It WAS a Spa...AND a Massage!

On Saturday Marsha treated me to a beautiful, amazing spa. First we had a steam then we dried off and each went to our respective massage tables. We were first treated to a foot massage. Our feet were filed and lotioned and pampered for some time before they were brushed with wax or something and wrapped in plastic. Onto the full body massage. OMGCANYOUSAYAWESOME? By the time she went back to unwrap my feet I couldn't help myself from saying out loud that I had completely forgotten I had feet! I didn't have the presence of mind to take pictures of the place until we were leaving but even the entrance was beautiful! :) Thanks Marshy!

Saturday was our last night in Kamloops and Sunday morning we left Kamloops. The drive through mountains was gorgeous. Stopped a few times for the kids to stretch. Still had some meltdowns. Stopped at Takakkaw falls. Very cool experience driving around and UP the mountain. Switchback was amazing. Falls even more amazing. Cooper started melting down after falls visit. Canmore tantrum was still going on. We were going to stop for the night but Roberta talked us into driving the last hour to Calgary to stay over again (Thank God). I had to sit in the back to keep the boys down to a dull roar. Arrived in Calgary and wanted to flop and drop.

Monday - Graeme's 5th birthday. Went to IKEA. Bought some kitcheny gadgets but was not impressed with the kids' impatience. Did the whole store in under an hour which SUCKED. Ran to Future Shop to get Graeme a bday present. In there for only a minute or two, which was awesome. While I was inside Chris was scoping out a little tent area out in the parking lot where a (cute) girl was doing windshield stone chip repairs. We grabbed a bite to eat and headed back over to see her. She fixed our stone chip. Freaked me out when she started drilling the windshield. I'd hoped it would make the stone chip disappear but it's still there. At least it's repaired and isn't supposed to spread now.

Headed back to Roberta's to hang out for the afternoon and for Graeme's birthday supper. Got some adorable pictures and video of his opening presents. Had an awesome supper of homemade grilled chicken burgers with avocados, tomatoes and chipotle pepper mayo (yum) and piles of beautiful fresh fruits and vegetables. Hey Mom...I actually put avocado on mine and loved it! Hey Auntie Lurdes...Roberta gets me to eat new stuff just like when I was little at your house! I found a thin slice of tomato and even put that on it too. Delish. Kevin was there and Derek's sister and brother-in-law were there for a visit too.




Tuesday morning we headed out after a visit to the gas station/Tim Horton's. Made it to Regina but I had to sit in the back to keep us all sane again. Stayed at the Travelodge there. Nice enough place and could even see the Jeep (still full of all our crap) from the hotel room. Ordered pizza and a movie. Twelve bucks for that sucker and it cut off about halfway through. ''The Wrestler'' came on instead. Weird. I called the front desk to ensure we wouldn't be charged for either one. Apparently there was a glitch at the movie company the hotel deals with. So we started watching the Wrestler for free but we fell asleep.

Left Regina and headed home. Rough ride with the boys. They'd really had enough of the car ride. Very few stops. Brandon for gas and snacks and Portage La Prairie for a stretch break at the park near the spillway. Headed home and straight to Wal-Mart for milk and food. Came home and unloaded the Jeep. Boys are still on BC time and stayed up really late.

Today we hung out and I'm slowly unpacking. Went to get Chris a new GSM ''smart phone'' today. He officially has texting and everything. Too bad the phone is so damn fancy it's not very user-friendly and is a little frustrating. Though Chris can get email on it which is cool and use Facebook but I really need to find out if these features are an additional cost. I'm holding off ont he upgrade until the phone company has all the glitches worked out.

Totally synched the iPod and am loving it. Went to Mom and Dad's for supper. Yum. Hung out and visited then came home. Boys fell asleep on the way home which rocked. Stopped at the video store to rent Coraline. Carter woke up to watch it. It did get kind of freaky once we caught up to the point where it was cut off at the hotel. I missed much of it since I was computing and iPodding at the same time. (Yeah, I'm a dork.) Cooper surprisingly stayed down for the count. I'm enjoying listening to the iPod since I finally have all my music on it and am having fun playing with all the free apps I downloaded.

