Week 11 Day 3 - Sunday, July 26th - Clean up

Sunday
We were up early again on Sunday. I would guess around 7:30am or so. We flipped the last load of laundry and had some breakfast! Dad made a good one.

We finished packing up the car and got on the road early. I wanted to see the damage done and hopefully get things sort of cleaned up in a good time. We left Kyler with Nana and Papa for his week and he could have cared less. He didn’t care if we said good bye or not. He was playing with Amber!

We were on the road by 10:30am and got home shortly after noon.
We took a load over to the garage (since we had shoved the van full of everything we could). Once we unloaded we headed out to the campsite to see how it looked. Here are the photos from the campsite:























































































It was so bad guys. We managed to get one of the guys at the top of the hill to come down with the Kubota and help Arnold with the fridge. The only thing we did with the fridge was open it up and take out Kristina’s Friends containers and then ziptied it closed because we didn’t want to deal with anything in there. When Arnold flipped it to get it out of the tent water came POURING out of it. It was so bad.

The ground was SO bad to be walking on in shoes so we all took off our shoes. Then you kept slipping so Arnold put down some sand and said not only did I get a mud pack on my feet BUT I could exfoliate at the same time. I told him this did NOT mean he was getting out of giving me a pedicure.
Once things were clean we tossed them into the van and brought them right to the garage again. Less things to bring later. We stopped at the pizza place and ordered some pizza for supper. Then after unloading the van we picked up the pizza and headed to Kristina and Tim’s house. We had supper there and hung out for a bit. Q and I braved the campsite and Arnold went to work via transit and we went back to sleep.

Week 7 Day 5 - Tuesday, June 30th - Scrapbooking and playdates

We didn't have much planed for today as we didn't have to go to Speech Therapy today. It was cancelled. We hung out at home and the boys played outside in the rain for a while. They had a blast so I wasn't going to stop them!

Around 10:30 or so we headed out to the grocery store and to get the mail. We had still be waiting for the TTC pass we sell to our friend. I should have had it about 2 weeks ago but not yet. Weird. Arnold went and talked to them and they said they needed proof we had gotten a new PO box so I had to find the reciept and get it to Arnold to get a new pass. We picked up some groceries (forgetting a few things, by accident I swear!) and then we came home. I dropped off the groceries and the mail and headed to see Arnold. We met him behind his companys building and gave him his reciept. He took it down to see them and see if he could get a new pass before the 1st.

After that the boys and I got some lunch and headed to see Lori. We got there in time for me to crash! I was so tired so we stripped the kids down to their bathing suits (well I forgot them so we borrowed a little swimmer from Lo and K wore his tiggers). They played outside for a long time! I have the cutest photos, or I think I do..... I'll have to see if I emptied my card yet.

Around 5pm or so Arnold showed up at Loris house and visited for a bit then took the boys and the van home. It worked out really well! Kristina showed up around 7pm or so and we went to work, after a really good supper of slow cooked turkey wraps, and organized Lori's scrapbooking stuff for her. She now has some packs for her 'current projects', 'Logan', 'Keaton', 'pattern paper' and 'other' for now. It was good for her to toss/donate some stuff.

We headed home and Kristina and I got to the campstie around 10:30 or so. I went to bed almost right away. It was nice for all of us to have the day off the next day!

Week 7 Day 4 - Monday, June 29th, - Rained out

This morning the boys and I realized it was going to be a 'bad' day. Not because of the attitude of the boys but because of the weather. We hung out at home for most of the day and worked on keeping things dry.

We did find out that there are no new reservations being made in the campsite because of the strike. I freeked! We told mom last night and she did some e'mailing. In the morning we got a message from her saying that she got one back from the campsite saying that if there was no reservation/email before the strike there was no way they could let them in. I felt so bad. Arnold went up and talked to them at the office and they said the same thing. We went over different ways to fake e'mails and just renew someone elses pass but nothing was going to work. It was a big bummer for us.

After a quick lunch the boys headed off for a nap, because, yet again, I used the 'if you don't nap no soccer tonight' threat. It works well.

Right while the boys were heading off to nap the rain started, BAD. We figured out that it would eventually go away (as most places said it would be done before the afternoon was over) but it was still bad rain.

Around 4pm or so the soccer coach called and cancelled for our practice. Instead we cahnged our plans as well (Kristina and mine) and we went to a McDonalds on Markham because there was a playplace there. So the boys and I took our sweet time going over there. We got there a bit early, ordered what we wanted and headed to the play area.

