Great weekend at Godfrey's Pond

This past weekend, we packed up the S'moremobile and headed west on the 90 towards Batavia, NY. Our destination was The Hunting and Fishing Days Event in Stafford at a place called Godfrey's Pond. Now, Godfrey's Pond is affectionately known as "The Best Kept Secret in Genesee County". Well, this place should in no way be kept a secret from anyone! They describe their beloved facility this way:

The Club property is located in central Genesee County and consists of 235 acres of land and 35 acres of water, both stream and spring fed. In addition to the 35 acre lake are numerous rolling hills, woodlands and open meadows providing excellent recreation and wildlife habitat.
There are a variety of hiking trails with varying degrees of difficulty, terrain and length for your enjoyment. Great for exercise, photography and nature study.

The minute we arrived on this property, we were well taken care of. We were escorted to our spot, we were greeted with a big "Good Morning, Sunshine", we were cheked on regularly and when our spot didn't seem quite right two volunteers came over and literally moved us to a better spot. We made s'mores all weekend long and introduced Genesee County to the Reeses Peanut Butter Cup S'more and they fell in love instantly! Jill talked about her love of feathered friends with Mike and they shared pictures of their habitats. Cindy took me to the shooting range where I fulfilled a life long dream of FINALLY shooting a gun. Chris visited with us and expressed his love for our idea and promised he'd tell everyone he knew about it. The volunteers at Godfrey's LOVE this place. Some of them don't even hunt or fish, but they spend as much time there as they can and are quick to explain why. They take care of Godfrey's like it personally belongs to them and it's really something to see.

So, thank you Godfrey's Pond for a wonderful weekend. We met some amazing people and we introduced this product to more people that couldn't say enough about it. We love the feedback and we love making people smile when we put that perfect s'more in their hand. Yeah, we've gotten very good at the art of s'moring!

We'll be posting dates for the Godfrey's Pond Open House Event next Spring. If you're curious and have a Saturday afternoon to spend walking some trails, looking at some birds, sitting by a beautiful pond or talking with some great people, then this event will be for you. We'll see you there!

National S'more Day

So, August 10th is a pretty important day in the world of s'mores. S'mores were first mentioned in The Girl Scouts Handbook in 1927. Yes, 1927. It has been said that someone put these ingredients together and said, "I want some more of those". Alas, the s'more was born. It's really that simple sometimes.
So on August 10th, we'll get the kids together and maybe some friends and we'll build a nice fire. We'll bust out The S'more Store and some extras that we've been experimenting with (Milky Way minis, Peppermint Patties, Reeses minis) and we'll make s'mores. Maybe it has nothing to do with the actual eating of the s'more. If I'm being honest maybe it's the sight of the kids with the marshmallow all over their faces and the chocolate on their fingers that makes this experience something we can't get enough of. Maybe it's just about seeing them laughing and being KIDS that keeps us coming back. They're only little for such a short period of time, aren't they? You swear it will never happen to you, but inevitably you look at your kids and you say to yourself, "Where did the last 10 years go?" How DID they get so big so fast? As parents we do all we can to keep them little, knowing full well it's an impossible task that we perform for our own benefit most times. Maybe keeping them little keeps us young. Maybe keeping them little let's us be silly every once in a while and who the heck doesn't need that?!
Even if you don't make a s'more on Tuesday, hang out with your kids. Keep that little kid alive in you somehow and appreciate the little things in life. Get silly for God's sake! You're only young once!!

True Story....WE SWEAR!!!

