I have come to the realization that no matter what we do the Reinsch-Johnson family does it with the spirit of adventure and chaos… yesterday we started our morning early with Ken continuing his immigration correction… form, faxing, talking… TIME CONSUMING… in the meantime I finished my weekend packing, tidied, kept the kids from killing each other and did the normal Lisa thing – worried (which I can guarantee I will continue doing for the rest of the weekend until the above issue is resolved and life can return to as close to normal as we EVER see). Waiting for Daddy is never a RELAXING thing to do in our home… so lots of arguing and complaining and of course questions which led to – TIME OUTS… but we managed.

Of course the drive to Grandma’s was “too long” as usual… how quickly they forget the OVER 24 HOUR drive to Nana and Baba’s. But they definitely know the way to her house, even from our city to hers there are landmarks they look for and Trinity recognizes her house as soon as she sees it. Mom wasn’t home when we got there – out at the cabin putting down tile, so we sorted ourselves out… had a snack and then sent the kids off to nap and quiet time. (Grandma has tvs in ALL the bedrooms so quiet time was spent watching Treehouse) This opened me up to a couple hour, much needed nap.

Add to the excitement of Grandma’s house with Chris and Chris stopping by for a visit with He Chris’s new helicopter! All the boys took a go at “catching” it, as well as assisting in the flying. Emanuel AND Gavin managed to get it to bump into their heads but no one really minded. They enjoyed it at least as much as they have the remote control car Ken bought over a year ago (we really need to dig that back out of storage and let the kids play with it some more when the weather cools as they drive it down in the basement instead of outside).

Trinity was so excited following her brothers around and up and down the stairs… until she had  a tumble down the last few into the basement. Thank goodness not teeth first and only ended up with bruising at her temple and side of face. I took pictures after the fact… she was a brave little soul, cried a bit and then calmed down and wanted to sit and eat carrots (using both sides of her mouth to munch thank goodness).

We brought bits and pieces out of our fridge and freezer with us (what better chance to do a bit of a clean out? and give mom some frozen fruit for her ice cream machine) so mom and I cobbled together dinner out of what was there – rather eclectic – chicken nuggets, some Chinese dumplings (thanks to Ada), carrots and cucumber sliced, corn on the cob, mushrooms and onions and juice. Definitely a kid pleaser.

Taking full advantage of Grandma being a captive audience Chris and Chris asked her to watch the 4 miscreants while they took Ken and myself out to the local Irish pub for dinner! Talk about feeling spoiled! It is rare that friends are around and BOTH Ken and myself can head out for a bit. Usually said friends are out sitters so WE can run out to do necessary and difficult errands. I don’t have pictures of our food but I do of the newly engaged couple! Note the muscles (which I am told were yummy) and the plate of lemon dry ribs (hiding by He Chris) which we also tried that were absolutely AMAZING.

We got back in time to say goodnight to our freshly bathed children and catch a snuggle with Trinity who agreed with me that she DID fall down the stairs but that she WAS ok… I am loving her ability to talk, chatter in fact. Now if we could just get her to say GRANDMA as clearly as she says MIKE or BUG or DADDY.

All this adventure and chaos has of course NOT diminished my capacity to worry about Monday and the fax that needs to get to the government office to continue the process of fixing the immigration issue and moving our family back to normal. I am VERY blessed to have my mom a mere hour away and so many wonderful friends to support us. I am adamant that September is going to be OUR month. After over a year of frustration and then this summer being so…. unpredictable and up and down, I would absolutely love some time to just enjoy my family without concerns that feel MASSIVE and URGENT.

Saturday morning started early with a triple batch of cinnamon applesauce pancakes… then tidying up and getting the adults bathed and dressed to head out to the much requested CABIN. The drive there is not overly long from mom’s but Miss T fell asleep anyway.

We spent time there helping tidy, move furniture and oohing and awing over the new tiles in what is to be the room where the kids will have their toys and place to sleep.

And what visit to the cabin would be complete without a trip to the lake? Swim shoes are a must at this one since it is a pebble beach and not the nicest water but the kids kept busy throwing in stones, dragging around rocks and watching the dog… fall in the water! Poor Harley misjudged an edge on one of the jetties and fell right in! Not a dog big on swimming she was adamant she was NOT going to get to dry land that way and tugged herself back up onto the wooden jetty.

Driving back with 4 rather tired, hungry and CRANKY kids it was not a surprise that Trinity again fell asleep. This time clutching the shoes she had NOT wanted to wear originally (which we fought with her up until she hit the ground and saw a little playpark).

Back to Grandma’s for a light lunch and then quiet/nap time. And the day is BARELY half over! Whew, and this is me taking it easy? Baby be patient PLEASE.

After naps and outside play we did a bit of schoolwork – well Emanuel did some of his workbook while the other two coloured colouring pages I had made using the Crayola site and some of our pictures. I had the presence of mind to take the calendar we started this month off the wall before heading over here and bringing our stickers so we worked our way up to today figuring out what the date is. Good number practice though we are still working on the idea of 3rd, 6th, etc.

Supper, baths and bed and the day is over… now to fill my evening with some sewing (personal project), resting and hopefully positive thinking…