The Big DumpTruck

Throwing Little Thought Pebbles at Your Windshield Since 1996

Tag: kids

Hampton in May = popcicle toes


Hampton in May, originally uploaded by Big DumpTruck.

The thing about living in New England is that you’re never really that far from the ocean. And if you’ve had to run an errand to the Apple Store in Salem NH, you’re REALLY not that far from the ocean. So we took a detour out to Hampton Beach. It was fairly bustling, considering it’s still the middle of May. There were plenty of people sitting on the beach, some in bathing suits, even though it wasn’t all that warm. Perhaps they were visiting from Antarctica and considered it to be blistering hot?

We intended to park at the Hampton State Park and walk on the rocks, but apparently there was some kind of mega tow truck show or something. These are the tow trucks that you see pulling fire engines and dumptrucks, the kind that make you really wonder what kind of gas mileage they get. Anyhoo, they filled the ENTIRE parking lot, so we had to go down to the lots near the bathrooms and stuff.

At North beach there were a TON of people surfing. Not that there was anything too special about the waves, but it’s been kind of crappy so I think people where just happy to get the heck out of the house.

I know I was!

by on May 18, 2008
filed in photos
tagged , , , ,

The Mother’s Day Poem

This is the poem I got for Mother’s day this year. I did not expect a poem, but I was very happy to get it. It was written on a piece of foamy stuff with a magnet on the back so I can keep it on the fridge.

I started to write my mom a poem but it was not as good as this one so I just gave up altogether. I can honestly say that nobody has ever, ever, written me a better poem than this one, and I doubt they ever will.

My Mother’s Day Poem, by Junior

My mom appreciates Mike Lowell
But I hope I make her complete
Without me there could be a hole
My mom appreciates Mike Lowell

We work together like some moles
But she also makes my heart beat
My mom appreciates Mike Lowell
But I hope I make her complete.

by on May 12, 2008
filed in Uncategorized
tagged , , , , ,

Great Moments Not Caught On Film

I’m more than a little bummed the past couple of days. (What day is this? Saturday? Okay, that’s good.) Thursday night at Junior’s Little League game he hit a GRAND SLAM, the first in his life (hell, he hasn’t even hit a home run before now) and I did not capture the moment on film. Or on computer chip. For the first time, I’m REALLY mad that my good video camera is broken and that I haven’t been able to replace it. I mean, what if he never hits another grand slam? My parents weren’t able to make the game and I won’t be able to share the moment with them. And trust me, they’ve been to enough games where we’ve all had to say “good try” to him because prior to this year his mad baseball skillz were, well, lacking. He had none. He had a lot of heart and loved to play, but well, never quite pulled it off. He couldn’t hit and he couldn’t catch. But now, he hits everything and his glove is a baseball magnet. (In addition to the grand slam he also hit a double, for 5 RBIs on the night) I think you should all put him on your fantasy baseball watch list cause he’s gonna rock the big leagues.
But I can’t show it to you because I don’t have a video camera. Grrrrr.

by on April 26, 2008
filed in Uncategorized
tagged , , ,

Hey, Easter Bunny

We could skip the candy if you would just bring me a warm, sunny day. I realize that Easter is way early this year, so normally we’re dealing with April temps instead of March ones, but still, I have certain expectations about Easter that just aren’t going to be met.

Historically (and I mean back when I was a kid through recent years with my kid) after Easter dinner we would get in the car and drive over to the Leominster State Forest and look for salamanders and fish. I know, seems silly, but you must know, Easter Bunny, that you were the one who would bring us the butterfly nets that we used to catch the salamanders. You do remember that, don’t you?

We took all the kids (and when I say that I’m referring to my son, niece and nephew) to the park a couple of times to either throw a frisbee, a baseball, or fly a kite. All things I do not want to do tomorrow because it’s going to be too cold. So I’ll ask again; instead of sugary stuff, can you give me a 55 degree day with puffy clouds and no wind? That would rock. (Of course, I wouldn’t turn down the warm day AND some of those chocolate covered marshmallow rabbits that I love…)

by on March 22, 2008
filed in Uncategorized
tagged , , ,

"I Am Not a Dude!"

Oh, sir, but you are!

After watching the amateur footage the kids shot of the cop going apeshit on them for “being disrespectful” (um, dude, I’m pretty sure asking the kid if he was from county was pretty disrespectful as well. Let’s just say kids learn by example, shall we?) at my house we are now dude-ing each other constantly. And at random intervals, one of use says “I am NOT A DUDE” just to balance things out.

Think about how these kids were treated. I don’t believe this is a very unusual interaction, either. I can’t imagine that this cop would have treated a group of adults the same way.

I’m glad they caught him on tape doing this so he can be disciplined in whatever way is appropriate. I do not want my kids to grow up hating the police and thinking of them as the enemy, as the kids in this tool’s jurisdiction certainly did. Getting headlocked and thrown to the ground for “disrespecting” the uniform? Dude, you need to get a freaking grip.

Regardless of how you feel about the way the 14 year old responded to the cop, his reaction was in no way appropriate. Dude.

(The video is currently available at the ABC News website: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4278101

by on February 16, 2008
filed in Uncategorized
tagged

I Got That Feeevah

Okay, not me, Junior. Although he seems to be doing better today than yesterday. But he can’t go back to school tomorrow because he had a fever today. He’s actually upset that he can’t go to school, not because of his burning love of school work and math lessons, but because he misses his friends. And apparently at aftercare he was supposed to join a club somehow related to Tech Decks (those little tiny skateboards). I don’t have all the details on that one, but I’m sure I’ll hear all about it eventually.