Dinosaurs, Gondolas, and the Enchanted Forest

...to name a few attractions we've visited. Last I mentioned we were headed for Drumheller. It was about an hour and a half's drive away; a little extra with the construction that seems to be omnipresent. We arrived in Drumheller and our first order of business was to visit the world's largest dinosaur. He was pretty massive! Then we found out we could climb up inside it, which added to the coolness factor! At three bucks a head to go up, (but Cooper was free) we started climbing the stairs. Then more stairs. And more stairs then just three more flights. Whew! We made it! We stood in the big-ass dino's mouth and took pictures. Cool stuff! We ventured down and started to head toward the Royal Tyrrel Museum. The place was huge and we started venturing through. It was pretty amazing and there was so much to learn, although that was not an easy feat with two young boys along for the tour. Cooper was very timid around the dinosaur displays which surprised me. Carter on the other hand, was enjoying it though was a little grouchy about having to wait to pass through the exhibits and so on. I took pictures as we zipped through. As with most tourist traps, the exit is through the gift shop. We picked up a remote control dinosaur for Cooper and a semi truck hauling a bunch of dinos for Carter. We stopped for snacks and headed back to Calgary for our last night there. The kids said their goodbyes before bed since we were aiming for an early start.

On Wednesday morning we headed out for the mountains. We were awe-inspired almost instantly and I was growing increasingly excited as the mountains got bigger and bigger as we got closer. Our first stop was Banff. The sign said the next two exits were Banff. Chris skipped the first one just for no reason other than there was another, but with the usual construction issues the second one was closed, with no noticeable warning. We had to drive about five clicks to the Lake Louise turnoff and go back to Banff. We made it into Banff just fine and headed for the gondola ride. I was a tad concerned the boys might not like it but it was a very very worthwhile stop. Eighty-six bucks later (and worth every penny) we were airborne. Looking at the boys and how much they loved it reminded me that Chris and I were at the same place ten years ago, and longer ago when I was Carter's age my family came to BC too, so I got all verklempt for a minute. The boys loved every minute of it and didn't want to get off. About a mile later we got off and of course had to walk through yet another gift shop. We climbed to the observation deck and I took a handful more pictures. Down we went and stopped for some ridiculously-priced refreshments. We headed back to the gondola and ventured back down to earth.

Our next stop was to be in Yoho Park where we hoped to see Takakkaw Falls. (Or Takalakataka as I first thought it was called heeheehee :) Somehow we missed the turnoff as there wasn't much signage. We just kept going but really needed a stop. We randomly chose Finn Creek; a lovely rest area with crystal clear river cascading into the larger, lovely clear green river. We played there for quite awhile and waded through the chilly water. Nice place.

Next stop was Revelstoke just for a random mental health break. We decided after Day One that we wouldn't torture ourselves or the kids with too much consecutive driving. We did a bit of a walkabout and got back on the highway; with just a short jaunt to the Enchanted Forest (about halfway between Revelstoke and Sicamous). The kids were instantly enchanted. We no sooner went through the gates than the boys were ready to move. There were castles and treeforts and little houses for all the fairy tale characters you could think of. Cooper again was too timid to really explore but Carter explored every nook and cranny of the three little pigs' houses and many many others. I took probably a hundred pictures just there. It was another worthwhile stop for the kids, though they were getting antsy and wanting to run ahead at every turn. The scenery there alone was beautiful with the ceiling cedar forest. Beauty!

We managed to get the kids back in the Jeep for the last leg of the trip to Kamloops. It was a bit dicey around Sorrento where we had to pull over for one of those breaks again. Once we got everyone all chilled out again it wasn't too bad for the rest of the journey. It was sooooooooooo awesome to pull up and see Marsha in the driveway. We didn't get to meet Heath right away since he was already in bed. Marsha and Ryan fed us a lovely dinner and we visited outside in the warm evening breeze. Ahhhhhhhh.

Yesterday Ryan had to work and we took the kids to a kiddie pool just a few blocks away. The kids played there for awhile and had a great time. Heath? Is an adorable, sweet, happy little baby; a total pleasure to have around. And though Marsha and I only see each other every few years now, it was quickly like we'd never been apart. Marsha and Chris took Carter and Heath back home but Cooper wasn't done at the pool. I stayed with him awhile longer but he started wanting to wander. He didn't really want to leave but I started to carry him home and he liked it. He quickly got too heavy so I carried him like a monkey for awhile. Still heavy so I put him up on my shoulders for the rest of the walk. I was hot and my legs were Jell-O by the time we got back. We had a quiet afternoon. We had pizza for supper and we started watching Zathura with the kids. Marsha had never seen it before. Chris and Ryan had gone to sleep earlier and I intermittently dozed throughout the movie. With the time zone changes (we've gained two hours now) we're a little messed up on bedtimes and such. Cooper was up pretty late.

