Just so you know.....

It's been a wile, so here goes:

1. Craig and I will celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary in September. How the hell did that happen? Pure luck on my part!

2. My favorite food is now and will forever be french fries with gravy. The kind you get at chip trucks or fish and chip restaurants.

3. Sleeping ROCKS. Seriously - LOVE IT! Especially in the afternoon, even though I sleep horribly that night.

4. Hands down, Downton.Abbey is the BEST show on TV!

5. I would say I have a small Diet Coke addiction. It's not too out of hand. I could stop if I wanted to. I just don't want to.

6. I love going to the movies, but have learned this Summer I like it better when we go with the boys. I like sitting with Kaedo best.

7. I think in describing my personality, the first word that would be used is sarcastic. Yikes!

8. I love the color grey however every time I say that one of the boys correct me and tell me it is a shade, not a color, "so pick something else". Apparently white is out of the question as well.

9. If I ever met Kate.Middleton I would probably faint, then drool, then pee myself. And maybe not even in that order.

10. I love scarves. Not winter scarves. The filmy, wrap around your neck three times so people focus on the scarf not my fat ass kind of scarf. Love those.

Gramma and Grampa's House

My MIL has always been great about keeping us up to date with the boys activities - and providing lots of pictures. She always sits down at the end of the day and sends us some from the day so we can see what's what. As I am prepping the house for some major painting this weekend, I thought I'd let her email tell the story of the day. So here goes:

"Baking going on after Kaeden had his cup of tea - we made rhubarb muffins -
too yummy!! We made 18 and there are only 6 left!  Sterling showing his
finished project - some windows have to be put on yet but otherwise a master
piece.  Went to Indians Ball game - close game but lost 5-4:(  One good
thing came of it, Sterling got a Baseball Bingo and picked a prize of 3 golf
balls.  With the gift card Sterling won at the car races yesterday, grampa
and him went down to Standard Motors and there was really nothing there for
Sterling, so grampa offered to pay him $20 for the card.  The last photos
are of what Sterling bought with it but him and Kaeden agreed that Kaeden
would pay 1/2 - not sure how that all works but oh well!!  Anyway, after the
ball game we came home and the ping pong was on the go - too funny! "

Thanks for the update and the pictures. Love it!

Mom - the gnome is right above the 'A'. Maybe you need new glasses?????

Week 44

Boys are in Swift Current this week on the third leg of their journey. They took this picture at the race track. Can you spot Gnomie? As I look at this picture I wonder if I will ever see their beautiful eyes again!

At the race track, Sterling won a $20 gift certificate to an auto shop. He and grampa were going to head over there today to see if there was anything to buy. Hopefully he thinks to hand it over to grampa if he doesn't find anything.

They are having a great time and there are lots of pictures to post, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Sunday

Friday was hand-off day and that meant some tears, lots of smiles and the beginning of the next leg of their adventure. The one thing I really wanted was a picture of J, the girls and the boys together. I don't think there is another one in existence, so I really wanted one. Thank you to my M-I-L for snapping this.

Huge thank you to J for being such a wonderful host and for giving the boys such an awesome week. You are the best!

I had to laugh when I saw this photo as these are the same toys that have been at gramma and grampa's house for the last 40 years. The boys have been playing with these toys all their lives and while I haven't seen them play with 'toys' in years, I wasn't surprised to see these pulled out from the closet.

In S's email, she said the boys had a cookout. Are those even hotdogs? They look like black sticks. As my M-I-L likes her meat burnt well done, I was wondering if everyone was making their hotdogs for her. LOL.

Look at those happy smiles! Love it! There will be lots of pictures over the next couple of weeks so we'll all be seeing what they've been getting up to together! 

Another day another hand off

The boys are heading to gramma and grampa's house today for two weeks. It is going to be quiet at Anti's. I have spoken with J and the boys numerous times throughout the week and know they have had an amazing time. There is a reason they think their Anti is the coolest person on the planet.

While I know there will be tears at the meet point, I also know there will be tons of thrilled smiles and laughter as the boys continue on their journey. Their grandparents are so very excited to have them and they are excited to go. Amazing how quickly this holiday has gone.

Four weeks down and three weeks, 2 days left. But who's counting?

OMG

So, I'm not even sure where to start here. Yesterday Anti took the boys and E ziplining at this amazing facility in Cypress Hills. I am posting the pictures shot by the company today as although J sent me about 30 pictures that were shot by the family I can't figure out how to save them off my email to post them. Sorry about that.

