Battleship Cove...day two

So Reveille sounds, and I bound out of my hanging cot. I get my toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash and hairbrush and off I go to the ladies room. It is still mostly dark in the sleeping quarters. Since I slept fully dressed, it was easy to run. Somehow the mother above me actually got down and to the ladies room before me as I soon found out as I bumped into her . Oh well, there is room enough in there for the two of us!! I clean my face and do my teeth. AHHH...much better! I look at my hair...not bad. Looks almost the same as when I went to sleep. Wait, did I sleep? No...not really. But I am pretty sure I had to have dozed off at least once or twice. Only waking up in pain when my skin touched the ice cold bars or my hands fell asleep because of the awkward positions I was in during the night. I have to tell you that it was hard not to move around much but you tried to avoid the "squeaking of the cots" and tried not to hit the person above you. Anyway, I felt much better now that I had gotten freshened up. Next I will go and get my clothes to get changed into for the days events. On the way back to the sleeping quarters I run into a father from the other group who proceeds to tell me that I am "way to perky for having slept on this ship last night". I just laughed and high-tailed it back to my cot for my clothes. By the time I get back to the ladies room, there was a line. Not really a big deal since I already freshened up. So I patiently (yes I did just said that I was patient) waited my turn to get changed. By the time I get back to the room, my husband had managed to have our son ready and was already packing up our stuff (have I mentioned yet how much I love that man!!!). I helped pack us up knowing we only had a few more minutes to get to the mess hall for breakfast. Once again, the food was decent (an outside company caters for these overnight ventures). The parents look "haggard" and the children are all still "wired". We put our orders in for the "bag lunch" they will also be providing for us. Then off we go again to finish the "scavenger hunt". At least it is a little warmer today, or are we just used to the cold by now? It's hard to tell. We finally finish by early afternoon. After going completely through all the ships. The den leader now turns these books in for the prize that they are supposed to get. Do you want to know what we went through all these ships for? A pen! Not even one with the ships name on it. A pen with an elephant on the top that lights up when you push the pen against something hard. HELLO...these are 9 year old BOYS!! They want military items, or at least something pertaining to the ships they have been on for 2 days. We are not happy, but we take it and go back to the ship to collect all of our gear to take back to the cars. We have other things we would like to do today.
We move on to the gift shop and museums. We see more ships that were commissioned at one time in one museum. The other, just a marine museum containing a conglomeration of things including a whole section on...the Titanic. Why? I am not sure...the iceberg was nowhere near Massachusetts, am I missing something? Did they not have anything else to display? Did I mention that they originally closed the doors because the only person running the museum went to lunch!! There is only one person in the museum on a Saturday morning? Someone saw our group pitifully standing outside the closed doors and came and opened up the doors for us. Then just left us in there, trusting don't you think? In NY, no one would have left people unattended in a place like that. After we did a walk through which took a total of maybe 15 minutes we sat down to wait for the speaker of the museum. We soon decided that we didn't really feel like waiting another half an hour for someone to speak to us so we just left. Off we now go to the city of Boston.
Our intention for going into Boston was to go on the "Ghost Walk". For some reason unbeknownst to me, we didn't do it. We visited what we were told was the "Central Park" of Boston, and what did we do? Froze our butts off while the kids played on a playground, watched tourists tossing up leaves while taking pictures of themselves, watched people ice skating (the boys had no interest in doing that), talked to the mounted Policemen and had free Starbucks peppermint hot chocolate. Soon we decided to go to eat...another lunch (we ate our "to go" lunch on the ship for some reason before we left). OK, so we find a nice pub. Good food, nice spirits. Caught a good buzz for the first time on the trip (I know it's a boy scout trip, but we all drink...some more than others). By the time we left, I think the other patrons were happy to see us leave. I don't know why, we were not loud, rowdy or anything. Well we were finally just warming up with the introduction of alcohol. However, as soon as we walked out of the restaurant..."buzz" be gone. At least for me, I really didn't have too much to drink in the first place so my buzz was barely there to begin with. So off we go to do some sports memorabilia shopping for the boys and to buy a bathing suit for one of the boys that forgot his at home (yes, in winter and in Boston we attempt to buy...a BATHING SUIT...plain shorts it is!). After walking through the city for a little while longer we finally decide to go back to the hotel which is actually about an hour away.
When we finally arrive, the boys don't want to do anything but go in the pool and hot tub. They all run in the rooms and change as quickly as possible. You cant imagine how fast they can move when they want something. It is AMAZING!! We sign in with the lifeguard and let the boys play and the parents relax with...MORE drinks. SURPRISE!!SURPRISE!! I must say, we had a great time because normally my husband and I cannot drink at the same time because someone always has to be the "responsible person". Finally the evening comes to an end, the pool is closing and everybody is getting tired. So we head back to the rooms.
Showers are getting done when suddenly there is a knock on the door, they decided to order pizza and now we are having a pizza party. We did not have any pizza, We were still full from dinner. But I did hear that the pizza was not half bad. Considering everybody always says..."outside of NY...pizza, bagels and Chinese food are not good options". So I guess Massachusetts pizza was OK...5 pies later I would assume it was more than edible.
We however, showered and relaxed knowing that we were off and running by 7 a.m. the next morning. So...lights out on day two.