Today we had a visit from Ryan's Mom. It was so sweet of her to arrive with gifts for the boys; the monster trucks and her kindness endeared them to her quickly. :) We had a visit then started to get ready to go to Shuswap Lake. We went to the Scotch Creek recreation area. First we visited the beach then went to an amusement spot where we had lunch and Marsha and I took Carter and Cooper on the bumper boats. Those were fun. I sat Cooper between my legs and let him do most of the driving and the water shooting! Carter liked it too but was happy to squirt water at people but upset when he got squirted back. Poor Marsha. Once the ride was over the kids wanted to play in the arcade. There was also a cool mini-golf course, but with the heat and the length of the course it was out of the question. More than half of the arcade games were out of order and Carter was getting progressively grouchier. On the way out Cooper rode one of those little merry-go-rounds and Carter rode on a duck and a three-wheeler.

We managed to get away and head back. Cooper fell asleep almost instantly. Carter eventually wound down and apologized for his whininess in the amusement park. We had a (thankfully) uneventful drive back. We relaxed for the afternoon then had an awesome supper. Ryan grilled salmon and we had a fantastic salad, peas and some sushi. I wasn't brave enough to try any of the raw items but I really enjoyed the California rolls and the Dynamite rolls. Good stuff. I'd love to know how to make it.

After supper Marsha got Heath settled down for the night and we all watched Monsters Incooperated. No, that's not exactly a typo; it's what Cooper still calls it and I still get a kick out of it. After the movie we all headed for bed. Chris is enjoying the iPod as much or more than I am and I managed to get connected with the mini-laptop again to do some catching up here. I don't have my camera handy so pictures will follow later. I'm off to dreamland myself now; Marsha has a suuuuuper secret treat just for us girls tomorrow. I hope it rhymes with pa or passage. hahaha.

A Rough Start

Well, we got away perfectly and as planned on Saturday morning. By the time we wanted to stop for a bite, I realized I forgot all the sandwich meat in the crisper of the fridge. I also began to recall several other items I had forgotten to bring but that we could live without. Our first stop was at Oak Bluff on the Perimeter Highway outside of Winnipeg. We gassed up and I bought some lunchmeat to go with the buns that I actually did remember.

We carried on our travels and made several stops. I took a few notes and started making notes about our gas mileage and amounts. We made it to Regina by dinner time, which impressed us greatly. We are very thankful to have the GPS Mom and Dad lent us; it has really helped and is at times quite handy as well as entertaining. Since we arrived in Regina far earlier than we expected to, we decided to continue driving. We made Swift Current our next target, arriving before nine o'clock. We couldn't find the Days Inn (it didn't show up on the GPS) so we just stopped at a Best Western. The kind ladies at the desk warned us that all of the hotels in town that they would recommend were full. They did have smoking rooms available but even the hoarse, smoker's voice lady said they were awful and even she, a smoker wouldn't stay in them.

We were starting to get a little concerned (and punchy) about the time and our fatigue from traveling all day. We pressed on for a town called Gull Lake, which was a hole in the wall town and we didn't even bother taking the exit. Next was Maple Creek which was somewhat similar. It was getting dark out and the clouds of bugs we were driving through were horrendous! Again we pressed on and actually made it to Medicine Hat. We headed for the Days Inn and the nice ladies there told us they were FULL. Another customer was there and said she had already checked a handful of nearby hotels that were also full. I was just about ready to go nap in a Wal-Mart parking lot when the ladies called the Imperial Hotel for us. It was nearby and we found it easily and they had room.

Luckily the boys were asleep (we only had a couple meltdowns during that whole ordeal of traveling for so long). We checked in and went to the room and crashed, planning to let the kids have a dip in the pool in the morning since we had already covered so much ground the first day.

Morning came and we had to kill some time before the pool opened. I shaved and showered and did all my requisite hair drying and ironing while Chris did a Tim Horton's run with Carter across the street. It was finally pool time and Chris and I decided instead of having wet life jackets all over our stuff in the Jeep we would just let the kids dip in the hot tub. That was fine and dandy until Cooper went off the ledge in the hot tub. He couldn't reach bottom and the time he bobbed the second time, Chris had leapt into the pool and grabbed him. Cooper was fine Thank God and once I determined so, he just wanted to go back in again. Chris and his cell phone, Jeep remote, cigarettes etc. (who cares about those) were soaked. I did let Cooper back in the water but I held his hand and it was soooooooo not fun after that. Much to the kids' chagrin we tore them away from the pool since we were so stressed out. We threw Chris's clothes in the hotel laundromat and while I was using my hairdryer to try to dry out the cell phone, Chris used the hotel hairdryer on the wall to start drying the contents of his wallet that I forgot to previously mention in his possessions. Next thing we knew the power was out; we had blown a breaker with both hairdryers going. ::sigh:: I called down to the front desk and they had us back up and running in a few minutes.