Okay, here's one of those stories that you'll all think we made up. You'll think we were sitting around the campfire this week, consuming some adult cocktails, trying to come up with a story to blog about or put on Facebook. PLUS...since we do not have a video of this story or even one doggone picture (son of a gun!!) there will be no way for us to prove that we're telling you the truth, the whole truth and nuthin' but the truth. But we are. We swear!!
It was 2:00 am on Thursday morning. There were 6 of us asleep in the Jayco. Not sure how many of you camp, but when it's dark out....it's DARK out. Pitch black dark out in them sticks. Then, we heard it. The rustling of the garbage bag that you either left outside the camper or the one filled with empty.....Gatorade bottles. :) If you're a camper, you know what you're listening to. It's short, it's furry, it has a striped tail and dark circles around its eyes. Yeah....it's a raccoon. And it is bound and determined, come hell or high water, to get whatever it has come looking for. The first night the little...jerks....stuck their heads in a soft cooler and proceeded to bite the heck out of the nectarines and mushrooms. So much for the shishkabobs. Anyways, we're going off track. Back to 2:00 on Thursday morning. The rustling started and we banged on the side of the camper to scare them away. It worked...temporarily. They came back, 4 times. We scared them away, 4 times. On time number 5 when they returned, there was no stopping them. The noise they were making was like nothing we'd heard thus far. It was a bunch of banging and scratching and then all hell broke loose and the fight started! Have you ever heard cats fight?? Okay...imagine that but about 10 times worse and a million times scarier. It sounded like a circus gone mad out there. One of us got up and actually opened the door and yeah, even went out there to see what the noise was all about. Safe in my bed, under my fluffy butterfly blanket I mustered the courage to ask, "Well, what do they have?" When he got to the little patch of woods about 20 feel from the camper, he let out a very loud, "OH MY GOD" followed by.....wait for it......are you ready.......remember it's the truth......"It's THE S'MORE STORE!!!!!!!" Now, we didn't know whether to laugh, tell him he was full of baloney or run out there and get a darn picture!! Seriously, can you imagine that shot?? Two wild and probably bruised and bloodied raccoons fighting over a S'MORE STORE??? We knew we left The S'more Store on the picnic table that night so we figure they had to first knock it off the table, then drag it across the semi-high and wet grass, then across the muddy driveway, then into the woods past the pile of campfire wood we had stacked up. Seriously, how long did they plan this escapade out? Were they like Wile E. Coyote drawing up the blueprints and ordering the ACME product that gets delivered to him in the desert? Would the picture help right now? Would you believe this story IF ONLY we could post that picture right now for all of you to see?? Why oh why didn't we set up The S'more Cam before we went to bed? Why didn't we anticipate two wild animals fighting over our new and exciting product?? Yes, we should have been more prepared, you're absolutely right. We blew it and we knew it the SECOND we heard the words, "It's THE S'MORE STORE!!!" Forgive us our short comings. Please. We could use a break this week. Oh and BY THE WAY....the answer is no. They DID NOT get it open. Another selling point....The S'more Store is raccoon proof!! WHO KNEW???

Thank you, INPEX!!

So for 4 days, we talked about The S'more Store. We opened The S'more Store and then snapped it closed. We said how many crackers fit inside of it and how many marshmallows AND how many chocolate bars. We said it was so much easier than the messy bag full of broken crackers that we had sitting on the table. We explained how the 4 piece mold made it easy to clean in case a mallow melted on it. We said we were moms with 6 kids between us over and over and over again. We smiled and we laughed and we told people from India what a s'more actually was. We had numerous people request a s'more, but sadly INPEX wouldn't allow a campfire in the middle of aisle 400. Darn it! We talked to Mike, Rick, Kara, Carol, Matt, Tony, Paul, Djauna, David, Alvin, Cynthia, and Kevin. We laughed like crazy with Walter, Mark and Alan. Gordie got a great first lesson on his new Pokemon fascination. We got big hugs from a sweetheart in a black shirt who's profession is actually being a barber in Naperville, IL. And we bet that no matter what...he'll always be a barber in Naperville, IL. We saw so many cool and exciting products that we WISH we would have come up with, but are so happy for those that did. We met more people in 4 days than we've met in 4 years and we think we can even call them friends at this point. We had someone drive 3 hours to come and lend a hand and we are more than thankful for her. We saw The Tonight Show go through with their camera crew and wished that our mugs could have made it on there. "We" had to present to a couple very large companies and actually made it through the door (thanks to a girl with some very blue eyes) and got through without fainting. HUGE accomplishment. You have no idea!! We asked questions and they got answered. We saw a movie up on a hill and laughed til we cried. We drove around (a little bit) and found our way back to the hotel. Yeah, okay, thanks to the woman speaking from the little computer screen, but it was PITTSBURGH!! Trust me...this was HUGE accomplishment #2. We spoke to people who loved this product and to people that will probably never understand what the heck we were talking about. That's okay. The people that loved it are offering help and maybe that help will convince the other people what this product can do for them. All in all...INPEX was a major success. We felt a shift towards some very positive energy. For this alone, we are grateful. This product was created in the noggins of two moms sitting out by a campfire one night. With, yes, 6 kids between them. You know the drill. Oh and stay tuned for "The Schtick" (thank you, Walter)

Thanks, Kibby!!

So Toasty Smore, our adorable little ambassador, posted a question on Facebook this week. He asked our faithful followers to tell us what unique thing they've put on their s'more. We got some interesting responses...Reese's Cups, Peppermint Patties, bananas. The most interesting post came from Rick Kibler. He said two simple words, "s'more off". Our creative juices started flowing and that big lightbulb moment we all dream about actually happened! August 10th is National S'more Day. Of course the s'more has it's own day! What better way to promote the s'more, love the s'more and showoff your s'more making abilities with friends and family then to hold The 1st Annual Toasty S'more-Down!? We thought we'd have it up at The Town Park here in North Collins and open it up to anyone who feels they have THE best s'more recipe going. We love this idea. We think it's original and we think we would get a really nice response to it. If you have any ideas, comments or suggestions for us please don't hesitate to share them with us on Facebook. Let's get together and make this happen. Oh and thanks, Kibby!

A Great First Show

So, last Saturday we loaded our new product into Jill's big honkin' vehicle and we headed to the Erie County Fairgrounds. The World's Largest Garage Sale was our destination. We arrived at 6:30 am with cloudy skies over our heads. We spent the next hour and a half setting up shop. The rain didn't hold off and without a tent on our supply list, we got worried that our whole day would be a complete disaster. Still, we pushed on, ignored the drops and prepared for the onslaught of shoppers that were waiting at the gate to get in. This event is really something to see. The entire Ag Building was full of people trying to sell their new products or empty out their garages and attics. There were more people lined up at tables outside and even more under a covered area near the barns. They estimate that about 7,000 shoppers show up during the whole day event. On my trips into the Ag Building during the day, I can tell you they are pretty accurate with that number. At about noon, when the sun finally broke out in all it's beautiful glory, the grounds were full of people milling around looking for that special comic book or hidden treasure. The S'more Store received some very positive feedback. Moms were thrilled to see an item that would make their lives easier. We were thrilled when someone "got it" and understood the dilemma that drove us to create this very cool product. We saw people that we hadn't seen in years and it brought back memories of some very happy times. We laughed, enjoyed the sunshine and talked to lots of people that had nothing but kind words for us. All in all, the day was a huge success. This product has created an atmosphere of family and good times. It makes us feel good knowing that our idea will be talked about around lots of campfires this summer. We're proud to be a part of the fun!

7 Nights in June

The first camping trip of the season will take us to Sprague Brook Park in Glenwood, NY. It's a beautiful spot; full of hiking trails, lakes and enough space to let the kids run all day long. We like to book the two spots across from the upper lake and this year is no exception. Family members will come and share this beautiful area with us and we're already looking forward to the late nights out by the fire. It seems that everyone welcomes the sun and the daylight, but there is nothing like those first couple of hours when the sun begins to set and the smell of burning wood fills the air. It's a simple time...a time to grab a cold beverage, find your favorite lawn chair and prepare your best jokes. No matter how much activity goes on during the day, families always seem to re-connect by the nightly campfire. We find ourselves there every night. We talk, we laugh, we share stories of days gone by. We'll be there for 7 nights in June and we'll be thankful for every second.