Battleship Cove...Day one

It has finally arrived, the trip all the boys have been talking about. The day after Thanksgiving we get up at our normal time. At 5:20 in the morning for us and 5:45 for my son. He is so excited, he actually did the morning routine faster than normal. The battle we go through every day of this child's life did not exist on this very day. Anyway, that's a whole separate blog. I was up late the night before packing because I still had the holiday at my house. We also had some of our closest friends visiting from another state and there was nothing going to have us miss their visit. So late to bed, early to rise. But I was organized. Holiday was done, house was clean and packing up the truck first thing in the morning went well. Nothing was forgotten. So we eat and head out to meet the group at the den leaders house. We are on time but have to wait for the others. Finally everybody arrives. We are now running late, no time for coffee which is not received well by some. We have to be at the Orient Point Ferry at 9:00 a.m. for our 10:00 departure. We have a high speed convoy out to Orient Point. We pulled in the parking lot as the clock turned 9:00. So, all is good. The ferry leaves on time and in an hour and 15 minutes, we will pull into New London, CT. We convoy out and head over to the ship. Timing is going very well. We arrive at about 1:00 p.m. By now, we are starting to get hungry. Good thing we all planned on going out for lunch. Oops...change of plans. It turns out, some people brought sandwiches (just in case)and wound up eating them on the way. So only 2 families needed to eat. So on went the GPS and into town for food we go. On a previous wrong turn, we passed through there and remembered seeing some possible options for lunch. So the 2 families park the trucks and start walking. We come across some local people and ask for suggestions on where to eat. We are sent to something that looks like a little hole in the wall because the food is fantastic. So, we tried it. The food was awesome, portions were tremendous and for the three of us including tip was less than $20.00. So full bellies, we head back to the ship. Just in time, they are letting us board early. So we start lugging in all the "gear". We bring it all to the "sleeping quarters". OK, the big room with floor to ceiling hanging metal cots sleeping about 50 people. We choose our beds (for a lack of a better word), throw our stuff down and off we go. We are sent on a scavenger hunt through the 4 ships. The boy scouts must complete this for a prize. We head off to begin the scavenger hunt, but we know that we need to be back for dinner at 6 p.m. It is brutally cold and windy outside of the ships so you actually welcome the close quarters of the ships. Single file and keep ducking down through some wickedly small doorways. If you were over a certain height or weight...forget going through these ships. Six o'clock comes around quickly. So we head back in the dark and cold to the Battleship. As we re-enter we are told there will be no more walking outside because things are freezing. So all activities will be indoors and the scavenger hunt will have to be finished the next day. OK, so we eat and do a fire drill(back out into the cold night we go!). Then we do knot tying, storytelling, meet a crew member from when the ship was commissioned and see a film about the ship itself. Then we get to watch the feature film..."The Incredible Mr. Limpet". When it ends, we are told that we have 10 minutes to get to the other side of the ship and prepare for lights out at 11:00 p.m. So change, brush teeth and set up the sleeping bags. Well they played Taps and lights were off...no joke. We weren't even ready. Oh well! It is so dark you can't see anything. Now try and climb up moving cots and get into bed. You are so close that the people above and below you are approximately 8" from you as you are lying on your cot.
Assume the position you want to sleep in because all movement creates creaks that echo throughout the room. You also have to be careful not to hit the other person as you roll because remember there is only about 8" between the two of you. So, again...pick a position and don't move! For 7.5 hours!! Now, can we talk about the snoring...wow...mostly men and boys were there. Do you have a concept of the level of noise? Needless to say, there was no sleeping for me and many others. By morning, it smelled "ripe" in there from the feet, morning breath and possible "pooting" throughout the night. So when Reveille played I was out of bed like a bullet out of a gun. I had been waiting for that song to get out of bed. FINALLY!! I thought it was never going to start playing!! I grabbed my toothbrush and hairbrush and went to the bathroom as quickly as possible. Oh, I forgot to explain the bathrooms. The first one they showed us was a actually the men's room. Although we were told that it WAS our bathroom. Urinals in the open with 2 stalls with broken doors. The boys had to be kicked out when any female needed to go. Once in there, you had to lift the door into place with your foot and then try to lock it. I will not even get into how disgusting it was either. Luckily, on the way to the mess hall, we found an actual ladies room. MUCH MUCH better, until the boys try to go into them. I think I've covered day one, if I forgot anything I will mention on another portion of this blog.