To say they had an amazing day would be the understatement of the millennium. Here are some pictures.

The gang getting ready to play

Kaedo and E ziplining

Anti and Sterling ziplining

While these pictures are great, the ones the family took with E's camera really capture the height and difficulty of this facility. I will be posting more pictures about this tomorrow to give you are real idea about how amazing it was. Apparently Kaedo had NO FEAR and E was the bravest 8 year old on the planet.

Special thanks to my sweet sis for doing this. I know she has had it planned for months and it was amazing. Thanks also go out to my mom and dad for coming to look after the A while everyone else had such an adventure. You guys rock!

More amazing pictures tomorrow!

Week 43

Week 43 and the boys are with Anti. They are having a blast, and after talking to Sterling yesterday morning I was just about peeing my pants while he was telling me about the antics going on there. I actually wrote them down so I can write about them later in the week.

Today they are going ziplining and I am so excited to hear all about it. I may just have to call them tonight to see how it was.

Happy Monday All!

So a Funny Thing Happened...

Over the last couple of weeks I have been mentioning our new dish detergent and how much I love the smell and how it permeates the whole first floor when I'm doing a load of dishes. Craig was complaining that it made his water bottle taste weird.

Today we were at Costco and we were walking down the aisles and Craig saw another brand on sale (he is ALL about sales) and we started walking down the aisle more to see how much we paid for the stuff we are using more. Couldn't find it, couldn't find it.... until Craig spots it on the other side of the aisle.... with the laundry soap!

Hahahahaha - for the last month I have been using laundry soap for our dish detergent. Let's just say it was hysterical. I was laughing so hard I was crying. Add to that the "will kill if ingested" warning, and all I could say was "foiled again". I'm kidding of course. We laughed so hard, both at Costco and at home.

For the record - they smell great but don't wash the dishes that well.  Funny that I never looked at the package to find out what the hell the deal was.  I though it was my dishwasher.  That'll learn me!

Lastly - a VERY SPECIAL HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my niece A. She's 4 today and she had a big party and the boys got to be there and she sounded so damn cute on the phone this morning! Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Reunion

The boys and the girlies are together again! Look at sterling and E holding hands... I love that! It is going to be very noisy at Anti's house this week, but oh so much fun!

I am sitting here listening to the thunder and rain. I must admit that I quite like the rain. Mostly like watching people run to their cars with a bag over their head in an attempt to not get wet. We're not going to melt, people. I'm also glad I didn't straighten my hair this morning as it would already be back to it's curls. Hoping it lets up over night as you know what tomorrow is... football!

Tomorrow is also "chat with mom" morning, which I am so looking forward to. We haven't had a good, 'drain your cell phone battery' chat in a month. Although I must admit I called her this morning to make sure she wasn't a puddle on the floor with her boys leaving. She was holding up good, thanks for asking.

Well, the weekend is upon us, and depending on the weather, we have some outside things to tackle so we'll see where that goes. We also have two movies we want to see. I can't believe we haven't been to the movies since the weekend the boys left (and the movie sucked), so maybe we'll do that too.

Happy Friday Everyone, and may the adventure begin!

The Last Day

The boys had their last official day of sightseeing yesterday with a visit to Yellowstone. From the smiles on their faces, it looks like they had a wonderful time. Today they are deadheading it back to Alberta in time for a possible dip in the pool tonight and a good night's sleep before their next adventure begins. I sure don't want to be at Amma and Baba's place 5 minutes after they leave. I know they will be seeing the boys 2 more times while they are out west, but it's not quite the same as having them all to yourselves.

I think we will get the opportunity to talk to them tonight (yay!!!), so I am totally hoping it works out. I can't wait to get Jessica's first reactions of the boys tomorrow. Wish I was there!

2008

Time flies when you're getting gorgeous! Back when Kaedo's hair was white blonde (man I loved that) and Sterling's teeth were a tragic display. Now the baby has short short hair and Sterling has spectacular teeth! What 5 years and thousands of dollars does. 

The boys are almost at the end of their USA vacation and if I'm not mistaken, they had their celebration dinner last night. Steak, shrimp and all the fixins. I'd like a celebration dinner too, mom!

Back to Alberta tomorrow for them and then off to see Anti and the girlies on Friday. I hope J gets lots of pictures and the girlies make them dress up and have a tea party. That would totally be going on the blog!

