offshore night fishing trip this evening, I'd like to think that he will be secured to the deck somehow with no chance of man overboard in the dark, yep - I'm going with that scenario :) Finn kept saying "lemme talk to him" so I passed the phone over and told him to hurry since Loch only had 2 minutes on the phone, and Finn says "I don't miss you, I'm glad you are at camp and I took all your stuff" - ah, brotherly love...
What a great chance to spend some good one-on-one time. I love the idea of Camp Finnegan. You are one great mom!
ReplyDeleteSue, glad to see you are back home, the rolls you made look delicious!
DeleteI just have to laugh at your last line. Ya gotta love that competitive brotherly spirit. LOL!
ReplyDeleteSounds like camp Finn is lots of fun. My kids are bored already and they've only been out of school a week. UG! I wish I could send them off to camp somewhere.
Sparkless, I am counting the days until they can BOTH go to camp at the same time, whatever will I do? LOL who cares? woohoo! I have no idea how to keep them entertained now that the 100º heat is here :)
DeleteOur local TV station has a retro TV and they play Hawaii 5-0 everyday @ noon. And flying cockroaches? I think I would make Loch drop the luggage and clothes at the street and burn them. I get a little nervous of cockroaches.
ReplyDeleteJane, we have one of those stations on our antenna here too, I think it's called AntennaTV but I can never seem to be watching when the shows I like are on. Loch's stuff will definitely be put into a big garbage bag as soon as we pick him up and I'll leave it outside on the lawn until I go through it and put it into the laundry LOL!
DeleteI have to echo Sue's sentiments. What a special time you're making this for Finn. He's probably having a better time than he would at camp! Watching a lot of TV shows and staying up as late as he wants? And eating what he wants? (Please send application blank for Camp Finn asap.)
ReplyDeleteMama Pea, I'm wondering how much of a battle it will be to get him back to a normal bedtime once Camp Finn is over tomorrow, I've probably created a monster!
DeleteThe pickles look great. You know, don't you, that this is a preview for the time when Loch moves out before Finn and your relationship does a big shift again. . . the canning looks great and I'm sure hoping you figure out something fun to do. Making popsicles? Going to an air-conditioned museum? We have live oaks here, so consider Northern California for a future move!
ReplyDeleteStefaneener, I never thought of that! Finn is really going to miss his brother when he's 16 and Loch is off on his next adventure. I think we are going kayaking near the house this morning QUICKLY since it's supposed to be 100º by 1 pm yikes! Then definitely popsicles! Northern California is always on my list - I used to live up in Ferndale/Humboldt County and it remains one of my favorite places ever :) I don't remember Live Oaks quite that far up though but it had so many other gorgeous things :)
DeleteOh my, that last line could have been uttered by one of our girls... ;-) All of your pickled goodies look great. Do you have a recipe to share for the pickled jalapenos? I've been using the same one for a while and would like to try something different. Have fun at Camp Finn! :-)
ReplyDeleteAnke, I don't use any special recipe for my jalapeños, they are destined for our wintertime "movie night nachos" so I keep them plain, just vinegar and water and a pinch of salt in each jar. My pickles is where I get spicy, always garlic, hot pepper flakes or fresh hot peppers if I have them, mustard seed, peppercorns and fresh dill. I don't measure anything except the vinegar and water so they always taste different LOL
DeleteI love the Dan-o look! What a riot - Hawaii Five-O. And now you've got me humming the theme song from Magnum PI. Of course, I watched THAT because of Tom Sellecks' short-shorts. Oooh, mama! I love the idea of Camp Finnegan. And that closing shot to Loch was just priceless! Hope it cools down a bit. Love these posts!
ReplyDeleteFinn's phone message to Loch is exactly what my boys would have said in the same instance. I'm sure all strong brotherly bonds start out this way. Right? They'll love each other to bits in a few years, right?? Please??
ReplyDelete