I am about done with the children’s programming. He had no interest in doing anything but crashing on the couch. I made him watch the Food Network for a while thinking that it might help him take a nap but he actually got more animated and chatty about Rachel Ray’s cooking show than he did about any cartoon. (We came to an agreement that no way no how would we want to eat the “hot dog salad” she made today. Gah.)

So wish us luck. I have to have my mom watch him tomorrow and I didn’t want to do that but maybe he’s getting past the contagious stage. Mr. Dump and I are convinced we won’t be able to avoid getting what he has, based on the past three days. Yay.

by on February 11, 2008
filed in Uncategorized
tagged , , ,

10 Years Ago in BigDumpTruck History

You know, I was all excited about dipping in to the archives to pull out some quotes from 10 years ago, but 10 years ago the Dump was sort of in transition and half the content was hand-edited and some but not all was on blogger, and the end result is that a lot of my content was lost when I moved from my ISP and they deleted a bunch of my files on me before I could copy them. Which is the long, round-about way of saying “Happy 10th Birthday” to Junior, who made his first appearance on “Mookie’s Driver Training Page” way back in the day. (Those pages are, sadly, part of history.)

If any of you are obsessed fans who laboriously saved every word I wrote to your hard drive, I’d be more than happy to have a copy of the archives. You know, as long as it wouldn’t involve me having to have personal contact with anyone who would have laboriously saved every word I wrote to their hard drive.

Junior and Step-Junior went for a morning of skiing with Mr. Dump, who will just be watching. I am as sick as a dog today, and am hoping to feel good enough to continue the birthday celebrations after they get home near lunchtime. Wish me luck!

by on January 6, 2008
filed in Uncategorized
tagged , ,

Past the Halfway Point

Last night I passed the 25k mark. Now I only have to hit 50k before the clock strikes midnight and November turns into December. I think maybe I can do it. I had a really good rush of pointless prose last night, so that’s nice.

Mike Lowell is staying in Boston, so you’ll have to excuse me if I’m giddy for a few. He’s my favorite player (Papi has a special place in my heart forever, but Mike Lowell is my boyfriend). In fact, that’s how I refer to him. It’s always “My boyfriend Mike Lowell.” I saw a photo of my boyfriend Mike Lowell down at Disney the other day. I was pretty sad that he didn’t do that the day after they won the World Series, but I would never question my boyfriend Mike Lowell’s decisions.

Let’s see, what else is going on? Oh, I was going to ask if anyone here owned one of those digital photo frames, and if you do, do you like it and would you recommend it? I am trying to write a Christmas list for Santa, you see, and I want one of those but I don’t want Santa to spend a lot of money on it. It’s not like I can’t just pull photos up on my computer if I really need to see them. I just like the idea of having a photo frame on my desk so that I can just swap out the pictures with the weather.

Speaking of which, we’re on snow alert. We may get [breathlessly] a snowflake or two. Junior is doing the happy 4th Grade dance. I tried to explain that the snow isn’t going to stick, and that we don’t have to track down his boots just yet. But damn, I had better track down his boots. I wonder if they still fit? Doubt it.

(Christine and Nicholle, you pay attention, okay? Nothing you buy will ever fit a whole year later, and you can’t buy stuff on sale at the end of the season because you don’t know what size they will be when it’s time to wear it. This is the most ANNOYING thing about kids. They just outgrow stuff constantly. Sometimes, within days of you buying it, I kid you not. Always make sure you have at least ONE pair of shorts or one sweater that’s a size larger than your kid currently wears because it’s a sad day when you wake up and it’s 90 degrees and they suddenly don’t have any shorts to wear to camp. Ahem.)

by on November 19, 2007
filed in Uncategorized
tagged ,

First Person Narrative

Junior has to write an essay over the weekend. His first big-boy homework! The subject is “My First ____”. They had to brainstorm ideas for a topic, then they had to fill in a sheet that basically was a way of drafting the essay. He was actually pretty far along with it already, so I have no doubt this one is in the bag.

His essay is “My First Red Sox Game” which happened to occur a month or so ago. That’s right, my son, the nine year old, had never been to a game, mostly because it’s impossible to get tickets. These were the crappy seats you get for free (one game) when you join Red Sox Nation.

Anyhoo, he and I got to talking about First Person Narratives that you just don’t want to read. He and I started a list, and I will continue it for you.

My First Diaper Rash
The First Time I Ate Peas
My First Poo
The First Time I Watched Blue’s Clues
My First Big Boy Underwear

by on October 5, 2007
filed in humor
tagged , , , ,

Causing a Fumble

It’s Sunday in New England, so you either go to a fair, go apple picking, or go to a football game. We chose the last option (although we passed about a billion people at Bolton Orchards. There were so many people there (I assume because they had the hot donuts sign out front – the Lions Club makes ‘em right in front of you. Mmmm) that it didn’t even occur to us to stop. Even though I love little lard balls.

My nephew is number 92. He’s amazing, even if they didn’t put him in enough for anyone’s tastes. Let me put it this way…they put him in for a total of 6 plays. Two of those plays, his name got announced because he made the tackle. What does that tell you about his mad football skillz? In this blurry shot (hey, a 200mm lens all the way out trying to follow the action? I’m only human) he takes down number 11 and causes him to fumble. Woo!


causing a fumble, originally uploaded by Big DumpTruck.

by on September 30, 2007
filed in Uncategorized
tagged ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »