Summer So Far, In Point Form

• Camping - We've gone out twice and it's been great.  We're hoping to go again later this month, but this time during the week.  I'm really looking forward to it.  Even though camping is still a lot of work for me, when I'm there it's like I can relax.  I don't have an ongoing list in my head of the million things I should be doing.  
• VBS - Abby is starting her third VBS this week.  We actually haven't completed a whole week of VBS yet though.  The first two she seemed to really like, but today I was told that she was fine at first but then she didn't want to be there and she hid under a pew for a long time.  One of the leaders basically hung out with her.  The big difference for this one is that her best friend isn't there, so I think she feels alone and left out and shy and all that stuff.  I'm hoping that she will still go the rest of the days though, we'll see.
• Waterpark - We're a block from the park, so I try to take the girls there at least once a week.  It's a nice way to keep cool.  I enjoy it because I can just relax on a blanket while they run around.  Well, as much relaxing as you can do while a soaking wet child wants to sit on your lap and eat grapes.  
• Canoeing - We had a canoe given to us, and I bless the couple that gave it to us everytime we go out.  It is the perfect way to spend time together on the weekends.  We went out on Sunday and the girls and Daddy even jumped into the lake from the canoe.  Fun times.
• Moving - We're moving!  Not until the end of August, but I included it in the list because now my life is filled with packing.  And I'm excited.  There is no basement suite in the house we're moving to.  It will just be us.  Yay!  

This is Mostly a Catch-Up Post

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm still here.  It has been a crazy month.  Or even if it wasn't super crazy, just abnormal.  I feel like I haven't really been home for so long, though really we were home most of May.  But we were sick for a good two weeks, so that kind of cuts into it I think.

We're better now, or mostly.  Leigh was finally over her cough, but it came back last weekend, so I'm taking her in to the doctor's tomorrow.  But the rest of us are fine.

My grandpa died last week, so we went down to the Island for his funeral.  That was hard for me, not hte going there, but just his death, because he is the first of my grandparents to die.  And even though it was a long drive for a short visit, I was still very glad that we were able to go.  Everyone thanked me for coming, but the truth was that it was just as much a selfish thing for me to go.  I needed to be around my family at a time like this.  All of my cousins except for one were able to make it, so we got to visit with people we really haven't seen in almost ten years.

An up side to that is that Mark was able to come, so he got to meet my family and see where I used to spend my summers.  We got to see my Great-Grandma, who turned 99 this year.  I was glad that she was able to meet him.

So now it is back to life, at least for a few months!  If this rain would stop, maybe the girls and I could do some gardening.

Creating a Memorable New Year's Weekend

First off, can anyone else wrap their minds around the fact that it's 2012?  I certainly can't.  I'm pretty sure that it should still be something like 2007.

We headed up to Edmonton last Thursday to meet my parents (Dad and Step-mom) and brother who were flying back in from Arizona.  I used to scorn the idea of spending Christmas, the winter holiday, in a warm climate, but lately I've decided that it's not a bad idea.  I could use a little warm.  Not that it has been all that cold, mind you.  It's actually been really warm.  But it can always get warmer.  I'm ready for Spring already.

Anyways, off the bunny trail.  We were going to meet them at the hotel in the evening.  The plan was that we would probably be there a few hours before them since their plane didn't get in until 7:30 and they would have to get their luggage and van and then drive to the hotel, which was a little ways away.  Our drive was about 9 hours, not super long, so even if we didn't leave until 10 (which is exactly what we did) we should still get there somewhere around 7-7:30, depending on gas and food stops.

Well, the first delay, or maybe I should call it the second since the first could technically be sleeping in until 9, was when my dear oldest daughter Abby said she had to puke.  So we quickly pulled over to the side of the road, and I'm opening the door while putting on my shoes at the same time (I like to travel barefoot, with my feet usually on the dash which irritates the snot out of dear ole hubs because it leaves toeprints all over the windshield).  I open her door in the back and quickly unbuckle her and proceed to help her "puke" on the ground.  But it was to no avail, she didn't puke.

Our kids have a history of car sickness on long trips (only the long ones, never the short ones.  Somehow, they know) so I didn't want her to get back in the car and then throw up.  But nothing was happening so we started off again.  Only 10 minutes down the road, Leigh starts to hold her mouth.  But there was no time for intervention.  She started and right away so did Abby.  Oh Happy Day.

That took a fair amount of time to clean up.  While on the side of the road.  With baby wipes.  And the wind was blowing.  My poor children's bare bottoms that were waiting for some clean clothes.

So we were on our way again, stopped in the next town for some much needed Gravol (why could we never remember at the BEGINNING!).  We were about forty minutes out of this city when suddenly our truck is shaking and the front wheel is wobbling.  Enter delay number 3.

Couldn't figure out what was wrong, so we turned around to hobble back to the previous city, Edmonton trip cancelled.  But God sent a highway maintenance man to help us.  He pulled over in front of us and diagnosed that our lugnuts(?) were loose.  Brilliant.  Tightened those and then we continued heading back to town so we could get to a tire shop to fix the tire.

(Wow, this is getting long.  I'll shorten up here. Sorry!)

This was around 12:30.  We didn't leave town again until 4:30.  Did I mention we were just one hour from home?  Eight hours of driving still ahead of us!  I really didn't want to give up my weekend, so I convinced Mark to drive to Calgary, which was only about 4 hours away, and spend the night and drive the remainder the next morning.

It was so nice to see my family and spend the time with them.  We went to the waterpark at the West Ed Mall, and the kids had a BLAST there.  We did some shopping, which was alright, nothing spectacular.  It was just so nice to be around them, especially since it will be 5 more months before we see them again.

But on Saturday, Abby got sick while Mark and I were shopping.  My parents were watching the girls while we went alone.  Poor kid.  And once we got back, Mark started feeling ill.  And then he was sick all night.  And in the middle of the night, I was lying there, feeling perfectly fine (well, I did have a cold, but no nausea) when my stomach tweaked and started to feel just a little off.  Wonderful.  We were supposed to leave the next day.

We did leave, and Mark was well enough to drive, which was good because I was NOT.  I didn't actually throw up, just felt generally terrible.  Abby seemed fine, but Leigh threw up a few times.

So that was our weekend away.  Could this post have been any longer?!

I Might Be Wiping Away Tears Just Thinking of Them

This past weekend we went to Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) to see some family.  Well, actually, I guess you could say we went to see a football game, and the family just all happened to go to the same game...I'm confusing even myself now.  Our family doesn't live there, they too had to travel to come watch the game; they just didn't have quite as far to go as we did.  Their drive is about 5-6 hours, our was 9 1/2 (ish).

Trips with kids, as anyone with children can tell you, are definitely two sided.  There's great fun times, having the kids experience new things, such as a huge waterpark, and there's the horrible stressful times, such as when the mother (you) breaks down while in the hotel parking lot and exits the car to sit on the curb while others drive by.  Not that that happened at all.  Or maybe it did.

We only went for three days.  No, that's not quite right.  We had three days total on the trip, which means we spent two days travelling, and one actual day in the city.  So that is the first thing I would have changed about this trip if I could have.  At least, at LEAST, one more day.  One more day would have allowed more relaxing visiting, as well as some shopping.  Because I have a shocker, I went to the world's largest mall, and didn't shop.  All I bought were some swimming shorts since I forgot mine at home and some cheap food court Chinese food for lunch.  So exciting!

The kids LOVED the water park, like I knew they would.  They didn't stop laughing while we were in the wave pool as they got blasted by wave after wave.  And they liked the little (crowded) kiddie pool with mini-slides.  The bummer was that the kids' playground complete with slightly bigger-kid-friendly slides was closed for construction.  So that was why the only remaining kiddie pool was crowded.

After a couple hours playing in the water, we went back to the hotel and everyone except for me, the kids, my mom and my sis-in-law went to the go-carts/batting cages.  I was so tired, partly from lack of sleep in a strange bed and partly from swimming, that I just wanted to relax before we had to leave for the football game.  It was nice to get time to visit in a little more intimate setting, not with a gaggle of people around, everyone trying to talk to everyone at once.

The hard part was the leaving.  Since we had a longer drive, we wanted to be gone by around 9.  We got away by 9:30, and that still felt too early.  Every time that we either go up to visit, or someone comes down here to visit, the goodbyes get me.

I love where I live now.  It just feels right.  I don't miss the city that I used to live, but I DO long for the people still there.  Our family and friends.  I wish that while I was there, living minutes away from them, that we had taken time to see them more, do more, visit more, ANYTHING more.  Because now it's not like I can just call them to come over for coffee, ha!  And sometimes e-mailing, or talking on the phone or skyping just isn't the same.  (I have to admit that skyping slightly weirds me out.  Maybe I'm too old-fashioned...)  But it's still something and I'm glad we have it.  And I'm glad for cars, that make it so we can travel that distance without too much effort.

So here's to my family and friends.  I LOVE and MISS you all so much!