Hoping to talk to my guys tomorrow some time as I am in 7 day withdrawal.

Craig is off to football tonight and tomorrow I have class and then I am taking a soap making class at my local library. Looking forward to it.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

My Boys

After all these years - almost 10 to be exact, these are still my favorite series of photos. And I have a lot of photos. I have a few one-offs that I love but as a series, these are them, hands down.

Very busy today and very productive but missing my boys more than ever. Funny how that works. Sad day today thinking of them. Made all the worse seeing the other boys on the street running into our backyard retrieving the ball that has come over the fence. 

Stew for supper tonight - which seems weird when it is so warm, but maybe some comfort food is needed. Who knows. 

Knowing they are happy and healthy and having fun makes my heart ache a little less, but not much. I guess I'm the one whose homesick.

Week 42

Week 42 and they are in St. George, Utah. The trip North has begun as of today and while I know the boys are anxious to visit everyone, they have had a fantastic holiday and are sad to see it end. They can be happy knowing they will see their Amma and Baba two more times this year (yay!) with a visit in October and our second Christmas together since 2003. I know I am so looking forward to seeing them as it has been a year for me so I am definitely in withdrawal!

The boys start the next leg of their journey on Friday, where they will meet up with Anti, E and A. They are not going to know what hit them. I won't say whether I mean the boys or the girlies!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

What A Day! (Do I say that a lot?)

Yesterday morning Craig and I headed to the Honda Indy race trials in downtown T.O. He and the boys had gone last year while I was in Vegas and they had so much fun, he thought I would enjoy it. It was great. We had a lot of fun. The cars were noisy, the sun was shining and there were plenty of people enjoying this great day. I took over 100 pictures, but thought I would just show some of my favorites.

It is impossible to get pictures of these cars as they race around the track, but I kinda like the look of these ones being so blurry when nothing else is.

This is the "jumbotron" from the stands we originally sat in. The driver has a Go.Pro on top of his car. Very cool. As there are cameras filming throughout the course, you get to see the crashes as well.

We crossed over to the other stands and sat behind the pit crews for a while. Amazing how much stuff they have. On the far right you can see the covered piece - that has all the computers they use to monitor the car (our guess) and talk to the driver.

In case you can't read the sign, it says, "this car is being supported by 4 Wedgewood bone china teacups designed for everyday use". How cool is that? Each cup is supporting 387 lbs!

Cool picture of the Skyline

The announcers. Interesting listening to them while sitting in the stands.

Car in one of the haulers that was too smashed up to drive. Looks like my room from when I was a kid. Minus the car.

It was a lot of fun and I`d love to go again next year. 

What A Day!

You know when you have one of those days that just exceeds your expectations? That was my day yesterday. I had a lunch date with my aunt, which is always the highlight of my week, however this one was extra-special. She had told me over the last few months that she was planning something but needed good weather. In the interim we had continued with our bi-weekly lunches. This week she told me to be ready at 10:30am as the weather was co-operating. When she told me where we were going, I was over the moon.

She had organized a private tour of the grounds of Parkwood along with lunch in their tea house. For those of you unfamiliar with Parkwood, it was the family home of R.S. McLaughlin, the founding president of General Motors. Construction started on the home in 1915 and was completed in 1917. In 1989 it became a National Historic Site. If you are interested in reading more about it, I recommend you go here.

As they were filming a movie/TV show (?) indoors yesterday, we remained in the gardens, which were just breathtaking. My aunt is an amazing gardener, and she was able to teach the guide a few things about the flora. I loved it. 

After lunch we strolled a bit more and then she said she had a gift in mind for me but wanted me to pick the specific one out myself. Off we went to the gift shop where I chose the most exquisite ice blue scarf. It really was too much to take in.

As she had just had a birthday, we returned to our house where we chatted for a few more hours (yes, hours!) and I was able to give her my present. She was still here at 6pm when Craig walked in the door!

It was such a wonderful day. One of those memories you will recall over and over. Below are just some of the pictures I took. I hope to take Kaedo and his magic eye and camera one day as he will truly be able to do justice to this amazing place.

Original urn from 1917

There used to be a horse track here but the neighbors hated it so this was put in instead. 

It was modeled after Versailles.

Two other notes - 

1. Talked to the boys last night - San Diego baby! They are having a wonderful time and sound awesome! How they got my mom to eat at Denny's I will never know.

2. We are off to the Honda Indy trials tomorrow in the big city! Hope to get some fun, if not blurry photos!