The tone of the day was definitely set. We were however happy to have a shorter trip to reach our destination. We were approaching Calgary when the boys had another meltdown. I was trying to ignore them but they started to fight physically so Carter whacked Cooper and Cooper started to bite Carter. Chris pulled over to the side of the highway but there was a lot of traffic so he pulled onto a side road. I hauled Cooper up front with me to remove him from the fisticuffs. Chris took Carter outside. Once we restored peace we all got settled back in the Jeep with a snack and continued out our way. When we pulled out onto the highway there was another vehicle pulling onto it from the other side. As we got up to highway speed, the other vehicle pulled back and away from us but then came after us. The lady was motioning to the back passenger door window of their truck, which was smashed completely and they were motioning for us to pull over. They didn't know if they got hit by a rock or if we threw something at them or even shot at them, with the explosion of the window. We had just gotten our own stone chip just a couple hours before, but this just sucked. They wanted our insurance information and I didn't know if they could do that but I called 911 and said it wasn't an emergency but I had a police question. The lady told me it's not a reportable incident but if we figured we would get any kind of a hard time from the people we should exchange information and advise our insurance agent. Sheeeeeeesh! Fortunately for them they were locals. So far the day wasn't going well!

We finally reached Roberta & Derek's house. All four kids were excited to get together and play. I just wanted to curl up in the fetal position and suck my thumb by this point but was so relieved to be at our destination where we could settle down for a couple days and breathe!!! Kevin was here too. He took me to Future Shop to buy my iPod!!! However, I couldn't use it right away since it wanted to synch with my computer that much to my dismay now I didn't bring with me.

Kevin, knowing my disappointment, went home to get his laptop so I could get my iPod started. Yay! I didn't know if that would work out but I got it all registered and ready to rock. Fun stuff. Cool toy. Then I went to buy my first app at the app. store and it asked me for Kevin's password. CRAP. This evening he took me to the Apple store to see if they could help or tell me what to do. Apparently my iPod is now associated with Kevin's computer. When you have an iPod, one iPod can be connected to one computer. Crap again. Oh well. It is still useable though I can't synch it until I get home. In the meantime I can still play with it and go online. When I get home I can use my laptop to fix 'er up. Yay again :)

Roberta made us a delectable dinner last night with chicken kebabs and grilled vegetables. The kids didn't eat great but played pretty nicely. We had a lovely evening visiting and I cuddled up with the four kids to watch a movie. My guys fell asleep and we tucked them in for the night. I wasn't able to get this mini-laptop of Mom and Dad's working until just tonight, hence this lengthy post.

Today we had a lunch date with Chris's Auntie Wendy in Cochrane. We navigated over there just fine and had a wonderful visit with her and her daughter Crystal and baby Houston and Crystal's niece Aubrey. Lunch was divine and Wendy's sweetness just brings out the best in everyone, including our boys who didn't need to be reminded to use their manners :) After Chris's Mom passed away just over five years ago, Chris's Dad sent her dog, Sasha, to live with Wendy. When we arrived and I saw Sasha, I was overcome with emotion and memories and started to cry. I thought there would be some impact with seeing her but I didn't expect to be overwhelmed. Sweet moment. Sasha, now 13 is a bit of a senior citizen but she is still the same little lady we remembered!

After lunch and a great visit, we ventured back to Roberta's place as we had a date with Kevin to go to the oh-so-seriously-massive Bass Pro Shop. Seriously? It's oh-so-massive. It was amazing. The boys were quite entertained by all the animal mounts and merchandise. The decor alone was incredible and sheer volume and size of the place was astounding. We spent a bit of time there then headed back to Roberta's again for supper. Tonight we had scrumptious tacos and spicy rice. Delish. After supper was when Kevin took me to the Apple store, which is a nice, clean pretty store with all their neat displays and stuff. It was pretty busy in there but I got my questions answered.

