CVS w/o 7/5/09

It's been a while since I posted one of my CVS runs. $10 of my ECB were expiring today, so I HAD to go, or I'd lose out on them. I actually lost out on a $3RR from Walgreens, because it expired 2 days ago. I had been rolling my RR for months. Now I'll have to pay full price for something to get another RR!

(2) Olay Body Wash (reg. $7.49) $6.00 each
(2) Febreeze Noticeables (reg. $8.49) $6.50 each
CVS panty shields (reg. $.99) $.89

Total before sales: $32.95
Total after sales: $25.89

Coupons used:
$4 off Febreeze
$1 off Febreeze
$2 off Olay
$1 off Olay

ECB Used:
$1.00, $1.50, $4.00, $5.00

Total OOP: $6.69 (That's almost an 80% savings off the regular price. It's an almost 75% savings off the sale prices)

ECB received: $.89, $5.00, $5.00

I received $1.50 ECB when I scanned my card at the price check, for Spring Rewards. Also, I received an email that for doing a survey on Sunday (comparing the CVS flyer with the Walgreens flyer, I'll earn more ECB, probably $10 ECB)...

Purgatory Chasm

On our way out to the Cape, we stopped in Sutton, to hike the Purgatory Chasm. We've seen the sign on the highway many times, and found out it was a rock formation after looking it up online. We had to check it out!

It was like walking down into a rock valley. Taygan is always wanting to climb rocks during our hikes, so this was perfect for him. You HAD to climb rocks.

After so much rain, it was damp, slippery and muddy. We really should of had our hiking boots on. Oh well, we were careful to try and stay out of the mud.

It was about a 1/2 mile hike through the Chasm, then about another 1/2 back out, along the outer edge.

There were several named rocks, Lover's Leap, Devil's Coffin...

Here's the guys sitting under the Devil's Pulpit.

This is close to the end of the Chasm, just about where we headed to the outer trail to hike back.

This is Devil's Corn Crib, a spot on the hike back where you could look down into the Chasm.

At the end of our hike the boys had to try and climb a rock. This place was very cool, and we definitely plan on hiking it again this year, hopefully after it dries out more.

Fourth of July

After so much rain, almost a month and a half, we lucked out and had a beautiful 4th of July weekend.

What's better than being buried in the warm sand?

Here's the boys digging with their new shovels. It took a lot of hunting to find those shovels!

Taking a break in the shade.

It's tough work, relaxing on the beach. Here's Papa and GeeGee, "resting"...

What's a vacation on the beach with a round of mini golf?

The boys played the long version, 35 holes, thanks to Dakota's free pass he won last summer.

And what comes after mini golf? Well, ice cream, of course!

Here's Dakota and his cone that was the size of his head! Yummy!

Cousins!

We had a chance this week to hang out with the boys' cousins. Well, my cousin's daughters, but whatever. They're cousins.

They had a great time hanging out.

Awww... The youngest 2. They're 2 weeks apart.

Taygan's T-Ball Pics

They had professional pictures done last week at T-Ball. Ummm... No thanks. I don't need to spend crazy amounts of money. I'll just stand behind the woman taking the pictures and take my own!

Taygan's first baseball team.

Pool Party!

We celebrated the end of the school year and the beginning of summer with a pool party. Yup. 9 kids can fit in our pool. And the party ended without anyone hurt, so that was great!

Dakota and Taygan each invited a handful of friends over for Friday after school.

All the kids had a blast.

Dakota and his buddies, boys from his baseball team.

Taygan and his "Brat Pack", boys from preschool. But they're real close and are hanging out still, even though they go to 3 different schools.

We picked up the "big kids" at the school, and walked home from there. As soon as they all got into their bathing suits, a water balloon fight ensued! John and I spent the morning blowing up about 230 water balloons! We filled a laundry basket (placed on 1 side of the yard) and that recycling bin (placed on the other side of the yard).

They started throwing them at each other, but eventually ganged up on John. They all loved it!

There were enough balloons that it was a free-for-all, enough that when the fight was over there were still enough for the little kids when they got there. The little kids mostly threw them on the ground and at the fence, but they thought it was fun. Notice the beautiful picnic table in the background that Papa built for us. Thanks Papa! The kids had a great time, so we'll have to do this again next year. Check out the video below...

Mount Greylock Hike

As we were headed off the mountain (it's an 8.5 mile drive from the summit to the bottom), we stopped and did a hike. We planned to hike around the top of Mount Greylock, but the area was too steep. This hike that we did, called Rounds Rock, was listed as easy and under a mile. The trail was quite narrow, and hard to follow at times. Thank goodness trees were marked every few feet.

