July 4th and 5th

When one is within visiting distance of a god-parent/great friend what can one do but… VISIT. It just so happened that on Wednesday we had the time and she had the day off so what did we do? Pack everyone up and head to a different part of town to visit Gavin’s godmother Christine. We so rarely see her with how busy she is with her job as a pharmacist and our not living in the same town. BUT we lucked out with her days off and our spare time though the weather was not nearly as nice as the company.

Gavin and his Godmummy

No kids to play with but TWO dogs and THREE cats, though the cats went out of site quite quickly one by one (with one not making an appearance from the start). Echo was quite intrigued by all the fluffy critters. 

PUPPY

There was a bucket of toys and some snacks and some good company and the time apart just sort of melted away. I have to say, I love visiting with Christine and miss her so much. It is so wonderful that when we DO get together it is like the time has not passed. Gavin was over the moon with his chance to spend time with HIS god-mother. 

The Lego structures he created for her

Chatting

Thursday was a day of kids time INSIDE with a weird continuation of crap weather. Thankfully having kids to play with made the weather bearable.

They got in a brief amount of time outside before the weather truly turned

Giggles at the table

Logan and Echo

We adults dealt with the doom and gloom weather with homemade hamburgers on the grill… note the lovely apron!

Isn’t he cute?

And that was that, sometimes you just need some slow down sorts of days! Which brings us to the end of the week and FRIDAY… which began a much more exciting weekend so… more on that later! 

Ominous weather

Our morning may have been rushed with Ken having to drop us off at mom’s and run but we made our afternoon count. As soon as Ken headed out to get Darryl I got to work weeding through what we had left at mom’s and packing for our newest adventure – spending time with the Bleau family! Sharon and Darryl were sweet enough to open their home to us and the use of their landline so we could get a firmer grasp on our plans for the future and sort out all the little bumps that could come along the way. We are so blessed with the family we have created out of our dear friends. 

Making Trinity a special Canada Day shirt

Too cute

I got done as much as I could before we headed off to enjoy our time celebrating Canada’s birth as a nation. Sharon had to take the kids to a birthday party so we got our bits and bobs into the house there and then took the kids off for a special treat – lunch IN McDonalds. Definitely NOT relaxing for Mommy and Daddy but so much fun for our kiddos. Usually we only get drive through.

FOOD

After lunch it was time to meet up and see what is going on at the local museum. The answer – quite a bit! We started with the train! Of course, we ALL had to ride on it. Ken was nominated to go in the caboose with the bulk of the kids while Sharon and I took the next car with my girls. It was bumpy but fun and a reasonable price per person with Echo free. 

Tickets

Most of our group

Me and my baby

Waiting

Very Canadian

With Aunty Sharon

Caboose

All the kids piled in

Our next stop was a walk through the local museum. Short but varied enough to keep the kids interested.

Museum

Train

Very cool

Sharon took 7 of the kids to the bouncy castles to allow Ken, Echo and myself the opportunity to check out some of the independent buildings. Specifically the church and the school. 

Church

School

Thought this was coo

A bouncy castle

After all that sun and fun it was time to head back to the house for supper… but first stopping for SLURPEES!! YAY!! Oh how I love slurpees…

Dinner was homemade hamburgers cooked on the grill by Ken. (Assembled by Sharon) 8 kids and 3 adults was so much fun! That evening when all the kids were in bed (early) we watched the fireworks from a window in Sharon’s bedroom… so much better than being out with mosquitoes! All in all a great way to celebrate Canada Day!

Daddy and baby

Cute AND Canadian

JUNE 29/30th… catching up slowly but surely!!

The best remedy for a difficult move, stressful past few months and frustrating future? Super downsizing! That’s right… out with the old and NO in with the new! With the happy added bonus of emptying (or at least making great headway on) Kristen and Fydo’s garage which allows them to have a happier vehicle living IN its accustomed home. Now, this was a WHOLE weekend affair with us starting on FRIDAY! 

Our intimidating starting point

We were up and out the door as early as possible to get to town and get started. Kristen (the sweetheart) was able to take the day off and work with us to keep the process as quick as possible. There was a lifetime and a half to go through and we had to have it done by the end of Saturday (as of course Sunday was CANADA DAY AND Ken had to drive Darryl to the airport so we had to be back in town for that). It was a rather overwhelming prospect. So the best way to deal was to just jump right in.

She was adamant that she HAD TO sit in the chair at least for a few minutes

What amazed me by the end of the first day was the amount of stuff that was going garage sale and dump. I honestly am surprised at everything we keep around. There was so much that was old, not useful or perfect for someone else. So the end goal is to help others with our excess. 

We were MUCH more organized day 2, day one was just GET THROUGH IT!

Napping with Fat Sheep

At Aunty Karyn's

Of course none of this would have been possible without Karyn to be in charge of Echo and Trinity and their napping needs and Kristen and Fydo and SEAN for their help, vehicles and smiling faces. Add to that pizza, giggling over silly possessions and sunburns and it was a good 2 days. Saturday started a little slower with sunburns and exhaustion foremost in the minds of all. BUT we managed…

Uncle Sean!!

Saying good bye to our last wedding decoration

Thank you Sean for the loan of your truck to move things to the dump!!

Echo and Karyn took a nap break or two and I made sure ALL the kids got their OWN slurpee… Echo included… though she shared with Karyn (just to be nice of course).

Slurpees

We even managed a few pre-garage sale (thank you again so much Kristen and Fydo for hosting that!!) sales… passersby who saw something on the right side of the driveway and were like HEY I want that!!! Very convenient. And lots of inquisitive individuals who were very excited to come back when we WERE ready to sell. We stayed overnight one more night last minute so Ken could finish off what he needed to do and help with some of the garage sale set up but we HAD TO be back in town for Darryl to be picked up for his ride to the airport… and for us to celebrate Canada Day with the Bleau family!!

We found some favourite things right off the bat too - like this much fought over stroller (kept)

WINGS

Asleep