We zipped around the mall, barely stopping to look at anything until we got to Old Navy where I picked up a few t-shirts for Chris, knowing how much he would love to have something new. He did. We got back to Roberta & Derek's and visited out on the deck until the boys fell asleep watching a movie after a warm bath. Tomorrow we are venturing to Drumheller to see the dinosaurs with the boys, another big highlight of our trip. We can't wait to check it out. I'm going to try to post some pictures using this mini-laptop but I can't make any guarantees. However pictures will follow at some point!

BLAH

Things have been ticking along as quickly as always, ticking very quickly when it comes to my blogging so as per usual of late this will be an odd, sporadic post. Last week I had a few lunch dates. My cousin Jason was in town and we got to have a few visits with him. Chris's brother Jason and Claire also came to town and we were happy to see them a few times on the weekend.

The day after I last blogged I took the boys to the Teddy Bear Picnic. It was a beautiful day, a little windier than I'd like but it definitely kept us cool enough. Chris was gone fishing but I managed okay with two excited little boys. They did a variety of activities and had some fun. Pictures will follow at the end of this post.

Somewhere in these almost two weeks I took the boys for a kayak ride with Kelly. I was terrified of dumping my camera in the river so I didn't take any documenting pictures. Next time I will, even if it's just on-shore pictures.

Mom and Dad were going to come visit one evening but changed their minds. Mom had wanted to come to town for an ice-capp from Timmy's. After I dropped off cousin Jason and Chris's Dad, I did a quick Timmy's run to get her one. I drove out to Mom and Dad's and left it on the doorstep, rang the doorbell and leapt into the Jeep and drove away. By the time Dad opened the door I wasn't quite out of their driveway so I was busted. Mom would have known where it came from anyway, but it was a fun drive-by, nonetheless. :)

The weather has been odd; the night I did that drive-by, there was an F2 tornado that touched down about an hour and a half away from here, which is oh-so-very-rare around here. I did notice some interesting cloud formations in my own travels and even stopped to take pictures along the way, only to find out about the extreme weather not so far away just a couple hours later. I also saw two turtles on my drive. One on my way out and one in a completely different area on the way back. Oh and a deer too. It was an interesting drive!

On the weekend I had lunch with an out-of-town coworker and her friend. We had an awesome lunch at the Indian/Greek restaurant again. I came home with a ''food baby'' and the taste and smell of garlic lingered on me for long afterward. I love eating there.

This week has been kind of a rotten one. The kids seem to have caught a (thankfully mild) case of hand, foot and mouth disease. I never fully clued in until the kids were having a hard time eating dinner (yeah Angie, I said dinner...tell your friend Thomas!) on Monday night. The sitter had mentioned the week before that a couple of the kids had it but their moms kept them home so I didn't think much of it. They both had some little sores in their mouths. I wanted to confirm what it was so we all hiked up to the hospital to get checked out. Once we were under the bright fluorescent hospital lighting we were able to see a few little pimply marks on their hands and feet, but thankfully they are very few and very far between. I did a Google Image Search to find out about it and there are some hideous pictures of the sores that are common with the ailment. Thank God our kids don't have it bad like that! We were in and out of there in around two hours, with the doctor basically telling us that yes, it was what we thought it was, and that we could go look it up on the internet to find out about it. His first words were (and I quote) ''Well, there's frig-all we can do about it.''

So I've kept the boys home yesterday and today and it's been brutal. The weather sucks plus we couldn't really go to the park anyway for fear of being contagious to other kids there. So we've been cooped up and Cooper has really been testing my limits more than ever. I've been stressed about the kids' being sick, about missing work on my last week before I have some time off and with their behaviour so I've been feeling down.

Yesterday I had a hair appointment. I went for a cut and colour and it always feels good to get a new haircut. She added in a few highlights too just for variety, though I could use a few more in the front where they would be more visible. I'm hoping tomorrow will be a much better day and I can have a boost in enthusiasm again.

Here are a some random pictures since the last time I blogged:

(This one is for Christy...the yellow dude's name is Gary lol)

Yeah, I Know...

It's been a freaking forever since I blogged aside from this morning, and here I am doing it again. But we have had a fun day today. After Chris came home from work we took the boys mini-golfing. Cooper lasted exactly one half round and was terribly interested in the playground. Carter almost survived the whole course. His enthusiasm started to wane around the twelfth hole. I on the other hand was still feeling terribly competitive...therefore Chris and I tried to continue a real game. Not once, not twice, but THREE times, Cooper stopped my ball as I tried to play through. Boooooooooo.