Things seemed to be going well but there was an issue.. this mom I was talking to, she had a 4 week old baby girl, had 2 boys here to burn off some energy. Well wouldn't you know it one of her kids punches Q in the face! He came to me screaming. I felt so bad. I comforted Q but his face was so red. He went back into play and was doing ok until this kid caused problems for him getting back into the play area after coming off the slide. It was horrible. His mom couldn't/wouldn't do much about it. Then once Kristina and Tim got there the kids stuck everyone back on the slide. I went over, picked him up and told him it was time to let all the kids off (he had caused a back up of about 7 kids!). I was not impressed at all. Oh well it worked out. We hung around there and had fun for our time there and then when Arnold got there he ate and we headed home.

When we got home there was still some serious rain so we went right inside the trailer and watched a movie. The kids went to bed sortly after, as did Arnold and I.

Week 7 Day 2 - Saturday, June 27th - Soccer photos, sickie and picnics!

This morning I was the first out of bed. I headed off to the washroom and when I got back the ‘fun’ began.

When I opened the trailer door and told the boys it was time to get moving nothing really exciting happen then Q started to fuss. The bad kind of fussing. And sure enough Arnold’s hand got under his mouth just in time to deal with the puke. Yep he was sick! Dang our luck sucks!

We managed to get Q changed into some different clothes and he seemed ok. We found out later that he wasn’t. He was just getting ready for the next bout of puking. I felt so bad for him. He won’t spit forward (sorry if TMI) he would rather stick his head back and just swallow. This proved an issue in the car later.

Anyway we got him changed, loaded up the car and he puked again. Then we headed off to get Arnold’s wheel fixed. Q got sick again in the car. Arnold and I had to trade places because his arms were longer and he could pull Q’s head forward to puke instead of him swallowing everything. The poor boy. We brought it to the shop and they said it would take until Tuesday… hum no thanks! So Arnold started to call around and find a new place while I drove to Wal-Mart. We got some dugs for Q and some snacks for our picnic later in the day. We went from there to Old Navy and got our Canada Day Shirts. I can tell now that K is going to have the $$ taste. We had some Canada Day shirts and he told me he didn’t like it and wanted a different one so we got that instead… 7.50 more than his brothers shirt. Oh good… teenage years will drain our bank accounts.

Arnold and Q came out of the car and went in with us to Old navy to get cleaned up then headed out just as we were paying. When we got out Q was sitting on Arnold’s lap on the side of the parking lot thing throwing up again. I just wanted to scoop him up and snuggle him but he wouldn’t have it. I put him in his seat and called the Drs Office. We have a WONDERFUL doctor’s office. They have walk-in’s for the kids on the weekends and they had one at our office so Kyler and I jumped out of the car at Lawrence and Midland and brought our soccer stuff and Arnold and Q went to the doctor’s office and the bike shop (we found one that would have it ready by 1pm that day). K and I stopped for some quick breakfast and walked over to the school.
Kyler and Mommy having breakfast - K’s new favourite breakfast “hotcakes!”










It took us a bit but we got there in time. At least what I felt was in time. He got a super cute photo of him in his uniform and the team photos. We were missing some people but that’s ok. I’m going to bring my camera and get a photo of the whole team later this summer and just e’mail everyone.












We waited around for a bit and the kids had some ice cream.

Arnold showed up shortly after we were done, like around 11:30 or so and we all drove down to the Bluffs. The doctor told Arnold that it was most likely food poising or the flu. Just to treat the symptoms and stay off dairy. Lori and her family stopped and got something to eat at a subway. Kristina and her family along with us, stopped and got something to eat (some had bigger issues getting food than others). We met up and found a picnic table and had our lunches. Kristina, Tim and E had to be home around 2pm so they left as well as Kevin, Lori, Lo and Ke. So the boys and I went down to the ‘beach’ area. We stopped and got some popsicles and headed down. Q threw up again so when we got there he and daddy change their shirts. We played for about 45 minutes to 1 hour and then headed home. Our packing pass was up by then but we had A LOT of fun. We will go back again once Q is feeling better and without a stroller. Arnold and I figure a backpack, some snacks and a blanket and we are good to go!























On the way home the boys took a nap. Arnold drove nice and slow and we even got to stop at McDonalds and get something to drink. We headed home and took our time. We opened up the van and let the boys keep sleeping while I relaxed on the hammock and Arnold chilled out on a chair. When Q got up he came and snuggled with me and seemed to be better. K got up shortly after and came out and snuggled as well. They went biking and met a new friend. He was visiting his grandparents so they got to hang out. He plays soccer as well so he and K were kicking around the ball. They had a blast.

We eventually got hungry and wanted something good for supper. We packed everyone up and went to M&M’s and got some turkey wrapped in bacon, and double stuffed potatoes. WE started to cook and found out we had no propane left! That meant supper was delayed. Actually by the time we ate it was closer to 7:30pm or so. We had a great supper once it was cooked, but we did come to realized that we need to go shopping! WE wanted to use some butter and we had left it in the microwave and it got warm, melted and molded! Can you tell it’s been a bit since we needed the butter? So yeah shopping list was started then and there!

