Surprise!!!

Probably not what you were hoping to see when you logged onto the blog today.  Of course, wasn't what Shannon was hoping to see when she got home tonight either.  Dog must be pissed with her (it was the dog by the way, not me) or her shoes smelled worse and he was just trying to improve the situation :) (I'm gonna pay for that comment, ha ha)  At any rate, after I was done laughing I cleaned up the mess and the shoes and now she tells me she isn't going to ever wear them again.  What the hell, they only smell a little like poop.

Week 44

A little late but its been a hectic week for Shannon getting the kids packed and ready.  But they are on their way and looking forward to their vacation.  Not sure how the gnome pics will work but I know gnomee made the trip as well so I'm sure we'll get some cool pictures to post.

this is my 1306th post!

Yikes! 1306!
It's 5pm and I have 5 smelly teenagers sitting at my kitchen table eating popcorn like it's the last food on the planet. They are talking about scootering, biking, and travelling. They are talking about school, eating popcorn with braces, why there is no pop in the house, why you would spend money on braces when you could get a new bike instead. They are laughing about Kaedo's short soccer shorts and many other things.

I am sitting here listening and loving all of it. I love knowing that when Kaedo and I leave in 15 minutes for soccer, all these boys can stay in my house because I trust them. I have known them for years and just love the friendships that have formed.

They smell and they laugh and they joke and they tease. Music to my ears.

On Thursday morning Kaedo decided he would like to make cupcakes. Sterling was sleeping over at C's house, so it was the perfect time. The three of us trying to cook in our kitchen is a bit much. He decided on confetti cupcakes with french vanilla icing. He did it all himself and was mighty pleased with how well they turned out. The family seemed to like them as by the end of the day there were only four left! He told me that  maybe he'd like to be a chef when he "grows up". Hmmm - all those girls in high school Home Ec will sure love him!

week 43

The weather is beautiful, the boys seem to be enjoying their summer and a new gnome is close to making its debut here on the blog.  With only 9 weeks left I had to ask the boys if they were interested in year 4 and both said absolutely. I am so happy about that. Next week we will have our regular gnome picture but for a couple of weeks after we will then have our travelling gnome and pictures courtesy of one of the boys' cell phones. They are so excited to go on holidays with their Amma and Baba. Yesterday we watched "Night at the Museum - Battle at the Smithsonian". They kept saying, "oh, I want to go there, oh there". They can't wait.

Part 2

Fast forward a couple of hours from our shoe buying experience and the car breaks down on the way to soccer. We remained stuck on the side of the road for 90 minutes waiting for Craig as he was on his way home, in 30 degree weather. Craig figured it was the battery so we (read he) pulled the battery out and we headed to Canadian Tire to have the battery tested. Once there the clerk told us that the battery wouldn't even test and kept getting hot when they tried to test it so it was definitely the battery. We bought a new battery and took it back to the car. Next day Kaedo and I head out on some errands and on our way back we break down on the 401. We were able to start the car after a while and broke down two more times before blocking the middle lane of an exit. Thank god Craig was working from home as he came and we boosted the car. We were able to get it to a grocery store, where we had to leave it because Kaedo had a soccer game. After his game we returned to the store and Craig tested it and we learned it was the alternator. We charged up the car up the best we could then crossed our fingers we could get it back to our house. Craig miraculously was able to do it and now our car sits in the driveway.

To top that off I have been the victim of Identity Theft and have been dealing with the aftermath of that. You have no idea how horrible that is. I have spent hours talking to merchants, police, credit agencies. I can't believe it. I'm having a small pity party right now. You're invited.

Are those Runners???

The boys haven't had new shoes since last year. Sterling was absolutely desperate, so on Thursday afternoon I took them to the mall to see if they could find some they liked that were in our price range. We looked at a few places and in the end they chose these one. To be honest I was quite happy as they were $30 less than anything else they had looked at. Sterling's are a size 13 and the clerk told us that she would have to special order any larger sizes for him. Yikes!

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to spend the morning golfing yesterday. The weather was wonderful with a mild cloud cover and not too hot. We had a few drips heading to the 9th hole but that was it. There was one party ahead of us and no one behind us the whole round. It was a bit weird being on the course all by ourselves but we used the opportunity to let the boys take multiple shots and practice their game. Kaedo pooped out about the 7th hole but was a good sport about finishing up the round. Afterward we came home and just hung out - everyone doing their own thing. We have another gift certificate for another round so we'll see when we play that one. What a wonderful way to spend the morning. 