Once we were done playing our quasi-game, we headed for the playground. A couple weeks ago I found a fun ''colour accent'' setting on my camera that lets you choose a colour accent and makes the rest of the picture black and white. Today I chose blue since the boys were wearing matching blue outfits and I really liked the effect.

After we left the mini golf course, we headed for Dairy Queen. Carter wanted a Blizzard instead of the usual ice cream cone. Cooper just said ''chocolate'' (that's my boy!) so I got him a baby cone dipped in chocolate. Chris had a tin roof brownie blizzard and I had my favourite-of-late hot fudge sundae with Reese Peanut Butter Cups on top. Carter did a really good job on the Blizzard and Cooper surprisingly ate his entire cone...without any serious mess!

After ice cream it was still kind of nice out, though starting to cloud up. We headed for one of the schools to play on the playground and we all had some fun. Tonight we're going to see Night at the Museum 2. Cooper is taking a late nap so he'll easily last for the whole movie, but I'm anticipating Carter will be zonking out shortly after it gets started since he is rebelling against napping at the moment. So now I'll leave the rest of this post to the pictures... :)

What Can I Say?

It's summer. And even though I'm on the computer quite a bit, I've mostly been doing Facebook updates and playing that stupid game Farkle and just really haven't felt the enthusiasm for blogging. Or scrapbooking. How very sad. We've had some fantastic weather and some not so fantastic weather. We had about five depressing days in a row of rain but now it's nice again.

My birthday came and went. We followed our tradition of quite a few years now of going to the pancake breakfast at the Legion with my Mom and Dad. Chris's Dad joined us this time. By the time we got home this old girl was ready for a nap. (snicker) Chris took Cooper fishing and I hung out with Carter. Kelly called to see if I wanted to go for a walk. Cindy stopped by first to bring me my birthday present. My hilarious sister bought me reading glasses. As I mentioned in a post a couple months ago, (which by the frequency of my blogging lately it's still on this page...oh look at me digressing like my friend Angie...) I am at the stage where reading glasses are an option. Inside the card she wrote, ''Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.'' Although instead of the word bullet, there was an actual bullet. Hilarious. Also in the package was a puzzle I have yet to figure out.

Mom and Dad gave me money toward my obsession of late; I've decided I want to have an iPod touch. My delightful coworkers pitched in to get me a couple Future Shop gift cards (and a couple of those sweethearts got me flowers too!) The day before my birthday I got home and there was a delivery guy pulling in the driveway behind me. He had a gift bag with three helium-filled mylar balloons attached. It was from Kelly. Inside were four packages of Reese Peanut Butter Cups, a gift card for Future Shop and a gift card for Starbucks. I was very excited that I was well on my way to getting my iPod.

At suppertime I went to get McDonald's for the boys since I was headed to Bingo with Mom. I found out earlier in the day there was a Bingo and since it meant free admission on my birthday, I wanted to go. I also wanted to go the fireworks but it was doubtful with the timing. That and the kids are usually sound asleep by that time. Unfortunately despite the fun we had, we didn't win Bingo. I had a couple good close calls. Not only did I get a free card for admission but Mom and I had heard that if you wear something Canada-ish, you get a free card so I had a few Canada tattoos on and Mom wore a Canada flag sash and we got another freebie for that. On the way home we could see flashes in the sky off in the distance. At first I figured it was a storm, but we realized we could see the reflection of the fireworks off in the distance. On the way home after dropping off Mom, I could see a few really high ones. But by the time I got to town it was pretty much finished.

For some silly reason, I didn't take Thursday off work. With Canada Day/My Birthday on a Wednesday this year it didn't make for a long weekend. I had already booked off Friday and really should have included Thursday. This weekend we plan on taking the kids mini-golfing and to see Night at the Museum 2 at the drive-in.

Now I fully realize this has been a lame attempt at a catch-up so I'll use these pictures as filler... pictures of our nature walks, trips to the park, face painting on Canada Day (there are no pictures of the birthday girl on her birthday; it was a pretty low-key day) and of Cindy's puppy(ies). I took Carter to see Cindy and Bob's new puppy yesterday. His name is Gunner and he is a soft little adorable guy. By the time we got home, there was already another puppy living with them. Her name is Joon. Supposedly they got two puppies so they can keep each other company. Yeah, good one. Six kids and two parents and a puppy needs company. Hilarious! The two are definitely adorable, and it really is cute to see the two siblings together. Now on to the pictures...have a super duper day! :)