We headed off to bed after the boys went for some bike rides. They had a lot of comments on our ‘mini-van-bike’. It was fun! On the last ride with the boys I stayed home and did some catching up and got to visit with our neighbours who were leaving the next day. They have been here for a month from Texas visiting her mother and some family members. They gave us their left over wood (2 bags worth) and we got to visit a bit about things around the campground and such. It was fun.

Week 6 Day 2 - Saturday, June 20th - Mall time!

We woke up this morning to rain.. again. So Arnold and I spent about 1 hour figuring out what to do with the day. The kids got some cereal for breakfast and I kept checking things out. I was able to find a few things to do (and a million other websites for nice days). We ended up just going to the mall. We checked out the Pickering Town Centre. It was really cool. A lot of stores I didn’t think they would have, and yet they are missing some stores to make it ‘complete’.

The boys and I all got there and I got the stroller out of the back of the van. Arnold loaded up the kids and booked it into the mall while I finished closing it up. There was so much rain! We got inside and started to check out what kind of stores they had and reminding ourselves of what we *needed* compaired to what we *wanted*. There was a Children’s Place, Please Mum and a Gap Kids. All were having sales! It was so hard to not go into them. In fact I told Arnold to not let me into them!!

We were walking around and checking out things and we got some good treats:


The boys found some Popcorn for their snack (after our lunch in the food court)




I got a snack of chocolate covered strawberries. Wow were they good but $$$




I also found a book that my friend has that I love. The new version was released last year and we found it at Mastermind!





Then we came home for nap time. The boys took one just fine and Arnold picked up some of our wet clothes for last night at Auntie Kristina’s house and went upstairs to the dryer to get them dryed out before we got mould on them.

While he was up there I did some work in the trailer and caught up a *bit* on napping. When Arnold got back we went to work getting things a bit more organized and ‘usable’ in the rain! We put the tarp over our trailer, but not the same way as before. This time we put it pointing out! We gained an awning! We put the BBQ and the table under the tarp so we could do supper without rain. Then Arnold and I moved the picnic table under the Gazebo and I wiped it off the best I could and finally got to use my whole set of tablecloth and bench covers! It was exciting for me, sad I know!

Once the boys got up we headed out to the grocery store and got some food for supper that night and some for the next. We had seasoned pork, sliced potatoes and cream corn for supper. It was really good.

After supper we did a quick walk to the washrooms then back home to bed.

Week 6 Day 1 - Friday, June 18th - Daddy's Zoo Day!

This morning when Arnold woke up he was a bit sore, and once he stretched and moved he was really sore. Not sore enough to stay home but I told him I wasn’t ready to let him out of my sight just yet.

Instead we spent the day as a family. Since Arnold’s knee hurt when he left it straight he decided to keep moving. I figured this was the perfect time to get in a family outing to the zoo! We packed up our zoo stuff and headed out, without checking the camera battery! We got there and took our normal ‘pre going in’ photos so if the kids get lost I have photos of just what they looked like that day, on my cell and DSLR. Then we went inside!

With Daddy being there we did all of our ‘only with Daddy’ stuff. So we got tickets to see the stingray and the sharks, then we also got tickets to the camel rides! The boys were so excited to have their Daddy at the zoo. Normally it’s only Mommy!













Forewarning CRAP LOADS OF PHOTOS AHEAD!
























































































































































































































































We had lunch and did some more walking around in the fishy section (great barrier Reef) and then went to see the lions and some kangaroos. Arnold then took the boys to the section to see frogs and I went and got a Beaver Tail! It was soo good! I haven’t had one in I think a year or more! WOW I loved it, as did the kids!

We then took our normal train ride around (and for those who didn’t know the Elephants lost one this past week. Well we discovered that she was buried in their local graveyard).




Then it was home time! Arnold took a LONG nap and I got some cleaning done around the place, not a lot but some.

For supper that night we started to get everything ready to go to Auntie Kristinas house. We piled in the laundry and anything we had for supper. WE got there and Arnold crashed on the couch while I had Uncle Tim do some things in the kitchen to help me clean up so I could work on supper. We had supper inside since it was MUCH cooler in there than outside! The kids played around. In fact here are a few shots:













After supper and some serious play time we packed the boys up. Arnold took them home and Kristina and I met up with another friend Lindsay, for a well deserved break for me. We took Lindsay out for dessert for her birthday. It was a lot of fun! Then off to Walmart to do some grocery shopping then they dropped me off at home. It was good fun!

When I got home I was trying to be quiet but no need! Arnold was still up. His nap gave him a bit more energy! After watching a few episodes on the computer we went to bed.