Week 42 and the sun is shining. Craig was right on top of getting the picture done while I was away and now that it has reverted to my responsibility I am back to posting it super late in the week. The kids have had a good week, hanging out, scootering, biking, soccer, new shoes (much needed) and football. Tomorrow we have a tee time for 9:10am to use one of our Christmas gift certificates for a round of golf (thanks mom and dad). We are all looking forward to that. I'm going to charge my camera battery tonight so I can get some good shots.

The Bellagio

One afternoon we headed to the Bellagio, which is in my opinion the most beautiful hotel on the Strip. These pictures (except the last one) are all from the garden in the middle of the hotel. It is the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen. Even the animals - the bees, frogs - are done with dried flowers. I can't imagine how long it takes to makes this beautiful site come alive - magical. The last photo is hundreds of glass flowers that hang from the ceiling over the lobby. LOVE THEM.

I would love to stay at that hotel, but first I need to win the lottery - ha!

Valley of Fire

WOW! Vegas - what can I say? A great way to spend your 40th birthday. The best part of going to Vegas with my parents is that you don't spend a week in a casino (although with endless supplies of money I would not be opposed to that). My mom and dad know what there is to see and where to go to see it. Amidst watching my beautiful niece dance and playing with my other beautiful niece, I had the opportunity to go to the Valley of Fire and the Hoover Dam. These pictures are from our day at the Valley of Fire. Imagine it being 45 degrees out and no shade. The poor air conditioning in the van.

This old guy had apparently been hanging around the picnic area for the last two years, we were told by the ranger. Recently someone fed him and he has gotten aggressive and now they are talking about relocating him to another area where he will not come into contact with people.

It was a great day and the terrain is so magical. I cannot explain how beautiful it was. These pictures do not do it justice at all.

Last Day of Holidays

Well as much as its been a pretty laid back holidays with the boys I did make plans for today to go downtown and enjoy the free Friday Indy Toronto day.  Before the weekend of racing people are invited to come down and enjoy the day watching practice runs, looking at cool cars, playing games and getting tons of free samples.  What's really cool is that the track is not a traditional oval but curves through some of the streets around the Exhibition giving some interesting vantage points.  On the way out we had a good view of one of the tight corners and saw a couple of cars miss the turn and one hit the tires.  The kids and I had a great time and spend about 4 hours taking in everything we could.  It was about 30 degrees and absolutely gorgeous so it made for an even better time.

They had a Ferrari challenge throughout the day with cars like these racing through the track.  Kids got tons of pictures like this one.

Even with my camera set on continuous shooting, this is one of the only pictures I got of the Indy cars going by.

Not sure if the video does the speed or sound justice but listening to the cars go by was awesome.

Kids got a chance to race each other on these motorized Dr. Pepper cooler scooters, they loved it.

It was sponsored by Honda so lots of motorbikes and cars to check out.

Car from the Avengers movie, hence the Avengers backdrop.

Week 41

Has been a pretty quiet week so far and stinking hot.  Not that I'm complaining, I love the hot weather, just makes moving around alot slower.  Maybe that's why we took the picture a little later in the day.  At any rate, I managed to get it posted on Wednesday, yay me.

Every Last Cent

Well Kaedo certainly knew what he wanted when he asked for money for his birthday and that combined with his life savings allowed him to buy the scooter he wanted.  When we originally went to the store Kaedo had in his mind that he wanted to buy all separate parts and put together his own scooter.  He even went to the store's website and picked out the parts and added them up.  That changed quickly when the guy told him that to custom build a scooter it would start at about $550 and that wasn't even with the parts he wanted.  So the guy showed him another one and told him it was the best bang for his buck, didn't try and upsell so I trust he was telling him straight.  Still not cheap.  Wonder what a $500 scooter looks like, wonder no more.

And if you are want to know what a person can do on a $500 scooter, here is Kaedo in action.

Happy Canada Day!

In the past Canada Day has been a quiet affair mostly spent wishing more things were open so we could find something to do, and in some cases if we have company checking out the fireworks.  This Canada Day will be much different, though I will need to find something to do to occupy myself, the kids will be spending the day volunteering for the Rotary club at the Canada Day festivities in Bowmanville.  I will be dropping them off at around 1 and will pick them up at 11 (yikes, long day).  They will be manning one of the inflatables at the event making sure kids get through the obstacle course okay.  I am very happy they are giving back to the community, don't they look sharp in their Canada Day volunteer shirts.