What we do for our children...

The things we do for our children...it goes beyond words. We try to give them even more than we had ourselves. Growing up never wanting for anything really makes this a difficult task. However, we find the ways. Some might say I was spoiled. I don't think so. I did work for things as I got older. I will admit that I was privileged. When my husband grew up, if you wanted something, you worked for it. But when it comes to our son...the sky is the limit. He is as bad as I am. So here is the newest. A Boy Scouting event called Battleship Cove. OK, let me start this with...Roughing it to me is "no room service". So, what is Battleship Cove you ask? Well it is a wonderful outing in which we spend the 2 days and 1 night on a battleship in Boston. When do we pick to go...Winter. Boston in the winter. Good timing!! Anyway...this little overnight trip is now costing somewhere in the ball park of $500.00. That is not including supplies to go with (including sleeping bags...which I intentionally don't have because I don't camp! Did it, didn't care for it!) Anyway...non stop fun for the boys, but the parents...5 hour road trip...a lot of climbing through ships and sleeping in hanging cots with a ship load of riled up boys! So sleeping is not happening! Lights out at 11:00 p.m.(better than what we were originally told...8 p.m.) and then up again at 6 a.m.. That doesn't bother me because I am an early riser. We are up at 5:20 a.m. during the week anyway. There is so much that I could go on about but I will spare everyone. I wonder if we can sneak out for a drink at the "Bull & Finch" Pub? I bet everyone there WON'T know my name. For those who know me very well, the answer is...no, there will be no "nookie" on a boy scout trip...oh well, I guess that will have to wait until the hotel room the next night (oh yes...needed a room. Hot shower, indoor pool, sauna, whirlpool, restaurant, etc. Mom needs something to recoup with). We had better have booked a suite!! I should check with the husband on that!! Anyway...never in a million years would I have thought I would do this. Who was I kidding...my son asked and I didn't even hesitate. I said "of course Daddy can take you". Never in my wildest dreams did I think the other mothers would fight to have the moms be allowed to go. Now turning this into a "family" trip. What am I missing here? I am sure there will be many more things that I will do for my son that I might never do on my own. Ah....the things we do for our children.

Happy Halloween!!!

Remember when we were young, Halloween was so awesome!!! You made your costumes, none of these store bought costumes!! Being old enough to be a "Hobo" was "cool". We carried pillowcases and trick or treated from the time we got home until well after dark. We ran home to empty the pillowcases because we collected that much candy. It was ok to eat the candy as you walked. You were even able to go to the same houses more than once. The reason they never picked up on the repeating was because there were so many kids out. The roads were packed with kids. Even the teenagers dressed. Now, they walk around in their everyday clothes with shaving cream and feel like they are owed the candy. Or they consider the shaving cream all over their body their costume. Now...a lot of people don't have the kids out going door to door. We worry about the candy being collected and only allow them to visit people's houses that we know. We still scrutinize every piece that they collect. In addition, these kids don't walk the distances we did for candy. Oh well...now we live through our children. I think I am more into Halloween than my 9 year old son. I decorate like crazy. No inflatables. Just good old fashion decorations with a few new twists, black lights and outdoor music playing. We have the house that the kids love to come and see. Surprisingly enough, they all tell us. They love to come both during the day and then again at night. My son loves hearing the kids saying to the others that this is "Ryan's house". He is proud of the decorations and each year gets to set more up. This year he was in charge of the skeletons coming out of the ground along with the tombstones. He was happy! Happier with decorating than walking around for candy that mom and dad could just buy from the store at anytime.