My To-Do List for Today

• Tidy Kitchen.  Though tidy seems to imply that it just needs a few quick minutes to organize or put away dishes.  I could probably split this point up into at least 5 or 6 points : Empty dishwasher, fill dishwasher, run dishwasher, hand-wash cutting board and dishes that don't fit in dishwasher, wipe down counters and fridge and stove, put away miscellaneous papers behind stereo, clear off table.  See what I mean?  But I like one point, it makes it feel do-able.
• Make Pizza Dough.  Actually make two pizza doughs.  But the bread maker does most of the work so this is fairly easy.
• Make Cinnamon Buns.  I can't start this until after the pizza dough is done since I use the bread maker for all my kneading.  And for this one it is dependent on me cleaning up the kitchen since I don't want dirty crumbs in my buns.
• Do Laundry, including bed sheets.  I actually don't have a ton of laundry to do, which is nice.  I just want to have my hamper cleared before we leave tomorrow.  Our bed sheets are desperately in need of a wash though, since they are our only ones at the moment.  My lovely daughters somehow managed to rip my other bottom sheet to pieces.  I have no clue how.  So now when I need to wash our sheets I have to strip the bed and can't make it until I wash the sheets again.  Hence they haven't been washed in awhile.
• Pack.  Hopefully shouldn't take long, we're only gone until Tuesday.  I'm hoping to fit all our clothes into a small suitcase.  I doubt I can do it.  I am a notorious over-packer.
• Get the Food Ready for the Trip.  Basically put everything into a large reusable grocery bag to be taken out to the car and consumed on our long drive tomorrow.
• Clean Out Car.  This will kill two birds with one stone as it will give the girls a little outside play time.
• Tidy House.  Like the kitchen, it entails much more than it sounds.  I doubt I will get close to done on this one, but I can dream.  If the floor is at least cleared I can feel ok.  My secret for that is to toss everything into laundry baskets to be put away whenever I get the time.
• Make Cream Cheese Icing.  This should probably be located up by my other food points, but my list is basically random.  But this is an essential point.  Icing for our cinnamon buns.  Mmmmmm.
• Pick Out Toys for Trip.  Gather together books, toys, and other random objects that will hopefully keep our girls entertained, along with large amounts of snacks, for roughly 14 hours.  Usually we have a DVD player for the car, but it is mysteriously missing (I think it was stolen).  

A Wiggly Weekend

What a weekend!  And it's still Sunday.  It feels like it should be Monday, but that is because we started our weekend on Friday.  We went to Calgary, which is 5 hours away, for The Wiggly Circus!  My mom and step-dad had given Abby and Leigh tickets for an early Christmas present.  This is the closest they would be to us. 

Our plan was to head out Friday morning between 9:30 and 10, to get there an hour or so before the show began so that we would have time to check into our hotel and get unloaded.  Well, the travel there went fine, but we hit the city right at rush hour.  Poor planning on my part.  Obviously I am a small town girl because I totally didn't even have the smallest thought about rush hour.  It took us almost an hour to get from the outskirts of town to our hotel.  I was worried that we wouldn't make it to the show on time, but we did. 

We had seats on the floor, so after an attempt to make it down, only to have to to walk back up a bunch of stairs, we made it down and finally found our seats.  We were in row 15, so fairly close, though definately not the closest.  But our seats were half the price of the seats closer so I didn't care.  It started soon after we sat down and it was FUN! 

Murray Wiggle (Red) wasn't there because of some family commitments, but his substitute did very well.  Leigh loved the whole thing.  She stood on Mark 's lap, and sometimes mine, almost the entire time, bouncing and waving her arms.  Abby was a little more subdued.  She loved the gymnastics, and the slapsticky humour, and liked it when she recognized songs, but she was very cranky, especially after the first half hour.  She didn't want us to notice any dancing or clapping that she did, and half the time she would just sit on the chair, not even wanting to sit on our laps, or stand up to see better.  But I know that she gets shy around strangers, and I think sitting around so many strange people did make her a little self-conscious.

They did lots of older songs, a few new ones, and some ones that I hadn't heard before.  I wish that they would have had a few more newer ones, but that isn't anything to complain about.  Kids everywhere in the arena were bouncing and dancing.  It was a great time overall.  Near the end they had everyone who had brought a sign hold it up and they tried to read them all.  That was a nice interactive thing with the audience. 

I forgot my camera at home and I am so frustrated that I did!  What a waste of a perfect opportunity for some pictures to remember!  But I will post this picture of the activity sheet that we got there.  At least it's a little taste of our night.

The concert went well, but I can't say much else for the rest of the trip.  Our hotel was fine, we had a family suite so the girls had their own room.  We ordered some room service for supper, and the food was really tasty.  But Mark and I were at each other's throats all night.  Abby had a bad night, and I ended up spending the last half of it with her.  I woke up with a huge, and I mean huge, headache/migraine.  So Mark and I were at it again.  Fighting, fighting, fighting.  I felt ill and couldn't even think of eating. 

We had planned on taking the girls to the zoo, but since I wasn't feeling good we decided to skip it.  We just headed out on the road.  I was able to give Mark directions out of downtown, and once we were on the freeway I tried to block out the world and sleep.  I didn't sleep, but we stopped in a town a little ways outside the city and Mark picked me up some pop and crackers.  I ended up being sick there, but after eating the pop and crackers, along with some Advil, I felt much better, and we had a fairly easy ride home.

I think that the concert was fun for the girls, even though I don't think they remember it at all now.  I would most definitely take them to something like that again, though maybe as part of a longer trip; I didn't like the quickness of this, drive there then drive right back.  I enjoyed the show for my own sake, since the Wiggles are my favourite kid's show I think. 

Today we cleaned up our front "yard" (I always feel funny calling it a yard, since it is so tiny, like a closet bathroom size).  We also dug up the last of our potatoes.  I am happy with my potato crop this year, I have been digging them up whenever I need them, and the potatoes have been a fairly good size.  These last ones were especially big.  I have a few carrots left, though not many.  And I am praying that the rest of my tomatoes ripen before they are killed by the frost. 

So that was our weekend.  Hope everyone else's was good.