There were two scenic views, this was one.

During the hike we came across this cross. It was a bit spooky, seeing it in the distance, then coming upon it.

This sign was posted nearby. It's hard to read, but basically in 1948 a plane crashed here, killing it's pilot. We looked around, and found the remains of the plane.

Spooky, but interesting! The boys were fascinated. Along the way, someone mentioned if there were bears. That got us thinking. Here we are, on a huge mountain, on this little trail, really not knowing where we were. We hiked along a little more, and suddenly John thought he heard a growling noise. We all froze, he said it wasn't him. We hiked a little more and came upon a muddy spot with LOTS of animal tracks in it. We hiked a bit more, and DEFINITELY heard a growling sound. I started to freak out a bit, because John looked nervous. Then I realized that Dakota wouldn't look at us. He was looking straight ahead, hiking along. I told him to lok at me, and when he wouldn't I realized HE was making the growling noises! He had us going!

Mount Greylock

The Veterans War Memorial Tower at the top of Mount Greylock.

Climbing the tower. Mount Greylock is the highest point in Massachusetts, at 3,491 feet.

We made it to the top! You can see for miles and miles and miles.

It was really amazing, how far you could see. Huge mountains that were lower than us.

We explored at the top, checked out the War Memorial Tower and had a picnic lunch.

Baseball with Dakota

Here's the Blue Sox, ready for their next game.

Dakota in his ready position at 2nd base.

Up at deck, getting ready.

The team has been getting better. This game they won 23-5.

Running to first base.

Tee-Ball With Taygan

Taygan started Tee-Ball a couple weeks ago. This past Saturday he had his first game/scrimmage. It was too cute. I really must remember to pull out the video camera and tape a game!

Here's his team (The Mets) all lined up, getting a pep talk from their coach.

Taygan's first hit (and only) of the game. The benefit of being the last kid in the line up? It's an automatic grand slam!

Taygan running to first base! He thought he was going to loose his helmet.

Earlier at practice, Daddy was giving him some hitting tips.

It was so funny to watch the "game". It was only 1 inning long, and the parents were shouting things like "Drop the bat!" (kids were running to first base with the bat), "Tag the base!" (kids were running right past the bases without tagging them), "Throw the ball" (they didn't know what to do once they picked up the ball. Granted, we are still yelling this at Dakota's games!) But Taygan had a great time, and was impressed with himself for hitting a home run!

Webelos Woods

Last weekend John and Dakota went camping with the Cub Scouts.

The weekend was full of activities.

All the activities enforced teamwork and problem solving.

Dakota built a teepee fire.

Here's the group at the end of the campout with their leader and their mascot, Chicken Doo.

Happy Birthday Taygan!

6 years ago today Taygan was born. I'm so lucky to have a picture of him actually being born! (don't ask why the picture is in the corner like that, I don't know) He came screaming into the world at 7:56 am on June 2, 2003. He was 7 lbs 2oz and was 21 inches long.

Now my baby isn't a baby anymore. He's a big 6 year old, tee-ball playing, almost first grader! Sometimes it's true, the years fly by! Happy birthday Taygan! (A.K.A. Short-Round, A.K.A. Bubba)

Fishing on the Canal

All the men went fishing on the Canal, during the Memorial Day Weekend.

They didn't catch anything, just feed the canal all their bait and weights.

They saw a few boats and barges.

But they had a good time, and that's what counts!

Mt. Sugarloaf

We took on another mountain this past Sunday. The weather wasn't the greatest, but we went anyway.

It was a short, but steep hike. I think Taygan is starting to get tired of all these mountains, so we're going to try and stay on more level ground. But what a great view of the Connecticut River.

Looking off towards Sunderland.

Up on the observation tower. They recently filmed a Mel Gibson movie here.

When we went to stamp our passports, the stamp was missing! The boys were very unhappy, and it sucked to climb that trail and not get to stamp the passports. I emailed the DCR when we got home and reported it, but I took the picture of the sign at the top to document our hike.

Spring School Pictures

Every fall, the school does pictures. You pick and pay for your package. In the spring, they take the pictures, send them home, and hope you like them so much that you buy them. At $13 a sheet. This year I was determined not to fall for it. I didn't care what the boys wore to school that day, I didn't give them hair cuts beforehand (can't you tell), and I knew that I wouldn't buy them. The one thing that almost got me was that they take pictures of siblings together. But the too long hair made my decision easy to send them back. So I scanned the picture into the computer instead. Look at those hairlines! They're almost exactly the same! So take a good look, because you won't see this picture in any picture frame at my house!